Verge of Dismissal for fuel car usage

mithu

Hi everyone,

Really could do with some help and guidance - I'm on the verge of being dismissed from my company for gross misconduct on the allegations that I have tried to defraud the company by using my fuel card in other cars which is a breach of terms and conditions.

I have worked for the company for nearly 10 years now and previously 15 months prior to that. I have had a company car and fuel card for nealry 3 years now.

The facts they have are the fuel card usage report from the fuel card company and normally my company car is diesel - but there have been instances where I have used unleaded. This was mainly for hire cars and courtesy cars and a more so when I was sick - which i'll explain below.

From reading the policy word for word now - its been brought to a lot of ppl attention that even fueling hire cars is a breach which a lot of people have been doing.

Earlier this year I was of ill for 12 weeks due to dislocating my left knee - so 6 weeks while i was in a cast no fuel was used but after that when I was able to get back on my feet and had to get to physios etc - i found I couldnt drive the company car (manual gears) so I drove my other cars in the household which are all autos. I also had other autos from friends because the cars in my family are used by other members of the family - and while they were in my posession I used my fuel card to fill them up - again for the sole reason - couldnt drive the company car. When I went back to work I even requested an auto and was given one for 2-3 weeks.

I have managed to explain 95% of the transactions down to hire cars and courtesy cars and theres 3 which date back to last august/november which I cannot recall - but all of the others I have been able to prove using service records etc but for sure its always been when the company car was available.

All this has now been considered breach of terms and conditions and seen as gross misconduct with worse case scenario of summary dismissal.

My previous record with the company is impeccable - no warning or disciplinary ever.


So what I thought was a benefit for private use is now being used to dismiss me - so frustrated!!

Any guidance??

student_84

The first thing I would do, and do immediately, is either contact your union representative or join a union as they will be able to provide the support they you need right now. The TUC have a list of unions, you will be able to find one on there who will be able to help. Make sure you get a copy of everything from work in writing to make sure you have a paper record. Also check the companies discipline policy to check what your rights are.

HappyMJ

I'm amazed this wasn't picked up earlier...i.e last year...

The card is used to fill one car they work out the mileage and charge you for the private mileage you do in it based on what it costs to run per mile unless you get your private fuel paid for but then they still need a record of how much fuel was put in it and no other cars.

The hire cars and courtesy cars fuel bills should have been paid for with cash and claimed back through your company expenses so using the fuel card is a breach of terms and conditions.

All I can suggest is to try and use the fuel card policy against them. Maybe some ambiguous wording in it...good luck...

mithu

If I had been informed that this was a breach then I would never have used it - it proves how much of an over sight it is because loads of my colleagues have done the same in terms of fill hire cars.

I do get all my private fuel paid for - so how much I use has never been questioned or nor have I ever been requested that I record business and private use.

kalaika

If you don't have a union that you can join, it would probably be worth contacting ACAS http://www.acas.org.uk. They might be able to give you some more advice.

Bobl

You do not need a Union, why people think they are the answer to everything is beyond me.

You just have to be totally honest with the company, and also state that it was 'custom and practice' at the time, and if necessary offer to pay back the few occasions where you cannot prove legitimacy. If it has been allowed to go on for this amount of time, the company would be hard pushed to sack you; and win a tribunal.

Talk to your Manager about and it and tell him/her that you wish to cooperate with the company to clear this up

Good Luck.

withabix

Our fuel cards are registration specific AND fuel type specific.

We have to pay for fuel in courtesy/hire cars and claim back on expenses.

I get all business and private fuel as well, so it's not difficult to audit this system.

This is a much better way of doing it. The only shortcoming is over-fuelling courtesy/hire cars (ie not using all the fuel you have put in).

Are you not able to substantiate all of your fuel use by mileage records? You should be keeping these anyway, for every vehicle you put fuel in.

My fuel usage and mileage do get a bit complicated sometimes - me and the wife both run our own cars (on car allowance schemes) and work for different companies. Both of us have fuel cards. Some weeks we swap cars!!! It is far too complicated to deal with the fuel and mileage records, so we just ignore the fact and hope that our mileages balance out...which they normally do!

Horace

Turn their policy back on them because it seems very lax if they have given you a general use fuel card and it has been custom and practice within the company to use this card to fill up any type of vehicle from loan cars to company cars to hire cars. Perhaps you could suggest ways in which they could improve their system eg. fuel cards specific to registrations, a proper expenses system whereby if you had to use a hire car that you could pay and then claim back the expenses.

nexuss

You would not have been insured to drive the cars for your company if there were not the ones they supplied as adequate insurance has to be in place.You should have told your company you could not drive their car so they could sort another one for you.You also failed to log mileages and registration plates of all the vehicles you used..

Zazen999

I thought the benefit for private use was for private use of the company car not for private use of the card to fill up any car that you are using?

Did you request from them a different automatic when you couldn't drive, in writing, or suggest that you could use a different car for the duration?

And to that, I'd agree with what Horace said; if their policy isn't watertight then they need to sort it..I imagine that they have been going through their finances with a fine toothcomb and either you have been the worst offender and so are the 'example', or you are the worst offender and they are hoping to cut costs even more by dismissing you for it.

Idiophreak

Zazen999 wrote: »

I thought the benefit for private use was for private use of the company car not for private use of the card to fill up any car that you are using?

This is how I understand it, too.

When you were ill, I'd have been inclined to talk to the company about what to do - using a personal car, but charging for the fuel is pretty dodgy ground...If you were unable to use your benefit, you should have asked the company about providing an equivalent one for a short period (ie refunding fuel receipts)