Vehicle/Personal Tracking and data protection Q's

[Ballistic Banana]

The company I work for have recently put trackers in our fleet vehicles ranging from cars through to small vans upto artics.
I don't have a problem with that. But am looking for more info on the personal tracking side.
When we use a vehicle we have a fob which holds our name and skill set. The problem I have is our vehicles are tacho exempt so I have no specific way of precisely recording my driver hours. I'm refusing to use the personal fob due to fear of perhaps incriminating myself if for whatever reason the Police want to look at the tracker reports.
Does anyone have any experiences of this kind of thing or think/know whether I have legal leg to stand on?

Cheers

BB

[Kudos]

I used to sell personal tracking solutions.

I doubt anyone will use the info to check when you are driving, I presume more likely it allows you to raise an alert if in trouble?

The tracking aspect allows them to find you if something goes wrong e.g. fall/hit head etc.

I think you are being paranoid, it is there for your safety and only those who had something to hide tended to not use it.

[lestag]

Kudos said:

I used to sell personal tracking solutions.

I doubt anyone will use the info to check when you are driving, I presume more likely it allows you to raise an alert if in trouble?

Queue anecdotal story of company with new tracking system, CEO says so how is it working then, operator shows map of all vehicles, and on stand out , a)becuase it is doing well over the open road speed limit and b) well out side the area it should be in (think edingburgh rather than greater london. resultant discussion and due process, results in termination.

In NZ truckers have to carry log books. log book not filled out , you get fined, log book looks dodgy, they go back to your timesheets/paysheets.

So I dont know about ths UK, but if the BiB can look at your timesheets/paysheets and extrapolate your hours, your in deep doodoo and the personal fob will be the least of your worries.

[Flintstone]

Kudos said:

I doubt anyone will use the info to check when you are driving

I'm sure you're a nice person and wouldn't dream of doing so, others would/will/do.

Kudos said:

I think you are being paranoid, it is there for your safety and only those who had something to hide tended to not use it.

Now where have I heard something similar to that?

Kudos said:

... personal tracking solutions.

I know this should be in the 'What Annoys Me' thread but why do companies and sales reps think it's cool to put the word 'solutions' after everything? Just as christian fish on the back of a car warn me as to the driver's likely behaviour I'll avoid a company with this latest wkword in their title or pitch being forewarned of their lack of imagination.

[Bill]

Flintstone said:

Kudos said:

I think you are being paranoid, it is there for your safety and only those who had something to hide tended to not use it.

Now where have I heard something similar to that?

But thanks for the predictable response Kudos;)

[Kudos]

Bill said:

Flintstone said:

Kudos said:

I think you are being paranoid, it is there for your safety and only those who had something to hide tended to not use it.

Now where have I heard something similar to that?

But thanks for the predictable response Kudos;)

Predictable? The only predictable thing is that it's the same type of people who constantly moan about these things. The employer pays money for these things so that they can't be accused of nto caring about their staff, these very same staff which will gladly sue the company at the drop of a hat.

Will I tell you the story about the cash in transit guard who used it to alert company that he was being robbed? Or what about the nurse on a home visit who used it when she felt unsafe? Or the company using 100's of these things but don't feel the need to track their staff every minute of every day as they trust them?

Take responsibility and grow a pair

[Bill]

Kudos said:

Predictable? The only predictable thing is that it's the same type of people who constantly moan about these things. The employer pays money for these things so that they can't be accused of nto caring about their staff, these very same staff which will gladly sue the company at the drop of a hat.

Well, that's telling....

Kudos said:

Will I tell you the story about the cash in transit guard who used it to alert company that he was being robbed? Or what about the nurse on a home visit who used it when she felt unsafe? Or the company using 100's of these things but don't feel the need to track their staff every minute of every day as they trust them?

I don't know, will you? I know you sold the things, but surely you can see how they could be misused? The "if you're doing no wrong, you have nothing to fear" line is a little naive.

Kudos said:

Take responsibility and grow a pair

Eh?

[cal72]

My Oh company has just fitted the same to all thier motors but as she uses her own car at weekends it won't bother her. As everybody knows it is only fitted to find out who,what,where and when for big brother type spying.

Sacking will follow no doubt.

[Soovy]

Ballistic Banana said:

I'm refusing to use the personal fob due to fear of perhaps incriminating myself if for whatever reason the Police want to look at the tracker reports.

Cheers

BB

Sorry, but you are being paid to do your job, using their vehicles. They've got every right to get information on how you do it. And frankly what have you got to hide?

Do what they ask, and behave yourself, otherwise good look looking for a new job.

I'm assuming you're not worried about being found out?

Edited by Soovy on Tuesday 26th October 09:52

[FeatherZ]

Use em now at work one driver got done for being in a layby for considerable ammount of time.

[AndrewTait]

We had vehicle trackers fitted to our field engineers cars, a couple of jobs back.

They had been introduced just before I started, and heard stories of one engineer saying "What happens when I finish early - you will know then!" and consequently was found out to be knocking off 30 mins before he should have done.

In general, they were used as a sales pitch - "Look, we can see where all our engineers are, and send the nearest one with the correct skills to you"

In reality, given the engineers were not daft, many of them found that removing the "mobile phone" aerial from their cars, stopped them from updating. Quite often engineers would swap cars to balance out the milage, but not tell the people administering the system, therefore had a Scotland engineer driving around Kent.

We also had a number of cars where we "forgot" to uninstall the unit when the car went back to the lease company. Obviously we knew where the car was, but didn't fancy approaching the new owners, and letting them know they were being tracked, we just chose to ignore them.

In the 5 years I worked there, we were only asked twice for details of when, where and and what route a particular engineer had taken.

[marshalla]

Soovy said:

Sorry, but you are being paid to do your job, using their vehicles. They've got every right to get information on how you do it. And frankly what have you got to hide?

R.I.P. Trust - an old-fashioned friend and once-essential member of the relationship between employer and employee.

[Soovy]

marshalla said:

Soovy said:

Sorry, but you are being paid to do your job, using their vehicles. They've got every right to get information on how you do it. And frankly what have you got to hide?

R.I.P. Trust - an old-fashioned friend and once-essential member of the relationship between employer and employee.

Yeah, RIP trust, killed by employees starting to sue their employers over every little thing, because it's dare ooooman raaaaaaahts innit.

As you say, RIP.

[cal72]

As the OH says if you do what your paid to do then there won't be any issue.
Useing the company vehicle out of hours and well, you get what you deserve.

[planetdave]

Soovy said:

marshalla said:

Soovy said:

Sorry, but you are being paid to do your job, using their vehicles. They've got every right to get information on how you do it. And frankly what have you got to hide?

R.I.P. Trust - an old-fashioned friend and once-essential member of the relationship between employer and employee.

Yeah, RIP trust, killed by employees starting to sue their employers over every little thing, because it's dare ooooman raaaaaaahts innit.

As you say, RIP.

Oh yes. Employers are above suspicion in ALL circumstances and it's not the legal profession that advertises all day long exploiting the claims business.

[GreigM]

planetdave said:

Soovy said:

marshalla said:

Soovy said:

Sorry, but you are being paid to do your job, using their vehicles. They've got every right to get information on how you do it. And frankly what have you got to hide?

R.I.P. Trust - an old-fashioned friend and once-essential member of the relationship between employer and employee.

Yeah, RIP trust, killed by employees starting to sue their employers over every little thing, because it's dare ooooman raaaaaaahts innit.

As you say, RIP.

Oh yes. Employers are above suspicion in ALL circumstances and it's not the legal profession that advertises all day long exploiting the claims business.

And employees are good as gold and productive 100% of the time they are paid for....

[planetdave]

I think you're ignoring the idea that all humans are capable of crooked activity and being one sided in these issues is just showing your lack of understanding of human nature.

Companies can be crooked too you know - never been ripped off by one?

[Tom_C76]

planetdave said:

Soovy said:

marshalla said:

Soovy said:

Sorry, but you are being paid to do your job, using their vehicles. They've got every right to get information on how you do it. And frankly what have you got to hide?

R.I.P. Trust - an old-fashioned friend and once-essential member of the relationship between employer and employee.

Yeah, RIP trust, killed by employees starting to sue their employers over every little thing, because it's dare ooooman raaaaaaahts innit.

As you say, RIP.

Oh yes. Employers are above suspicion in ALL circumstances and it's not the legal profession that advertises all day long exploiting the claims business.

But an independently run tracking scheme works both ways, the employee can prove they're not slacking with it too if some evil boss went for them.

[Melman Giraffe]

planetdave said:

Soovy said:

marshalla said:

Soovy said:

Sorry, but you are being paid to do your job, using their vehicles. They've got every right to get information on how you do it. And frankly what have you got to hide?

R.I.P. Trust - an old-fashioned friend and once-essential member of the relationship between employer and employee.

Yeah, RIP trust, killed by employees starting to sue their employers over every little thing, because it's dare ooooman raaaaaaahts innit.

As you say, RIP.

Oh yes. Employers are above suspicion in ALL circumstances and it's not the legal profession that advertises all day long exploiting the claims business.

Well said that man

[Ballistic Banana]

Kudos said:

I used to sell personal tracking solutions.

I doubt anyone will use the info to check when you are driving, I presume more likely it allows you to raise an alert if in trouble?

The tracking aspect allows them to find you if something goes wrong e.g. fall/hit head etc.

I think you are being paranoid, it is there for your safety and only those who had something to hide tended to not use it.

No not at all We don't do lone working in my profession. Work in a gang of four all have mobile phones, in fact we have 2 mobile phones extra is open to all networks in case of an emergency.

The tracking fob is only used to see who is using the vehicle not after you leave it to work on a site.

Paranoid I am not. I have no problem with them tracking there vehicle. I also have no problem using the fob. BUT i will only use the fob if they supply me with something so i can track my Driving hours precisely. i.e Tacho card.