help for a friend please

[labman]

Re: help for a friend please

The issue here is that the sacked bus driver wasn't making or receiving calls whilst driving, it's a bit like being accused of shoplifting when you haven't stolen anything, you just brought something in from another shop!

If your phone is making you uncomfortable while driving, surely you are allowed to take it out of your pocket, as you would any other object. :ohwell:

Indeed you are. I hope nobody would attempt to take a mobile out of their trouser pockets while driving with a seat belt on though. That in itself would be downright dangerous. You'd stop, take off your seatbelt, remove the phone and put it elsewhere, put your belt back on and drive off. That would be entirely lawful.

Also, the phone was being held because' "the reason he took it out of his pocket was because it vibrated and the only way work can contact the drivers is to call them on mobile." Do you not think this indicates he was looking to see if work had contacted him?

[FlamingParrot]

Re: help for a friend please

Also, the phone was being held because' "the reason he took it out of his pocket was because it vibrated and the only way work can contact the drivers is to call them on mobile." Do you not think this indicates he was looking to see if work had contacted him?

It could well do, your guess is as good as mine, however, there's still a BIG difference between looking and using the phone to make and/or receive calls. :cell:

This is an employment matter rather than a traffic offence issue, if work contact drivers on their mobiles, there probably is an internal procedure that sets out what drivers should do when that happens, there may well be a clause somewhere that says they are never to touch the phone while driving, we just don't know. :ohwell:

[labman]

Re: help for a friend please

It could well do, your guess is as good as mine, however, there's still a BIG difference between looking and using the phone to make and/or receive calls. :cell:

Not if both could very easily result in a fatal accident there isn't. Different cause, same outcome. A driver of a coach should be looking at the road!

That aside, I agree with you entirely - it's down to what's in the contract / employment procedures and policies etc... That's where the true solution to this is likely to be found.

[des8]

Re: help for a friend please

I'm backing off......made too many assumptions already

[MissFM]

Re: help for a friend please

Sorry to but in but - shouldn't the employer of anyone who drives for them and can only be contacted (and will be contacted) by a mobile phone supply them with a hands-free set as a matter of course? Not that that helps in this case, I suppose - but you see it all the time, especially with delivery drivers lost and running late swaying all over the road with a phone to their ear and one hand on the wheel......

[TUTTSI]

Re: help for a friend please

When I worked for a company who had a fleet of lorries on the road they were definitely NOT allowed to use the mobile phones whilst driving - it was a sackable offence as well as breaking the law.

[enaid]

Re: help for a friend please

As the OP states that the only way to contact a driver is through his mobile then I think it would be in order for the company to provide hand free sets in the drivers cabin. I have been on buses when you can hear message coming from somewhere maybe a radio or something similar.

[MissFM]

Re: help for a friend please

As the OP states that the only way to contact a driver is through his mobile then I think it would be in order for the company to provide hand free sets in the drivers cabin. I have been on buses when you can hear message coming from somewhere maybe a radio or something similar.

That's what I was trying to say Enaid, only you put it so much better. I thought all PSVs had to have some form of hands-free radio/telephone contact?

[enaid]

Re: help for a friend please

That's what I was trying to say Enaid, only you put it so much better. I thought all PSVs had to have some form of hands-free radio/telephone contact?

didnt see your post sorry lol

They bloody well need em too these days I wouldn't drive a bus full of school kids, even if I could drive properly lol

[MissFM]

Re: help for a friend please

didnt see your post sorry lol

They bloody well need em too these days I wouldn't drive a bus full of school kids, even if I could drive properly lol

Or ******** fans

[MissFM]

Re: help for a friend please

Have just reread the OP's first post and do really wonder if there mightn't be some change in shaming the employer on Enaid's point - it seems yet another example of an employer imposing conditions on the employee (to skimp/save money) that cannot be met without sailing extremely close to the wind Elf'n'Safety wise -and legally - then passing the buck.:tinysmile_hmm_t2:

[charitynjw]

Re: help for a friend please

We really need to see the employment contract/ employment particulars.

[TUTTSI]

Re: help for a friend please

If it is a condition of the employment where the employers provide the mobile phones to be able to keep in touch with their drivers then they must to keep within the law provide hands free. If however, the driver is using his own mobile and it is not business related then that person should be using hands free in any case which is then nothing to do with his employer.

[FlamingParrot]

Re: help for a friend please

We really need to see the employment contract/ employment particulars.

That was exactly my point!

This is an employment matter rather than a generic legal matter, where doing something that contravenes company policy can be a sackable offence even when it's not against the law as such, I should know all about that! :grin: :grin: :grin:

it all depends on what the company's rules are, the devil is in the detail! :thumb:

[enaid]

Re: help for a friend please


Communication: drivers can currently use their own mobile phones in case of an emergency but First Leeds is about to fit a special communications device – probably a radio – in every vehicle. The radio will connect to a central contact point at the depot, from which messages can be sent to all drivers.


http://www.hse.gov.uk/violence/hslcasestudies/first.htm