disciplinary with 1 of the Big 3 Supermarkets

Jonibo7501

Just a quick over view of situation.

A friend of mine at work was seen on cctv while they were checking something else moving a vehicle which he should have been, even after in the past being given permission to move said vehicles by the department manager, who knows he doesnt have a UK driving liecence and is not mandated and have insurance. yesterday was his first investigation to the issue, he brought up that the department mange had told him to do this in the past, and the investigation was adjourned immediately, i just wondered if anyone had any advice of a defence to go down. I know he has done wrong he knows he has done wrong, i would be happy not to just hear people say that, also just to add, the same situation happened with a friend a few weeks ago, and he was just given a quiet talking to by the area managers "Trouble Shooter". Any advice would be greatly welcomed.


Thank you kindly A worried friend.

saintjammyswine

Difficlut to read but it sounds like someone drove a car illegally (no licence, insurance, without permission of the owner), if so then a disciplinary could be the least of their worries.

ValHaller

It is only illegal to drive without a licence or insurance on the public highway. Insurance is not the same issue on private premises. If he drove the vehicle on the instruction of a manager, the instruction is a lawful instruction as far as the employee is concerned, so the liability should anything go wrong falls the same way as any other instruction resulting in something going wrong.

The manager should carry the can for this unless the employer has formally defined rules which prohibit employees driving unless their competence is proven.

Jonibo7501

I was just curious though, after being told by the dept manager previously its okay to move these vehicles, what makes it different this time, and it was something in practice by many other employees who weren't insured and mandated etc, Yea, he should never have got in to the vehicle to move it, but when its busy and u have a schedule to keep to, sometimes people do thing for the quickness of it not thinking of the long term consequences, especially when it is common practice.

saintjammyswine

ValHaller wrote: »

It is only illegal to drive without a licence or insurance on the public highway. Insurance is not the same issue on private premises. If he drove the vehicle on the instruction of a manager, the instruction is a lawful instruction as far as the employee is concerned, so the liability should anything go wrong falls the same way as any other instruction resulting in something going wrong.

The manager should carry the can for this unless the employer has formally defined rules which prohibit employees driving unless their competence is proven.

OK, thought it was driven on the roads didnt read it was on private land.

maninthestreet

Presumably this is going to be considered a Health and Safety beach?

tonyh66

maninthestreet wrote: »

Presumably this is going to be considered a Health and Safety beach?

a health and safety beach? for gods sake somebody think of the children.

ValHaller

saintjammyswine wrote: »

OK, thought it was driven on the roads didnt read it was on private land.

As I read it, with the big 3 supermarkets, if a vehicle is on the public highway it is going somewhere. If it is merely being moved, I would expect it to be on their premises.

dacouch

ValHaller wrote: »

It is only illegal to drive without a licence or insurance on the public highway. Insurance is not the same issue on private premises. If he drove the vehicle on the instruction of a manager, the instruction is a lawful instruction as far as the employee is concerned, so the liability should anything go wrong falls the same way as any other instruction resulting in something going wrong.

The manager should carry the can for this unless the employer has formally defined rules which prohibit employees driving unless their competence is proven.

A supermarket car park would normally be classed as a public highway.

Phil_68

dacouch wrote: »

A supermarket car park would normally be classed as a public highway.

It would be a place that the public have access to, however, if the incident happened in the loading bay area (usually gated off from public) then it would be private. Therefore license & insurance for the purpose of the Road Traffic Act may not apply.

The issue here is what is normally accepted by managers, if it is a common practise, then this disciplinary could fail if handled right.

Phil.