Drivers are getting too much mollycoddling

I read with interest your article “Fleet drivers face serious back problems” (Fleet News, December 3). 

However, there was one item that your article did not touch on – the growing inclination within our litigious society for drivers to sue employers for their injuries.

The very same drivers who are off work with back problems are also the same people targeted by daytime TV adverts from no-win, no-fee firms. The temptation of drivers to make a claim is a serious threat to businesses which could end up paying compensation and having their reputation damaged by the whole process.

I continue to feel we are molly-coddling drivers far too much these days.

Does the employer really have to give advice on (and I quote from your article) ‘offering models suited to the tasks of drivers, with appropriate levels of seat adjustability to ensure good postures to be adopted at all times’?

Frankly I find this laughable.

Will we reach a point where the company has to ask the driver if they can reach the pedals OK?

Or are they stretching too far to use the gearstick safely and without shoulder pain? And is there a possibility that they could get their hand trapped in the door?

Where is the driver’s responsibility in all of this?

We are, regrettably, in an era where employees are deemed completely faultless and the employer is always to blame.

It’s for this reason that on our online profiling system we ask the driver to confirm that they haven’t suffered any back problems when driving.

By recording that the driver is ‘injury-free’ at least gives the employer a dated audit trail that can be used if someone suddenly feels inspired to make a claim.

Graham Hurdle, managing director, E-Training World

 

 

We already pay a parking levy 

I write with regard to the proposals for a workplace parking levy (Fleet News, December 3).

We already pay tax on car parking spaces – it’s called business rates, or has the Government conveniently forgotten about that?

The Government is taxing UK companies off the face of the Earth.

It needs to cut spending and not to keep putting up taxes.

If the Government doesn’t take heed then there will soon be no-one left to pay taxes. Instead, everyone will be on benefits.

Clint Forster, T&K Precision