Yesterday I was working with a medium sized haulage company and the owner had to disappear for a while.
When he came back he was fuming! He asked his wages clerk to complete the P45 etc for an employee that he had just sacked.
The employee was using a GPS jammer in the company's HGV against policy.
As a result of thefts and customers complaining about late deliveries (late delivery penalties) the company had spent thousands on equipping all of their tractors and trailers with GPS trackers and mobile phones to track the lorries.
One truck went "missing" heading up the A1. The company has the ability to interrogate the system via the mobile connection which reported that no GPS signal was being received.
The driver was called and asked to return and a GPS jammer was found in his truck. He didn't like being tracked apparently. The owner said that he was in a vehicle that was robbed a few months previously.
Police apparently informed but not overly interested.
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IMHO it was the only course of action they could take and was absolutely justified.
We've had the same problem with dashcam sim cards...they keep walking. They do fit other things too and it was only when one of ours had a bump that it was discovered there was no sim card in the camera.
It's a condition of our insurance policy that all lorries are equipped with a dash cam so now we have made it a part of the daily walk round check and anyone found without one will be disciplined/sacked.
Why don't drivers realise a lot of these 'new fangled' things they don't like are there to protect them as well?
*bangs head against wall*
Pat
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I agree Pat!
I was working on a funding package for the co. Customer satisfaction is key as there is little to differentiate companies other than price!
In day to day business there is nothing worse for them, then to explain to a customer that their load has been lost even if it is insured - it puts production lines back and staff get sent home - sometimes without pay - if they are on zero hour contracts.
The company treats drivers well. They get a decent pay rate, very reasonable canteen, showers etc.
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>>then day to day business there is nothing worse for them, then to explain to a customer that their load has been lost even if it is insured <<
I know just how they feel.
Customers want tracked vehicles, updates on deliveries and fully trained drivers.
We also pay the drivers very well.....a lot better than when I was a driver there and still they want to buck the system.
While I try to tread a fine line between being an ex-driver and 'one of the lads' and telling they are being a pain in the aris!
Pat
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>> Police apparently informed but not overly interested.
I assume you mean the Police were not interested in the jammer rather than the robbery?
The driver has been dismissed for what must constitute gross misconduct. If he thinks that's wrong he can go to Employment Tribunal or County Court (breach of contract). Possible I guess that the jammer is an illegal transmitter per Radio Communications legislation but that's specialist stuff and more likely to be prosecuted by the successor to the Radiocommunications Agency (Ofcom?).
What else did the employer think the Police could or would do?
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>>rather than the robbery
It was related to the previous robbery even though the link was tenuous the company thought it best to let them know.
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Maybe I am looking at it from another angle.If everything you do is checked and tracked that is like working in a prison environment.
Some people can work that way others can't even if it is for your own good.
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>>tracking...
I understand what you are saying Dutchie, I often wear a tin foil hat when taking my company iPhone with me - I suspect it tracks where I am.
;-)
On a more serious note, these trucks trundle up and down the motorways* with stock worth a medium sized fortune and no security. I can understand the owners wanting to know where they are.
It was also explained to me that some customers even plan their production schedules based on the time of arrival of their deliveries (they have access to the tracking).
*when they are not pulling out on me like the Eddie Stobart one on the A14 yesterday. If I see them indicating I nearly always let them out - this one pulled out when I was parallel to his rear wheels with no indication.
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>>some customers even plan their production schedules based on the time of arrival of their deliveries (they have access to the tracking<<
That is absolutely right.
We supply a lot of production plants as well as supermarket RDC's and Cash & Carry's and that does happen very often.
Another thing that surprised me too a propos of nothing!
One of our drivers decided he wasn't going to wait for his goods to be checked and get his signed POD's from Morrisons RDC.
We have to have this as proof of delivery for our customer before we can bill them.
Morrisons charge us £300 per replacement set of POD's and he had four suppliers on that day so his fit of impatience and pique cost us £1200.
....and we do get charged for late deliveries too.
Pat
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Not being funny Pat is that one of the reasons there is a shortage of lorry drivers?
Maybe to much pressure and not enough money in their wages unless they are on about 2 grand a month net.I don't know what the salary is just guessing.
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Our drivers are on more than that now Dutchie but they have to realise that it comes with a professional attitude to the job.
It's what the customer demands and without customers we don't need drivers!
Pat
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>> Our drivers are on more than that now
i never really thought about how much they were on. But that number surprised me.
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>> i never really thought about how much they were on. But that number surprised me.
£2k a month after tax is what? mid £30k's pa?
A decent rate but not excessive if you want real committed professionals.
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>> £2k a month after tax is what? mid £30k's pa?
£30650
tinyurl.com/zyup6g3
Link to salary calculator
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>> £30650
>>
>> tinyurl.com/zyup6g3
£35k = £2k pcm after tax and NI.
Perhaps you forgot that you and I as 'pensioners' don't pay NI.
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>> £35k = £2k pcm after tax and NI.
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>> Perhaps you forgot that you and I as 'pensioners' don't pay NI.
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If you go into that salary calculator I posted a link to... and type in £30650.... all the figures spring up, inc NI.
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> £2k a month after tax is what? mid £30k's pa?
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>> A decent rate but not excessive if you want real committed professionals.
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I suppose it depends where you are in the country. Not making a point per se just surprised a wagon driver would be pulling in £35k.
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I should think that for must truck drivers the hourly rate is pretty sucky.
There's a limited about of driving hours, but there's a whole 'nother bunch of away from home, not free to do what you want hours.
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>> I should think that for must truck drivers the hourly rate is pretty sucky.
that's what i thought, although I have very little knowledge of the industry.
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I used to get £3.45 ph when I drove for Salserve about a billion years ago. Less than that at Debenhams.
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It's not a good hourly rate and does vary with areas but around here the rate usually starts around £9 per hour.
The reason the money is good is the average amount of hours worked per week is 70 and most of those are unsocial hours.
Pat
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>> It's not a good hourly rate and does vary with areas but around here the
>> rate usually starts around £9 per hour.
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>> The reason the money is good is the average amount of hours worked per week
>> is 70 and most of those are unsocial hours.
Thanks for the explanation, makes sense. I thought the max hours worked p/week was supposed to be less than that?
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I hear what you're saying Dutchie and 5 years ago when I was driving I felt just like that too but you have to move with the times.
If you want to live/work in the past then the answer is to go and work for the man down the road with a couple of lorries paying peanuts and getting monkeys, I'm afraid.
Sad, and hard, but very true.
Pat
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I am not surprised that lorries (and company cars?) are tracked. I recently bought an item from the Netherlands and it was tracked in and out of each hub even the ones in the UK when it was only there for less than an hour. It might have been on one lorry from Birmingham to Edinburgh via Carlisle on an overnight move.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Thu 16 Jun 16 at 18:03
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The GPS jammer will be a unlicensable device.
Bromptonaut is right in thinking it's an OFCOM matter, but very difficult to prosecute. Almost all transmitter are legal to import and own, although I think the AM CB transmitters were made illegal to import, although I'm not sure if anyone was ever prosecuted (and I know a way to make them legal anyway).
OFCOM is a umbrella organisation and is made up of he Broadcasting Standards Commission, the Independent Television Commission, the Office of Telecommunications (Oftel), the Radio Authority, and the Radiocommunications Agency.
Last edited by: Slidingpillar on Thu 16 Jun 16 at 18:15
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One of my suppliers of beekeeping equipment gives me tracking data on my delivery which is up to date and on a map so I can estimate to within 5 minutes when it is going to be delivered.. Useful if you want to go out..
(Too large to be left on a doorstep and liable to rain damage.
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Amazon deliveries round here are a lottery as to whether it's DPD, Yodel or WVM.
DPD tracking shows exactly where the van is and estimated time of arrival. Very useful and very accurate.
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>> DPD tracking shows exactly where the van is and estimated time of arrival. Very useful
>> and very accurate.
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DPD delivered my stuff, I kept an eye on the vans location. As you say very accurate, I could see on the online map that the van was in the service area behind the nearby shopping sheds before it came to me.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Thu 16 Jun 16 at 20:51
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Do you track the individual bees, Madf? They wouldn't jam the tracker, of course; might honey it, though.
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I only use suppliers that use DPD because I can track not only the delivery to a one hour window but exactly where the vehicle is and also how many drops he has before getting to me, I can time the delivery down to 5 minutes. It is very useful so I can time my jobs for the day.
A lot of firms that use Yodal etc, that simply say the delivery is from 7:00am to 9:00pm have lost my business.
Delays do happen, but my suppliers supply me on a basis if it doesn't arrive on time, I can take the item back to get a refund.
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>> DPD, Yodel or WVM
DPD - very good
Yodel also use WVM - or in the case around here at least a bloke in a car with his boot full of parcels arranged in a random way.
I tend to get parcels from Amazon delivered somewhere else so I don't need to worry about being in, e.g. Post Office or a newsagents.
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>> DPD - very good
Agreed, excellent.
Yodel, truly awful.
So much so, i'll also avoid a product if I find out the company uses Yodel.
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I'm surprised how many people use the tracking systems, don't think I've ever used it once on any delivery.
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I use the Post Office for Amazon stuff unless it'll go through the door. It's only 100 yds away.
I just don't trust the man next door and, on non Amazon stuff, I stipulate where it's not to be left !
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You want to work in an office that has a 24 hour reception!!
Get deliveries anytime you want!
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In the 5 years I've lived up 'ere, I've had nuffink but excellent service from all shades of courier services, except Parcel Force.
I haves me dog food (Millies) delivered by DPD on a regular basis, nice chap, Steve. He was in a hurry yesterday to get home in time to watch some game which involves kicking a ball up and down.
Hermes are quite excellent too, and Yodel (up here) Had a new dusty bin delivered by Yodel while I woz out with the dogs, he climbed over my (locked) five-bar gate (naughty, naughty) and put the dusty bin in one-of my 3 man caves - not the one with the young Satvia plants fortunately.
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>> I tend to get parcels from Amazon delivered somewhere else so I don't need to
>> worry about being in, e.g. Post Office or a newsagents.
Do you need to be a Amazon Prime subscriber for deliveries to newsagents, etc?
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We use the nearby Post Office come corner shop for our deliveries, the one mentioned above where I monitored the vans progress was too big and heavy for the local drop off.
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>> Do you need to be a Amazon Prime subscriber for deliveries to newsagents, etc?
The answer to my own question appears to be Yes, as long as the goods are not sold by a third-party seller, and there are restrictions regarding weight, dimensions, etc...
Last edited by: VxFan on Sat 18 Jun 16 at 17:58
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I'm not with Amazon Prime. I have no problem in getting them delivered to the Post Office.
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Lorry Driver Sacked for Using GPS Jammer - Pat
