gibbothegreat Posted September 24, 2012 Share Posted September 24, 2012 Hi, had an interesting situation arise on Saturday night where my no 2 was working a show which didn't finish until after midlnight. He lives about 15 miles away and doesn't drive, uses bike and train to commute, but this late finish (the show over-ran) meant that this option wasn't available to him. He go a taxi which cost £28, but the manager today is saying that they (the local council who run the venue) have a no taxi policy and he will have to pay for it himself. This is the first time this has arisen, but I have to confess it rather took me by surprise: I hadn't actually given the matter any thought, but had assumed that some provision for transport for late working would be normal. What my line manager is telling me is that they cover themselves by saying that no-one without a car should be scheduled for late working, although this has never been mentioned either at this point or at the recruitment process which brought him into the organisation. It further tranpires that this rule isn't always observed, but that staff with cars often feel obliged to give lifts to those who don't - which includes a number of young people and females. Bit of background: we are a department of two, and driving is not a requirement of the job (obviously - I'm not that bad at recruiting!) Can I ask for views on this, and practises elsewhere? My immediate instinct is that this is badly wrong, but then I'm used to it being done otherwise, so it may be just that it's the only way I know... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IRW Posted September 24, 2012 Share Posted September 24, 2012 I'm confused- Do you work full time/casually for the venue, or are you working for a company that has a show in the venue? Personally, I would never assume that a taxi/transport would be provided unless stated in the contract I have with whatever company I would be working for. Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gibbothegreat Posted September 24, 2012 Author Share Posted September 24, 2012 both full-time staff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shez Posted September 24, 2012 Share Posted September 24, 2012 It varies. At one of the venues I work at, no provision is made. I seem to recall that the job description included reference to the ability to get home after late shifts. At another, they do provide taxis but with a maximum distance stipulated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IRW Posted September 24, 2012 Share Posted September 24, 2012 What my line manager is telling me is that they cover themselves by saying that no-one without a car should be scheduled for late working both full-time staff In that case, I think you need a definition of 'late working', and then ask why your colleague was scheduled onto a show that had the potential to end up in this category! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GridGirl Posted September 24, 2012 Share Posted September 24, 2012 If we finish after 11.30pm the company pays for a taxi home, no questions asked. We don't abuse the system, and so there are no arguments from the company and everyone is happy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gibbothegreat Posted September 24, 2012 Author Share Posted September 24, 2012 In that case, I think you need a definition of 'late working', and then ask why your colleague was scheduled onto a show that had the potential to end up in this category! I would take it from my line manager's comments that late working would be defined by the availability of public transport. In this case, the last train is at 23:22, and the station is approximately 15 minutes ride away. The buses finish earlier. Re scheduling: the event was scheduled to finish at 22:30, but started 50 minutes late and turned into quite a night, involving police, ambulance and lots of blood... eventually finished around 00:30. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkBarl Posted September 24, 2012 Share Posted September 24, 2012 I would say that your work were being unreasonable. Surely the unforeseen nature of the circumstances would merit a discretionary payment. What would they have said if he had gone home in time to catch the last train. I did hear once that the late George Melly was notorious for upping and leaving mid show to catch the last train home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the kid Posted September 24, 2012 Share Posted September 24, 2012 What my line manager is telling me is that they cover themselves by saying that no-one without a car should be scheduled for late working both full-time staff In that case, I think you need a definition of 'late working', and then ask why your colleague was scheduled onto a show that had the potential to end up in this category! I didn't work it but a few weeks ago there was a band, they finished at about 10/1030 and dissapered to the bar for about an hour desipte several requests. We can't leave until the tallent leave. I think it could easily be called special circumstances, and checking what was going on. If it has not happened beforein x years why expect it to carry on? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gibbothegreat Posted September 24, 2012 Author Share Posted September 24, 2012 Widening it slightly: if this is their policy, should it not be included in their terms and conditions? And in a department of two, is it fair that the one who drives will always have to be scheduled on the late gigs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kerry davies Posted September 24, 2012 Share Posted September 24, 2012 Normally the get-out clause is in the job description of "unsocial hours" etc. However in this case since the schedule would have allowed him to return by his normal "unsocial hours" transport arrangements and he stayed behind because of exceptional circumstances I would point this out in writing. If they then say he has no claim you could point out that the costs to them of his upping and leaving during the next "riot" (or whatever it was) would be substantially more than a paltry taxi fare. God forbid, but he might decide to call for their back-up next time something untoward occurred. As former "management" I have often gone well out of my way to see that staff got home safely and they may have no legal duty to do so but ethics and morals suggest they need to look after this person. Seems a good 'un. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Showbitz Posted September 24, 2012 Share Posted September 24, 2012 I do believe that the BECTU ruling on this issue is that if no public transport is available then the company must provide the worker transport home immediately after the end of his shift - This gets round the crew going off and getting drunk then getting a taxi on the company. I have been looking at jobs in London and was worried about just this issue until I found this ruling. - If the job does not involve driving and it is not stated in the contract then it is up to the employee to choose how he is going to travel to work at his own expense. If there is no other option, such as unsocial hours (walking/cycling aside) then the company must pay for transport. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulears Posted September 24, 2012 Share Posted September 24, 2012 My venue pay the bar staff for any extra hours, and then pay for the taxi home after midnight, but this is not extended to anyone apart from bar staff - who are all female. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gibbothegreat Posted September 24, 2012 Author Share Posted September 24, 2012 Thanks for replies, I guess I've been lucky up til now in that this has been a given. Appreciate you all taking the time to give your experiences and points of view. Oh, and in case anyone is wondering, it was a kick-boxing tournament! First time we'd tried something like that, and whilst it was a pretty riotous night (not least to do with the coach load who travelled up from Leeds for it, four hours of serious boozing before they got here...) we did beat the record for bar takings by some margin... I'd like to think that the former meant we wouldn't try it again, but with our management the latter may take precedence... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StevieR Posted September 24, 2012 Share Posted September 24, 2012 In general, most employment contracts will implicitly infer that travel to/from their normal place of work is the employees responsibility. If the contract explicitly states that that 'normal' place of work will vary then the employee should be aware of that fact and if they are restricted to certain methods of transport should bring that matter to the attention of their employer where appropriate and ask for suitable arrangements to be made where the transport available to them would be unsuitable. However, where circumstances change that are beyond the control of the employee, thereby rendering their transport plans useless, I would expect the employer to be flexible and understanding and make reasonable recompense for the revised costs in getting the employee home and, where appropriate, costs for overnight accomodation/subsistence. We had a case recently where an event over-ran. Our crew on-site were not able to finish the job that night due to lack of site lighting and due to the travel distance the decision was made to overnight them and continue the next morning. We made sure that all additional costs such as accomodation and additional hours were billed through to the client. Perhaps consider bringing this matter up as a formal grievance with your boss. That way you may be able to formalise how such matters are treated and hopefully prevent a similar situation arising in the future. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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