Driver's right not to drive Truckstop stops • A Yorkshire
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driver sacked for refusing to operate a lorry he claimed was unsafe has accepted a ground-breaking outof-court settlement from his former employees after citing the 1996 Employment Rights Act.
"We believe it's the first case of its kind." says Maurice Britton. road transport officer at the Transport & General Workers' Union. "The act states that it is unfair to dismiss, or even discipline, someone who exerts their statutory rights."
Britton says the case came to court after the driver refused to operate a vehicle he claimed had steering problems and pulled to the left. This claim was disputed and the driver was fired.
"The employee doesn't need to prove there is a problem---he just has to have a genuine belief," says Britton. "This settlement doesn't set a precedent, but it does give a salutary warning to other employers."
Neither the driver nor the Leeds-based company can be named because both parties signed a confidentiality deal. • The Trucker's Rest truckstop at West Bromwich is to serve its last meal on Christmas Eve, leaving hundreds of drivers with little alternative for food and rest in the area.
Shell UK, which owns the site next to Junction 1 on the M5, has sold it to MFI because the truckstop was not making money.
It had hoped to sell the business to another truckstop company, but after trying to find a buyer for two years a spokeswoman says that "no one was interested in buying".
The Trucker's Rest has room for 300 trucks.
"Drivers have reacted with obvious disappointment," says the Shell UK spokeswoman. "There is a BP stop nearby but this is usually full."