Taxi Driver Online

and the DSS, Housing Benefits, DWP and immigration...

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

The daft thing is, I believe that they received a visit earlier this year regarding this.

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Grandad,

That wouldn't alter the price of fish. It is the old company's legal duty to inform staff that the contract is about to end and who the new operator is. The new company is obliged by law to take the staff on under TUPE.

The amount of working hours or hours worked is immaterial when it comes to TUPE; it is designed to cover all aspects. No matter that a contract ends in July and re-starts in September with a new operator; TUPE could well apply if the same kids are using the same service. the staff to transfer under TUPE must have spent the majority of their time on that service, so your dedicated driver and escort may only do 2 hours a day, they are still entitled to transfer. My bus contract ended in December and re-started in January. I still won the case.

As for the firm paying £3 cash in hand, the council ought to be informed that they are breaking the low pay laws and causing unfair competition. The council could be held complicit in encouraging law breaking!

I pointed this out at an operators meeting 3 years ago. The reply from the coincil was along the lines of "we can't tell operators how to run their businesses. They may well be using volunteers or the wife could be doing it for free."

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Grandad,

Yet Staffs say they may want to see escorts payslips....

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

Not if theres been just 1 amendment to make the job look different, but even so, usually, its not practical for a part time employee to jump firms, and if employed on other work/contracts TUPE cant apply surely?

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

If other work and contracts are undertaken, then TUPE does not usually apply; this was the nub of my case. I was employed by my company to drive the school bus contract. Other work I done for the company was unpaid i.e. filling in tender forms etc.

That the contract has been modified during its course is immaterial. It is what the employees were doing in the last days of the contract, taking kids from A and B via C(amended contract) to school. Is the new contract doing much the same? Yes. TUPE applies!

Part-time or not, it is the employees choice whether to move with the contract. If they choose not to, then grandad's firm has to pay them off, due holiday pay etc. If they transfer, then that liability transfers with the TUPE to the next firm. They might go there for a few days and decide it's not worth staying, so the new lot has to pay their holiday liability etc...

If the new operator's wife is doing it for nothing, then we should look at the case of St.Albans -v- (can't remember at the mo), where the wife done a run in an unlicenced car to help out. Nicked, judgement was that the business benefitted from her actions.

I dont pay my missus, she wouldnt take my money....

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

I took the employment contacts round to the new employers office this morning. I wonder when he will contact me to let me know what is happening.

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Grandad,

One of the parents rang the new company up today to make sure that the new escort was correctly trained for his son's needs. The reply was "we don't know if we will be doing the job yet."

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Grandad,

Isnt it LCC's job to ensure that?

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

LCC say they will provide training where needed, but it won't be until AFTER the job has started.

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Grandad,

...by which time it's too late as they will have to use untrained staff in the meantime.

The "don't know if we'll be doing the job yet" is the old chestnut of "oh we didn't know about TUPE" or "oh merde, we're about to be sussed for paying cash in hand". It's happened round here a couple of times!

Sounds like you've got them on the run now .

Grandad, were you the 2nd best/lowest bid?

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

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