Being sent to other offices

Daymon18 · Post by **Daymon18** » 08 Apr 2019, 22:12

Quick question regarding being sent to other offices, I’m a part timer on a 30 hour contract and I’m down as a spare. For literally the last 3 months I’ve been sent to a different office at least 3 times a week, and these offices aren’t just a 20 minute drive down the road! I’ve been sent to about 6 different offices the closest being 20 miles away and the furthest being 65, I’m only ever told on the morning of work, the other day I was half way to one office and they rang to say I’m not needed there go to another office instead which was a further 1 hour and 20 minute drive.. I do claim the petrol money and overtime, but that doesn’t go into my account for a week or two, so that’s money I need for food, bills etc that I’m having to fork out on petrol due to being sent to offices all the time. Don’t have enough vans so I can’t use one, and on numerous occasions have asked someone else to do it as I’m always seeming to be sent out but they always respond with there’s nobody else to go. Getting really pissed off and wanting to leave because of it, any advice would be great! Cheers

arnold cheshire · Post by **arnold cheshire** » 08 Apr 2019, 22:15

Daymon18 wrote:Quick question regarding being sent to other offices, I’m a part timer on a 30 hour contract and I’m down as a spare. For literally the last 3 months I’ve been sent to a different office at least 3 times a week, and these offices aren’t just a 20 minute drive down the road! I’ve been sent to about 6 different offices the closest being 20 miles away and the furthest being 65, I’m only ever told on the morning of work, the other day I was half way to one office and they rang to say I’m not needed there go to another office instead which was a further 1 hour and 20 minute drive.. I do claim the petrol money and overtime, but that doesn’t go into my account for a week or two, so that’s money I need for food, bills etc that I’m having to fork out on petrol due to being sent to offices all the time. Don’t have enough vans so I can’t use one, and on numerous occasions have asked someone else to do it as I’m always seeming to be sent out but they always respond with there’s nobody else to go. Getting really pissed off and wanting to leave because of it, any advice would be great! Cheers

Use a van from office

Interested-seeker · Post by **Interested-seeker** » 08 Apr 2019, 22:17

If you do not have business insurance on your car, you are not covered to drive to other offices. You could use this as a reason to not go. Say you are not going to another office unless they give you a van.

cpsteve · Post by **cpsteve** » 08 Apr 2019, 22:31

65 miles away thats not on get your union rep on it if you dont want to go there its meant to be local offices.

Route1 · Post by **Route1** » 09 Apr 2019, 01:07

Daymon18 wrote:Quick question regarding being sent to other offices, I’m a part timer on a 30 hour contract and I’m down as a spare. For literally the last 3 months I’ve been sent to a different office at least 3 times a week, and these offices aren’t just a 20 minute drive down the road! I’ve been sent to about 6 different offices the closest being 20 miles away and the furthest being 65, I’m only ever told on the morning of work, the other day I was half way to one office and they rang to say I’m not needed there go to another office instead which was a further 1 hour and 20 minute drive.. I do claim the petrol money and overtime, but that doesn’t go into my account for a week or two, so that’s money I need for food, bills etc that I’m having to fork out on petrol due to being sent to offices all the time. Don’t have enough vans so I can’t use one, and on numerous occasions have asked someone else to do it as I’m always seeming to be sent out but they always respond with there’s nobody else to go. Getting really pissed off and wanting to leave because of it, any advice would be great! Cheers

From my understanding you are a spare but you are still assigned to one office. You go to your office for your start time. They can send you to another office and you can claim the overtime if you are late back including travel time (if you are wanting the ot). I just wouldnt ever take my own car even if you claim wear/tear / petrol / travel time etc.
It is their responsibility to get you to the other office and back. You might find that they dont send you out if you arent willing to drive your own car. In my opinion (so not fact) I think you are not insured for taking your car to another office.

We've had people sent to our office who had an earlier finish time than us and told the dom that they cant finish due to earlier finish + travel time back to office + break. They are perfectly entitled to finish on their time.

I've asked to be sent to another office when working my day instead of one of the new guys. They dont let me go

I can be as slow as I want cos I dont know the areas in another office.

I've been sent to other offices in the past to do maybe an hour or three of delivery. I WOULD NEVER DRIVE MY OWN CAR TO ANOTHER OFFICE. I've always taken a RM van or been given a lift by a colleague in a RM van or by a manager in their car. I would love to be sent to an office 65 miles away. So much travel time that leaves little time for delivery

miles_peters · Post by **miles_peters** » 09 Apr 2019, 04:46

stop putting miles on your own car. refuse unless they supply transport.

twoloops · Post by **twoloops** » 09 Apr 2019, 07:12

In my office Ive noticed they send the same "willing" posties

the first time I was asked to go my answer was "how do I get there? I walk to work" never asked again.

Celgar · Post by **Celgar** » 09 Apr 2019, 12:54

Can the mods write a 'sticky' post for this issue and place it somewhere really visible please??

Do not ever use your own transport to drive to another office ever!!!
It is RMs responsibility to transport you there and back within your duty time.
Starting point is from your 'home' DO - do not go straight to the other DO they want you to work at!

Post by **HTPostman** » 10 Apr 2019, 07:19

We had someone sent here from a DO 20 miles away. She seemed intelligent and with it, but bemoaned the fact it's always her sent to different offices. She also said it's cost her a fortune in insurance as she's had to upgrade to business insurance so she can keep doing it.

Ridiculous really. I quit the first time round because I was sent here there and everywhere, looking back no one to blame but myself. I've not been asked yet to go elsewhere (chronically understaffed here, been told 40% of work in the office has to be done on OT) but when I am I'll simply reply "not a problem, I'll need transport there and back though"

yellowbelly · Post by **yellowbelly** » 10 Apr 2019, 13:11

HTPostman wrote:We had someone sent here from a DO 20 miles away. She seemed intelligent and with it, but bemoaned the fact it's always her sent to different offices. She also said it's cost her a fortune in insurance as she's had to upgrade to business insurance so she can keep doing it...........

She should play hardball and demand transport etc. as per other posts. Otherwise she must claim the motor mileage allowance for business
travel - the purpose of which is to cover the costs of staff using their own cars for business use i.e. insurance, fuel, wear and tear. If it's not sufficient
to cover costs then I refer to my first sentence.....

CharlesSpooner · Post by **CharlesSpooner** » 12 Apr 2019, 22:52

They did it to a lad from our place so he asked for a van to travel there. The first van they gave him he did a thorough van check and found a reason to put it off the road - tyre tread. They found a second van and he found another reason to put that off the road - cracked brakelight fitting leaking light or something? Turns out he's very well versed on MOT & VOSA stuff and didn't have to try too hard to find fault with most vehicles in the fleet given the treatment they get and how lazy a lot of people are with the checks.

They never bothered finding a third van and just let him stay and never asked him again.

Post by **aiden01** » 12 Apr 2019, 23:31

CharlesSpooner wrote:They did it to a lad from our place so he asked for a van to travel there. The first van they gave him he did a thorough van check and found a reason to put it off the road - tyre tread. They found a second van and he found another reason to put that off the road - cracked brakelight fitting leaking light or something? Turns out he's very well versed on MOT & VOSA stuff and didn't have to try too hard to find fault with most vehicles in the fleet given the treatment they get and how lazy a lot of people are with the checks.

They never bothered finding a third van and just let him stay and never asked him again.

Well done to him