Travel time has always been a contentious issue in the larger companies, which is why i left to work for a smaller independent company that treats the engineers fairly and works in such a way that its a pleasure to do the job.
However during my last employment the company wanted the engineer to travel to the first job and back from the last in their own time and have parts delivered during the evening to the van, the courier having keys. Its my feeling that if a company centralises and shuts its depots, employs engineers on a favourable geographical basis, delivers parts to your home address then your home is essentially a satellite depot and you should be paid from the moment you engage into work activities. Its in the companies interest to have engineers scattered about and if someone had to travel 2 hours each way to a depot the company would find it hard to recruit and work effectively. Also companies dont recognise the fact that many people dont really want a sign written commercial vehicle parked up taking space on the driveway in a residential area, full of engineers own equipment and very likely under insured. That has to be compensated surely? Is it really too much to pay people for working, field service is field service whether FLTs or other products that rely on mobile service, it shouldnt be compared to factory employment or shop work, you dont often see an office worker dragging a tool box and spare parts on a bus. (other public transport is available)
Larger companies that keep shaving off the terms and conditions of their employees are making less desirable to work for them and more appealing for the engineer to go it alone.

There is something not right here?

If someone works in a shop or an office or a factory, they may have to wear a uniform on their bus to the place of work but do they get paid whilst they get there? Of course they don't. Are they given a company vehicle to get to their place of work? Of course they are not.

Would engineers prefer to drive their own car in their own time paying their own fuel to a depot or point where they can collect their van and start their working day? Would they wish to clock-on and clock-out? Of course they wouldn't.

I would suggest in the overall scheme of things, relative to other trades, mobile engineers get a very good deal. Contreversial perhaps but true!

i think if you are driving their vehicle ,wearing their uniform ,carrying their goods and thus representing their company then yes you should be payed door to door,because mark my words they dont want to pay you when it suits them but if you have an incident in their vehicle traveling in your own time then they will be the first ones to try and discipline you

Door to door works good and I'm good with that. The question would then be, do you drive the truck(van) to lunch, do you bill someone for the drive there and or/back? If not, that should be taxed, and if you do, who gets cheated on that one.

Door to door is the only way it should be. After all we store there vehicle free of charge for them & most of us accept deliverys to our homes at unsociable hours not to mention all the other crap we put in our garages till we need it. Trouble is they dont realise what most of us do day to day in our own time. Not for much longer though if this is the way they go

I feel that an engineer should be payed from the moment he steps into his van to the moment he steps out of it onto his drive way. If you drive to the first job in your own time should you be paying tax for your use of the company vehicle after all its in your time. and are you covered by insurance the (companies) to use the vehicle to go to work in this way? I know companies do give extra incentives to work in this way but at the end of the day the company is just trying to maximize on the 8 hrs it pays you. expecting you to be on site at 8 oclock but not leaving till 4.30
I think thats fine as a site engineer but as a road engineer it may be two hours till you get to your firt call I think there should be some compensation due in that sort of senario.

Titus

I am a resident technician(work from home) as i am almost two hours from the shop i bring the van home every night and rarely get to the shop,i charge my time from the time i leave the driveway to the time i pull back in the driveway,as long as i am sitting in their vehicle i feel i am on their time.

I remember there was an "argument" about this a year or two ago on this forum. I think the consensus was that if you don't have to use your vehicle to get to work, then you should at least drive one way on your time, without pay.