Illegal driving hours

[Albell]

Hi,

I work for a company that happily forced me to work over 10 hours driving in a 16 hour shift, after I told them I was falling asleep at the wheel, I was still made to continue, and had a minor accident on my way home, this has led to me being off work with stress and anxiety, I was also asked to come for a diciplinarry when I refused to work due to not feeling great safe to drive due to these problems. This is literally the tip of the ice burg with this companis awful treatment of staff and working conditions. Wondering where I stand legally on this issue. Thanks in advance

[ULA]

Are you a driver for your job? In which case there are rules and regulation about how long you can drive for and your employer should be ensuring that you comply with these.

Have you raised this as an issue either informally or a formal grievance?

[Albell]

Hi, thanks for your response

I am raising this formally with them as we speak, although I have been so far passed around, and my requests for my tracker records is being ignored. Quite the opposite regards to them ensuring the laws are adhered to, we are always told that we have to go to a job if it comes in (I am an on call electrician covering a very large chunk of England) I raised the question with them and was told that it must be legal otherwise they wouldn't have made the hours the way they are (weekend shifts are from 1130-0200) at the time of telling them I was already falling asleep I'd been on shift for 12 hours, and the extra job would have definitely pushed me over the limit

[ULA]

So effectively are you are a mobile worker? Have you opted out of the Working Time Directives 48 hour working week. Working time includes traveling time between sites and customers since, if you are a mobile worker, it is integral to your job.

[Albell]

yes, I have, but have checked the government site, and it states that driving more than 10 hours per shift is punishable with a fine or even jail time

[Albell]

the issue here isn't so Mich total hours, as it is hoirs spent behind the wheel

[Albell]

*much

[ULA]

I presume you are referring to this information which relates to lorry, bus and coach drivers.

https://www.gov.uk/drivers-hours/gb-domestic-rules

[Albell]

no, it falls under gb domestic during laws https://www.gov.uk/guidance/drivers-...domestic-rules

[Albell]

I have also spoken to acas, who confirmed the relevance

[ULA]

Yes I posted up the link because of its relevance and it supporting any formal grievance that you raise.

[Albell]

ah ok, sorry, i thought you were referring specifically to vehicles with tacos....... I'd just woken up an email went around recently regarding cuts in the way we're paid so the company can make more profit (another grievance I'm raising) and the response from other engineers shows that these conditions are completely the norm, and everyone is pressured into driving above these limits. in total I think there are about 4 or 5 issues, but this is the most serious, and the one that has led to me suffering panic attacks and anxiety due to an accident which happened after I told them I was too tired to drive whilst being unaware of the law.