Illegal practices at work. Should Report or just leave?

LegacyUser

Hello
situation.

I am a truck driver at a small business there are 5 other drivers here.
I am only here about 5 months and I am looking for a new job but in the meantime I am very worried about the situation here.

Basically all drivers here work 11 hours + without taking breaks. This is illegal since we are supposed to have 15 minutes break before 6 hours and a half hour after that ( or 45 minutes for 4.5 hours driving the exact details arent important)
We do this by setting are tachographs to break when we are unloading or away from the truck doing other work. Lots of drivers do this but in this company it is required by management to do so. I was told after my trial period that this would be the case but I am a new driver and needed the work so took it temporarily until i could find something better but i am trying 5 months now.
We are paid as if we are taking the breaks so they pay 2 hours less each week.

Also the trucks are overloaded often. I got into the truck one day and saw that the back tires seem flat. I told the boss that I thought the back tires were defective and he said is just the weight. I thought maybe it was normal but after I unloaded the truck I saw how many pallets there were and there weight was written on each one so I calculate and the truck was 2000kgs over weight. I knew when I left the yard because the brakes were bad and the truck could barely move. Next time I mentioned that i saw the back tires so flat the boss just said " Go, you were supposed to be there now"

I keep getting infringements on my tachograph because sometimes unloading I have to move the truck or dont spend enough time unloading to make the tachograph think I have taken a proper break. I am worried about this because if I am stopped by the guards or RSA then I am in trouble.

I know that in theory I can refuse to take overloaded truck and demand to take my breaks but is a small company and I dont like to cause arguments, the other drivers seem happy. I dont want to make my life worse by going to work everyday and people being angry at me.

One driver left recently because he became sick from not taking breaks and not eating enough. When he told the boss about the problem he just laughed. I dont think worth telling the boss anything.
I would just leave without a new job but its difficult I have mental health issues so there is already enough gaps on my resume and I dont want another. I dont have much experience and hoped after 5 months i could find new work easuly.

I though about reporting the company to the RSA or guards but I am worried that if they come to the company then I will be in trouble for the tachograph infringments or they stop me while overloaded and if I have those convictions it will be even harder to find a new work.

Maybe morally i do need to report because it is becoming a dangerous situation if something happens with overloaded truck or tiered driver i worry that someone will be hurt but I am afreaid what will happen to me if i try to report to the RSA or refuse to work.

Samuel T. Cogley

It's really a quandary because they will just get rid of you and there's very little recourse in the first year. On the other-hand people's lives are being put at risk.

Turbohymac

As a part time hgv driver myself ..it is common knowledge that the pay rate is only around 12 euro per hour.. the transport sector in general are suffering from a severe shortage of young hgv drivers... but this is clearly due to low pay rates and many young people realizing that theres better and easier jobs out there ..if the company is clearly conducting its logistical operations in this manner..well then regardless of requiring a job.. I would make a half decent excuse and leave..
As you have said in your initial post..the driver is responsible if an accident happens or if you're stopped by gardai or rsa.
Yes it's your hard earned licence..cpcs. etc so I wouldn't argue..
I'd move to some logistics company that would at least follow the basic laws..

SCOOP 64

Move on, there's plenty of company's looking for HGV drivers.

Strumms

Get out of there immediately. If you smash into something or someone due to an overladen truck you will be liable... possibly injured or worse, a sham of an outfit.

the whole year inn

Leave and report them, your life and other people lives are at stake. I know a truck driver and its a tough gig all right but no way should you be risking lives .

pointer28

Get out and find something else. Loads of firms looking for drivers.

We all sometimes take a sneaky 15 while tipping but it's not forced on us or company policy. My boss has never asked me to do something illegal, any infringements have been my own fault and minor (few minutes or forgot something small).

If you're stopped by RSA, you will be held responsible because you drove it out the gate. They'll go after your boss too but you're the driver.

What you're at was standard 20 years ago but not anymore. Your boss has probably just slipped through the cracks until now but he'll get a visit from the RSA eventually and get a rude awakening.

The bigger companies are usually far fussier about the rules and won't let you near the gate without ticking every box. Might be worth looking into.

uck51js9zml2yt

Just be aware that as the driver you are responsible for the hours/breaks you are required to take and for your truck being overloaded.
It's you who will be stopped by the guards/RSA and you who will be up in court.

BorneTobyWilde

All those things are normal practise in the haulage industry, ring Prime Time, about time it was all out in the open.

dreamers75

Assume when you say truck you are all CPC compliant?

Get out and report them to the RSA, I find it odd if you are CPC compliant you are doing the above. Just to be clear, you(drivers) are breaking the law not them, YOU!

BorneTobyWilde wrote: »

All those things are normal practise in the haulage industry, ring Prime Time, about time it was all out in the open.

Disagree with that, I am sure there are companies who do it but I would say they are in the minority. I would deal with several large haulage companies and they enforce the rules quite strictly.

Strumms

Haulage is extremely competitive. Especially in the last few years during the downturn, the work to go around just wasn’t there to keep everyone afloat.

One I know has two big contracts with two of the biggest freight forwarders, that’s his bread and butter he’s raking it in, six figure revenue. Another three contracts he tells me are only bringing in enough to more or less break even after costs on those routes such as wages, fuel, tax, insurance, maintenance, equipment rental and owned depreciation etc... he more or less keeps the contracts for chump change and so next summer or whenever they are up for renewal he hopes with an economy in better shape to be able to up his bid in terms of what he wants to operate the routes. A smart guy to starting of in freight / haulage with one VW Caddy to now about 15 forty foots and a handful of rigids.

AlphabetCards

I found the same doing van deliveries in the UK, in the end I just quit as I was in the cab for 11+ hours a day and using unloading as breaks. Utterly unsustainable on a personal level.

pointer28

BorneTobyWilde wrote:

All those things are normal practise in the haulage industry, ring Prime Time, about time it was all out in the open.

Not anymore, unless you're working for a real chancer.

20 years ago, absolutely. We used to boast about how much we got away with. Real willy waving macho bull**** but luckily some of us eventually saw sense.