It’s not like you’ve not made it crystal clear in the past Andrew. And it’s not like you post multiple simultaneous RJs from all over the country like some ‘Owner Driver’ fraudsters are allowed to do with impunity.
Posted under Courier and Freight Exchanges, Courier Basics
Posted by Alec at 6:56 pm, January 19, 2007
Get a Global SIM from www.0044.co.uk – this will give you a number with an Isle of Man 07624 prefix that has no roaming charges for incoming calls. Give that number to the people you really WANT to be able to call you. Set a voicemail message on your normal mobile informing callers of the alternate number and leave it switched off. Publicise your new mobile number everwhere you normally plaster your details.
The Global SIM roams on all 4 networks in the UK so you get better coverage for incoming calls. Use another mobile for outgoing calls in the UK though.
Posted under Mobile Phones
Posted by Alec at 6:04 pm, January 18, 2007
Did you expect the new company to operate from a Portakabin until they could find new premises?
Posted under Uncategorized
Posted by Alec at 9:14 am, January 18, 2007
Costs + Effort + Profit = Fair Price For The Job
What does it matter if it’s a Hotshot, Backload, Frontload or whatever.
The point is it’s got f**k all to do with me what financial benefit my customer is gaining from us carrying out a job for them. If I’m told that the customer will incur a £100,000 penalty charge if they don’t get their client’s computer network up within 4 hours I don’t tell them I’ll do the job for £50,000. Instead I charge them Costs+ Effort + Profit.
If I’ve got a job from Aberdeen to Farnworth and you (Andy) happen to be sat in Aberdeen stuffing your face with a bacon & black pudding roll what does it actually matter to you what I’m charging for the job? You quote me a rate that you’re happy with, I’m happy with it and maybe offer you a bit more and you add an hour on to your journey home and maybe £120 profit in your pocket. That’s £120 profit for an hour’s extra work – you’d (hopefully) already made 2 day’s profit from your outward journey. You’re in profit, we’re in profit, whether WE made £50, £240 or £1,000 on the job is surely as irrelevant to you as the value of our service to our customer is to us. We’ve saved them £100,000, less our costs. You’ve made £120 profit, we’ve made a profit.
Posted under Courier and Freight Exchanges, Courier Basics
Posted by Alec at 7:46 pm, January 12, 2007
No, you need a tacho fitted if a 3.5 ton van tows any trailer. You need an O-licence if the trailer’s over 1020kg unladen.
Posted under Drivers' Hours, Towing, Vans
Posted by Alec at 4:27 pm, January 11, 2007
I’ve got this saved on my PC for every time this issue comes up, it relates to a self-employed driver being paid a daily or hourly rate to cover work in a van owned by the company he’s subcontracting to:
“The relevant case law is Express and Echo Publications Ltd v Tanton 1999.
The important thing here is the ‘personal service’ test:
Self-employment could only be proved if the driver has a contract expressly giving him the right to supply a substitute driver whenever he wishes. Even then employment could still be proved if the company made it difficult for this to happen or habitually supplied the relief driver themselves.
The safest thing to do is to draw up a contract which actually penalises the driver if he doesn’t supply a relief, even if it’s just £10 a day it would help the case.
Secondly, make sure that occasionally the driver DOES have time off and supplies a relief. Keep a record of the days that he supplies a relief driver.
Be careful not to be too picky about who the driver offers as a relief. You can have a ‘pool’ of relief drivers for the subbies to call upon but you must make it clear that they’re not tied to using them and that any contract for services is between the subbie and the relief driver.
I’m not a lawyer of course so I suggest anyone wanting to do this takes more appropriate legal advice.”
Posted under Employment
Posted by Alec at 5:49 pm, January 10, 2007
Expect to pay 8-15p/minute for incoming calls if you want to divert an 0845 number to a mobile.
Posted under Telecoms
Posted by Alec at 3:26 pm, January 10, 2007
Self-employed people with a turnover under the VAT registration threshold (whether they’re registered or not) are allowed to claim HMRC Approved Mileage Rates instead of actual running costs. 40p/mile for the first 10,000 miles then 25p/mile.
It works best for owner-drivers with rented small vans doing very high mileages. 2500 miles per week equals about £650 allowance for £85 rental, £20 insurance & £250 fuel.
If you use the scheme you can’t claim any other expenses for ANY vehicle costs except for hire-purchase interest. Can’t claim fuel or vehicle insurance but you can still claim congestion charge, tolls, GIT etc.
You have to keep a full, accurate log of your journeys and mileages and be able to prove that you covered all the mileage on business. Records have to be kept for 6 years after the end of the tax year and the Revenue can and do check records randomly.
The allowance is charged to your P&L account as if it was a normal expense and can do a nice job of decimating your profits for both Income Tax and Tax Credit purposes.
Posted under Courier Financial Issues, Mileage Allowance Scheme
Posted by Alec at 5:51 pm, January 9, 2007