Rupe

Never paid tipping fees in my life!! I have a list of clients and other people who will use any woodchip I give them. Yes, I give it to them, but only when it suits me. If someone wants some next week then its 10-20 pound a load depending on where they are. And most of my regular big clients keep all arising from their job, so if I turn up with half a load on from yesterdays job then they have that as well. I also have keys to all the allotments in town, they use more than I can ever give them, plus theres guys there who will take the odd leylandii logs that are chucked in at the end of the day, and then I get some vegies now and then in return. Everyones happy. 50 odd quid to empty the truck!! No chance.

Its still really hard to find on DVD, amazon has it but not as cheap as a film that old should be, on not available on Blu ray yet for some unknown reason. I would get it on blu ray if I could, would look good on my 110 inch HD screen!!! Watched some of it last night but had to get some sleep, work today!

What area are you in? I am sure not all offices are the same, but from what I know you sound over experienced. Its a good place for newbies to get stuck in, but the pay is not there for anyone who actually knows what they are doing. I worked for them for 2 years, and that was my 3rd and 4th years in the industry so I could already climb just about, I maybe had a years climbing experience when I started and I was plenty good enough for their standards. I would consider that for anyone with your experince it would be a step backwards.

The employer has to ensure that employees have PPE. Does not mean they have to provide it for you. It can come out of an allowance. So the agency pay £5 an hour to a labourer and £8 per hour to you cos you bring your PPE. (those are just examples of course) And also, you are being contracted in, not employed directly by the agency. They are looking to provide the council with a chainsaw operator with PPE for x amount an hour, do you want the work or not?

You may well be right, I've never had an office job. I was pretty sure shop floor staff have paid break i.e. the hour is within their 8 hrs, whereas wharehouse staff and manual labour such as us lot usually have to have any breaks in addition to the 8 hrs worked. I assumed office was the same as shop floor, but dont know for sure. MAybe it just depneds on the employer and the contract they use. If staff sign a contract that give them a poor deal then its a choice they have to make.

HAve you ever asked for one? I work 7-7 most days and eat on the go. The guys that work for me are on 8-5 and they have whatever breaks they want within reason as long as the job gets done and any maintanence etc that is required. Sometimes a whole hour for lunch especialy in the summer, but usually a lot less but as many tea breaks as they want depending on job in hand and the customer. Somedays they work later than 5 and this is noted and they can leave early another time. The hours and breaks that I have have no relevance to employees or self employed workers.

"It was just a terrible freak accident" Hardly!! A freak accident would have been if the limb fell off on its own while someone was underneath gardening. Cutting it off yourself and getting trapped is an accident waiting to happen more like not a freak one.

Good reading, but it deals with employment, and employment contracts, so not directly related to hiring in self employed folk but a good start I guess.

The quicker reply would have been........... I think you need to decide if he's a subby or not. If you employing him on day rate then stop thinking of him as a subbie cos he isn't, and then tell him what breaks there are, and come to a suitable agreement. Or give him goal for the day, i.e. get these 4 trees done and thats us finished, then he can decide how long to take for breaks etc.

Your saying he's a subbie, so you are not employing him? Its upto him how long a break he has. If (as a true sub contractor) he's on a fixed price for a specific job then he can take as long as he likes. If in fact you are employing him for a day, at day rate, then even though he is self employed he is entitled to breaks. But the law would be vague as he's not a full time employee. I would say that it is up to you both to decide what works for you both of you. If you can agree on it then you have a good working relationship. He could (as a self eployed person or "subbie") have as long as he wants for breaks, if you dont like that then you get someone else in, if you make him have less and he doesn't like that then he'll go elsewhere for work. You are not contractually obliged to do anything for each other at all so their is little in the way of "laws" that will help you. But the industry standard for this kind of work in employment would be 1 hour break in every 8 worked. Unpaid of course. Thats why many do 8-5 with an hours breaks, not 9-5 with an hour like shop and office workers who get paid for their breaks.

You might find it a bit too short but it will work. If too short it just means that you cant pull it towrds you very far so it might not release enough. It will be safer short though so try it and let it out a bit if you need to. Experimenting is the only way. Its different for everybody so you can only make you own mind up really.

I have a kit, in a big red shiny bag with rescue written on it. Its more for show really, we hang it on the outside of the truck when doing street trees, but actually when theres two climbers and one is grounding, then he woul dhave his kit there anyway. Its all there in the bag though, and gets lolered etc. But its just old gear that is still usuable. I dont see the point of havign new kit sitting in a bag, buy yourself a new harness when your old one has six months left in it and shove the old one in the rescue kit. Same with rope etc.

Good on you. I didn't mean to be negative, but just remember that an actual job on a permanent basis (no matter if full time or not) should mean proper employment not self employment. If you go down the self employed route but only work for one person when he dictates, then he will be benifiting far more than you, with no holiday or sick pay etc. Until you are able to earn money form your own work, I would look for proper employment if you can.

Ah, I see. So you are looking for a tree job to replace your other one? and keep the brigade going part time?

You can have two jobs, both of which are under the PAYE scheme. One would be your main job and the other part time. So your tax code would apply to one of the jobs, and then you get taxed at the full rate (i.e. with no tax code) on the second job. Like I said before you cannot get a position in a company x amount of days per week on an ongoing basis as a self employed person. Thats called employment. You could do it, but the employer would be liable to prosecution and have to pay all your tax if found out. There are ways round it, some people even go to the extreme of getting their own insurance in order to appear as though they are self employed but this is just madness. The other ways are to invoice per job (or group of jobs) and not per week or day, and of course having all your own kit is a good one, but ultimatly you need to working for many companies, i.e. freelance, in order to be truely self employed.

Yes, you can be employed a few days a week on paye, and then self employed the other days and do a tax return, but you cant have a full time job on self employed status. Well you can do it, but the IR veiw it very badly and the employer can be open to prosecution. Its a form of exploitation and we have employment laws to protect employees from that kind of thing.

Yes, a full time job on a self employed basis is actually not right, the employer would be beniffitting more than the employee. It works to a certain extent in the construction industry but there are different regulations for that. So self employed is for people who work for many companies, i.e. they dont have "a job". You cant get offered a full time job and then be told you will be self employed.

And you cant claim any money back for anything, you just dont pay tax on things like training, PPE etc etc. No one is going to give you any money back.

What do you mean by self employed when you find a job?? If you find a job then you are employed. Self employed is for folk who dont have a job, but they find a days work here and there and do their own tax etc. What is it you are trying to do??

It cant be done. I worked for a company years ago with a cabstar (brand new at R reg, to give you a timescale) and I loved driving it on my own to go pick up some logs we had left somewhere, and the dog could lie on the passenger seat with his head on my lap! Happy days, but no way you could take 2-3 plus lunch, plus kit!! (in those days we had no roadsigns etc!!) My LDV has ladder on top, then full chapter 8 signs (and some extras) inc. cones in the roof box, then spare fuels & oils plus all tea making facilities+first aid+bits and bobs permanently left in one side of the tool locker and then kit+saws go in the other side but are removed at night. That way we rarely leave anything behind. In 18 years, I am about as organised as I can be!! It would be overloaded if full to the brim with chip, but know what we are doing!!

I woul dbuy a cabstar tomorrow if I had an extra employee who needed a run around that could also be used for chips/logs etc. But as a main vehicle to carry a crew and kit, there is no way.

Only if they are conifer trees. Decidiouse trees cannot be classed as a hedge. There os no legal height restrictions. They tried but its was unworkable, but as a guide you could go along with the height being no greater than the distance from the neighbouring house. SO 20feet away then hedge can be 20 feet high. Only problem with this is that it assumes hedges run parallel with houses which of course they dont.

Yes, I think you are confused. No such thing as a lock jack positioner. ART make the lockjack for your main line. ART also make the positioner but its for your lanyard/strop. They are both good, but you cant compare them too each other.

I can e mail you the original which will be higher resolution if you want it??

That link is not working either, but the thread does exist, called LDV weights and measures, in the large equipment section, but you will have to go a long way back to find it. Anyway, what you want probably isn;t there, but it seems I did a screen capture when it was available on line so here it is