Q am employed as a coach driver by a large company
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and as such am required to drive any vehicle that may be allocated to me on any particular day. Much of my work is on express services where passengers often have a great deal of luggage which I have to stow
in the boot of the coach. Although most of the coaches are kept in very good mechanical condition there are a few which have one particular fault — the support designed to hold the boot lid open does not work.
I have taken out such vehicles before and had great difficulty propping the lid open or finding someone to hold it open while I load the boot. Am I within my rights to refuse to drive such vehicles in the future?
ThePublic Service Vehicles (Conditions of Fitness,
Equipment and Use) Regulations 1972, section 45, states that "no person shall use a vehicle while it is carrying passengers or cause or permit it to be so used unless the inside and the outside of the body of the vehicle and all windows and fittings and all passenger seats are maintained in clean and good conditionIn our opinion the boot support is a fitting and it is clearly not in good condition in your case. Because of this both you and your employer are committing an offence by using the coach and also by allowing it to be used.
In addition to this your employer also appears to be committing an offence under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 by allowing you to work in a dangerous situation. If the boot lid were to fall on your head while you were loading luggage you could be
very seriously injured. Under section 2b of this Act your employer should make "arrangements for ensuring, so far as is reasonably practicable, safety and absence of risks to health in connection with the use, handling, storage and transport of articles and substances.
If your employer cannot repair the boot support he should provide you with a safe means of keeping the lid open for you to load luggage.