As a result of our announcement of strike action, a meeting took place at ACAS on Friday November 3rd.

At that meeting management agreed to commission a fully independent safety analysis of the “Guardian” system by an agreed independent expert. A Professor of Ophthalmology is being engaged to carry this out. If the report indicates there are any adverse health effects on drivers, the system will be switched off. The company will fully support any individual reporting symptoms who wants to have an independent medical examination.

A review into all the underlying issues that causes tiredness and fatigue is taking place with the involvement of an outside company, Clockwork. The company have accepted that changes will need to be negotiated with ASLEF. We will be tabeling a 35 hour week as part of these discussions.

TOL reconfirmed that the Guardian system has no facility to “spy” on drivers. It cannot be used to monitor activity in the cab or to record continuous video footage or still images. No disciplinary action will be taken against any driver that may be identified as suffering from fatigue.

All driver management policies are to be jointly reviewed to ensure there is a non-disciplinary approach to managing safety incidents. All existing warnings are to be reviewed.

On this basis the ASLEF Executive Committee has agreed to suspend the strike action called for Nov 13th to allow for these steps to be taken.