Today myself and my van share partner had a terrible day, it all started off with us getting out of the office late around 11, we informed the DOM that we would be working to our time due to the heavy workload with around 15 specials and over 30 tracked parcels to do along with the usual heavy Wednesday mail and parcels. We got to our first delivery point when things started to go from bad to worse, our van key broke which meant that one of us had to wait in the van whilst one of the managers came to us to find a quick fix to the key. By the time we got everything sorted out we only had 45 mins to deliver the specials before they fail so we did all of them as quick as we could and just about managed to finish before 1pm.
But by then we only had 1 hour to get the rest of our work done which we did our best to deliver until we ran out of time. So we ended up bringing back to the office a third of our walks and the DOM and linos weren't best pleased to see all of the work we brought back and they promptly scheduled a fact finding interview tomorrow. Since we followed all the correct procedures will there be any trouble coming our way tomorrow?
Can you take a union rep in with you tomorrow? Hopefully it will just be as it says, a fact finding interview to find out what went wrong, and what could be done to prevent it hapenning again? Although I don't know how any one can prepare for unforeseen circumstances, unless the DOM is also Mystic Meg...
I suspect they will ask why you didn't phone the office earliest opportunity to say you couldn't complete. Make sure you have an answer to why the Lino's weren't expecting you to bring mail back.
greengiant wrote:Can you take a union rep in with you tomorrow? Hopefully it will just be as it says, a fact finding interview to find out what went wrong, and what could be done to prevent it hapenning again? Although I don't know how any one can prepare for unforeseen circumstances, unless the DOM is also Mystic Meg...
Good luck!
Yes the DOM believes we could have done more. But my partner and I spoke to our rep and he said so long as the specials were done and we followed the cutting off procedure then we do not have to worry. But I'll bring him with me to the interview just encase. What's more worrying is that what we brought back today can mean tomorrow we have truck loads of work if tomorrow is anything like today
No you informed management that you were working to your time before you left the office. On route you had a mishap with the key of the vehicle which would in effect jeopardise the security of the contents of your vehicle but you and your partner took the decision to continue to complete some of your workload while one of you remained in the vehicle. When you were delivered a replacement they would have first hand knowledge of the amount of time that was lost and on having this rectified you both made an effort to finish the specials within the time delivery limit. In order to finish on time you have returned with the remainder of your mail and parcels which management within common sense would have expected. You both obviously did not leave the building with the intention not to complete your round and this could have been fulfilled had your mishap with the vehicle key not occurred. If you both give at the fact finding what you have detailed in your post then this should not progress any further. Would make your union rep aware of the fact finding meeting.
Spedley wrote:I suspect they will ask why you didn't phone the office earliest opportunity to say you couldn't complete. Make sure you have an answer to why the Lino's weren't expecting you to bring mail back.
One of the linos did come out to us when we had the problem with the van key and the DOM was already aware that we couldn't complete as we told him before we left the office, they just didn't expect us to literally bring back everything bar a few parcels and mail here and there that we managed to do in the very short time we had
You know what the managers are like at Royal Mail!
They will try and twist it and say that the reason you brought all that mail back is because you (or your partner) deliberately broke the key. In which case you tell them... why wasn't you issued with 2 keys like most paired duties??
On the face of it, shareholder value is the dumbest idea in the world.
rehabron wrote:No you informed management that you were working to your time before you left the office. On route you had a mishap with the key of the vehicle which would in effect jeopardise the security of the contents of your vehicle but you and your partner took the decision to continue to complete some of your workload while one of you remained in the vehicle. When you were delivered a replacement they would have first hand knowledge of the amount of time that was lost and on having this rectified you both made an effort to finish the specials within the time delivery limit. In order to finish on time you have returned with the remainder of your mail and parcels which management within common sense would have expected. You both obviously did not leave the building with the intention not to complete your round and this could have been fulfilled had your mishap with the vehicle key not occurred. If you both give at the fact finding what you have detailed in your post then this should not progress any further. Would make your union rep aware of the fact finding meeting.
Yes the union rep is already aware of this so I hope he's also present during the interview tomorrow. Its just the DOM and linos who probably think we have planned to do a tiny amount of work and leave the rest on their shoulders
postslippete wrote:You know what the managers are like at Royal Mail!
They will try and twist it and say that the reason you brought all that mail back is because you (or your partner) deliberately broke the key. In which case you tell them... why wasn't you issued with 2 keys like most paired duties??
I know the problem is the key was broken before, it was only held together by a couple of rubber bands and this particular van doesn't have a spare key which made it even more difficult to deliver for both me and my partner. I thought it was up to the managers to provide us with right tools for the job. But it seems like even they can't get that right, maybe next time I'll just ask them to provide me and my partner with a trolley instead to do the van duty and hopefully the key is not broken on that as well lol
Just out of interest, as you say the key was already broken, has it been noted on previous vehicle check sheets and fault reported? That could drag more into the fact finding if it was
Darwinsdad wrote:Just out of interest, as you say the key was already broken, has it been noted on previous vehicle check sheets and fault reported? That could drag more into the fact finding if it was
I have checked the log book and no one before me had ever noted anything down about the key being broken. And today i had a different guy accompanying me in the van and it turns out hes the one thats had the spare key all along when i questioned him why he did not hand the key back in after his duty, he just said he likes to finish early and go home so not only does he take the spare key home but also the PDA!!
