Worrying Incident.

[monkleigh]

Last Friday I drove up an alley to deliver 3 items of mail to an address. To get back out again is a very tight turn which I exercised before going to pick up p & l ptnr to go and start loop 4. Soon after this I was contacted by line manager saying that he had received a call from the address at the top of the alley complaining that I had reversed in to their garage causing some damage. I replied, truthfully, that I was not aware that the van had made contact with the garage whilst in the alley. He said to come and see him on my return to the office. I checked the van and could see no new damage on it. I knew that during the manoeuvre to get out of the alleyway I would have had to have been close to either side, it is at least a 5 pt turn, but was sure that I had not hit anything, the customer however was insistent that I had. The line manager later went to visit the address and took some photos of damage to a garage door ( I have not seen these ) or indeed been back to the address, I am not even sure which garage is the one in question, as there are a couple there. He then called me later on Friday afternoon to find out if I could come in sat or mon ( it was my weekend off) to discuss the matter, I said I couldn't as was going away. Of course worried about it all weekend and this morning started with an invitation to attend a "fact finding interview" next Monday re the alleged accident last Friday, to determine whether charges under the conduct code are to be brought.

Any help or advice would be much appreciated. I have a clean 7 year record so far although have only been driving the vans since p & l came in last year and have never had any " changeover" driving test. I shall of course be asking our office rep to accompany me in the meeting, but would welcome any views on here. Thanks.

[saddlerposty]

no witness's ? no cctv ?= no proof ! another sneaky customer playing " the customer is always right card". Lets your hope your DOM has got the balls to tell he customer to do one.

[monkleigh]

My real concern , in the current climate, is that dom could use this as an excuse to get rid of another full timer, ie me . I have replayed it over and over in my mind and still cannot recall hitting it. However it was raining v heavily, v windy, the ground there is v uneven and almost underwater and with the radio on and the noise of the engine it is possible that I did, although at the time I was completely unaware of anything untoward.

[rehabron]

I assume that you were reversing in such a tight area a speed not more than 5mph that would have a bearing on the amount of damage to the garage and as you have already stated there was no visible sign of damage to the rear of your van e.g. fresh scratches or paintwork which would show up on the vans rear bumper especially if coloured black. I hope your DOM who took photographs of the garage has also taken similar photographs of the rear of your van which you will request to view along with the photographs of the garage at you fact finding interview. Is the owner of the garage going to produce any witnesses? Not receiving changeover training when required to drive a van in the P&L operation you will also make aware at this fact finding interview. The responsibility for the training will rest with management and not you

[olilew]

if they have no proof its your word against theirs! maybe the owner has just seen an opportunity to get a new garage door that he hit! stick to your guns and say you did not do it. let them prove otherwise.

[krussel]

If you did not hit it then you did not hit it. Just don't get talked into the possibility that you might have hit it. What normally happens is RM pay out regardless to keep the customer happy.

I could bore you will a story where a customer swore I had knocked the corner off his brick wall. I was clueless but they claimed to have seen me hit it, no extra damage on van. RM paid for a repair. Then two weeks later the milkman admitted to me it was him who clipped it a whole day before they claimed I did it.

The important thing is to stick to your guns and say you did not hit it.

The driving without the change over is a more serious matter as you should not be driving a RM van. Don't be surprised that when this comes out you will be suspended from driving until you pass the test.

[Lounge Lizard]

All the "no new damage on it" and "no extra damage on van" type comments just go to show what state most of the vans are in.

[OnAFlyer]

Hasn't your van got reversing sensors?

I once got to someone's house and the gate was laid flat in the middle of their garden. When I got back to the office the woman who lived there had phoned up and said I ripped it off. Also had some bellend say I scratched his car and he had CCTV of it (I hadn't). I just told the manager to ask the customer for the CCTV - needless to say he (the customer) went quiet and I never heard anything else about it.

If you don't think you hit it, say you didn't. Without proof they can't do a thing.

[monkleigh]

Reverse sensors ? Its one of the old combos, 55 reg, so lucky its still got reverse gear ! Not a panel on it without damage. Thanks for all responses so far, I shall go into the meeting with more confidence , surely I cant get in to deep water if I just tell the truth.

[Judgee]

Wouldn't be the first time a customer lied to get a free repair. Stick to your guns, if you didn't do it you didn't do it. Where was this person who saw you hit their garage? Where were they standing? Damn convenient for them that they were there watching at the time wasn't it?! More likely they saw you driving off and thought they could get a new garage door off the RM for free.

As was mentioned, you couldn't have been manoeuvring at much of a speed so the damage (if you did clip it) must be minimal, especially as there was no extra damage to the van. Study those photos of the garage door closely, they could be your ace in the hole!

Worse case scenario, even if you ended up getting the blame I doubt they'd do anything more than take you off driving for a while so try not to worry about it and you shouldn't be driving without doing the changeover anyway, that's your managers fault!

[Lounge Lizard]

I've had complaints that I've "nearly" reversed into their wall / gate / house / car from idiots who don't like anyone reversing into their drive and who have nothing better to do than look out of their front window all day long

[cweg]

I've had complaints that I've "nearly" reversed into their wall / gate / house / car from idiots who don't like anyone reversing into their drive and who have nothing better to do than look out of their front window all day long

Yeah I get those. Their "nearly hit" usually means "came within a metre of".

[scoobydo79]

Stick to Your guns.If thers no damage to the Royal Mail van insist it has nothing to do with You.This wouldnt be the first Joe Public to try and get some cash for damage that was not the postmans fault.

[Timelord]

It might help to see what height the damage to the garage is compared to the height of the vans bumper, as that's what would have made contact. If its higher or lower it couldn't have been you, but as everyone else says, don't be talked in to doubting yourself and admitting it.

[maisymoo04]

Last Friday I drove up an alley to deliver 3 items of mail to an address. To get back out again is a very tight turn which I exercised before going to pick up p & l ptnr to go and start loop 4. Soon after this I was contacted by line manager saying that he had received a call from the address at the top of the alley complaining that I had reversed in to their garage causing some damage. I replied, truthfully, that I was not aware that the van had made contact with the garage whilst in the alley. He said to come and see him on my return to the office. I checked the van and could see no new damage on it. I knew that during the manoeuvre to get out of the alleyway I would have had to have been close to either side, it is at least a 5 pt turn, but was sure that I had not hit anything, the customer however was insistent that I had. The line manager later went to visit the address and took some photos of damage to a garage door ( I have not seen these ) or indeed been back to the address, I am not even sure which garage is the one in question, as there are a couple there. He then called me later on Friday afternoon to find out if I could come in sat or mon ( it was my weekend off) to discuss the matter, I said I couldn't as was going away. Of course worried about it all weekend and this morning started with an invitation to attend a "fact finding interview" next Monday re the alleged accident last Friday, to determine whether charges under the conduct code are to be brought.

Any help or advice would be much appreciated. I have a clean 7 year record so far although have only been driving the vans


since p & l came in last year and have never had any " changeover" driving test. I shall of course be asking our office rep to accompany me in the meeting, but would welcome any views on here. Thanks.

NO NEW DAMAGE HAHA