Office closing for tour de france...can they insist I take annual leave?

[Snog]

My office is closed on the day that the tour de france comes to town as many people will find it hard to get to work due to road closures. I can walk to work and would like to work. Does anyone know if they can they legally insist I need to take annual leave?

Not an employment expert, but yes, am pretty sure they can. It's fairly common (or used to be) for say factories to close down for 2 weeks for summer holidays, and to mandate their staff take holiday then. It's likely they just don't want to open the office at all - as there will be a cost associated with it - heat/lighting reception/security staff..

I guess this is more comparable to sites having to close for adverse weather than it is to a regular, seasonal closure. It may be as much about seafety/security as a simple matter of cost. In any case, they're probably within their rights to impose it, but if home working is an option for you, you might as well ask if you can go for that instead.

Surely this should be written into your contract though? Regular shut downs would be.

Yes. An employer can insist on an employee taking a specific date/dates as annual leave - they don't need a reason. I believe they have to give you twice the notice of the time you are to take; so, if they want you to take 2 weeks annual leave, they need to give you at least 4 weeks notice.

In my experience most employers would be fairly collaborative about it however. On is occasion, they sound like they have a reasonable reason (they don't need one though), if they want you to take a day, they need to give you 2 days notice which they seem to have done.

Could you work from home??

Thanks very much everyone for the advice - although it's a bit disappointing as I had thought that they needed to provide me with work just like I need to turn up for work - but it seems the law isn't very favourable to employees on this one.
It's possible that I could work from home so I could explore that option
Tour de France is causing chaos in my town - loads of business are closing for the day and even the hospital has cancelled everyone it can for the day!!