Government backs drivers' right to rest
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by Amanda Bradbury • The Department of Employment has backed a controversial union interpretation of a new employment law which supports LGV drivers who wish to stop driving when tired.
The United Road Transport Union says the two-month-old Trade Union Reform and Employment Rights Act (TURA) allows any driver disciplined by his employer for resting when tired to claim compensation. Before TURA was passed employees could only go to an industrial tribunal with a claim for unfair dismissal if they had two years' service and had actually been sacked.
The new law also increases the maximum compensation for unfair dismissal from £10,000 to £11,000.
Employers say that if the union interpretation of TURA is successfully used at industrial tribunal their authority over their drivers will be severely undermined. The Road Haulage Association's manager of employment affairs Rod Jenkins says the law could cause "anarchy". But according to road transport lawyer John Backhouse, it adds considerable strength to the driver's arm against an unreasonable employer.
Backhouse says that for an industrial tribunal to award in favour of the driver he must have informed his employer at the time of resting why he was stop ping and then suffered sacking, demotion or disciplinary action.
T h e Institute of Personnel Managers says that for the first time TURA places the onus on the driver to judge his fitness to drive and protects his decision in the interests of road safety.
TURA is likely to increase the growing number of industrial tribunal cases: applications have risen by more than 10% in three years.
More and more LGV drivers are worried about their employment status after being asked to drive illegally, according to a barrister who runs a driver's employ ment advice centre which handles up to 3,000 calls a month.
URTU and the Transport & General Workers Union say they are becoming increasingly concerned by the rising number of cases for unfair dismissal being brought against haulage companies.