When the driver should
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tell the boss • • • • by John Darker
• In many small businesses the driver(s) may be the most professional transport man, said Mr John Morris, an FTA divisional officer, at Brighton last week. Mr Morris was addressing a special drivers' meeting arranged by the Sussex area of the Freight Transport Association.
In two recent cases brought to the attention of the FTA, both concerning small businesses operating only one heavy vehicle, the law had been transgressed because of the ignorance of the employing firm and — by inference — the ignorance or neglect of the drivers concerned.
Mr Morris gave details of one of the cases, and said court proceedings were pending. A lorry stopped at a roadside check, was found to be 18 months' old. It had not been tested, there was no operator's licence and the driver had not completed his log book — if, indeed, he possessed one — for three days. The driver should have told his employer he needed to keep records, said Mr Morris.
"If these cases are lost it could be tragic," the speaker observed. "The drivers may be fined and the employers may be fined, and other innocent employees could conceivably lose their jobs as a result. Drivers owe it to themselves to know the law."
In the course of a detailed explanation of the law relating particularly to drivers' hours and overloading offences, Mr Morris said the FTA's legal defence team was conscious of the heavier fines now being imposed by courts against offenders. Originally fines tended to be around £10 to £15 but the maximum fine was £200 and some courts were approaching that figure.
Describing a recent overloading summons, Mr Morris said a timber lorry which had left its base at Bath was en route to Guildford, where there was a weighbridge. When asked why the load had not been weighed the driver said that as he had left Bath at 5.15 am the nearest available weighbridge was at his destination point, near Guildford. The court did not accept the explanation and he was fined £15.
Drivers present were reminded of some of the loopholes in the hours regulations. If an employer lent a driver a vehicle to do a private removal for himself on a rest day it would not be an offence if the driver worked all round the clock! Equally, it would not be an offence if a driver worked as a stoker for another employer on his rest day.
Instancing the importance of case law in deciding complex questions of employers' responsibility in transport matters, Mr Morris quoted the ease of a stationmaster who was digging his garden on a rest day when a child fell onto the lines as a train approached. The stationmaster saved the child but lost his life in doing so. The British Transport Commission tried to defend their refusal of compensation to the widow on the grounds that the stationmaster was not being paid at the time, so that the resulting death from their employee's brave action was not their responsibility. The judge decided that compensation was due to the widow because her husband was doing something he was paid to do normally.
In another case, Cook v. Derbyshire Stone, a driver had stopped at a café, locked his vehicle and was proceeding across the road to the cafe when he was involved in a collision with a motorcyclist. The motorcyclist sued the employer — as the richer party — but failed because Judge Pilcher held that the injured driver was not acting at the time in the course of his employment.
A number of questions were dealt with by Mr Morris. One driver wanted to know if it would be legal to take his 11 hour break in his cab, with no bunk bed fitted, though there was a wide shelf in the body. He was told that the Court would decide on the matter of fact.
Could Weights and Measures inspectors legally stop a lorry by overtaking with a car and forcing the vehicle to stop? Mr Morris had not heard of this happening and thought it unlikely. But the police could, of course, do this and Weights and Measures staff could do so if they displayed a suitable notice at the side of the road.
As regards cases involving excess hours Mr Morris told another questioner that he felt Courts would not accept a plea that the law had not been broken if a breakdown' occurred two hours after starting work and, in consequence, maximum daily hours were exceeded. The employer and driver would jointly be responsible for making appropriate arrangements that did not involve excess hours being worked. But if the breakdown occurred on the way home to base or destination a different view might be taken according to the circumstances.
A driver who asked what view would be taken of regular trips which involved 15 minutes' driving over the legal maximum was told to see his employer about re-scheduling of work.
Other questions related to the use by drivers of vehicles for their journey to their own home after a normal day's work. The point to stress, said Mr Morris, was whether the vehicle was used purely as a taxi, and to assist the driver, or whether the operation — as with a loaded lorry — was designed to assist the employer. Excess hours with a lorry engaged on the employer's business were illegal.
The Shell-BP training film which illustrated the hazards of driving with the largest attic tanker, vehicles, and demonstrated correct techniques for avoiding overturning at roundabouts and road junctions was shown during the meeting. Oddly enough it inspired no questions.
Alan Law in Wales
• Mr Alan Law will be guest speaker at the annual dinner and dance of the Ebbw Vale 4/169 branch of the TGWU, to be held at Newport, Mon. tomorrow. Saturday.