Self employed delivery driver being accused of theft of company property - ** RESOLVED **

[sergeantcookie]

Hi all.

 

I'm hoping someone can help me here.

 

I work for a well known delivery firm. I am self employed, or an owner driver / franchisee as they like to call us.

 

I have been accused of stealing a PDA - Or as we call them 'saturns'. It is the device which we scan parcels with when delivering etc. The incident occurred on January 8th 2021. The Saturn hasn't been seen since that date and I was the last user to login to it. I was signed out of it at 16:08 in the depot and it hasn't been seen since.

 

The company are now accusing me of theft. I have asked for them to review CCTV footage as the place is littered with it. One lad I have been dealing with seems to have a grin on his face every time I mention it to him and after speaking to him today (11th Feb 2021), he tells me they have reviewed the CCTV and apparently I didn't hand it back in.

 

I haven't seen the footage myself yet and they don't seem very forthcoming in showing it to me. I am seeking all avenues of help right now as they are just going to send me a bill - or should I say take it out of my wages at a cost of around £1200 without batting an eyelid and think I am not going to go without a fight.

 

Obviously I haven't stolen it and it would be of absolutely no use to me or anybody else for that matter so there really would be no point anyway.

 

I have been in touch with Citizens advice and whilst helpful, they mainly sent me a load of links of which some are relevant but others aren't. I will be speaking to them tomorrow on web chat to try and gain some more advice but I was wondering what your thoughts were?

 

Many thanks for any advice I get

[sergeantcookie]

Hi

 

Thank you for the reply. The signing out procedure is literally just logging into it in the morning, and the signing in is scanning a barcode when you arrive back at the depot in the afternoon/evening. The last known whereabouts of the Saturn was me signing it back into the depot at 16.08hrs on Jan 8th 2021. Since that date it apparently hasn't been seen. 

 

In regards to company property on the contract, I am not sure in what aspect you mean, but there isn't really much mentioned.

 

Thanks

[sergeantcookie]

Yes there is a record of it, but apparently the CCTV doesn't show me handing it back in, of which I am yet to see the footage. The person responsible for it is the same person that scans all undelivered parcels back into the depot. After that they then go back into the office for the next day

[sergeantcookie]

aah thats a good thing that i never thought of. I will do that for sure

 

And I will be honest, I don't think they have such documentation

[sergeantcookie]

I have asked several times for CCTV footage and originally I was told that the footage is poor and then all of a sudden it's good enough to pick me up not handing in the Saturn. But everytime I ask to see it I am fobbed off by being told someone is looking at it. There is nothing written in my contract that mentions paying back anything. I am awaiting to speak to the training guy to see if anything has been signed digitally, which I don't think there was but I await confirmation

[sergeantcookie]

I have spoke to the training guy and he states that there is no such documentation for the signing in and out process

[sergeantcookie]

yes you are right Ethel, it's the scanner/barcode reader and only of any use to anybody when you're logged into a route on their system yes

[sergeantcookie]

So we have an update....

 

I saw the CCTV footage this morning from the next day.

 

Surprise surprise it sees me clear as day taking the Saturn from out of my van in the depot and after a few minutes I enter the office and turn right (where there is a cabinet that holds more Saturns), I can then be seen coming from the right and out of the door with a different Saturn - which matches up with scan records from that day of being a different device.

 

I spoke to the boss that didn't really know what to say and he was apparently under the impression that I never brought it back so I put him in his place and told him to see the footage.

 

The guy that showed me the footage genuinely stood there showing it to me yet at no point did he think 'hang on a minute, he's clearly going into the office to swap it out' and then told me to pursue in whatever course of action I think is best...

[sergeantcookie]

Latest and final update on this...

 

Managed to get my money back as the footage from the CCTV was good enough evidence to prove I took it back to the depot. My persistance paid off and many other people wouldn't have gone through the process but there was absolutely no way I was been charged almost £500 for something I hadn't done. Maybe if a full investigation was done from the outset they would have realised and hey, I may have been none the wiser as they wouldn't have had to mention it to me.

 

The sad thing is I didn't get an apology but at least I won the case

 

Thanks to everybody that provided me with advice. Really appreciate it