Employment law advice

Huggie86

Huggie86

Huggie86

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Joined
10 May 2012
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Basically my gf moved in and we decided to get rid of one car and just use the one to save on expenses. She only had a small runabout as she never travelled very far and as work is in walking distance she's happy to walk.

She's always been a bit of a cautious driver, she is fine around town but strays away from long journeys etc. Well she works for a private care home and all of a sudden they are telling her that because she has a driving licence she must be put on the company insurance to drive the company mini bus.

When she confronted them and explained that yes she does have a licence, she no longer drives regularly,walks to work and is no way comfortable driving a bus they basically told her it will become company policy and she doesn't have a choice.

She's been walking to work regularly for over a year now, they know this and her circumstances. I'm fuming as they have always pushed her around with regards to overtime and other issues but this is just anger inducing.

If she wanted to drive a mini bus around she would have been a mini bus driver. The said company used to employ a dedicated driver for it but are cutting back and expect the other employees to cover the job role.

Is she well in her rights to refuse to do it or would it be expected of her? :confused:
 
Depends what her original contracted stated but presumably it did not detail requiring to drive, so she cannot be forced to while remaining an employee.

However, if the company needs people to drive then there is a change in employment requirements and the company can request employees to basically change jobs with the new contract. Your GF could refuse and then be made redundant and receive any payments detailed in her original contract. The company would have to tread careful but basically they can terminate a position legally due to redundancy, create a new job with new requirements, must offer the new jobs to people being made redundant.

and as above, the company needs to be careful what they are using the minibus for.
 
continually get in non fault accidents? :p

slam on at random at every junction, flash everyone then ram them when they pull out on you?
 
Just point out the health and safety implications and if they ignore take it further up the organisation.
They would be in a lot of trouble if she had an accident having told them she was uncomfortable driving.
 
A reasonable employer wouldn't force her anyway so she might just want to look for a better employer to begin with
 
Just make sure that every time she gets told to drive the minibus she rams it into something or sideswipes a wall. They will soon give up asking.
 
I think the law changed a while back, where a minibus license became an additional requirement on top of the driver's license. This followed on from a school minibus crash some 20-odd years ago when most of the occupants got killed.
 
Get her to check her licence, if she got her licence after 97 she would need additional categories on her licence to drive it commercially, and I assume this would count as that. Her work is unlikely to pay for this and she can refuse on the basis that she doesn't have the correct licence. Have a look at what categories she has on her licence and that will tell.
 
xarr said:
Get her to check her licence, if she got her licence after 97 she would need additional categories on her licence to drive it commercially,
Click to expand...

She might also have lost the entitle if she's over 45. I think to keep it past 45 you need to have a medical and specifically reapply for it. The entitlement you're looking for is D1.
 
xarr said:
Get her to check her licence, if she got her licence after 97 she would need additional categories on her licence to drive it commercially
Click to expand...

Even for a pre-97 licence, the D1E entitlement will have a 101 "not for hire or reward" restriction against it.

For virtually anyone to drive a minibus commercially requires a D1 test pass.
 
If they keep pushing then get them to pay for her extra minibus test and fail it, they'll get the point eventually.
 
grumpysculler said:
Even for a pre-97 licence, the D1E entitlement will have a 101 "not for hire or reward" restriction against it.

For virtually anyone to drive a minibus commercially requires a D1 test pass.
Click to expand...

This, Unless she has sat and passed the D1 test, she will not be allowed by law to drive a minibus for work.
 
She does however need to check that it's actually a minibus she's being asked to drive. If it's got less then 9 seats (including the driver) it's probably a people carrier and can be driven on a car license.
 
tom_e said:
She's being paid her salary for a job including driving that makes it reward no?
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Nope. Even if she was hired as a driver. It wouldn't come under "hire or Reward".

Example 1

I'm self employed and Comet pay me to deliver a TV to a customer.
I need Hire or reward insurance.

Example 2

I'm a delivery driver for Comet.
I don't need hire or reward insurance.

I will still get paid as an employee whether I'm driving or sat in the store.
 
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