Legal advice - Being sued by ex employer.

[Iain.]

Everyone on here loves a bit of drama right?

Situation;

Was self employed courier driver & driving a company van. Was being charged £120 a week to rent this van with no rental agreement.

Was being worked excessively. They were aware of this. Had complained to all members of management that 22hrs driving in one stretch 5 days a week, sleeping the odd hour in the cab between shifts was dangerous and would result in an accident.

Crashed. Hit a wall at 60ish and completely wrecked the van.

They then told me I wasn't wanted back. Was told I could pick up my final paycheque on the Friday. Arrived to be taken into a meeting and told they were refusing to pay me due to van damages. I told them this was unnacceptable, showed texts to my immediate manager telling him I was unable to work when this tired and even asking what my notice period was as I felt I was at risk. Whenever I complained about hours being excessive I was told that I would be sacked/was replaceable, however they always did this verbally so I have no evidence.

They agree to re-think not paying me and contact me on Monday.

They then ignore all texts. Or claimed to be doing something about it. Nothing happened as was expected, felt I'd been told that they would reconsider just to get me out of their office as I was refusing to accept that I wasn't going to get paid for working an 85hr week.

Issued them with a 7 day notice requesting the money owed in writing as meetings, phonecalls and texts were getting me nowhere & I read that small claims will look more favourably on you for trying to work out the issue with the other party.

They replied stating they were holding my money due to the damages caused to the van and are considering suing me for negligence to the tune of £3,500 which may increase depending on the amount of damage underneath the van.

I now need to seek legal advice as I'm really stressing about this.

I belive small claims court gets me my wages back, plus can claim interest at a set rate. (regardless of it being a tiny amount I'd really like to go for every penny from these bastards) as their letter acknowledges they owe me money and that they are refusing to pay it, would this be correct?

Can I get sued for negligence if I go down this route? I've never admitted any reason for the crash. Nothing was signed on to prove I was driving that night. No police were present so the accident was never investigated. I repeatedly told all managers that I diddn't know what had happened & the hospital confirmed I'd hit my head pretty hard. The vans are tracked however & I did call my boss to report the accident.

Can supply letters exact wording and more details if it helps.

[CaNsA]

May I be the first to,

https://i.imgur.com/XCtSQjm.gif

[Hahadumball]

why you being a pussy?

"no fuck off give me my money, stick the "we will sue you" up your arse"

simple as that.

they gonna sue you for making you drive those hours with threats of losing your job..

because thattl stand up well in court.
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360 Deg... Five 1/4 turns. :- Teflon-Mike 18 Jan 2015

[CaNsA]

[iooi]

[Iain.]

[arry]

[Robby]

So many holes on both sides of the argument, I can't see either side coming out of this well.

A few bits to consider.
1. You were working more than 48 hours per week. Did you sign the working time directive opt-out? If you didn't, then you can't be expected to work more than the 48 hours and if the employer paid you for more than 48 hours then they would be admitting their breach. So it's in their best interests to not pay you. This is assuming you were an employee and not self employed.

2. When you took the van, you signed something. What did you sign? It probably had a bit on who was responsible for the vehicle, what insurance covered and any excesses (usually quite high).

3. The driver of the vehicle is responsible for that vehicle, even if the driver is a potato jellyfish. I'm not sure what sympathy you expect on a motorcycle forum when you tell us that you drove a van until you fell asleep at the wheel. If the police decide to investigate you could be in a spot of bother.

It sounds like the company have covered themselves fairly well by not giving any of the legally questionable direction to you in writing, so no proof there. Your job should be to grow a backbone and refuse to do something dangerous, and get such requests in writing - which includes email, but text messages are a bit more dubious.

[Rogerborg]

[P.]

Do what pikeys do, change your name and address.

[Doovy]

Oh
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Yamaha RXS 100 > Honda CD 250 > Honda Hornet 600 > Honda CBR 600RR > Yamaha RXS 100 > Kawasaki ZX6R J2 > Yamaha FZ1

[Tracey Suntan-King]

Looks like a Mexican stand-off.

They're threatening you with a spurious claim so you give up your legitimate claim.

Sorry you're getting stressed, it's a shitty situation. However it looks as though you're best walking away. I know losing the money is probably a disaster and your sense of injustice is doing overtime.

However as Roger wisely said above, action by you, whether or not they counter-claim (they almost certainly won't, but you won't know) is likely to escalate, causing you more stress over a longer term.

Perhaps best to put this down to experience and be super-vigilant* about checking your next employer/contractor next time.

There are of course underhand tactics you can use against them, but it would be stupid to discuss them here, and they won't bring any money back to you.

* same as normal vigilant but you have to wear a mask and a cape
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Whether you think you can, or think you can't, you're probably right

[lihp]

I may be incorrect on this, but surely the hours you're driving, and to ensure you're safe to drive is YOUR responsibility.

If you choose to claim, and they report the crash to the police. How would you come out of that?
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covent.gardens: lihp is my most favourite member ever

[Carvel]

[smegballs]

[BTTD]

[ScaredyCat]

Go back and say you'll work for another week. Take van out first day, crash it. Walk away... "fuk you bitches" ...




or just walk away, life is like a box of chocolates, brown and sugary
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Honda CBF125 ➝ NC700X
Honda CBF125 ↳ Speed Triple

[Rogerborg]

[CaNsA]

[P.]

[CaNsA]

[Llama-Farmer]

But do self-employed courier drivers even make enough money to be able to afford commercial insurance?


From what I've heard, they're often looking at £100 a day for 18 hour days, with one full day being worked for free (due to having to pay to borrow the van)

So say they work 5 days, that's £400 a week for 90 hours.
If you're working that hard (for that little) you probably can't afford to fork out for commercial insurance as well
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Dream Bikes: Honda VFR750R RC30, Honda NSR500, Ducati 996 R

[arry]

[Pie-Roe]

You might want to consider getting a job stacking shelves or similar. It'll likely be less risk than crashing vehicles owned by your employers.
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[Iain.]