You should get paid from the moment you turn your key.If they wanted to get the 1/2 hour for free maybe all of the vans should be parked up at the depot and you make your own way there.If this happens who covers callouts?
Its just a money saving exercise,pity the management at the company you refer to have not taken such steps themselves

its a big money maker for companies not to pay you to drive to the customer....cause its billed out to them, and they have no expense to get you there....sounds bad to do it, but if you think about it.... Not too many jobs actually pay you to drive to work. If you worked at any retail or hourly job, you wouldnt get paid to drive there... Not saying i agree with it, but thats the logic.

In the U.S. it varies from state to state because of different labor laws. Most states if you go by the letter of the law the tech is supossed to start getting paid the minute his but hits the seat in the morning and when he gets out in the evening.

Common practice on the other hand is an agreement is made with the tech that they give up the average amount of time it would take to drive from their house to the shop and the same on the way home. The reason being, if the employer wanted to, they would just leave the vans at the shop and make the techs drive their personal vehicle back and forth to the shop. Then pick up and drop off the van at the shop every morning and evening.

There are many industries in my area like plumbers, air conditioning repair, cable television techs in my area that have to pick up their vans in the morning, but all of the lift truck companies in my area allow the techs to take the vans home.

The technician should be paid the minute they leave there home as long as they are headed to the customer to start work or coming to the office for parts to do repairs. All this time should be billed to the customer. Now with the economy the way it is each company I'm sure is trying to find ways to reduce the cost of doing business. The tech here are paid for the time they can bill the customer. No customer bill no pay. When there is plenty of work to be done a tech should be able to bill 9 to 10 hours in an 8 hour workday. Right now I am happy if all the techs have enough work to keep them busy.