Do you have a contract, I think to stop people taking particular time off it has to be written into your contract, i.e in mine it states that I can't have time off at the end of the month and in november. If it isn't in your contract then it isn't set in stone.
Personally I would sit down and discuss these periods where you are not allowed holidays and come to some amicable agreement and get it drawn up if necessary.

See extract form ACAS documentation below and weblink.

The last para "An employer can require a worker to take all or any of the leave to which a worker is entitled at specific times, provided that the worker is given prior notice."

Prior notice is the key and it sounds as if you have now been given prior notice.

My next step if I were you would be to phone ACAS or citizens advise if you are concerned. from the limited amount ive read about this it looks as if the employer will come out on top (although may have to ammend the employment contacts).

http://www.acas.org.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=955&p=0

""Applying for leave
Workers are required to give notice to their employers if they wish to take a
holiday. The default notice period must be twice as long as the period of
leave requested (although an individual contract may state differently).
For example, a worker wanting one weeks holiday needs to give two weeks
notice. The employer can refuse permission by giving counter notice at least
as long as the leave requested, ie one week.
Restrictions on taking leave
Restrictions on taking holidays may be expressly stated in the contract of
employment, implied from custom and practice or incorporated into
individual contracts from a collective agreement between the employer and
trade union(s).
Employers may choose to:
shut down for certain periods during which all or some groups of workers
have to use their annual holiday entitlement
nominate particular dates as days of closure, when workers are expected
to take annual leave (for example, over the Christmas and New Year
period)
determine the maximum amounts of leave that can be taken on any one
occasion and also the periods when leave may be taken.
An employer can require a worker to take all or any of the leave to which a
worker is entitled at specific times, provided that the worker is given prior
notice."

What's a holiday? Seems like a period of enforced non payment to me!

seriously though the situation here is really that the company has too few workers for the work and the boss is trying to seek your compliance in making that situation work which of course perpetuates the problem.

The real issue here is why is the company understaffed? are there genuine financial issues causing the current situation or is it simply down to good old fashioned greed and getting more for less.

You might want to suggest that holiday periods an perhaps the first week of each month are covered by the backup of temporary staff rather than all of the emphasis being placed upon yourself?

Just a suggestion,

Shaun.

Hi Bill,

I'm having one of those enforced non payment days today.

The car had some repairs for the MOT at a main dealer in Scotland and they totally messed her up.

Took her back once to give them a chance to rectify the faults but they just messed it up further so I've taken a day out to bring her back to my normal garage to have all the MOT work(!) undone and for her to be fixed properly.

As an example of one of the issues, NSF ball joint was replaced and they didn't follow it up with retracking. Result was tracking should be at +2 but was actually at -6 so had a shake in the steering that felt as though I was driving over a ploughed field!

Also the petrol consumption has dropped through the floor (47 mpg down to 18 mpg) and the drivers side front wheel gets so hot that you could fry eggs on it making it sound like the brakes are locking on but not enough to stop her (which sounds as though they didn't do the neccessary with the brake callipers after playing with the wheels).

Makes my blood boil as right up to the MOT she drove absolutely perfectly, great petrol consumption, very responsive, fun to drive, etc. After the MOT I just got a bag of nails back and got charged over a grand for the privelage!!!

I really might as well have just taken her into some back street shop or even just given my eleven year old a couple of spanners and a Haynes manual as I doubt if anyone could have done a worse job than the one that a main dealer (can't emphasise that bit enough) did on her.

Ok, rant over. Hows life with you matey?