250 hgv drivers caught offending

UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUMS THE UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUM (INTERACTIVE)
21

Acorn:
Being a professional driver usually means they do the job well and always legit. In a short period of time over a short couple of sections of roads, they picked up on a bunch of non-professional drivers, sometimes called cowboys. Most of the offences related to the driver either solely the driver or driver & employer.
So, why would professional drivers object at trying to raise the standards of the cowboys or is it far more acceptable to encourage and support the cowboys undermining the professional ones?
On the bright side, think how many vehicles / drivers they encountered and didn’t find a reason to stop them.

It’s well known on here afaik that I ain’t the Police’s biggest fan, not so much the front line guys but the ones in charge, their methods, their selective and pc policing, and the easy target strategy/pr to make it look like they are a success…when in fact on the face of it they are NOT.
The majority of the stuff they do is to do with handing out an easy option crime number, along with revenue raising fines…so that clarifies my attitude towards them in one.

As for this particular case,.I roughly interpreted it at around 40 real road safety offences, 14%? out of their announced 280, with the majority of the cases being a revenue raising success from their pov.

As a pro driver I am all for getting inept useless and dangerous drivers off the roads, and unscrupulous operators, but I still ain’t convinced this type of tactic and operation is entirely the main aim or agenda…nor do I believe the haulage industry is still rife with cowboy operators as much as it once was.

Truck crime in overnight parking would be a far more worthwhile use of resources, not catching some twonk too stupid to wear his seatbelt so that they can relieve him of a few quid.
Spot checks? Not a problem if they too are for genuine reasons, but not for nicking you for unstrapped cardboard and the like.

So no, I do not support the cowboys, but neither am I convinced about Police motives or agenda either…but that’s just me.

22

Hyh:
Armed Policing Teams?

When the police bleat on and on about how they have such limited resources and not enough money for this, that and the other

Fantastic use of such resources :unamused:

How many violent crimes were solved/prevented in that same period of time?

Look at the bright side: the armed cops weren`t out shooting people, and decided to do summat rather than drink coffee in the nick, waiting for an armed robber to strike!
And having cops pulling vehicles at the roadside does have some deterrent effect on others. Seeing and reading about prosecutions is preventive.

23

Franglais:

Hyh:
Armed Policing Teams?

When the police bleat on and on about how they have such limited resources and not enough money for this, that and the other

Fantastic use of such resources :unamused:

How many violent crimes were solved/prevented in that same period of time?

Look at the bright side: the armed cops weren`t out shooting people, and decided to do summat rather than drink coffee in the nick, waiting for an armed robber to strike!
And having cops pulling vehicles at the roadside does have some deterrent effect on others. Seeing and reading about prosecutions is preventive.

As usual I sort of agree with you.
A recently disbanded experiment here

google.com/amp/s/amp.rnz.co … 62a366b915

Has proved that armed police squads are ineffective and too expensive.
So I think Robroy is on the right track in that these road clampdown operations are nothing more than a scaremongering exercise to scare the sheep into compliance.

The balance is all upset, protest march and tear down statues and the police clear the way for you.
But,
Have a party in your north London neighborhood and watch an overwhelming riot squad be deployed with extreme prejudice.

24

Crusaderrr:
Police in Norfolk and Suffolk issued 250 Traffic Offence Reports (TORs) and made one arrest, after targeting drivers of heavy goods vehicles as part of an operation which coincided with a nationwide seat belt enforcement campaign.

Operation Wyken once again saw police provided with a HGV tractor unit from Orwell Trucks in Martlesham, which allowed officers to carry out patrols on the A14, A11 and A47, and focus on offences committed by lorry drivers.

This took place last week, between Monday 6 July and Friday 10 July and ran in conjunction with the National Police Chiefs’ Council two-week seatbelt campaign (from 29 June – 12 July).

The cab, which was driven by a police officer, provides an ideal vantage point meaning officers can look into cabs of other lorry drivers or looking down at cars or vans. A team of roads policing officers accompanied them to stop any offenders.

for a 5 day operation they didnt catch much offenders considering the amount of traffic that use that roads daily
During the operation, the Joint Norfolk and Suffolk Roads and Armed Policing Team (RAPT) and the Road Casualty Reduction Team (RCRT) arrested one man on suspicion of drug-driving and issued TORs to 250 drivers, with some of the recipients committing more than one offence.

The total number of offences detected was 280 and are as follows:

one for drug-driving
168 for not wearing a seatbelt
19 for using a mobile phone
18 for not being in proper control of the vehicle
13 for excess speed
seven for careless driving offences
six dangerous condition offences
six registration offences
18 exceeding driver hours; or carriage of dangerous goods offences
24 other miscellaneous construction and use offences
Acting Chief Inspector Gary Miller, of the Roads and Armed Policing Team, said: "This was an extremely successful week of action, during which a staggering number of offences were detected. This highlights why it is so important for us to carry-out operations such as this and I would like to thank all the officers involved for their hard work.

"We are once again grateful to Orwell Trucks for supporting this road safety campaign, which we have run for several years now and will continue to do so.

"Due to the physical height of commercial vehicles, it is often difficult for patrol officers to view into the cab and thereby detect offences, such as not wearing a seatbelt or using a mobile phone.

"The HGV cab provides officers with an ideal vantage point to spot drivers committing offences and provides us with another means to enforce the law with this specific group of road users, who due to the size of the vehicles they are in control of, pose an added risk to other motorists and also themselves if they are committing offences whilst driving.

"The most common offence detected during this operation is not wearing a seatbelt, which is one of the ‘fatal four’ main causes of fatal and serious injury collisions. It is compulsory for drivers to wear them and they should ensure their passengers buckle-up too.”

Seatbelts should be worn in any vehicle they are provided in, including buses and goods vehicles. Anyone caught not wearing a seatbelt may be issued with a TOR and face a fine, points on their licence or even court action.

25

AndieHyde:

Franglais:

Hyh:
Armed Policing Teams?

When the police bleat on and on about how they have such limited resources and not enough money for this, that and the other

Fantastic use of such resources :unamused:

How many violent crimes were solved/prevented in that same period of time?

Look at the bright side: the armed cops weren`t out shooting people, and decided to do summat rather than drink coffee in the nick, waiting for an armed robber to strike!
And having cops pulling vehicles at the roadside does have some deterrent effect on others. Seeing and reading about prosecutions is preventive.

As usual I sort of agree with you.
A recently disbanded experiment here

google.com/amp/s/amp.rnz.co … 62a366b915

Has proved that armed police squads are ineffective and too expensive.
So I think Robroy is on the right track in that these road clampdown operations are nothing more than a scaremongering exercise to scare the sheep into compliance.

The balance is all upset, protest march and tear down statues and the police clear the way for you.
But,
Have a party in your north London neighborhood and watch an overwhelming riot squad be deployed with extreme prejudice.

From your link:
“National Party police spokesperson, Brett Hudson also agreed that the commissioner made the right choice, saying that firearms were already available to police when needed for public safety.
“Frontline officers have access to firearms in their vehicles, they have the authority and discretion to deploy them as they see necessary,” he said.”

So, your everyday cops have arms available, but dont need to dress up like Robocop all the time? Seems proportionate to me. I dont like the idea of policing by force or intimidation as opposed to policing by consent; while not denying cops the right to access armour or weapons when circumstance dictates.

26

/
As a system it seems to work. Some police cars have a lock box in the boot in which is a Glock 9mm and an AR-15 rifle and only fully trained officers hold a master key for that box.
In effect an armed response is , in the city , minutes away.
There discretion has to include the shift supervisor and is always tactically considered where when there is clear danger to officers, they simply call in the army. (I know this to have happened twice)

However, despite all the best efforts of training and practice. They still manage an innocent death from negligent discharge about every two years.
Couple of years ago they shot a lad just up the road from me. He was laid face down and in handcuffs. The cop made out it was a mistake and fortunately the lad survived but nevertheless, the police are just as bigger bunch of numbnuts like any other group.

Only they they have access to lethal weapons and the ability to cover ■■■■ up.

27

I feel as.somone mentioned it’s all about raising revenue.
And I maybe feel. There be a lot more of this going on stopping cars trucks issuing fines.
As the government needs to try and reclaim some money to pay for this pandemic.
And the sooner he sends the police out in force clamping down on idiots on there phones the better in my opinion.
Plus I don’t get why people seem to.hold there phones and use them.
As most cars trucks these days have built in Bluetooth anyway

28

edd1974:
Plus I don’t get why people seem to.hold there phones and use them.
As most cars trucks these days have built in Bluetooth anyway

Absolutely!..

Wasn’t Mr Beckham of football fame caught on his phone in his Bentley? Why would you drive a Bentley and not use the bluetooth?

With few exceptions, there is no reason not to hook up and use the vehicles built in communication system.

I get that people consider it an encroachment of their civil liberties etc but, the fines are just not worth it.

In the ‘bad’ old days, I found that holding a phone to my head became tiresome within 3 minutes and I was thrilled to buy my first ear-pierce bluetooth talking/listening into thingy.

29

On a side note, …I’ve never been able to connect my Android phone to the bluetooth in the Actros, gone through all the instructions and it just will not connect.
Not just me either btw, one of our other drivers tried to connect it for me and failed.
Anybody any suggestions to the problem.?
(I use a bluetooth earpiece btw.)

30

robroy:
On a side note, …I’ve never been able to connect my Android phone to the bluetooth in the Actros, gone through all the instructions and it just will not connect.
Not just me either btw, one of our other drivers tried to connect it for me and failed.
Anybody any suggestions to the problem.?
(I use a bluetooth earpiece btw.)

I`m not very technically adept, but are you trying to connect your phone to both your earpiece, and the truck, at the same time?

31

Franglais:

robroy:
On a side note, …I’ve never been able to connect my Android phone to the bluetooth in the Actros, gone through all the instructions and it just will not connect.
Not just me either btw, one of our other drivers tried to connect it for me and failed.
Anybody any suggestions to the problem.?
(I use a bluetooth earpiece btw.)

I`m not very technically adept, but are you trying to connect your phone to both your earpiece, and the truck, at the same time?

No the earpiece was knocked off when I tried.

32

Franglais:

dieseldog999:

toby1234abc:
No sympathy from me if the Muppets got caught wearing no seat belt , cue the lazy boy excuses of :
Ooh aar , it chaffs my neck , I’m too fat, it’s too uncomfortable , I’m allergic to the belt , then list their devices to stop the seat belt alarm going off all day .
Dieseldog , you seem very anti authority and anti police ,I’m guessing you have had a few runs in with the law and have a chip on the shoulder , a grudge maybe ?

^

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
nope,apart from the traffic plod on the A75 for the snide underhand they practice entrapment and anti truck attitude and glasgow plod in general then ive no beef with them and they do a job with their hands tied behind their back.
i ignore speed limits in general unless theres reason to abide with them ,seatbelts ect and tacho rules as best i can and have done ok with it over the years.
last time i got done for speeding was around 12 years ago i think,so not bad considering the way i drive.
i did do an awareness course around mabey 5 years ago i think,
i dont suffer fools or rules in general unless i think they may be relevant hence im so glad ive lived in northern ireland and eire these last 15 years as il be dead before it gets as bad here as the mainland.
happy days all round.

Entrapment! Go on then…?

Entrapment…basically he means you go over the A75 speed limit which for a truck is 40mph, you get done for speeding. Not sure how that’s entrapment but a lot of drivers seem to think the police have got it in for them when they get done for a traffic offence.

33

robroy:

Franglais:

robroy:
On a side note, …I’ve never been able to connect my Android phone to the bluetooth in the Actros, gone through all the instructions and it just will not connect.
Not just me either btw, one of our other drivers tried to connect it for me and failed.
Anybody any suggestions to the problem.?
(I use a bluetooth earpiece btw.)

I`m not very technically adept, but are you trying to connect your phone to both your earpiece, and the truck, at the same time?

No the earpiece was knocked off when I tried.

Is there a limited bluetooth memory on the truck? Take off an unused device, maybe?

Or getting to talk more testically:
Is the spring fully wound, and valves all warmed up? Have you tried thumping the dashboard and shaking the phone? Turned it off and on again?
That`s my expertise exhausted.
Oh, except this sage advice: youtube.com/watch?v=Bp0C61PbrLk

34

I have no issues with this. The amount of ■■■■■■ drivers I see driving about on their phone, iPad on the dash with a film on, paperwork all over their steering wheel and all the rest of it is immense. Due to the height truck drivers do feel they can’t be seen so the fact that the old bill borrowed a truck to catch them out is fair enough.

If they get too many points to drive or lose their licence then it’s one idiot off the road. The “drivers hours offences” though should be made clearer. Is it a couple of minutes over that DVSA look the other way for or is it Vlad with his brothers card that he swaps over every now and then.

And against popular opinion not wearing a seatbelt should be fined. Ok they’re the only ones that are turned into mashed potato, but think of the copper or paramedic that has to scrape them off their truck to put in a bag.

Also when has the army been called in if there is a threat to police life? The police are more than capable of looking after themselves these days. Only in a terrorism situation might SF take control and that’s only if the gold commander hands it over because the police expertise isn’t enough.

35

Trucking sideways:
I have no issues with this. The amount of [zb] drivers I see driving about on their phone, iPad on the dash with a film on, paperwork all over their steering wheel and all the rest of it is immense. Due to the height truck drivers do feel they can’t be seen so the fact that the old bill borrowed a truck to catch them out is fair enough.

If they get too many points to drive or lose their licence then it’s one idiot off the road. The “drivers hours offences” though should be made clearer. Is it a couple of minutes over that DVSA look the other way for or is it Vlad with his brothers card that he swaps over every now and then.

And against popular opinion not wearing a seatbelt should be fined. Ok they’re the only ones that are turned into mashed potato, but think of the copper or paramedic that has to scrape them off their truck to put in a bag.

‘Immense’ ? :neutral_face:
I’ve maybe noticed one or two in a week, certainly no more than that, …not that I can be arsed to actually look for them, or give a ■■■■ anyway… unless me or mine are directly involved, but certainly no more than one or two. :neutral_face:
Not saying it’s acceptable cos it ain’t, and I did not say non seat belt wearers should not be fined, they know the score after all.
If only they would say…''We were successful in raising x no of thousand quid in motoring offence fines this week’s, ’ instead of making out it was for some moral crusade in the name of road safety.
(Btw…have you never checked your paperwork on the steering wheel?.. if only briefly for a couple of seconds?..If not you are the only driver I know who never has. :neutral_face:
Oh yeh,.and I drink coffee whilst driving, ( :open_mouth: hang me now) and I used to brew tea in the old days…because despite what they tell you in their hissy fit campaigns, about eyes on the road constantly, normal human beings CAN multi task. :bulb: :open_mouth:
Inept ham fisted idiots however can NOT…and there lies the problem.

36

Franglais:

robroy:

Franglais:

robroy:
On a side note, …I’ve never been able to connect my Android phone to the bluetooth in the Actros, gone through all the instructions and it just will not connect.
Not just me either btw, one of our other drivers tried to connect it for me and failed.
Anybody any suggestions to the problem.?
(I use a bluetooth earpiece btw.)

I`m not very technically adept, but are you trying to connect your phone to both your earpiece, and the truck, at the same time?

No the earpiece was knocked off when I tried.

Is there a limited bluetooth memory on the truck? Take off an unused device, maybe?

Or getting to talk more testically:
Is the spring fully wound, and valves all warmed up? Have you tried thumping the dashboard and shaking the phone? Turned it off and on again?
That`s my expertise exhausted.
Oh, except this sage advice: youtube.com/watch?v=Bp0C61PbrLk

I tried doing it standing on one leg,.and that didn’t work either. :smiley:

37

Shock and horror- lorry drivers moaning about the police catching lorry drivers breaking the law…

38

I would have thought a broken arm was the very least of your worries when the cab of the mighty 142 Scania has already sheared off,

39

No one’s…

Perfect.

youtube.com/watch?v=RXCpmDuaXU4

Ah the irony eh.

40

I don’t think that anyone can deny that all of the offenses listed were preventable by the driver! I see no point having a go at Police, if they didn’t give them an excuse for being pulled then they wouldn’t be stuck on! Carrying ADR goods, without an ADR license!?!

One for drug-driving (No excuse!)

168 for not wearing a seatbelt.
19 for using a mobile phone.
18 for not being in proper control of the vehicle.
13 for excess speed.
Seven for careless driving offenses.
Six dangerous condition offenses.
Six registration offenses.
18 exceeding driver hours; or carriage of dangerous goods offenses.
24 other miscellaneous construction and use offenses.

dieseldog999:
ok.They should be catching murderers, instead of prosecuting poor, innocent, lorry drivers who have inadvertently put on the wrong trailer number plate, or got a wee bit of grease on the front plate.

The first part of the sentence always makes me laugh. I believe that they did a few years ago, not a 100 miles from the area, he was a truck driver murdering prostitutes!