So today I noticed on the back of my allocated 7.5t truck a sticker “Well driven? Call xxxx-■■■-■■■” and as I was driving along boredom overcome me and I started thinking…what if I called the number displayed to compliment the driver of this particular vehicle on his oh, so amazing, so out of this world driving skills? Like, does anyone ever drive behind a truck and say to themselves “Wow, check out this guy’s driving standard! I better take note of his reg and write down that phone number so I can give them a call and tell them how amazed I was today while I was following him, first thing when I get home”? Of course I didn’t call the number to compliment myself but when I got home I googled this thing and it turned out it’s a "The Well Driven badge scheme is designed to promote safer driving and demonstrate your company’s commitment to improving road safety. " or in plain English - a load of insert your favorite nice word here.
You can click report or contact and then you have the opportunity to “Report dangerous driving or give a driver a compliment below and help to make the roads a safer place for all. Leave a comment or a compliment on their driving below, or alternatively contact us on 0800 ■■ ■■ ■■” all you need is a reg and where you saw the vehicle and then, " Your report will now be passed to the driver’s manager so the driver can be interviewed." Like seriously, who does that?
No doubt your company pays a fee to the association that issues the good driving sticker… nothing ever free.
Same as fors and remeber of the rha etc all a money making scheme serving no real purpose.
I recently had to do my fors online test to enable.me.to deliver to buliding sites. For now it’s London only but will be nationwide over time.
Course was done online at home in my own time. But 99% of it was common sense just like doing a theory test. There’s about 10 sections. If you fail it it’s ok can just keep trying again untill you pass…
Complete waste of time and money if you ask me.ok
People do phone in, many years ago when this ‘‘how’s my driving’’ scheme was new the company had two phone ins about me that they spoke to me about.
1 was an alleged hit and run, apparently taking some bods car door mirror off…i was 200 miles away at the time.
2 was a compliment on how i drove, that one was probably the wrong registration too, but i didn’t quibble that
Trickydick:
The real question is, how does the following vehicle safely write or phone the number as the vehicles are moving?
“quick honey, snap a photo of his license plate and then the sticker with the phone number. Make sure you zoom in so we can later call them to compliment this fella. ■■■■, I don’t see any opening times. Hope we make it home before their call center closes. You know what, take my phone out of my back pocket and call them right now, we don’t want to take any chances on this one!”
Trickydick:
The real question is, how does the following vehicle safely write or phone the number as the vehicles are moving?
Exactly! The ones who are that bothered are more likely to post a video on Youtube (from the driving seat) after the event, or phone the number on the side of the cab. Does require a certain amount of magic to lift the pad & paper from the glove box and write down the details all by the power of your mind so not actually touching either (a la Matilda style).
Not seen as many of those these days except ones for Tesco and similar who I guess run their own. Plus they’ll have dashcam footage when said caller forgets they were the one cutting people up but that nasty lorry shouldn’t have been on the road in the first place.
this first became ‘a thing’ with fleets before telematics, the internet etc.
It was very popular, for a while.
One of the two schemes had so many ludicrous complaints about ‘trucks cutting me up on roundabouts’ that they printed a leaflet to send to car drivers explaining why overtaking lorries on small roundabouts wasn’t the brightest of ideas.
Some driver amusingly modified their stickers to show the number of a ‘dial a dirty phone call*’ instead.
(*For younger readers…this was all there was before on-line ■■■■.)
Like so many of these safety things it’s mostly been forgotten since everyone and their dog invested in a dashcam/gopro and became an online traffic captain.
These days a lot of supermarkets have gone over to minimal liveries, having sussed that a large vehicle with their logo wedged under a bridge or on its side in a ditch wasn’t the best publicity.
GasGas:
this first became ‘a thing’ with fleets before telematics, the internet etc.
It was very popular, for a while.
One of the two schemes had so many ludicrous complaints about ‘trucks cutting me up on roundabouts’ that they printed a leaflet to send to car drivers explaining why overtaking lorries on small roundabouts wasn’t the brightest of ideas.
Some driver amusingly modified their stickers to show the number of a ‘dial a dirty phone call*’ instead.
(*For younger readers…this was all there was before on-line ■■■■.)
Like so many of these safety things it’s mostly been forgotten since everyone and their dog invested in a dashcam/gopro and became an online traffic captain.
These days a lot of supermarkets have gone over to minimal liveries, having sussed that a large vehicle with their logo wedged under a bridge or on its side in a ditch wasn’t the best publicity.
Interesting. I always thought these things are kind of a voluntary driver signs up to some uber-like rating system since I see a lot of these stickers especially on vans but also large trucks of all kinds. I wonder if some day there will be badges for drivers “Well behaved? Call 0800 to commend or complain” and if you wear such a badge you will be given priority at RDCs and if you’re “rude” to the “staff” they’ll downvote you and you’ll be moved to the end of the queue. The driving schemes encourage “concerned citizens” to also report things like throwing stuff out of the window etc. I don’t know, it just sounds very scummy and pointless to me, plus it gives infinite possibilities for misuse and trolling.
I remember reading somewhere that Asda were getting loads of complaints about drivers till they cottoned on that all the complaints were coming from the same area and the complainants were being given free groceries.
Like all these things it gets abused by people after a freebie who don’t realise or don’t care that some poor guy is going to maybe lose his job
Frankly it’s a joke that they even put these sorts of stickers on the back of lorries. What right does a random person have to determine if I am driving well or not? How are they qualified to hold such opinions? A government assessor said I could drive, multiple times. A company assessor has said I am good enough to represent that time. And the police have not felt the need to remove my licence. So I fail to see what the opinion of some busybody in a car has over my ability to do a job the cretin probably doesn’t understand.
Let’s be totally honest here - it’s just a charter for spiteful and vindictive half wits to try and cause problems for a person trying to earn a bit of money.
sammym:
Frankly it’s a joke that they even put these sorts of stickers on the back of lorries. What right does a random person have to determine if I am driving well or not? How are they qualified to hold such opinions? A government assessor said I could drive, multiple times. A company assessor has said I am good enough to represent that time. And the police have not felt the need to remove my licence. So I fail to see what the opinion of some busybody in a car has over my ability to do a job the cretin probably doesn’t understand.
Let’s be totally honest here - it’s just a charter for spiteful and vindictive half wits to try and cause problems for a person trying to earn a bit of money.
Totally agree. The cynic in me suggests that all these bloody schemes are merely thought up by middle managers who are smart enough to realise that they are actually surplus to requirements, do not contribute to a companies profitability and are desperately seeking to justify their roles.
As mentioned its thought a good thing by middle management. Same as bringing in “consultants” to do workflow assessments and other crap.
They can show they are being proactive in their shareholder AGM and print pie charts showing how the number of complaints has reduced etc.
Thats assuming theres more than an answering machine that gets wiped daily and never listened to. Charge companies big money for this and maybe throw out the occasional numberplate in an email just so it sounds like they are doing something.
If only we had “hows my mp performing” hotline to compliment (ahem!) or complain & rate our elected trough feeders!.. i Know a transport manager who regularly uses these to complain in the main, he occasionally compliments too, he’s that proud of doing it he often brags about his latest report in team meetings, he’s also a complete moronic ■■■■ who has never driven a Hgv which I suspect is the case with the majority of “genuine” reports.
Do what one of my fellow drivers did, phone the number pretending to be a member of the public and compliment himself on his excellent driving and good manners.
The company who handles the calls sent the report to the depot.
