Disciplinary tomorrow, urgent advice needed

JayDott93

Hi all, my first post here so please if it's in the wrong sub forum then please let me know.

I'll try keep it as short as possible.

I have to attend a disciplinary hearing tomorrow for Theft from a works vehicle. The item in question which I am being accused of stealing is Cannabis.

I had to repossess a van from a guy who's been put on sick leave for depression for health and safety reasons, the work had an idea at the time that drugs were a part of the issue. I was not told this however and proceeded to collect the van.

When we got to the van we looked inside and instantly found drug paraphernalia and empty bags, some with white residue on the inside and some normal.

Me and the fella who went there had a little laugh about it when we found it such as "what a find" etc just general banter, I then drove the van home.

On the way back the cannabis was stinking out the van, now with me being in a company marked vehicle I began to think if I am involved in an accident or pulled over for a break light out or something then they will smell this instantly, meaning I will get done for possession and potentially lose my license.

I decided the best option to do to stay within the law is to dispose of it so I threw it out the window. Now I am being accused of stealing it because the lad I went with told my work there was drugs inside the van. This is not fair at all and I can't believe this is happening.

I have been at my work for 6 years almost 7 now and I am most definitely not a thief! I handle thousands of pounds worth of equipment on a daily basis so I don't get this at all.

Do I stand a chance of dismissal?

Soot2006

I should think the chance of dismissal depends entirely on the culture of your workplace and your relationship with the bosses. But even then, it is extremely irresponsible and possible illegal to throw cannabis out of the window of a van, where anyone could have found it. The correct thing to do would have been to call the non-emergency police, photograph everything as you found it, then do whatever the police told you to do - sit tight and wait for a bobby, drive to the nearest station, etc ... At best, you displayed very poor judgement, and that would concern me as an employer.

Cyclizine

Why did you not call the police then? The whole scenario seems a bit unlikely to be honest...

ohreally

Surely there are operating procedures to deal with this, did you follow them?

Why didn't you make all this known to your manager at the time of discovery, or call the police?

agrinnall

JayDott93 wrote: »

Do I stand a chance of dismissal?

Yes, and I'd say there's a pretty good chance you will be. The contents of the van were not yours to dispose of, if you had concerns about the legality of items then you could have driven to a police station to report them.



And for future reference, littering is never the right thing to do, although any reasonable person would already know that.

Cheeky_Monkey

JayDott93 wrote: »

I decided the best option to do to stay within the law is to dispose of it so I threw it out the window. /QUOTE]

Sorry but I don't believe you so I imagine there's a good chance that your employer won't either!

iammumtoone

It doesn't sound good.

You should never of taken the van the correct thing to do is when you looked into it and found the substances was to report it to your supervisor/the person who told you to take the van.

The best thing to do is apologise and hope that your previous conduct will be taken into account.

I dont think this is about theft, I am not sure if legally you can be charged with stealing an illegal substace but you have clearly not acted in the best interests of the comany and this is something they can 'get' you on.

sangie595

So, let me get this right. You and your mate found a range of drug paraphernalia in the van, including bags with white residue in them, and you were worried the police would pull you over, so the only thing you threw out of the window was the cannabis? Why didn't you report it straight away? What did you think you were going to do with it when you started to drive it home, without having reported it?

This story is full of holes. The fact that cannabis itself is illegal doesn't mean that you can't be disciplined for stealing it - this was your employers van, and having found an illegal substance in it, they should have been informed straight away, and they should have decided what to do with it. Disposing of it, if that is what you did, is still removing it without authority. And you have no proof that is what you did.

Under the circumstances, I think that this may be one of those situations where grovelling is the only real answer.

Diamandis

I don't believe someone would throw weed out of their window. Did you mention this to your employers first or only tell them this when they asked?