Who should pay?

[CountryVic]

Last month, 4 work colleagues were going in a work car to another office for the week. We were to meet at work for 7.30am and the drive was an hour, and we returned for 5pm. Two people were not able to drive, one has a frozen shoulder, and the other has not got a full licence (trainee) so the driving was left to myself and one other, let’s call her Sonia.
I drove every morning, and Sonia drove 4 of the 5 afternoons, all good. Until a speeding ticket arrived at work. My boss sent an email to all 4 staff advising as per policy that we signed when taking the car, this needs to be paid by the driver, so can we please confirm who was driving on Thursday afternoon at 4.36pm so they can update the details and have the ticket sent in the correct name and with licence details.
I responded to the email 2 days later when my manager called me to follow up, I had assumed Sonia had responded and taken ownership. I CC everyone in the email and confirmed Sonia was driving, but she replied saying she can't be sure and she thinks it was me! The other 2 staff said they think she drove, but it was a while ago so can’t be sure, so the manager had head office send the full ticket so he can see who the driver is. Of course it shows Sonia, we look nothing alike, but she still says she does not think she should be held fully responsible.
The ticket is $260 and Sonia is suggesting that we split it 4 ways paying $65 each and as we all benefitted from driving together. The other staff member with the frozen shoulder agrees that this is fairest, I disagree and have said no, I won’t be paying this.
On Friday morning I got an email saying this needs to be resolved on Monday, if we can not agree then we have to to attend a meeting with the manager and someone from corporate services as they oversee the work car bookings.
The manager has said it’s up to us how to handle it, reminded us we’re all one team, here for one another but I have said there is nothing to handle, the photograph shows Sonia driving, she should pay the fine, it’s a legal document and nothing to do with work at all. I am happy to go to the meeting and advise this.
The other staff member has put $65 in an envelope for the manager, the trainee has said she’s not got any spare cash until payday and could she pay it over a few pays, I have said there is no expectation for anyone by but Sonia to pay as she was the one with her foot on the accelerator!
Am I wrong here?

I know someone who tried to demand every parking ticket he got should be covered as a business expense because he was very important and didn’t have time to park correctly

Suggest to your manager if they don’t like the current policy they should take on this policy and the business pay for all parking and speeding fines

cant believe she tried to stitch you up that’s not on

I went down a bus lane in random city with a friend trying to find a venue. My mate offered half I told her no way

Let's hope she does refuse, if keeping to the speed limit and obeying the law is too arduous a task for the woman

Then op might be the only one who has to drive and she would definitely not be happy with that.

Absolutely the driver's responsibility - no way would I be paying!

I would 100% not be paying $65 for the sake of the team. It wouldn't cross my mind to agree to this. And if it was me speeding, it really would never occur to me to ask other people to pitch in for the fine.

If they're so worried about the team, they should tell Sonia to stop being so bloody ridiculous and guilting the rest of the team into paying for her!

the same as what would happen if Sonia didn't need to go to the event, or was on annual leave or maternity or had left the company....they would just make other arrangements.

OP has said everyone working there has to be able to drive anyway so it's not like Sonia is somehow special.
In this case, OP could have driven herself anyway, so isn't beholden to Sonia.
If it was just the trainee going, she is allowed to drive herself and one other person anyway, it's just because there were so many others she couldn't, so she isn't beholden to Sonia.
If it was the person with the bad shoulder, presumably next time it will be recovered so she can also drive herself. So no need for her to be beholden to Sonia.

If Sonia refused to drive for no valid reason (which being expected to pay for her own ticket incurred by her own poor driving, as specifically set out in company policy is!) then presumably she would be disciplined, therefore the only person negatively affected by Sonia refusing to drive next time would be Sonia herself. Not to mention she'd come across as an absolute dick! (more than she already has by expecting other people to pay her fine for her!)

What a weird point. I assume you've never worked anywhere travelling is part of the role?

You could just as well put it the other way- what if OP or any of the others refused to be passengers in cars Sonia will be driving if they are expected to pay for her mistakes?

Then op might be the only one who has to drive and she would definitely not be happy with that.

I genuinely don't understand what you mean. You can't just refuse to do a part of your job.

As a passenger I would probably contribute. Next time Sonia will probably refuse to drive, so what would happen then.

That would be a problem for Sonia's boss, not the OP.

The OP is doing her job.

Sonia. She is causal link between driving and fine. Why should you, frozen shoulder and trainer have to fork out money for something that was out of your control?
Hey Sonia, sorry but I don't see why we should be compensating your mistake.

There are three very good reasons why you should not pay:

She was speeding (legally wrong)
She tried to offload the blame onto you (legally and morally wrong!)
Your manager is an idiot

No I wouldn't pay either. Do you have a union? Could you take documentation (from car pool policy) to defend your status. Or speak to local police or insurance for advice?

This is ridiculous, of course you shouldn't pay. Whoever is driving has responsibility for their speed and awareness. Do child passengers have to pay if their parent gets a ticket? Utterly bonkers!

You should show the office manager, and Sonia, trainee and injured colleague this thread, OP!

She should pay in full. She was driving and went over the speed limit. She still tried to deny it even with photographic evidence. If the person with the frozen shoulder wants to chip in that is up to them. The trainee should not be expected to pay anything. She should be given a warning for trying to blame someone else.

This is 100% on Sonia. Why should everyone else pay the price for her crap driving? She’s got an absolute cheek!

The fine is Sonia's responsibility and no one else's.

It is not a "team" responsibility to share the punishment when one member of the team breaks the law.

According to the company policy (and the law in the UK) it is only the car driver's responsibility to pay fines incurred while they are in charge of the car.

The manager is guilty of misconduct (in most workplaces) if he/she fails to follow policy and procedure or coerces subordinates to do so.

Sonia put herself and her passengers at risk by driving too fast. Speed restrictions are in place to protect people from the possibility of injury and death. She failed in her obligation as a responsible driver.

1. Sonia should quietly pay the fine and take whatever punishment she is due.
2. She should also apologise to OP, trainee and bad shoulder for putting them at risk of serious injury or death.
3. She should also apologise to OP for trying to blame OP for her own dangerous and reckless behaviour.

The manager should have issued a disciplinary warning to Sonia for her misconduct and compel her to complete the actions detailed in paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 above.

If the manager had had the guts to do this, Sonia would be so far on the back foot, she probably wouldn't have had the guts to expect anyone else to pay her fine.

Unfortunately, the manager is treating her as more of a victim than a villain and is implying that all four of the employees in the car were somehow equally guilty.

A: driver pays
b: the photo is of Sonia so she pays
c: you all have signed a document that says driver pays
d: company policy is driver pays

there is no obligation on anyone who wasn't driving to pay anything towards a fine that they didn't cause.

And tell your manager that in future you will expect that he applies the company rule, and that whenever you are driving for work, you and all passengers will document who is driving.

If this was in the UK, it would likely mean 3 points on her licence or a speed awareness course. You can hardly share those out between the team.

Totally the driver’s responsibility and no one else to blame here.

YANBU. Myself and a colleague shared the driving on a work trip in the UK. I got flashed by a speed camera entering an area of road works. In anticipation of a fine I reported to HR that if something came through it was me, not my colleague driving.
My speed, my mistake, my fine and/ or points.

Driver absolutely pays for a speeding fine. If it was a parking fine and maybe even a bus lane fine if someone was helping navigate I might say it should be shared but only one person can control the speed and that’s the driver.

If there had been an RTA with a fatality would you all take a quarter of Sonya’s prison sentence, no.
Three things are going on here:
1: Morally and legally Sonya must take responsibility for her actions.
2: A workplace should not be seen to be encouraging enablement of antisocial, dangerous and illegal behaviour and /or promoting
3: The larger consensus view displayed here suggests we are in a socially controlled society that no longer respects governance and fears socially recrimination higher. This suggestion it is better to be a team player.😬🙄

In my opinion it looks as though you have two ways of approaching this, you either approach it with a firm focused attitude, or you take a more “forgive but don’t forget” view.

This really is a nail bitting one because to be frank doing the right thing and towing the line are at total odds.

It may do you good to look around at whether there is a higher profile company or organisation you’d benefit greater from if you applied? This one sounds too “safe” for its employees.

It sucks you’re even in this position in this “modern” day. My condolences.

If there had been an RTA with a fatality would you all take a quarter of Sonya’s prison sentence, no.

Some posters seem to think they would. What with Sonia doing them a favour apparently.

I wonder if she had killed them all she would have been doing them a favour too.

Agree with the consensus here, Sonia is the only one responsible for paying. Your boss literally has a document with her agreeing to this, ridiculous they have left you guys to sort it out between you.