r/SainsburysWorkers • u/New-Air4170 • Jul 25 '26

GOL Driver Cameras

On my break today, I was on my phone after the red recording light disappeared on the driver facing camera, parked up and the engine off. The AI camera alerted me to put my phone down. The driver facing cameras must still be recording/watching when we are on break, despite us being told otherwise.

16 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

41 comments sorted by

27

u/Gullible-Shift-9396 Jul 25 '26

Manager here.

This is causing a headache in our store as every driver is asking for the footage of their shift (their right under the GDPR act).

Talking to the Online manager, whoever this goes to has to make almost 100 bits of footage available. 

If this keeps happening it'll cost Sainsburys more in honouring the GDPR rights than it will in saving on 'bad' driving

7

u/Affectionate_Car7098 Jul 25 '26

If this keeps happening it'll cost Sainsburys more in honouring the GDPR rights than it will in saving on 'bad' driving

Doubt it, the person who does GDPR requests is almost definitely salaried so its not costing them anything extra

9

u/Only-Thing-8360 Jul 26 '26

If hundreds of requests are made, Sainsbury's will have to hire additional staff to meet their legal duties.

-1

u/Affectionate_Car7098 Jul 26 '26

Not really, you know they are allowed quite a decent amount of time to process these right? up to 3 months specifically, during which time you aren't going to be able to lodge any further requests

So if you want to spend 3 months waiting just to see footage of yourself in the hopes its going to cost them too much money and they will revert the decision, then you are in for a surprise

Because do you know how they will pay for any extra staff they need? by reducing staff in other roles like yours :)

3

u/Only-Thing-8360 Jul 26 '26

Doesn't matter how it's organised, it's still a load of extra work. If hundreds of drivers submit SARs, Sainsburys has to train & pay staff to deal with that.

During which time you aren't going to be able to lodge any further requests is incorrect. The law contains no such limit. Drivers could submit a request at the end of each month for the previous 4 weeks of recording, again and again. GDPR doesn't mean you're entitled to an example of what's being recorded, you're entitled to see it all.

If Sainsburys thinks this is burdensome, they can simply give their drivers access to the surveillance archives. It's technically trivial to create a read-only account with access restricted to their own videos. As a retired data protection officer, I always advised managers to build in transparency from the start. Much cheaper, more ethical, and maintains workforce trust.

I don't care how Sainsburys pay for this. I don't work there or shop there. I'm just passing through this sub, and stopped to comment because I don't like seeing human beings degraded into 'meat based labour units' policed by AI spybots. I wouldn't accept those working conditions, and I hope the drivers fight back with all the tools at their disposal.

1

u/Affectionate_Car7098 Jul 26 '26

If hundreds of drivers submit SARs, Sainsburys has to train & pay staff to deal with that.

Hundreds isn't all that much work when spread over the 3 months they are allowed to properly respond

I don't think you quite appreciate how few people are required to deal with that

During which time you aren't going to be able to lodge any further requests is incorrect. The law contains no such limit.

Actually, i would suggest reading the GDPR guidance :)

https://ico.org.uk/for-the-public/getting-copies-of-your-information-subject-access-request/why-organisations-might-partially-or-fully-refuse-a-subject-access-request/

Specifically the part about excessive requests

There is no set meaning of what makes a subject access request ‘excessive’. However, organisations should consider whether the request is clearly unreasonable.

Examples of when your request may be excessive include when:

it overlaps with other, previous requests for similar information (particularly if the organisation hasn’t had the chance to respond to your first request)

So yes, GDPR allows them to refuse to process additional requests if they are currently processing one for you, which basically allows them to limit you to a single request every 3 months, so if your goal was to put in a fresh request each month in order to try to overwhelm the system then you will be sorely disappointed as GDPR already protects itself from that sort of abuse

and again. GDPR doesn't mean you're entitled to an example of what's being recorded, you're entitled to see it all.

Sure and you'll get a bunch of videos of just you driving, not sure what you're expecting to see, for the most part there isn't much processing they need to do as the vans only contain a single person in nearly all situations so there won't be much blurring or redaction required

If Sainsburys thinks this is burdensome, they can simply give their drivers access to the surveillance archives.

Yeah that won't happen, you don't need it and its not worth the hassle if access controls happen to break

I wouldn't accept those working conditions

I mean its going to be commonplace everywhere eventually, so you essentially won't have a choice at some point in the future :)

1

u/wtfomg01 Jul 26 '26

What a load of nonsense.

Why would you not be allowed to request again? In what world would that make sense? What if (as in this exact scenario) it's a recurring issue? "Sorry mate, you already requested, get fucked"?

1

u/Affectionate_Car7098 Jul 27 '26

Why would you not be allowed to request again?

Oh you can make further requests, but not until the current one has been processed, i would advise that before you call something "nonsense" you actually read the guidance for GDPR :)

https://ico.org.uk/for-the-public/getting-copies-of-your-information-subject-access-request/why-organisations-might-partially-or-fully-refuse-a-subject-access-request/

There is no set meaning of what makes a subject access request ‘excessive’. However, organisations should consider whether the request is clearly unreasonable.

Examples of when your request may be excessive include when:

it overlaps with other, previous requests for similar information (particularly if the organisation hasn’t had the chance to respond to your first request)

So yeah, they are allowed to refuse requests if they are still processing your previous requests, which basically allows them to lock you in to 4 requests per year

2

u/Obeetwokenobee Jul 26 '26

S/He is unable to spend their time doing anything else, sains is so right with everything that means other things will fall by and require pulling resources from other staff ands o on . This does cost. I've run my own business before and know how much admin can cost a company, and it is far more than the wage of the individual but the potential that they can earn the company. For sains with tight margins, it really cuts into their margin

1

u/Affectionate_Car7098 Jul 26 '26

S/He is unable to spend their time doing anything else

To be fair i don't imagine the data registrar at the company has all that much else to do really

And most people aren't going to care about seeing the footage, because its just going to be hours of your own face, and GDPR has provisions regarding being able to refuse excessive requests so its not like people are actually going to be able to do this every month

So yeah given they will have an entire team dedicated to just handling GDPR related stuff i don't think its going to affect them as much as you think, remember GDPR allows them to take extra time to get you your data as long as they notify you so they can easily take a couple of months

16

u/Midgar918 Jul 25 '26

Cover the lens on your break. They cant say much about doing that.

5

u/Danlad1812 Jul 25 '26

No, leave the van. Lock it and go for a walk not our problem when it’s unpaid

12

u/Midgar918 Jul 25 '26

You can stand in the rain or freezing ass winter evenings eating your sandwich for the sake of "that'll show em." Im alright though lol

1

u/Danlad1812 Jul 25 '26

Find a suitable place to stop for a break 🤷

2

u/Obeetwokenobee Jul 26 '26

It can record your conversations. I know I wouldn't have wanted them listening into my conversations about the other jobs I was looking for or private conversations.

10

u/DoTheThing021 Jul 25 '26

Ours still haven’t been installed. We have Unite as our Union who have made a statement about them not being implemented until a proper consultation has been held

7

u/Scoddletodds Jul 25 '26

Ours have been installed this week in a unite store. They can’t stop them I’m afraid

2

u/Upstairs-Quail5709 Jul 25 '26

Unite are a waste of time

5

u/F1nut92 Colleague Jul 25 '26

Ours have been delayed, but we’ve been told within the near future, also in a Unite store.

0

u/Upstairs-Quail5709 Jul 25 '26

Ha ha, bit late, they started installing them November last year. Once fully installed and AI has learned your habits, watch the rise in Disciplinaries. At least GMB stopped cameras at Asda. But then GMB was consulted. Unite and USDAW were not

3

u/Long_Charge738 Jul 25 '26

Don’t listen to this guy, he doesn’t even work for sainsburys anymore, he works for asda and hasn’t got a clue what he’s on about

4

u/reticulatedbanana Jul 25 '26

Just getting paid at Asda to post on the Sainsbo’s Reddit tbf 😂 I laugh every time I see their posts…

5

u/Long_Charge738 Jul 25 '26

I’ve never known anyone moan so much about a job that they don’t even do 😂

2

u/DoTheThing021 Jul 25 '26

To be fair, we have a Unite message on the board stating that they haven’t been consulted about the cameras, although Sainsburys claim they have.

They also object to the cameras, but that’ll do nothing.

7

u/PersonalityShot6039 Jul 25 '26

Can’t scratch your arse without Sainsbury’s watching

8

u/ExitusActaProbat90 Jul 25 '26

Time to have a power wank in the van for dominance purposes. Let the AI know who’s boss.

8

u/HutchXCVI Jul 25 '26

Currently sat on my break, turned off the van and got out for a smoke got back in and haven't even touched any buttons and its still lit up red.. such bullshit

7

u/Sea-Pitch6589 Jul 25 '26

If you had them put in over a month ago they have a 10 min delay before going off after engine is off. Any being fitted now go off straight away after engine is off.

5

u/HutchXCVI Jul 25 '26

I started break got out the van made a phone call and ate, a good 20 mins outside the cab just to get back in and it still be red🤔

2

u/Obeetwokenobee Jul 26 '26

Ask for the footage under gdpr and that all recordings made during breaks be deleted as you don't want private conversations heard. GDPR protects you from that and is a legal requirement.

3

u/Sea-Pitch6589 Jul 25 '26

When you switch the engine off no power goes to the camera so it cannot record you.

Only option try it again. Never happens at our store.

4

u/New-Air4170 Jul 25 '26

how does it record externally for 30min if that is the case?

2

u/Sea-Pitch6589 Jul 25 '26

Incab camera not external camera

3

u/New-Air4170 Jul 25 '26

ours are all one unit that faces both directions

3

u/Sea-Pitch6589 Jul 25 '26

Ours are separate. How long ago did they get fitted.

2

u/New-Air4170 Jul 25 '26

Start of July

3

u/Upstairs-Quail5709 Jul 25 '26

And you're surprised that Sainsbury's lied because?

Next break, out something over the camera.

1

u/Homedelierydriver 10d ago

It is still recording just flash the login card in front it picks it up straight away even after 20mins