Rupe

I have to agree with all of that!! Good employees shouldn't need to work elsewhere at weekends, bring it in and get a bonus. Much better and safer than offering bonuses for work done under the time allowed.

Working for another tree company would qualify for instant dismissal, no question about that, out the door real fast!! Working in another industry (bar work, saturday shop job etc) is fine if it doesn't effect your ability to carry out you full time job, so no you couldn't be sacked for it alone but if late/tired at work you could be warned verbally and in writing to stop and then be sacked if you didn't. Working for your self doing tree work would probably fall somewhere between the first two examples. Not instant dismissal but if failure to stop when asked formally could lead to dismissal. You should be bringing the work into your company, not lining it up for your self at weekends, so that could be detrimental to your employer and ground for instant dismissal but a much greyer area than the first example above. Likewise if you were tired during your evening pub job cos you had a hard day at work you would be "let go" pretty quick. Another example, this is just a what if scenario..... You work a saturday doing private tree work at a house next door to where you were working a couple of weeks ago with your company??? What do you think the legal response of your employer could be there?? I think grey area again but not that grey. Out the door!! Of course if a boss has good employees he looks after them (gibbon for example) but vice versa, good employees should bring the work to the company.

Staged but not fake I think. I reckon the car has a canon under it to make it jump/roll, and the ball is soft and light (ish) and restrained so only clips the car.

I agree, the boss would have to be a twit, and if you lend them kit then thats good for them and moral and all good IMO. I was only statign worst case scenario, but it is true that many proffesions wouldn't stand for it. And being late/tired due to a second job would mean you could get sacked if you persisted after an initial warning. Sorry about the spelling, I type faster than my skills allow! ANd Hazzygawa is right, you are "allowed" to do whatever work you want, it is a free country after all! The employer is also allowed to not put up with it.

Opinion on the net seems to be that its a film set?? It is true that it seems odd that the ball stops intantly instead of continuing with the car going sideways.

I don't think the folk in the car would agree with you. They must be near dead!!

Not if its not in the interest of the company you work for (moonlighting its called) or if it effects your ability to do your job such as tiredness injury etc. That can even include playing sprots at the weekend. If it effects your work then you could be dismissed although this would have to be through the usual written warning system.

Refresher can only really cover the units you already have. Sound like you might need to do some extras! 40 and 41 woudl be good, and (like mentioned above) that should act as a refresher for all the other units as you will be picked up on any faults you have developed in your basic skills.

Good luck with it! If you have an understanding boss then you'll be fine, if not then just don't talk about it!! My post was not suggestign that you shouldn't be doing what your doing, just saying that in general terms an employer could legally fire on you on the spot, no need for warnings etc. Keep to easy jobs and don't bother with insurance just yet. Don't pretend to have it if you don't but don't work over roads or public areas without it!! The excess on most insurances is so big that you will have to pay for minor damages anyway.

MOg and 88 would about do it really. And some small coasters for the girls. Sorry thats sexist!! Coasters for the ones who are going to have boyfriends in the future!! There that covers boys and girls!!!

Yes it would be harsh I agree, but perfectly allowed if its in your contract of employement. Not many trades/businesses would allow you to work on the sides in the same line of work. How about a full time job at tesco, and a part time weekend job at sainsburies?? Your feet wouldn't touch the ground if they found out, and you wouldn't need warnigns it would be instant. In tree work, your employer would expect you to rest at the weekend. If you came in tired (or worse still, injured) cos you had been working then he could sack you and not be that unreasonable in doing so. Of course I'm being all worst case scenario as usual, like I say I did it for years, but if I was a boss now I would not take kindly to someone who I support (sick pay, holidays etc) workign on the side. Even an evening job in a pub can be frowned upon if it make syou tired/late in the mornings. And if it is just for family and friends then no need for the insurance! While I think of it, if you are employed then you should (in an ideal world) be encouraged to act as an ambassador for your company and so if you get offered extra work and you don't give them your bosses number that would be another allowable dismissal.

Seriously, chain saws that might have petrol in them, probably not allowed in the school! They have risk assessments too remember.

Take the chain off an 066, then start it up and run round the hall screaming! That will get them to shut up!

If you are employed are you allowed to do private work here and there?? Instant dismissal in my opinion. Of course I got away with it for years though!

Just slag off every other company in your area for half an hour!! I think the age of trees and the height will be of some interest?? Maybe you could do something to teach them that cuttign down trees in our line of work is not the same as cuttign down rainforests, there seems to be some confusion on that point from children.

My original plan for my truck was to make my own sides using sheets of ally riveted on to old ladders as a frame. I think the way I did it in the end looked a lot better, but if you have any old broken ladders around (or know of any) they can be used to make the up rights, then all you need is a sheet on the inside, simples!!

Treevolution do courses in Scotland.

Oh, about 400 quid for a week I think.

I did a standard setting course with treevolution. It covered CS 30,31,32, 38,39, 40 + 41. I pull that certificate out of the bag only when someone tells me my original units are a bit old and I need refresher.

True, once is enough! I'll probably go and dent mine tomorrow after calling you a numptY!! My old truck had a huge dent in the passenger door frame/roof area that I did when it belonged to its previous owner, my old boss! After that I never dented it again when it was mine, but never removed the dent either. My guys dented the tailgate a tiny bit the other day, not happy, but not the end of the world.

Numpty!! Do you ever drive other peoples trucks? Not anymore you won't!! I'd say bad luck and chin up and all that but I'm not that soft!! You knacker!

If you set you existing block as the top anchor, and then carry those pulleys round the tree with you, attaching them wherever you need a lowering point, that will give you a good set up.

Well done for posting! It must be awful, and a day that I dread coming, I'm glad he had a good life with a friend instead of just an "owner".

Not quite. Using two block and the line spread out reduces the force on the anchors of each block. You could in theory then lower a larger load as the force is distributed bettween the two blocks. So your sort of right, but you can't magicilly increase the SWL load of either block, but in theory you could now lower a 672kg (your maths, not mine!!) piece instead of the 450kgs you had previosly. Word of caution though. These are pulleys and not blocks. 450 kgs will knacker them pretty quick, and you don't want to go anywhere near that amount of force. The cheeks will close up at the top and the pulley will fail loler inspection fairly quickly. Blocks cope with higher forces much better.

Combined is a con! They don't re-insure injuries which is technically illegal!! Same as what tesco pet insurance does, but its not illegal for pets!! They pay out on enough claims to give them enough positive feedback, but one look at their salesmen should be enough to tell you that you are looking at pikie insurance!