Can employer discipline employee for standard of driving off site

Tabieth

They were racing each other at high speed through a village. It’s stupid, juvenile, deeply irresponsible behaviour and it was lucky they didn’t hurt / kill anyone. And it sounds like they had an informal talking to which seems reasonable to me. They should be grateful that they weren’t pulled over by the police and now facing dangerous driving charges.

Savvy_Sue

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81890506#Comment_81890506

I suspect the OP would say "but that's hearsay, there's no real evidence that happened", but even hearsay could (and probably should) result in an informal conversation.

When you get a lot of traffic near a large employer, it behoves all employees to be on the best behaviour, IMO.

We live near a council depot. Employees park their cars on surrounding roads. When it was bin lorries and gritters, cars were parked solidly around all four corners of the nearest crossroads. Now it's parks and gardens, their parking is MUCH better, and there are fewer of them, but it hasn't stopped the council painting double yellows around all the nearby corners.

But going back to the previous poor parking, there were times when I was tempted to make a complaint because there are a lot of children crossing the road at that crossroads (no pavement opposite our house, so unwise to cross anywhere else). I'd have expected managers to speak to the worst offenders.

YBR

In certain businesses, any irresponsible risk-taking behaviour would be a bad sign whether in work or not, and if repeated would warrant a disciplinary process, formal if necessary, provided there was evidence not just hearsay.

elsien

I think the issue here is the doing of while leaving work. Employers tend to want to keep locals onside. Speed racing through one of the the nearer villages tends not to to that, and it is likely that presumptions would be made.

Probably less of an issue for the employer if they’d kept their boy racing to somewhere unaffiliated.

Mr.Generous

I'd go with the "Bringing the name of the company into disrepute" angle, arguing that when a shift finish time is followed by drivers racing through the villages the locals will conclude they came from the workplace without needing evidence.

I would ponder however, how the other employee was able to keep up and observe the standard of driving through villages - if someone is racing that would imply they left you behind pretty quickly if you were driving normally.

I think the young lads need to learn a lesson and drive better if they were racing, and of all the ways to learn a ticking off at work is surely better than police, court. fine, insurance hike, vehicle damage, injury or death.

ButterCheese

It doesn't sound unreasonable to me. Very often, behaviour like this is witnessed by other people who then know or guess where the offenders work, and can form a negative perception of the company. I know this because I hold the same prejudices towards scaffolding trucks and white vans. i.e. most of them cut me up, drive dangerously and the drivers are often smoking weed

Keep_pedalling

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81890381#Comment_81890381

They may not have been caught by the police, but what they were doing was a criminal offence (possibly more than one). Speeding is a criminal offence and racing on a public road likely to lead to the more serious criminal offence of dangerous driving.

TELLIT01

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81890816#Comment_81890816

Maybe the person asking the question was one of those spoken to?

SiliconChip

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81890478#Comment_81890478

Why not give us your opinion then?

saajan_12

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81890381#Comment_81890381

I only mention senior employees because those are the cases that make news, and proves its perfectly legal. That doesn't mean it doesn't also happen at lower levels.

And I can spin the phrasing too.. a few sandwiches vs reckless and dangerous behaviour which could kill.