Drive tired, or face work disciplinary ?

[hertsbiker]

Say you're really fatigued (not drunk or hungover!) and feel that driving would be unsafe. Where do you stand legally when you phone your boss and say "I feel too tired to drive" ?

[spaximus]

At our company the handbook says you must not drive if incapable through drink drugs tiredness. How ever you might get away with an odd day, say you had been up all night with a sick child this would be reasonable, but I would certainly begin disciplinary action if you came in so tired because you had been up alnight playing cards and it wasn't the first time. In reality most just lie and say the usual migraine, upset stomach etc. But it depends on company policy and how such an event is handled IMHO

[flat_steve]

There are things you can do to temporarily wake you up, can of Red Bull or a strong coffee will see you through an hour or so...

[markmullen]

flat_steve said:

There are things you can do to temporarily wake you up, can of Red Bull or a strong coffee will see you through an hour or so...

Best way to do it is to have a red bull or espresso and then have 20 minutes sleep, by the time you wake the caffeine will be kicking in plus you will be rested by 20 minutes and then good to go for a while.

Be careful though because as you will come down quite quickly and suddenly once your body has used the energy you have gotten from the caffeine, not good if you are still driving.

I'm a car salesman not a doctor so this might not be exactly 100% how it works

[axj]

hertsbiker said:

Say you're really fatigued (not drunk or hungover!) and feel that driving would be unsafe. Where do you stand legally when you phone your boss and say "I feel too tired to drive" ?

Providing your telling the truth you should be in the clear as you would be breaching Health and Safety regs.if your employer forced you to drive in that condition.

If you caused or contributed to being so tired e.g.not getting enough sleep then you could face a diciplinary hearing.

[towman]

Me `ol mate Philthy posted about this a while back. Both of us have done agency work for some of the big parcel carriers, who have a policy that you do not stop when travelling between depots. If you do, you are blacklisted.

Given that we are running 38 tonners at the most vulnerable time of the day (4am), this is absolute madness. And given that the tacho chart shows the boss instantly whether or not you have stopped, there is only one option....

Steve

[markmullen]

towman said:

And given that the tacho chart shows the boss instantly whether or not you have stopped, there is only one option....

Whip the fuse out of the tacho?

[towman]

markmullen said:

Whip the fuse out of the tacho?

It`s actually a worse offence to do that than to disregard the driving regs, so that`s a these days.

Steve