Dodgy dealings with a garage re company vehicles

SarahLou

HELP!

For those who are regular posters on this forum, some may recall reading this thread posted some weeks back now:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1827645&highlight=getting+sent+away

(Well worth a read for anyone wanting a "laugh" over the ridiculous company my hubby is unfortunate enough to work for :mad:)

Anyway, I'm after some more advice on a slightly different topic to the questions posed in the thread above (thread titled "Working away - legal rights? Help!" incase the link above doesn't work for whatever reason).

Right, so hubby is (surprise, surprise) working away AGAIN now and has been for the past 3 weeks. (With his usual pitifully low £5 a day expenses.....)

This morning, on driving himself and 3 of his colleagues from the caravan site they're stopping on to the site they're working on (yep, you heard that right, they're all shacked up in a caravans and have £5 a day to live off :rolleyes:), hubby unfortunately had a bump with a lady he swears must've been easily going 40-50mph along a stretch of road that was set to a speed limit of 30mph. He'd not even seen her when he pulled out from the t-junction (which makes him think she cannot have been going 30mph), anyway, bump he went into the side of her. Her car had a large scrape right down its side as she grinded to a halt some 30 foot away from where the bump itself had happened. Thankfully no one was hurt.

However, turns out shes married to a police officer so she was playing merry hell with my hubby and rang her hubby immediately. He came straight away and equally, was f-ing and using words you can't even begin to imagine towards my hubby saying it was all his fault, yadda yadda and that he was going to get him breathalised, etc.

So sure enough, the main police and accident unit get called whom on arriving can't understand why they've been called as it was (to quote) a "perfectly normal accident" - turns out they had a 20 minute "heated" conversation with this lady and her hubby (whom was police but was off duty) but said that tehy would breathalise my hubby just for paperworks sake basically (although pretty much told hubby not to worry as it was just protocol). Sure enough, came back completely clear. The accident unit then proceeded to try and do an emergency stop in the works 4x4 only to find they couldn't do one. Then on investigating further the brake fluid (which apparently should be clear) was black on inspection i.e. severely "infected" with other fluids which they can only presume is oil. Hence thats no good. And the brake pads on the two front tyres are essentially next to useless.

Soooo, they said it was in such a bad state they'd not feel comfortable letting them drive off in the vehicle.

And guess what? This 4x4 had its MOT only about 3 weeks back and passed. It had new front tyres put on but nowt else needed doing apparently.

So aside from being shaken up, no harm done to anyone but harm certainly done to the two vehicles in question.

My question is as follows - what legal rights does my hubby have when it comes to getting asked to drive future works vehicles?

I ask because we KNOW they use a dodgy garage somewhere near to where the company is based that has (unfortunately) proven itself to be unreliable over and over again. This ISNT the first time a works vehicle has proven itself to be unsafe. At one point the brakes on another vehicle failed completely but luckily didn't result in an accident.

Other times tyres are worn down to nothing - thankfully the workers now refuse to drive these vehicles so this has been getting better recently.

I am going to be logging a complaint to try and get this garage "inspected" as enough is enough. This accident could've proven fatal under other circumstances. The garage, in my opinion, needs closing down or at the very least a firm warning to buck up their workmanship.

As this is in the employment section, can anyone advise on legal rights re workers for this company refusing to drive vehicles tested, serviced, "repaired", MOT'd, etc, by this garage? And as a by-the-by point, does anyone know whom I would complain to regarding the garage itself to get an inspection or something done on it?

emmell

It's VOSA that checks mot testing stations, as regards the vehicles they are expected to drive. It is up to the driver to check a vehicle is roadworthy before driving because it's the driver who will be prosecuted. I had this problem when working for a motor auctions, some of the vehicles were death traps, I have even refused to drive some within the auction compound, hence the vehicles have been sold as non runners.
ML.

SarahLou

He had driven the vehicle down from the North East of England to the North West of England on Monday morning and didn't encounter any problems - and given it has just passed its MOT, he didn't think anything to it. (Understandably) - if he'd experienced problems with it (like he and his colleagues have with previous work vehicles) then of course he would've stopped driving. (Which he and others have done before now).

We know the legalities surrounding how much can get blamed on the driver of a vehicle if it isn't roadworthy but we're now wondering where my hubby (and his colleagues) stand with the company they're employed by if they all refuse to drive vehicles that are bought/serviced/have their MOT's done by the garage in question?

Thanks for that emmell, I'll google VOSA

aj2703

Mysolicitorisbetter wrote: »

Well given the car operated fine on that journey suggests the fault developed over time

Tbh sounds like your OH and his colleagues want to cause hassle. Maybe he thrashed the vehicle and caused the damage and faults:rolleyes:

Does it really..? To me it sounds like her hubby was a bit niave in thinking the car was fine and really in hindsight (which is a great thing) should have given the car a proper check to see if it was roadworthy before he drove it. To me she is asking where her hubby stands legally if he finds a fault with it, then refuses to drive it. Alot of companies would probably look down on him thinking he was being awarkward for refusing to drive it. I am guessing she dosen't want her husband to cause unecessary trouble but then again she dosen't want him to drive a car which he may know to be unroadworthy.

SarajLou.

I don't know the legal position of this but common sense says to me that it is the companies responsibility to keep the car in good working order. If your hubby goes to drive it and finds a fault then i am pretty sure the company without question should take the car out of service and get a qualified mechanic to give it the once over.

If the company threatened your hubby with the sack or made his working life awarkward for doing this, i am sure there would be some legal route your hubby could take. My advice keep a pocket camera or something like that around cause if he sees an obvious fault then he can take a pic which should give him some fallback should the situation occur.

DVardysShadow

MOT won't check what fluid is in the braking system.

This looks like a case for shopping OH's employer to HSE - but this probably needs to go through internal processes first.

aj2703

DVardysShadow wrote: »

MOT won't check what fluid is in the braking system.

This looks like a case for shopping OH's employer to HSE - but this probably needs to go through internal processes first.

No an MOT won't get everything, but as the OP said the brake pads were totally worn. In the time between the MOT and the accident that time wouldn't be enough for the pads to wear from an MOT pass to nearly worn out, the mot inspector would have seen the wear on them and should have failed it.

I agree with you in shopping them to HSE and also going through an internal complaints process, however if the company are aware the garage is doing them "favours" so to speak i doubt a grievence would get far.

SarahLou

Mysolicitorisbetter - I can assure you that my hubby and his colleagues aren't the type to have "thrashed the vehicle and caused the damage and faults" - if you're going to only offer insincere "advice" then I'll politely ask you to refrain from commenting further on this thread. I suspect the police/accident unit won't have lied to my hubby and his colleagues when they said about how poor a condition the vehicle is in and indeed how dangerous a state the brake pads are in. So I can only presume they know what they're talking about. And in approx 21 days time, I'm sorry but brake pads don't wear down that quickly. So no matter how the vehicle might've been driven in the weeks between its MOT and my hubby getting behind the wheel on Monday morning, to suggest that this could've happened as a result of "thrashing" it by anyone at this company is (in my books) ridiculous.

Thanks to everyone else.

Hubby and his colleagues have, before now, had to refuse to drive vehicles with worn tyres (beyond being legal any more) and, to be fair, the company now does change the tyres as and when required. But like I said before, this particular garage seems to be passing a lot of vehicles out that all seem to have braking problems - be it brake fluid, brake pads, or both in this case.

I worry for my hubby and his colleagues knowing that this garage is the only one used by the company my hubby works for but also for everyone else in the area that will be using the garage for their services, repairs, MOTs, etc.

Emmzi

mysolicitor is a known stirrer. ignore is your friend..

SarahLou

Ahh good (well, its not good, but you know what I mean!) I was starting to think it was just me!! If he/she persists I shall be using the "ignore" function. Thanks for letting me know

DVardysShadow

aj2703 wrote: »

I agree with you in shopping them to HSE and also going through an internal complaints process, however if the company are aware the garage is doing them "favours" so to speak i doubt a grievence would get far.

It is a straight H&S issue which needs to be raised. This is a separate issue from a grievance.

nexuss

In most lines of work the DRIVER is supposed to spend 10-15 minutes doing a vehicle check before he goes on the road in the vehicle.Regarding the police i am sure they would be interested in why an accident unit vehicle was sent-out on a 'personal basis' especially as no-one was seriously hurt.No doubt the woman will be claiming off your husbands employers insurance for any injuries.I just hope they are insured.