Charges for damage to company vehicle

ml1682

I am being charged for damage to a lorry whilst parking at the end of a working day. I no longer work for this company having left late last year. I am also being charged for 2 recovery call outs because the lorry was out of diesel.

The lorries I was required to drive were very old and had faulty fuel gauges. The damage to the lorry was because I 'hit' a trailer left in the yard which had poor lighting.

I have received a bill to pay a considerable amount of money which I do not feel I am responsible for. What should I do?

Guest101

It sounds like you were responsible, I don't see why you shouldn't pay?


Can you elaborate on your reasons?

undaunted

Seems to me that you have three options here


1. Admit liability and pay it


2. Deny liability and refuse to pay it


3. Simply ignore it.


With options two or three it will be upto to the company to then either pursue you through the courts for the alleged debt, write it off or turn to their insurer.


There would have to be some justification for them to take you to Court. Even if you were found responsible for these incidents that would not necessarily automatically make you liable for payment rather than their insurer. Was there anything in your contract of employment that held you liable for paying for any accidental damages / breakdown due to lack of fuel?


Should you need a reference in the future however you may find that only option 1 will see you getting a decent one. The choice is yours.

ml1682

The reasons are that if their lorries were properly maintained and the fuel gauges had being working properly I would have realised that the lorry needed fuel and I would have filled up, negating the need to be recovered. I had been working since 5am and it was 8.30pm approx when the lorry needed to be recovered.

Again a yard with many lorries in needs to be properly lit and not obscured by ancillary equipment that cannot be seen (it was a low black trailer).

My contract doesn't mention anything about payment for recovery and only states that I should pay the excess of any insurance claim.

They deducted money from my final wages after I left and are saying the outstanding £2k is my responsibility.

Its very unfair and I feel it is because I left, because of the pressure, rather than because I'm liable.

ohreally

ml1682 wrote: »

They deducted money from my final wages after I left

Did you contest this deduction?

Guest101

ml1682 wrote: »

The reasons are that if their lorries were properly maintained and the fuel gauges had being working properly I would have realised that the lorry needed fuel and I would have filled up, negating the need to be recovered. - But you knew this when you worked there. It wouldn't be difficult to fill up to full, calculate a rough MPG and work around the issue. Alternatively refusing to work would be an option. I had been working since 5am and it was 8.30pm approx when the lorry needed to be recovered. - I don't see the relevance, can you expand on this?

Again a yard with many lorries in needs to be properly lit and not obscured by ancillary equipment that cannot be seen (it was a low black trailer). - But did you ask for assistance, or highlight this, or refuse to carry out unsafe duties?

My contract doesn't mention anything about payment for recovery and only states that I should pay the excess of any insurance claim. - I suspect that wont help as much as you think it would.

They deducted money from my final wages after I left and are saying the outstanding £2k is my responsibility. - It may well be.

Its very unfair and I feel it is because I left, because of the pressure, rather than because I'm liable.

It may be because you left that they are chasing you, but I do think you a liable.

ACG

You are definitely liable for hitting a stationary object. If you can not see, you ask someone to help or go and check yourself. Its part of the highway code. I am not sure how you can blame anyone but yourself for that one.

The fuel is a little tricky, you could argue as someone has you knew they were not working correctly and so after a full days work they were probably there or there abouts, but then the flip side is they should be working. You could argue its also probably a violation of some H&S laws - what happens if you are on the motorway and it runs out....

Darksparkle

Did you raise any of these issues when you worked there?

Jo_F

If it had a faulty fuel gauge then you should not have taken it out on the road, you mark it in your defect sheet when you do your vehicle checks and refuse to take it out, as its your licence on the line for driving a non roadworthy vehicle, so add that to the collision and yep, it seems you are liable.

sangie595

Really, Undaunted has set it out. You pay up or you don't and see what the company do about it. But I agree with others that I can't see this not being your fault. If you know a situation is difficult to reverse in, you either don't reverse or you get help. And if a fuel gauge is faulty either refuse to drive it or make sure you fill up - a whole days driving should fairly obviously have taxed the fuel level.

undaunted

ml1682 wrote: »

The reasons are that if their lorries were properly maintained and the fuel gauges had being working properly I would have realised that the lorry needed fuel and I would have filled up, negating the need to be recovered. I had been working since 5am and it was 8.30pm approx when the lorry needed to be recovered.

Again a yard with many lorries in needs to be properly lit and not obscured by ancillary equipment that cannot be seen (it was a low black trailer).

My contract doesn't mention anything about payment for recovery and only states that I should pay the excess of any insurance claim.

They deducted money from my final wages after I left and are saying the outstanding £2k is my responsibility.

Its very unfair and I feel it is because I left, because of the pressure, rather than because I'm liable.

After a 15 hour day I would think that you'd covered a fair mileage and might reasonably have been able to calculate likely fuel consumption / reserve but again if you didn't do so you didn't.


What kind of lorry were you driving - one with a tachograph or without, had you taken breaks etc?


I also think that you might reasonably be expected not to back into anything where you could not see properly - any insurer would hold you liable for this & I doubt the defence you offer here would be looked upon favourably by any Judge!


This still doesn't automatically entitle them to deduct anything from your wages without your permission. You say that your contract says you would be liable for any insurance xs. Has an insurance claim been made at any point & what was the xs involved? (A £2000 plus bill would seem to suggest that either you've done far more than "hit" something and cause minor damage and / or they are trying to pass the entire bill to you rather than make a claim) If this is the case I suggest you seek some independent legal advice and dispute the bill or wait and if they decide to pursue it defend it in court as going well beyond the terms of your contract