Driver fuming after company charges him over R20 000 for high diesel consumption
“We don’t own these trucks but if we are forced to pay for diesel it means the trucks are being leased to us, VR Cargo should just tell us that diesel runs on our account,” an angry truck driver is heard saying in an audio circulating on social media.
The audio message comes after the company allegedly unlawfully deducted over R20 000,00 from the driver’s salary for over-budget spending on fuel.
He is not the only one, SA Trucker is reliably informed that there are a few other drivers who suffered such massive deductions.
The driver allegedly failed to meet the company’s 1,73km/l target while driving a 357,041km old MAN TGS 27-480 abnormal truck.
According to his pay calculation on the company’s fleet management system, which SA Trucker has seen, the daily basic salary for a 73,000kg PBS driver is R779.39 and after working 27 days he made R20,800.53.
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His gross earnings jump to R25,962.12 after adding the subsistence allowance.
A massive deduction for failing to meet the set diesel consumption almost sweeps away the basic earnings.
The driver did 1,43 km/l instead of the company-set target of 1,73 km/l. According to the company, he was supposed to use 4,795.75 litres for the 8,288 km travelled but he used 5,712.00 litres.
The company then charges the driver for the over-budget diesel which amounts to R20,267.42 and he is left with R5,694.65 before tax.
The driver showed this reporter a screenshot of payment received which amounts to a paltry R3,404.00.
SA Trucker contacted the company’s human resources manager, Dawnevin Steenkamp, who refused to answer some of the questions put to him.
Steenkamp said that the documents seen by this reporter were not the official salary advice and therefore did not reflect the exact earnings the driver received.
However, when asked why the driver in question was not issued with his payslip when he asked for it, he blue-ticked this reporter.
The driver showed this reporter a WhatsApp chat he had with Steenkamp in which he was also blue-ticked.
