Cant afford to go to work......

KimYeovil

No wonder the economy is in shreds when workers can't be bothered to travel 24 miles to get to work.

If you want work on your doorstep, go find some. If you can't find any, move home. If you don't want to flit, commute like millions of normal workers.

Complaining about a one hour's commute time? Unbelievable.

briona

ttp608 wrote: »

But the problem i have is that they new i just bought my first house and had a large mortgage to pay just when they moved me. (the mortgage could easily be afforded if i worked in bradford with money to spare)

ttp608 wrote: »

Can a company force an employ to move to a store knowing full well doing so would cause them serious financial hardship and will lead to me not being able to attend work.

I find it hard to believe that your "easily affordable" mortgage has suddenly become unaffordable simply because you now have drive 49 miles a day. God, I drive 550 miles a week to get to work and back and can comfortably do that for £60 a week... :rolleyes:

Unfortunately it's not your company's fault that you have apparently over-stretched yourself with a too-large mortgage. Poor-mouthing is unlikely to get you much sympathy – if you don't want the job I'm sure there are many others willing to take your place...

chivers1977

Have a look on here https://www.liftshare.com/uk/

ceridwen

ttp608 wrote: »

when i took the job 2 years ago i was told i would only work in bradford or leeds and my contract states a store in bradford.

Just a thought to ponder on from a post by O.P. - for those couple of people who have just made "shirty" comments. The agreement is for O.P. to work in Bradford. Therefore O.P. has arranged their life/bought their home based on that agreement. With the best will in the world - one can't just rearrange one's whole life just because an employer has broken an agreement.

I've seen people move right across country - when their employer moved - on an agreement that they would keep their jobs because they did so. It wasnt that long after that that some of them were made redundant anyway.

To those people who find long commutes to work acceptable per se - okay...do that...if thats what you personally wish to do....but some people are mindful of the phrase "Work/Life Balance". There is also the point in the current economic climate that it would make no sense whatsoever for one person to be forced into driving themselves MILES AND MILES to work - when the employer would certainly be able to find someone to fill that vacancy that lives a good deal nearer.....
..and thats before we start taking into account the environmental cost of someone driving a long distance to get to work...(some of us have a conscience! - and we are all entitled to act in accordance with that conscience).

ceridwen

Charis wrote: »

If they're anything like the long distance buses near here, they'll get you to work by 10am but you'll have to leave for home by 1pm and there's only the one round trip per day. A couple of buses only run once a week.

and..bearing in mind this comment about just how awful public transport can be.....

then it may be that the route to go down to deal with this situation O.P. is for your car to "irretrievably break down" and you cant afford to replace it (that much is certainly true!) and then they have two options:
- bring you back to Bradford
- dismiss you

I would think it unlikely that they could dismiss someone for not using their own money to buy a car for commute to work purposes - when their agreement is that they work in Bradford anyway.

Certainly - my own employer has been able to move some people to other areas to work - BECAUSE they have their own car - but would not have been able to move these same people if they had had to rely on public transport to commute to work.

Ttp608

thanks for the advice. i have previously experienced some car problems and was unable to attend work as a result i requested to be able to work in bradford for those 2 weeks whilst my car was being repaired. The company said no and i sat at home on full pay then returned to work and nothing was said about it. They have people working in bradford who travel the same distance as me and live closer to my new location but they will not swop us, its just crazy the mindset of these people.

As far as the comments of a 1 hour commute are concerned, i would not have an issue if i was told when i took the job, but i wasnt and based my life around that assumption i worked for 1.5 years with this company before i took a mortgage, i rushed into nothing and it was affordable. But a 1 hour commute means alot more then petrol, childcare, meals, worklife balance and much much more.

DaisyFlower

ttp608 wrote: »

thanks for the advice. i have previously experienced some car problems and was unable to attend work as a result i requested to be able to work in bradford for those 2 weeks whilst my car was being repaired. The company said no and i sat at home on full pay then returned to work and nothing was said about it. They have people working in bradford who travel the same distance as me and live closer to my new location but they will not swop us, its just crazy the mindset of these people.

As far as the comments of a 1 hour commute are concerned, i would not have an issue if i was told when i took the job, but i wasnt and based my life around that assumption i worked for 1.5 years with this company before i took a mortgage, i rushed into nothing and it was affordable. But a 1 hour commute means alot more then petrol, childcare, meals, worklife balance and much much more.

The advice given to say your car has broken down is irrelevant, its the employees responsibility to get to work and theirs alone.

If your contract states they can move you within a 35 mile radius, you have no choice really to put up with the move - you do have the choice to find new employment though.

Whilst petrol may increase a little, I dont see what impact it has on meals other than eating a little later. If your budget cant handle a petrol increase, perhaps you need to relook at your finances.

Personally an extra half hour on travelling is worth it to have a job in this economic climate.

ceridwen

Actually - I see O.P.'s point - and agree that it isnt just a question of the extra petrol costs to cover that extra distance to work. Extra commuting time means less living time - and other living costs will then go up correspondingly.

I had several part-time jobs on top of my full-time job at one point - and I certainly found that I didnt gain as much extra money as I had bargained on from this - because I bought food that was as quick and easy as possible to cook (and it ended up costing a lot more than what I normally ate) and there were various other odd bits and pieces of extra costs. Rushing through housework and shopping because theres less time for them means one ends up finding you've paid over the odds for things (as you didnt have the time/energy to shop around) and you did things in such a hurry that you ended up breaking odd things (which you have to buy again), etc.

oldmotherreilly

ceridwen, I see all your points but the OP took the job either agreeing to the fact that the company could move him up to thirty five miles away or he failed to read his contract-either way it is ultimately his decision/mistake which led to this predicament. I agree wholeheartedly that the move could incur other costs such as childcare, but the OP does not state that s/he does incur such costs, only that the fuel bill is a problem. I would imagine that the OP would not have a leg to stand on with his company if it is just the added petrol costs but if there is childcare involved, it may well be different. The only area I can definitely advise on is that if you were to give up your job and put in a claim for JSA, your claim would be referred to a Decision Maker and you may well not receive any benefit at all for 26 weeks, especially in the light that you have to agree to working up to one hours travelling distance from home(by whichever means is available to you); which increases to an hour and a half after time spent on JSA; and you must agree to working for national minimum wage.

Reds-on-Sea

I can sympathise with both sides of the argument.

I was regularly late because my journey time (20 miles driving, at least 45 mins each way) meant that yes, 7.5 hours of my life a week was "wasted" (in a manner of speaking) on travelling. My company had also relocated from 3 miles away. I didn't want any more of my life to be taken up than needed to be so tried to time it so that I arrived a few mins before start time. Unfortunately, this resulted in me being late regularly and given 2 warnings.

It does sound as if you're living a little close to the edge if a 24mile journey is causing you financial difficulty, however I'm not here to judge. Personally, I don't think 24.5 miles to work is unreasonable at all. In fact, out of ALL my friends, I work closest to home!!

You can either find a cheaper mode of transport, or cut back in other areas of your life.

one idea - Could you request to do longer hours over less days, so that you save a return journey or two a week?

Seriously though, what do you think is the real reason that they seem to be singling you out? Are you very good at your job & therefore they want you over other staff? If so, bring this up at your next review and ask for a pay rise.