Foreign lorry drivers

[4F]

You've done the right thing, bollox to the driver. Put any sort of load on the tyre and it will blow eventually.

Worst case scenario is he/she is overtaking a car, the tyre blows and shreads with a piece going through the car window decapitating the driver.

Got it in one, I also told the driver that it was 3 points per tyre the moment he got back on the highway if the old bill were called. Those 2 pictures were the worst with at least 4 others being worn below the legal limit. An accident waiting to happen.

 

[Debian]

If it were me it would be a quick call to VOSA straight away.

 

[wafflycat]

Got it in one, I also told the driver that it was 3 points per tyre the moment he got back on the highway if the old bill were called. Those 2 pictures were the worst with at least 4 others being worn below the legal limit. An accident waiting to happen.

Glad you've got him off the roads. Bloody death trap that vehicle.

 

[xpc316e]

Thanks for taking the bull by the horns and actually doing something about the tyres - if more people did as you do, the world would be a safer place.

 

[Muddyfox]

Quoted from VOSA

"The lorry check was part of Vosa's latest campaign targeting vehicles on international journeys entering the UK and follows on from the South East International pilot that took place between April last year and March this year. The total number of international journeys checked was 17,941, of which 7,907 vehicles were issued with a prohibition - in other words a terrifying 44.1% prohibition rate"

VOSA have publicly stated that they are not checking as many UK trucks as they are concentrating their efforts on EU vehicles entering the uk

Yet we are not far behind the european trucks (with less checks being made)

Quoted from VOSA

Prohibition rate for vehicles and trailers tested for road worthiness

UK vehicles = 37.5% .... foriegn registered vehicles = 46.5%

Prohibition rate for vehicles tested for drivers hours and tachograph offences

UK vehicles = 15.8% .... foriegn registered vehicles = 23.9%

Prohibition rate for vehicles tested for overloading

UK vehicles = 28.6% .... foriegn registered vehicles = 33.1%

I was a truck driver for 15 years and the UK haulage industry is rife with cowboy operators and running illegal trucks/trailers and it will only get worse whilst these operators are trying to compete with foriegn trucks and the price of fuel rocketing

Simon

 

[Globalti]

Here's one I saw in Nigeria, this is very common:

Serious vehicle accidents are common, tankers fall over and explode and I've seen numerous trucks lying on their sides.

 

[Rhythm Thief]

Thats disgusting to look at and the guy obviously doesnt give a **** about his vehicle. Must surely be at high risk of a blow out?

It's not his vehicle, that's why. I agree that he should be made to get them fixed, but I can also see that he's got to earn a living and if he says to his boss "I can't drive that, the tyres are knackered", his boss will simply find someone who will drive it. All that said, 4F is absolutely right (if on shaky ground legally) to detain the driver until the tyres are replaced.

 

[Rhythm Thief]

Quoted from VOSA

Prohibition rate for vehicles and trailers tested for road worthiness

UK vehicles = 37.5% .... foriegn registered vehicles = 46.5%

Prohibition rate for vehicles tested for drivers hours and tachograph offences

UK vehicles = 15.8% .... foriegn registered vehicles = 23.9%
Prohibition rate for vehicles tested for overloading

UK vehicles = 28.6% .... foriegn registered vehicles = 33.1%

I was a truck driver for 15 years and the UK haulage industry is rife with cowboy operators and running illegal trucks/trailers and it will only get worse whilst these operators are trying to compete with foriegn trucks and the price of fuel rocketing

Simon

The bit I've put in red doesn't surprise me at all, and I don't believe it's actually the drivers' fault, often. When I was tramping (ie living in the truck all week) ten years or so ago, you could park up overnight in most town centres and industrial estates. Nowadays, this is pretty much impossible: most town centre car parks which used to be open to trucks between 6pm and 8am are strictly off limits, truck stops are closing hand over fist as more lucrative uses are found for the land and even some laybys are closed to lorries. All I want when parking up for the night is somewhere I can get a shower, a hot meal and perhaps a pint, and access to a loo, but it seems that this is too much to ask. I read an estimate somewhere that a significant proportion of the drivers' hours infringements are caused by their simply being insufficient places for drivers to park up securely, and my own experience bears this out.
Even the VOSA figure for lorries taken off the road for defects is misleading: my old firm had a prohibition notice slapped on a trailer for nothing worse than a defective bulb in one of the marker lights, which is hardly life threatening by any standards.

 

[Muddyfox]

I agree RT ... when i was away all week it was easy enough to find somewhere to park up overnight but like you say all car parks seem to have the height restriction barriers now and most industrial estates seem to have a mobile security guard flying around and not allowing any overnight parking, i used to work for small firms with 5 to 10 trucks and the pressure to pull a fuse on the tachograph and work on or be replaced was quite stressful at times when you've got a mortgage to pay and a family to keep

i read in one of the truck magazines that the value of secondhand trucks with the old analogue taco system rose considerably when the newer credit card style tacographs were introduced ...i wonder why

Simon

 

[Rhythm Thief]

I agree RT ... when i was away all week it was easy enough to find somewhere to park up overnight but like you say all car parks seem to have the height restriction barriers now and most industrial estates seem to have a mobile security guard flying around and not allowing any overnight parking ...

It's one of the things that really gets my goat about this country. the car park in Monmouth, where I used to live, was used at night by lorry drivers. It was withing easy reach of the A40 and the town centre, there was a loo they could use and they could get to the town centre and get a meal and a drink. And they weren't disturbing anyone: it's not a residential area (not that I can see what difference that makes) and no one else used the car park at night. Hey presto, some bright spark on the council, or whoever decides these things, decided to put up height barriers so lorries could no longer use the area, so of course they all decamped to the industrial estate two minutes up the road, which is surrounded by houses. When the residents complained, the council's response was to "solve" the "problem" by painting double yellows on the industrial estate's roads. As I pointed out in my letter to the newspaper (which was never published), how does that solve anything? You've still got a load of lorry drivers who have nowhere to park, and they aren't parking there because they want to park near someone's house: they're parking there because they've been at work up to 15 hours and want to stop for the night. And they were all quite happy to park in the town centre where they weren't disturbing anyone. Honestly, everyone needs us but no one wants us.

 

[Aperitif]

Good on you Tony - more power to your 'elbow'.

 

[Crankarm]

I would just call VOSA and the police who hopefully impound it checking everything including tacho. These trucks are death traps and drivers that drive them.

 

[summerdays]

Yesterday I had two occastions where lorries reverse at me with no working reversing lights or audible warning bleeps. In the first instance I was on the main road literally about to turn in the narrow side road with my 9 year old - both of us on the road. I shouted and moved to make sure I was in his mirror and stood there until I could get my son off the road onto the pavement nearest him - as he would have had to go onto the other pavement anyway due to the size of the road.

 

[4F]

It's not his vehicle, that's why. I agree that he should be made to get them fixed, but I can also see that he's got to earn a living and if he says to his boss "I can't drive that, the tyres are knackered", his boss will simply find someone who will drive it. All that said, 4F is absolutely right (if on shaky ground legally) to detain the driver until the tyres are replaced.

To be fair if he demanded his passport back then I would give it to him however as we have just loaded him he won't be getting his TIR carnet completed or any other documents until he has done something about it.
The consignee booked the truck and they have been informed as well and I know they are not happy with the haulier either.

I have just got in and so far nothing has been done so he has got 90 mins left before I make a call.

 

[Rhythm Thief]

So what's happened now? Have his tyres been replaced?