Taxi Driver Online

I have a contract with county hall for transporting students to a special school. The original contract was for 3 students and an escort. The job has been changed to add another student. What this means is that I have to use a larger vehicle and some extra time and niles. The council do not like the revised price and are putting the job out to tender. The driver and escort that I have on the job are both employees of the company and in the event that I don't win the contract and it is awarded to another company, can my employees claim TUPE and continue the contract with the new company?

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Grandad,

Yes. But it depends whether this is their only work for your company or do other drivers and escort do this run as well?

Doubt it, TUPE only covers you if your company gets taken over and you transfer to the new company.

I would say yes.

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IDFIMH

It relates to the contract.

We had similar issues down here and TUPE applied.

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IDFIMH

They are the only ones that do this contract. They were employed specifically for this contract. In my opinion the driver and escort are worth their weight in gold. The parents are absolutly furious that they may not be on the contract in the new year but the council are only interested in the lowest price. I believe that the price that I have given is as low as I can go with the staff being employed but the reality is that another company will probably win it because they will have a slave driver and an escort that is paid peanuts because they are claiming benefits and not declaring their income.

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Grandad,

It'd be interesting if TUPE covered it.

That is how it read to me but I know that some on here have a different view.

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Grandad,

Let us know how you get on because it's an interesting one is this.

Having won a TUPE claim against Kent County Council when my tendered school bus route was taken over by their own Kent Top Travel bus company, KCC were of the impression that TUPE "doesn't apply". That was a very expensive mistake on their part.

Providing your driver and escort have been employed (you pay their tax and NI) on that contract, and you say they have solely been employed on that contract and you have documents to prove it, then TUPE will apply providing the new service is not substantially different to the one you provided.

So your service goes from home A, via home B to school X. They alter the run to go via home C slightly off line of route between home A and school X. The fact that the original passenger still go from A and B to X means it's still substantially the same service. TUPE applies.

One of the reasons TUPE was introduced in the UK was due to our friends in the EU sticking their oars in and giving displaced workers RIGHTS (wait for input from TT) after our "friend" Thatcher tried privatising the NHS cleaning services and lowering wages. She made a very, very, expensive mistake when she found out about TUPE and that it DOES apply in the UK.

Whilst it may not be of any comfort to you to lose your contract and staff, your staff should not suffer loss of work, wages or conditions if the contract transfers to another operator. They are obliged to employ them at the same or better rates and conditions.

This is something county councils fail to take into account when they re-let taxi contract, mainly because most taxi drivers are self-employed. The CC must also take into account whether the escort and driver are on minimum wages or above. Again, KCC have found this out the hard was recently when they reminded operators of the need to pay MW to escorts! A number of contracts were handed back and re-tendered because of that.

Edited to add that if the new operator fails to employ your ex-staff, then they are guilty of causing unfair dismissal. It is your duty to inform your staff of the situation and to provide details of wages and T&C of employment to others who may be tendering for the job if requested. The new incumbent may have a nasty surprise in store.

Was this won in court? If so do you have the details so that I can get a copy and forward it to the council before the tender finishes next Wednesday.

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Grandad,

Don't forget also, that any driver doing a council contract must also be paid the min wage, along with the escort, that's what our council stipulate, but how can an alleged driver be both self and employed????

Grandad, if your firm was a Ltd company (meaning you too are an employee) then YOU could be covered, any employees are covered anyway

or as Staffs put it...


Wiki says...

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Of all the things ive lost, i miss my mind the most

My case was at Ashford Industrial Tribunal, about 3 year ago, Gould-v-Kent Top Travel. I don't have the case details to hand and google can't seem to find the actual case, though it finds the barrister who appeared for KTT (and lost though she doesn't mention that bit).

I've gone back 10 pages on google and there's nothing apart from the above.