Free Traffic Legal Advice
Live cases legal advice => Non-motoring legal advice => Topic started by: roythebus on July 26, 2026, 09:47:04 pm
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An update on this case now I've got the written judgement, the judge has made a protective award for all the claimants on my list of 23 claimants. All will get 90 days pay minus tax and NI, the problem being that the company is in liquidation. But in this case the DSS Redundancy Payments section foots the bill up to a certain level. There's another 27 claims to be heard in mid-September with staff trying to establish whether or not TUPE will apply to them.
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Well done Roy
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Thanks, these guys (and a couple of gals) are the backbone of moving people around London, driving buses. What some prefer weren't here. These are all good honest hard-working people, mostly here with families, all here legally or born here, they get on with the job of driving buses. They were treated badly by "the system" with the intransigence of TfL management forcing the company with no other option than to close down at short notice.
"The system", in this case the Employment Tribunal, never an easy place to deal with, and never quick, got there eventually despite the cuts in government funding over the last few years. It was hard work for my partner and I dealing with some of the claimants, most of whom we know, most of whom don't have English as their first language. Now the wait for the last group's claims to be resolved in September. Quite when the pay-outs will be made is anybody's guess.
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Great job on this. I believe it was your persistence that worked out.
I also appreciate helping others where most do not have the capability to do so. We must help those who cannot help themselves.
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Well done that man.
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I'm not usually here to blow my own trumpet, but 2 years ago I, along with 240+ others were put out of work when the bus company we worked for closed down without notice. There was no consultation, no warning, nothing, just a note on the office door saying words to the effect of "we've shut down, wait to hear from the liquidators". To cut a long story short there was no recognised trade union and no workers representative, so we were up the proverbial creek without a paddle.
We had a whatsapp chat group and used that as a means of contact. It transpired there were 4 groups of workers, those of us on zero hours, mostly doing rail replacement work and some local and TfL services, another group of drivers who came into the company by TUPE when their routes transferred to this company, another group of full time contract drivers who mainly done commercial county council bus services, and another group who weren't on the whatsapp group.
I was asked by a number of people in the first group to help them as most of them don't have English as a first language. we all got through the Redundancy Pay and Loss of Notice pay, a process which took months, and eventually meant that any claims for an Employment Tribunal would have been out of date! Luckily I happened to be the first to go through the process and got my claim in on time. It took months for the Tribunal to contact anyone, but in the meanwhile others joined in the claim. I had a total of 23 people; the TUPE group were trade union members form their previous employers and had a TU solicitor, and the other drivers found another version of me to deal with their claims, another group of over 20.
It was a very long wait with hearings planned for earlier this year, an initial hearing in January, another in April with the main hearing set for earlier in July 2026. The judge should have sent directions for the previous hearing and the one before but he apologised for this as he and the office staff are overworked and understaffed, as is most of the government legal system. He was a very pleasant chap; he accepted that all claims would be back-dated to the date of the first application, and all the claims would be for Protective Award, a form of compensation which will be paid from the company if there's any funds left. There isn't so the amount will be subject to a government cap. The judge also accepted the problems dealing with a lot of people for whom English is not their first language. He found in our favour and also found in favour of the TUPE group. The other group of drivers will have their hearing in September, it is a more complex case as they are all making claims under TUPE as the director has 2 other bus companies one of which has transferred a number of staff without consultation.
I've not made mention of this matter before in case it would prejudice matters. Speaking to the ET office staff they are very polite and helpful, but severely understaffed. Top marks to them for helping in this rather complex case and being very tolerant and extending deadlines. I must admitI had a lot of sleepless nights hoping I could get all the info in the right order on the right dates. The waiting list for cases now exceeds 3 years.