This has been coming for some considerable time and it doesn't just affect our industry. The whole question of company drivers/time behind the wheel is coming more to the fore as the number of accidents involving company drivers become increasingly apparent.
For some of us, the whole question of basing will come into question. Let's say you are based at STN and choose to live in Cardiff. Your company may say that you are supposed to live within an hour of your duty station - but do they really insist upon it? Like most, the answer is probably that your domestic arrangements are your own concern providing they don't interfere with your job and you report for duty on time. But your company can't say it doesn't know where you live. So it deposits you at STN at 0230 after a maximum FDP, secure in the knowledge that that is where its responsibility ends. Meanwhile, you drive back to Cardiff and, on the way, become an integral part of a bridge support on the M4.
I'm not pretending I know for sure what a court might make of those circumstances but I have a sneaking suspicion that, given the way our compensation culture is going,it might be difficult for your company to argue they have no responsibility for the accident. And look at the proposals for the new offence of Corporate Killing which suggest that a company would be liable if its actions are the causeor one of the causes of a death.
Doesn't seem that everyone has looked at the implications of the HSE's proposals under their Revitalising Health and Safety initiative or the Home Office's new offence of Corporate Killing