Keys left in ignition........Sacking ?

[iva cosworth]

So truckers and professional drivers,would you be fired for leaving your keys in the ignition

of your company vehicle ?

Let me tell you the whole story but keeping it as brief as possible.

Saturday just gone i get back to the yard at 10.00am to be told that the other driver,let's

call him Brian,has had a problem and spare warehouse bloke has been sent out to SE23 with the

spare key to his lorry.

Brian has had to stop in middle of a residential street,blocking it to deliver and Mr impatient

comes up and beep beep,move out the way starts.Brian says no i can't move till i have finished,

or similar as i am not there.

Next thing is Mr impatient now has Brians key as it is in ignition,windows wide open probably.

Don't know where the key is now as we haven't got it back.

What if Mr impatient had actually tried driving 18t flatbed with insecure load ????

Move on to today,Brian hasn't learnt ANYTHING as he is sitting in the tearoom at work,his drivers

door is wide open and the only key is in the ignition.Lorry is parked in our insecure yard.

I grab it and when he comes out of the tearoom as i head for it i throw it at him with the words

"Do you ever learn ?"

A minute later he shouts to me."Keep out of my lorry ,c***"

Sorry if that's a bit long but i needed to include everything.

Sackable offence or not ?

I say yes.P45 time.

[clarkmagpie]

I'd say warning.
Unless he has other strikes against him...

[Upatdawn]

never ever ever leave keys in any vehicle, if only because insurers wont pay out if the vehicle gets stolen

pity the driver cant be put in a vehicle with telematics/tracking so the office can see if the keys are in/out, if the vehicles stopped/running, etc

[iva cosworth]

What pisses me off the most is that he didn't learn and still left the keys in ignition

2 days later.

I should have grabbed his satnav and gone off with it to see what happened next.

If it had been nicked it would have cost the company big losses as it isn't owned

it's leased,hired or summat.

When a newish 7.5 got written off a few years ago that apparently was costly.

[Upatdawn]

i knew a guy who left his van keys in the ignition and the van (loaded, £3000 load) got nicked, 2 weeks later - after the insurers had stated they wouldnt pay out - the boss turned round in a side street and lo and behold there sits the stolen van, unmarked but without the load...

what would we say about that bearing in mind the theft and recovery was 120 miles from the owners base...

[martin mrt]

Warning, unless it was stolen, then it would be sackable depending on the circumstances.

I know when I used to deliver full loads of beer/juice/tinned food to supermarkets, wheeling pallets to the back doors of a 45' rail container was nigh on impossible if you didn't leave your keys in the ignition, as the suspension on the unit would raise so high the slope on the trailer meant it was sometimes impossible to control a heavy pallet. That's just an example of why we sometimes found it necessary to leave the ignition on.

Even most of the scum are wary of driving an Artic so leaving the keys may tempt them, seeing the gear stick and wondering why 1st and 4th gear are in the same place and the switches on the side would probably be enough to put them off.

Taking the matter of your colleague into your own hands, I wouldn't bother, many of the chaps I worked with in the past are morons and couldn't/wouldn't see your trying to help them in the long run

[gus607]

Our firm sacked a driver for leaving the keys in the ignition of a transit pick up truck, which got stolen.

We requested a spare cab door key for every 6 wheeler hiab, some drivers have had their phones & sat navs nicked while unloading.

[ZR1cliff]

Would have learned from this, if he has anything about him.

Warning.

Sorry just read he did the same two days later. So F*ck him off. What an idiot.

Edited by ZR1cliff on Monday 15th July 21:25

[N Dentressangle]

iva cosworth said:

A minute later he shouts to me."Keep out of my lorry ,c***"

I would say that's bordering on gross professional misconduct:

http://www.reculversolicitors.co.uk/disciplinary-w...

You need to look at the driver's terms of employment and take some legal advice before you try and dismiss him, however.

[Nickyboy]

All our 50 vehicles have the keys left in them whilst in the yard to facilitate shunting, mechanics moving them, washers moving them, fuelling up etc. Keys are removed at the end of the day however and locked in a safe. Keys left in the vehicle whilst on road and if found by our security personnel then its instant dismissal unless like my vehicle you have everything controlled by a fob where the key can be left in the ignition but it cant start the engine.

[Upatdawn]

N Dentressangle said:

I would say that's bordering on gross professional misconduct:

Just saw your ID...lol

20 years ago NB's would ring with a "Code Rouge" - hello, this is patrisse,,,we have a breakdown"

(I worked at Fruehauf then)

[backwoodsman]

First time, I would give him a written warning.

Second time, if a secure yard, a major bking, if unsecure yard, P45 time.

[GC8]

clarkmagpie said:

I'd say warning.
Unless he has other strikes against him...

Ive onyl read this far, but Id suggest a written warning and if he takes that in the same spirit, then Id move to a final written warning.

This will either sort him out or move you closer to finding an alternative solution to the Brian problem.

Edited by GC8 on Thursday 18th July 14:58

[GC8]

In my own experience its common to leave the vehicles running. More recently runlocks have been an option but I have always preferred to the lock the cab too.

I suppose that having a second key isnt particularly common, although easily facilitated if the door and ignition keys are separate..

[Super Slo Mo]

I used to lock my cab every time I stepped out of it when doing deliveries. I've actually had people trying the door of the cab while I've been stood on the tail lift getting goods off.

It's something that warrants disciplinary action of some kind. A first offence would probably necessitate verbal warning (at least), but it's pretty serious really, he's leaving a vehicle in a situation where anyone could jump in and drive it away.

[iva cosworth]

To answer some of your replies.

I am not in charge so have no say in whatever action is or isn't taken.

There probably are other strikes against him but knowing the company it will just

be yet another final final warning.

The transport manager has been on holiday since before the incident so nothing will be done

till he returns.

The MD was on holiday beginning of this week too.

The manager that was in on Saturday is now off sick so will hopefully make his report when

he returns.

I can foresee NOTHING happening except a minor rollocking.....

[markymarkthree]

So what do you do if you are delivering plant that needs to be winched off and you need the engine running to allow the PTO to operate the winch ?

[GC8]

RunLock and lock the cab. If no RL then lock the cab.

[egor110]

iva cosworth said:

To answer some of your replies.

I am not in charge so have no say in whatever action is or isn't taken.

There probably are other strikes against him but knowing the company it will just

be yet another final final warning.

The transport manager has been on holiday since before the incident so nothing will be done

till he returns.

The MD was on holiday beginning of this week too.

The manager that was in on Saturday is now off sick so will hopefully make his report when

he returns.

I can foresee NOTHING happening except a minor rollocking.....

Why are you so bothered by this?

Not wanting to sound a ass but i'd just keep my nose out, if he's had 2 lucky escapes then at some point your boss will get shot of him?

[markymarkthree]

Nice one GC8, will pass this info on.
Dont effect me on the artic the winch runs off the battery's, but the ridged boys will be interested in this.