Trackers in Vans invasion of privacy

[Beaker54]

Some of our vans now have trackers fitted our DOM did tell us it was just a way to plan our route
better and time our delivery. But is this an invasion of your privacy ? and they are infact creating some
sort of Big Brother network. One of the reasons I am suspicous of the whole tracker system is when my
DOM suddenly asked me what I had been doing on a road on some one elses round the day before. He
had obviously been watching my movements which I find very disturbing. I must add the fact I was on
a road not on my route was to pass on a tracked item I had found in my van which had been missorted.
There was nothing sinister going on I just cut onto a road hardly going out of my way to find a colleague
who would deliver the missort later that day. Of course our DOM in his own inevitable way always seems
to think you are pulling the wool over his eyes and I can now imagine him spying your every move. Cant
believe theyve put trackers in vans for our benefits at all, they are just a spying device end of...

[mrro]

i spoke to a previous dom today ( now at another office) who informed me of these so called trackers.. Not sure wether to believe him or not as he also stated the trackers are purely a geo route tool and planning device.
He did however tell me that the tracker is fitted and notifys the dom directly if any suspicious movements are occuring, he told me main 2 things doms are on look out for are speeding and idle parking times which i find very disturbing..

he told me the tracker does the following and informs the dom directly of:

1. speeding
2. harsh breaking
3. if van has been sat idle for excessive time periods
4. if van is left running whilst parked
5. route taken that day
6. if engine is turned off yet keys are left in
7. if you are loading mail onto passenger seat ( which i seriously cannot believe, but that was what he said)
8. how many times you lock the van during duty
9. over revving
10. if horn is pressed

[mrro]

The dom in question said he likes the idea of the trackers been used for geo route purposes and also for van security... e.g theft but i guess if all these statements are true and you have a harsh dom who loves confrontation and trouble....... GULP

[fishtank]

It's a telemetry tracker....we have had them for years.

1. speeding....yes
2. harsh breaking....yes
3. if van has been sat idle for excessive time periods....yes
4. if van is left running whilst parked....yes
5. route taken that day....to a certain extent although not accurately.
6. if engine is turned off yet keys are left in....yes
7. if you are loading mail onto passenger seat ( which i seriously cannot believe, but that was what he said)....no
8. how many times you lock the van during duty....no
9. over revving....yes
10. if horn is pressed....no.

[George door to dawes]

It's a telemetry tracker....we have had them for years.

1. speeding....yes
2. harsh breaking....yes
3. if van has been sat idle for excessive time periods....yes
4. if van is left running whilst parked....yes
5. route taken that day....to a certain extent although not accurately.
6. if engine is turned off yet keys are left in....yes
7. if you are loading mail onto passenger seat ( which i seriously cannot believe, but that was what he said)....no
8. how many times you lock the van during duty....no
9. over revving....yes
10. if horn is pressed....no.

Seems to be common knowledge in my office that the vans are tracked. Probably a good idea in the event of a van being stolen so they can find it again quickly! Dont think theres really much arguement about whether its invasion of privacy as its RMs van so they can do what they want with it. But are you sure about the speeding and harsh breaking etc statistics? I mean the drivers i know treat the vans pretty badly all the time and nothing is ever said! And there are a few that have been know to park up for a little while on a quiet day incase the DOM is waiting at the DO with more work to give them!

[scum_opg]

was there not something about this a few years ago ... iirc you could tell if a van was tracked if it had a small silver disk fitted to the dash ... something to do with it being used to turn the tracker on and off...

but (again) iirc the trackers were apparently left turned off at the time as it hadnt been agreed with the union to have them activated other than for basic tracking if stolen... although my memory is a bit fuzzy on the specifics

[axeman]

Silver disc was to identify the driver by use of a key , the tracker once fitted was operational , i'd imagine the cost of trackers is quite expensive and on top of that theres annual running costs paid to the company who installed them
the only question is at what level do they have authority to access them , and if he repeatedly watches you then i'm sure that that would be an invasion of privacy not just a 'duty of care' and i'd be straight to the union area /national rep
after bunging in a grievence

[kendo1]

Trackers in the vans,just what are RM thinking of ,the next thing you know people will be Disiplined for picking their wives up from work or kids in RM vans,or going home in the van till their SA starts.,or doing their O/T in their duty time,or
going to help a mate ot who needs to finnish early.

Really dont know what RM could be thinking,whilst many other companies now have Trackers,do RM not realise the needS of their Workers .
The next thing RM will be saying is you have to work your paid hours and their will be no ghosting.

Surley CWU will comment on this issue.?

[krussel]

I think its UPS in the USA that have a video camera in the cab In case of robbery

Glad i gave up my van They can track my trolley if they like

[97gaz]

[

[BT2010]

my father fits dual controls to learner cars and he was at a peugeot dealers somewhere in the west midlands where they had a load of brand new RM bippers in for tracker fitting, so some defo have them.

one more thing to watch for are airbags, he was talking to the guy working on the vans who pointed out that some are designed for single occupancy and do not have any passenger side airbag fitted (required by uk/eu law).

[noggin1969]

http://www.logictoyz.com/security-/sign ... cker-.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[montriff]

" Glad i gave up my van They can track my trolley if they like "
how do you know they don't

[Eric Cantona]

I wouldn’t say it’s a invasion of privacy unless they have a camera fitted in the van. When I was a tram driver on Manchester’s Metrolink they had cameras in the cab watching every move you make, you couldn’t scratch your goolies without one of the female operators watching. It done my head in so I left and then ended up at RM.

[dazzlin72]

They'll have us wearing ankle tags next like they have criminals wear on early release!