failure to relocate?

[387star]

Can a TOC give someone a job they say they will relocate and then they don't (or they 'cheat' and use a friends address with no intent of moving in)

will the TOC still keep them on if they find out they are living further away than agreed at interview? will they get in trouble for this or does it frequently happen?

sorry if this has been discussed before

 

[W230]

Can a TOC give someone a job they say they will relocate and then they don't (or they 'cheat' and use a friends address with no intent of moving in)

Well it sort of becomes self defeataing really. If you live in Hereford (a random example) and work in London, getting to work on time may be a little difficult and so will getting home again! I would think if you got the job you would want to be nearer to work. I certainly wouldn't want to have to commute far on a morning when I start at 5am or earlier! In fact I wouldn't want to commute far anyway. I can understand someoone applying for a job when they don't live in the specific area but I can't understand why you would want to accept a job that was then miles away? Not to mention the amount in fuel you would end up having to spend to get to/from work. Very few services run 24/7 after all.

will the TOC still keep them on if they find out they are living further away than agreed at interview? will they get in trouble for this or does it frequently happen?

I wouldn't think it happens that often because I don't think anyone in their right mind would do those sort of commutes. It would get very tiring very quickly. As to whether the TOC would get rid of you - don't know really. But if you were driving long distances around the clock to get to/from work then I don't think it would be long until this started to show itself in safety of line incidents! As I understand it, Network Rail have the power to ban drivers from driving on the mainline for poor safety of line records so you could end up out of a job before you even got started!

On the other hand - if you had friends/family where you could stay while working your days on then I couldn't see it being a problem at all. Some drivers live far away but will stay locally between consecutive rostered shifts. Then head back far away again when on their rest days...

 

[TDK]

Can a TOC give someone a job they say they will relocate and then they don't (or they 'cheat' and use a friends address with no intent of moving in)

will the TOC still keep them on if they find out they are living further away than agreed at interview? will they get in trouble for this or does it frequently happen?

sorry if this has been discussed before

I am trying to work out why you asking this question?

 

[Beveridges]

I don't think dismissal will happen if you fail to relocate but if you don't then the job is only going to be a struggle getting to/from work. If this is a Drivers role, adding loads of car driving to the start and end of every day will make every day very tiring. Having said that there are plenty of old staff who do stupid commutes and got in during BR who probably couldn't care less how far you were commuting. For example I know someone who commutes all the way from Buxton to a certain depot near Manchester! It will also probably make you late for work a very lot. Traffic jams, accidents, road works, road closures/diversions, snow, you get it all.

 

[Geargrinder]

If in their application "the person" stated they would relocate then I'm sure this would be discussed in reasonable detail at interview. If that person lied in order to get the job they are then liable to be sacked, I would argue that they have also committed a criminal act of fraud, not to mention probably breaching railway rules if they actually ended up driving solo.
In practise I'm sure "the person" would be found out eventually. Speaking as someone who drives 22 miles (30 mins) to work currently, I don't know why anyone would want more than 1 hours commute at the maximum anyway.

 

[LCC106]

I'd be interested to know the exact context i.e. how long is the commute if the person doesn't relocate (distance and time wise).

In answer to the original question, the TOC will offer the job in good faith subject to certain conditions. They MAY stipulate the requirement to relocate in the written statement of terms and conditions (although this in my opinion is unlikely). If they DO stipulate it, the employee signs the paperwork and then doesn't move, yes, their job is at risk for breach of contract. Remember too that a contract can be verbal and not just written, so if interview notes state that the employee said he / she would relocate and they don't, this could potentially be seen as breach of contract.

If severe safety of the line incidents occur and are found to be due to fatigue due to the distance travelled (and the TOC was unaware of failure to relocate), I wouldn't like to think of the potential consequences. Not trying to be melodramatic, just looking at worst case scenario.

 

[NI 271]

Speaking as someone who drives 22 miles (30 mins) to work currently, I don't know why anyone would want more than 1 hours commute at the maximum anyway.

I've never commuted more than ten miles (if I've been working away from home I've always been in digs) and equally cannot understand why anyone would want to commute for over an hour. There was a time when my commute WAS over an hour, but in those days I was doing the 18 mile round trip on a push bike... My current commute is 9 miles, 15-20 minutes in a car depending on time of day or 25-30 if I'm on my scooter (in which case I will go a longer but quieter route). In truth, that's long enough for me.

I will apply for pretty much any driving job and state I will relocate. If I got the job, I would, without any question, relocate if I lived more than an hour away. I applied for Northern last year based at Sheffield, and I would say that is about the furthest I could travel to from my current home (Manchester and Leeds are much quicker to travel to, however, so I would prefer either of those obv). Any further afield, and it's goodbye to the family for a bit!!

 

[DistrictDriver]

Just had my interview with the Driver Managers for FGW and one of the things they made clear to me was it would be written into my contract that I would live no longer than 60 minutes away from Reading.