DH is HGV driver, had accident, now company want him to pay?

[oneoldmare]

Hi all, probably more of a WWYD than AIBU but I'll explain as best I can.

My husband is a self employed HGV driver that works for a company. he drives their vehicles and and gets paid an hourly rate.

He used to be employed by the company but they asked all their drivers to go self employed which was all fine, however he hasn't sign a contract since becoming self employed.

He managed to bump the vehicle that he was driving into another one of the companies vehicles when parking in the yard after. Shift. He took photos of the damage and reported this straight away, as is procedure. He did admit that this was his fault and he misjudged a difficult manoeuvre.

I just want to add that he has driven for this company for over 8 years and has never had an accident before.

Anyway, he was annoyed at himself but didn't think too much about it and nothing was said to him from management until yesterday, 1 week later.

They have asked him to pay the £2500 pair bill. They have said that their insurance won't cover it as they are both their vehicles.
I want to know what our options are please if anyone knows.

I understand from their point of view that it was his fault and they shouldn't suffer financially but surely what insurance is for. It's quite a large company so I would presume they have good insurance cover and 1 accident wouldn't make that much difference to their premiums. I know that they have vehicles in accident regularly and none of the other drivers have been asked to pay before even if they were at fault.
Obviously if we don't pay then they can easily stop giving him work as no contract in place and he's not employed by them, but does this seem fair to you?

How will we ensure that if he had a bigger accident and wrote a Car off that they couldn't then ask to be reimbursed for that.

Do you think this company are trying it on.

I have asked him to see the invoice for the works that has been done and for them to put in writing what they want him to pay for and why insurance won't cover it.
Is there anything else we should do.

Paying this bill would be massive for us. We certainly wouldn't have all the money at hand straight away.

When I went self-employed a few years ago ( not HGV driver) I took out insurance to cover myself. Is it possible you can do this in the future?

ACAS are very helpful, good luck.

Roastit
Only if the accident involves a third party, which this one doesn't.

That's interesting. So if you take out third party insurance rather than comprehensive, the standard question about involvement in any accidents during the past year is not asked?

For flip's sake. Insuring fleets of trucks is not the same as insuring your own car. A whole host of different questions arise and different clauses are in the policy (some of which are even negotiated. Stop trying to apply pub wisdom about car insurance to Truck Fleets

No for an individual taking out a personal policy you would.

But for a fleet with third party only arrangements like here, they wouldn't need to report it. And the insurer will base the following year's premiums on the claims experience (which will only include accidents involving third parties).

Things are different for fleets than for individuals.

Thanks RoastitBubblyJocks

For the more polite version, and apologies for my grumpy exasperated version

Self employed has a checklist:

They give DH a rota and he can decline
He has more than 1 client
He does his own tax return or gets a bookkeeper/accountant to do it for him - and pays them.
He does not get paid for taking a holiday that he can plan at any time.
His hourly rate went up when he stopped becoming employed to account for the lack of holiday pay.
He pays his own PLI, but the owner of the vehicle/machinery pays the vehicle insurance

DH and I have been self employed for many years, my parents too, Dad did his law degrees and Mum is a bookkeeper (handy).

Be firm. If DH was to ever damage one of the tractors, his client's multi-million pound insurance covers it. End of and never been challenged.

OP they really, really can't make him pay.

If your DH was a welder and he was told to weld a pipe on a ship and he made a mistake and it caught fire, burnt and sunk, (and everyone was safely evacuated - hypothetical scenario) and the ship company's insurance policy said there was an exclusion for damage caused by hot works, so no payout for the ship - they couldn't turn to your DH and say "cough up the £100million as our insurance hasn't paid".

When you're in business you decide what steps to take to protect your assets, and that includes decisions on what insurance to buy for when things go wrong and your employees and people working for you make mistakes, which happen every day.

Unless you have a contract in place that says that any damage caused by your negligence you're liable for (which is what companies sometimes do with contracting companies) then they can't make your DH pay.

He was working for them, doing what he was asked by them to do as part of his job and made a mistake. He doesn't need to pay and please try not to let your DH be bullied into it, as that's what they're relying on, as if there's no contract then there's no legal basis.

Maybe legally, they can't make him pay out actual money.

But I'm sure they can make him pay in other ways either by not giving him any work, or giving him the crappy work that no-one else wants to do because it is at inconvenient times, locations or something else that makes it unpopular.

Unfortunate situation for your DH. If there's a shortage or HGV drivers, is there any chance he could find better treatment/conditons etc for someone else?

wasonthelist
For flip's sake. Insuring fleets of trucks is not the same as insuring your own car. A whole host of different questions arise and different clauses are in the policy (some of which are even negotiated. Stop trying to apply pub wisdom about car insurance to Truck Fleets

I get that you've worked in the business, and appreciate your subsequent apology (and Roastit's reply). Rather than just focusing on the fact that there is a difference between corporate hgv insurance and personal insurance, it might be interesting to explain why the assessment/calculation of risk is treated differently.

My dp is self employed and any damage to the vans is covered my the company he works for. Does he have his own insurance?

Even if he doesn't legally have to pay, be prepared for them to retaliate by giving less work etc.

I mat be wrong but if he's only working for one company and driving their lorry then he can't be self employed he an employee