Operator right to cut wages
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• Birminghambased Lightning Despatch acted
6 6 lawfully in
wages of a driver to help offset the cost of accident damage to his vehicle, an industrial tribunal has ruled. The tribunal rejected a claim by driver David Richardson that the company had made deductions totalling £225 from his wages, contrary to the provisions of the 1986 Wages Act.
Richardson maintained that he had never signed a contract of employment, and that consequently any deductions made were unauthorised. He added that other drivers involved in accidents had not had any money deducted.
For the company, it was said that Richardson had signed a contract of employment which contained provisions for deductions to be made if the company's insurance company considered that a driver was to blame for an accident: £75 being deducted for the first accident, and £150 for a second within the same 12-month period.
Richardson started working for the company on 8 May and on 7 July he had an accident in one of its vehicles.
The cost of repairs was £115 for labour and paint, excluding parts. On 11 July Richardson had another accident, for which he admitted responsibility. The cost of those repairs was £190 plus paint and materials. Richardson would have been dismissed by the company if he had not resigned on 12 July.
The tribunal said that it was satisfied that Richardson was mistaken in thinking that he had never signed a contract. It was also satisfied that it was common practice for the company to make accident deductions from wages.