On my trip to Dundee and back last weekend (from another thread) I got very little sleep on my night out due to fireworks and a banging headache that developed.
After starting my drive back at 4am the headache got so bad that I began feelng sick and that I couldnt concentrate on the dark roads and felt unsafe. I pulled over on 3 seperate occasions for about an hour each to try and get myself right enough to get home safely and pointed this out to my agency when booking my hours so that they could make any adjustments they felt necessary to my timesheet.
I guess the question is could my actions in stopping for these lengths of time be deemed in anyway unreasonable by either the agency or the customer, and if I do get any grief of either, what is the best way to respond??
i don’t see your action as unreasonable, you have made to offer to the agency to adjust your time sheet as they seem fit, i would of thought that would be the end of it, you were considering the safety of other road users and your own and that of the truck, so i would of thought any good company would not have a problem with that
If at any point while in control of a truck you feel impaired enough that you cant drive safely- you stop - thats part of the judgement you make when you become a decent driver- its only a job and not worth taking a life for, yours or someone elses
If your not fit to drive… dont …and only you can make that decision not some bloke in a warm office a couple 100 miles away- if your not fit to drive, dont-- think of the children
coreysboys:
On my trip to Dundee and back last weekend (from another thread) I got very little sleep on my night out due to fireworks and a banging headache that developed.
After starting my drive back at 4am the headache got so bad that I began feelng sick and that I couldnt concentrate on the dark roads and felt unsafe. I pulled over on 3 seperate occasions for about an hour each to try and get myself right enough to get home safely and pointed this out to my agency when booking my hours so that they could make any adjustments they felt necessary to my timesheet.
I guess the question is could my actions in stopping for these lengths of time be deemed in anyway unreasonable by either the agency or the customer, and if I do get any grief of either, what is the best way to respond??
Cheers.
I once stopped for a break and never woke up for a couple of hours
I just deducted 1¼ hours from the trip when I completed the time sheep and explained to the TM what had happened, nothing more was ever said about it and I continued to work at that company throught the same agency for some time afterwards.
I’ve generally found that companies will accept such things as long as it doesn’t happen too often, and frankly if they don’t why would you want to work there ?
Think most company’s are generally quiet good as long as you ain’t extracting the urine,and claiming OT on a regular basis for it !
Only time I thing most places would moan is if you had a book in time or you was a night trunk etc with others waiting on you.
coreysboys:
… I got very little sleep on my night out due to fireworks …
I did a thread on the issue of fireworks causing safety problems like this and got short thrift from many members !!
No you never, you started a thread about skiving off because the fireworks meant you lost a bit of sleep.
The OP here did the job, he didn’t just stay in bed and leave the company in the [zb] like you was suggesting.
This ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
and as was pointed out in your thread. This fella suffered an unanticipated problem in an unfamiliar location which happens to us all periodically, that’s life, that’s transport for you. He wasn’t sat in a known location with known problems deciding if that justified tossing a days work off
OP as Rikki said it’s down to you and you used your best discretion, I would say. You got it done whilst taking necessary steps to ensure yours and others safety. Unlike some on this site you clearly have a strong spine, not a glass one. Fair play to you, sir.
coreysboys:
I guess the question is could my actions in stopping for these lengths of time be deemed in anyway unreasonable by either the agency or the customer, and if I do get any grief of either, what is the best way to respond??
Cheers.
Not in any way, shape or form. I’ve done the same as you before - parked up, knocked the time off the hours I put down.
Better to get back safe than to crash it.
Hell, the worst I had was night trunking once. Started off no problem, feeling perfectly OK. Got down to Telford services on my way to Smethwick and just couldn’t keep my eyes open. Phoned them up, had a 15 minute break and got it down to the hub. They got a hub driver to take me and the wagon back to the depot on the return run and had me see the nurse the next day to check I was OK.
I once had bad ,real bad S&D so i stopped and bought a bottle of kaolin (older guys will know what i mean as spellings not right) white thick chalky liquid …anyway near drunk the bottle and carried on ,about an hr later felt really sleepy so i pulled over into laybye 9am …i woke up …6pm. missed the bloody ferry put me day behind on drops …
Did my boss care not in the least ,if you are unwell you are not in full control o the vehicle.
seems that kaolin had morphine in it them days.
jimmy.
You were right I have done this & have known a few other driver do it
Like Connor I started out fine np got down the road a bit & that was it I felt myself on the hard shoulder so stopped asap took a quick nap then back on the road got there ok but still felt a bit un well so had another nap bout 1 hrish to get me back
Found these posts really comforting guys, Thanks. I don’t like to leave myself open to people thinking I’m taking the pish, certainly not customers, and that is what made me uneasy about my actions. i kind of rely on these sparse weekend runs to feed me and the kids while I’m retraining as a teacher, and to potentially lose the job because of such set of circumstances was really worrying me.
Hopefully nothing more will be said and they will respect my honesty and professionalism
On a lighter note referring back to the “Fastest route Hull to Dundee” thread, I’m glad I came back the A1 route otherwise I might have had a mishap waiting for somewhere to park up. Loads of laybys on A1
Edit: Felt the need to clarify as ROG has quoted this on another thread. I think I may have over-represented the firework issue. Although they delayed me trying to sleep, they didnt stop me from sleeping nor did they wake me. They just contributed to not much sleep. I dont know why my headache developed. Maybe lack of fresh air in cab as im used to sleeping with windows open at home. Either way, the headache awoke me and prevented me from getting back to sleep. It was the worsening of the headache and other symptoms that I felt was affecting my driving rather than simply tiredness. This reason for pulling over was to dissipate the headache and by resting in order to become fit to continue travelling safely.
Whilst I sympathise with ROG and his thread, having been kept up all night with young children (easily anticipated, not much one can do about it) his thread and this thread are not about the same issue fundamentaly.
This has always worried me especially so in the days before sleeper cabs when I was on distance work. Fortunately it never happened back then, but I have always wondered what I would have done if struck down with a problem at both ends. I wouldn’t have been welcome in digs I’m sure and if I’d turned up somehow at casualty I guess the answer would have been the same.
So what has anyone else done if taken ill in a day cab?
About 20 years ago I was taken ill when driving. I had just taken a lorry for MOT and had felt absolutely fine all day so far. 1 mile up the road I was doubled up almost, with the most excruciating pain in the dangly bits. I got the lorry into a layby and somehow got on the bunk.There I stayed virtually unable to move for getting on for two hours. I didn’t have a mobile back then so I was stuck and by then thinking that I’d made the wrong move getting on the bunk.
Eventually the pain eased enough to drive back. It had eased off completely by the time I got out of the vehicle, so I didn’t think much more about it until the next morning when it came back, but far less severely.
I got myself off to my GP who told me I’d got …Mumps.
Rog did it last week and got a ridiculous amount of abuse 'cos peeps didn’t understand the point he was making, and ran with the ‘skyving’ idea. And the OP here gives us a classic case of tiredness while driving, (and does the right thing),and gets told to do what Rog suggested last week…by the same people that criticised Rog!!!
Rog did it last week and got a ridiculous amount of abuse 'cos peeps didn’t understand the point he was making, and ran with the ‘skyving’ idea. And the OP here gives us a classic case of tiredness while driving, (and does the right thing),and gets told to do what Rog suggested last week…by the same people that criticised Rog!!!
It’s difficult to misunderstand what point was being made in a thread started the evening before Guy Fawkes night that read “Has anyone on here had to cancel work the next day due to fireworks causing them to have too little sleep making them unsafe to drive ?”
You say the OP in this thread “gets told to do what Rog suggested last week”, but where in this thread has anyone suggested that the OP should have stayed home or parked up for the day
What I see is just the opposite, people telling the OP that he shouldn’t be penalised for having the balls and maturity to get the job done in a safe manner.
