Continental Tyres recommends your drivers should be looking at tyres and wheels as part of their daily inspections. Within the free downloadable wallchart ‘Guide to Roadworthiness — HGV Driver’s walkaround check pull-out’ (from VOSA’s website) it clearly states that:
Check as much of each tyre/wheel as you can see. There must be:
A minimum tread depth of 1mm
Sufficient inflation of each tyre
No deep cuts on the sidewalls
No cords visible anywhere on the tyre and
No missing or insecure wheelnuts
I think the bit in Blue is your mitigating cirmcumstances I’m sure it states the same in the VOSA DVD on walk round checks.
You’ve checked as much as you can see, you aren’t expected to do a complete MOT each day.
My advice is get some legal advice, don’t expect your company to back you they’ll be comvering thier own arse as will the shunter.
I don’t agree with the way Daz has taken the moral high ground in his first reply, but he is right. It is 100% the driver’s responsbility to check basics like the tyres and you can’t try and put the blame on someone else when the ■■■■ hits the fan. If you’d checked them properly in the first place then the trailer would never have left the yard. You can take as many pics and video clips of the trailers being dragged round the yard as you want, but it won’t make the slightest bit of difference as the onus is on the driver to check.
That said, let’s be honest here, how many of us check 2/3 of tyre tread then jump in and roll it forward a few feet to check the other 1/3? I would wager the answer to that is none. I’ve certainly never done it anyway, I’ll openly admit that. The problem is VOSA are looking for easy money earners and this is a great one for them which takes all of 5 seconds to check and dish out a FPN.
All I’ll end by saying is that the chick who has got caught has my sympathies as it could’ve been me or any one of us.
Rob K:
That said, let’s be honest here, how many of us check 2/3 of tyre tread then jump in and roll it forward a few feet to check the other 1/3? I would wager the answer to that is none. I’ve certainly never done it anyway, I’ll openly admit that. The problem is VOSA are looking for easy money earners and this is a great one for them which takes all of 5 seconds to check and dish out a FPN.
All I’ll end by saying is that the chick who has got caught has my sympathies as it could’ve been me or any one of us.
Thats the exact reason why I thought I better warn you guys, I knew vosa was getting keen, but wasn’t expecting that, it’s was good reading your comments about this, the fine/points have now been dropped but I have lost my job over this, like someone said up above, regardless of the shunter being right or wrong I still took a trailer out in a unroadworthy condition and it’s plain and simple as that, pretty much the same tone as the vosa man. The shunter may think he has a narrow escape, well if he is stupid to do it once, he’ll do it again.
Rob K:
how many of us check 2/3 of tyre tread then jump in and roll it forward a few feet to check the other 1/3? I would wager the answer to that is none. I’ve certainly never done it anyway, I’ll openly admit that.
The main reason for that being that you wouldn’t ever expect a professional shunter/driver to drag a trailer around with the handbrake on/no red line attached. Without trying to exaggerate too much, is it not like dissecting a loaf of bread in search of shards of glass before you make a sandwich? Although you obviously don’t get fined and lose your job if you eat a slice of bread with glass in it
Rob K:
how many of us check 2/3 of tyre tread then jump in and roll it forward a few feet to check the other 1/3? I would wager the answer to that is none. I’ve certainly never done it anyway, I’ll openly admit that.
The main reason for that being that you wouldn’t ever expect a professional shunter/driver to drag a trailer around with the handbrake on/no red line attached. Without trying to exaggerate too much, is it not like dissecting a loaf of bread in search of shards of glass before you make a sandwich? Although you obviously don’t get fined and lose your job if you eat a slice of bread with glass in it
I’m sorry you lost your job Ebadas, I think you need to get some legal advice as As far as I can see you’ve done you daily checks in accordance with the VOSA guidelines and as you found that 3/4 of the tyre okay it could be resonably assumed that all the tyre was okay. So unless the company you worked for had stated that drivers are to move the vehicles to ensure the complete tyre can be checked. I think you might have a case for unfair dismissal.
It’s the Shunter who is negligent, the same way if a fitter fails to spot excessive wear in the linkages of the truck during an inspection and you get pulled on the road and GV9’ed for it it’s not you who is negligent as you can’t be expected to jack up the unit and check all for play in the linkages during daily checks.
Rob K:
I don’t agree with the way Daz has taken the moral high ground in his first reply, but he is right. It is 100% the driver’s responsbility to check basics like the tyres and you can’t try and put the blame on someone else when the [zb] hits the fan. If you’d checked them properly in the first place then the trailer would never have left the yard. You can take as many pics and video clips of the trailers being dragged round the yard as you want, but it won’t make the slightest bit of difference as the onus is on the driver to check.
That said, let’s be honest here, how many of us check 2/3 of tyre tread then jump in and roll it forward a few feet to check the other 1/3? I would wager the answer to that is none. I’ve certainly never done it anyway, I’ll openly admit that. The problem is VOSA are looking for easy money earners and this is a great one for them which takes all of 5 seconds to check and dish out a FPN.
All I’ll end by saying is that the chick who has got caught has my sympathies as it could’ve been me or any one of us.
No Rob, I wasnt on my high ground mate, was just trying to quote what simon was saying why should someone “driver” go to the boss and demand money through his own fault, as i said how many of us check every inch of tyre as long as they are black round and look half decent to the eye we are driving it out of the yard, its just vostapo who get on there high horse and see money coming there way,
but no mate wasnt going on high ground on this subject was trying to say in a nut shell how does the boss know the tyres are goosed unless he looks “doubt it” or a driver checks the truck propley which isnt really ever done apart from the whiter than whiter what will be along shortley i guess,
and rob semi agreeing with me and wheel nut and carryfast agreeing WOW whats going on here am i on t.net must be dreaming this
Rob K:
Irob semi agreeing with me and wheel nut and carryfast agreeing WOW whats going on here am i on t.net must be dreaming this
see something positive has come out of this, one happy vosa man and I have brought peace to his place. Now I know how it felt when world war 1 stopped on xmas day
Like Rob K, who I often agree with I too have in the past just checked the top bit of the tyre with my gloved hand and looked at the bit poking out the bottom of the mudguards, now I check the whole tyre, but as our spray suppression is limited to a single mudflap that’s easy, although I still don’t pull forwards to check the bit on the ground, I don’t need to with my unit as I’m the only driver and it has new tyres, so I’m safe in assuming they’re ok as long as I don’t mistreat them.
Although I have no patronising remarks to make to ebabes, there is a way of noticing if a trailer has tyres with flat spots, that is by listening to it going down the road, flat spots will give a whump whump whump kind of sound as they contact the road, if you know what I mean I smoke and drive with my window cracked down a couple of inches so I hear that kind of thing, in fact I had four pairs of tyres moved in relation to each other because of such a thing at the beginning of the year, I did it to prevent wheelbearing and brake component vibration, the tyres weren’t bald, although I knew they had flat spotted because I hit a deer which ripped my airlines out from under the trailer, locking all the wheels at 70mph, but all the same, you can usually hear the noise, if you do, jump out and check the whole tyre, if you haven’t already done so, especially if your shunter is a lazy [zb]
Rob K:
All I’ll end by saying is that the chick who has got caught has my sympathies as it could’ve been me or any one of us.
Chick with a wallet and a baby son Rob, I think this chick is a bloke
I find it hard to believe that a bloke would have a username “ebabes” Malc. I think you’ll find ‘she’ is female (unless the world has gone completely [zb] mad ).
Rob K:
That said, let’s be honest here, how many of us check 2/3 of tyre tread then jump in and roll it forward a few feet to check the other 1/3? I would wager the answer to that is none. I’ve certainly never done it anyway, I’ll openly admit that. The problem is VOSA are looking for easy money earners and this is a great one for them which takes all of 5 seconds to check and dish out a FPN.
All I’ll end by saying is that the chick who has got caught has my sympathies as it could’ve been me or any one of us.
Thats the exact reason why I thought I better warn you guys, I knew vosa was getting keen, but wasn’t expecting that, it’s was good reading your comments about this, the fine/points have now been dropped but I have lost my job over this, like someone said up above, regardless of the shunter being right or wrong I still took a trailer out in a unroadworthy condition and it’s plain and simple as that, pretty much the same tone as the vosa man. The shunter may think he has a narrow escape, well if he is stupid to do it once, he’ll do it again.
Now that is out of order. If you’re telling us the whole story and have proof that it was the shunter then you should be making a real scene over this as it wasn’t caused by you. Malc has already posted the VOSA guidelines which show no requirement to move forward to check the other 1/3 of the tyre so unless there is something specific in your company contract that states you must do this then you have a good case for unfair dismissal imho.
I got pulled by fuzz the other day in Norfolk, u know how quiet it is round there…
Reason for pulling me, some yellow missing off the Long vehicle marker boards on back of trailer.
45 minutes held there, tacho checked, full vehicle check etc.
Marker boards replaced in 1 of the depots I was heading to, boss “didn’t you notice this on your walk round check”, me “nope, picked trailer up in dark, light was reflecting off the boards, so they were there and working”…
10 mins after having my boards replaced, I had to stop another 1 of our drivers leaving the yard with 1 of his boards completely void of any yellow.
So, who checks their boards are a) there, b) yellow, c) got the e- number on them etc…
We all do our ‘vehicle checks’ the way we’re used to, kick tyres and hand on tread, check for obvious signs of loose nuts, lights all flashing and mot disc.
Rob K:
That said, let’s be honest here, how many of us check 2/3 of tyre tread then jump in and roll it forward a few feet to check the other 1/3? I would wager the answer to that is none. I’ve certainly never done it anyway, I’ll openly admit that. The problem is VOSA are looking for easy money earners and this is a great one for them which takes all of 5 seconds to check and dish out a FPN.
All I’ll end by saying is that the chick who has got caught has my sympathies as it could’ve been me or any one of us.
Thats the exact reason why I thought I better warn you guys, I knew vosa was getting keen, but wasn’t expecting that, it’s was good reading your comments about this, the fine/points have now been dropped but I have lost my job over this, like someone said up above, regardless of the shunter being right or wrong I still took a trailer out in a unroadworthy condition and it’s plain and simple as that, pretty much the same tone as the vosa man. The shunter may think he has a narrow escape, well if he is stupid to do it once, he’ll do it again.
Now that is out of order. If you’re telling us the whole story and have proof that it was the shunter then you should be making a real scene over this as it wasn’t caused by you. Malc has already posted the VOSA guidelines which show no requirement to move forward to check the other 1/3 of the tyre so unless there is something specific in your company contract that states you must do this then you have a good case for unfair dismissal imho.
oh god i to am agreeing with you now rob, but the guidelines are just that guidelines as we all no, its still your responsiabilty to check your vehicle regardless,not a shunt driver or a charge hand,security man, its down to you its your responsabilty as un fair as it seems ,if the defects was seen before hand which basically we wouldnt have really seen would we!!! as we arnt that fussy as long as the tyres look good where the eye can see then, it is a bit harsh about loosing his job in fact its a little exesive, but who is to say that the shunter really did this damage■■? its no good just seeing rubber lines etc as if you had seenen the shuter doing this why wasnt it reported, so basically the driver has caused this damage IN THE EYES OF THE BOSS■■? as itt wasnt reported before he left the yard, and using a un roadworth vehicle on the road etc.ertc daz
Rob K:
All I’ll end by saying is that the chick who has got caught has my sympathies as it could’ve been me or any one of us.
Chick with a wallet and a baby son Rob, I think this chick is a bloke
I find it hard to believe that a bloke would have a username “ebabes” Malc. I think you’ll find ‘she’ is female (unless the world has gone completely [zb] mad ).
It was this bit that made me unsure, can blokes get money for the kids from the CSA
ebabes:
mine moaned like hell when I started double manned night driving but the money was good, after 8 years she got used to it, or I went deaf, can’t remember, anyways I came off nights to spend time with my new born son and because we saw more of each other, we split up. So now waiting for 2 letters one from the divorce people and one from the csa… You’ll probably be shouting at me in few weeks in the bridge jumpers feed!!!
I too have in the past just checked the top bit of the tyre with my gloved hand and looked at the bit poking out the bottom of the mudguards, now I check the whole tyre, but as our spray suppression is limited to a single mudflap that’s easy, although I still don’t pull forwards to check the bit on the ground, I don’t need to with my unit as I’m the only driver and it has new tyres, so I’m safe in assuming they’re ok as long as I don’t mistreat them.
I smoke and drive with my window cracked down a couple of inches so I hear that kind of thing, in fact I had four pairs of tyres moved in relation to each other because of such a thing at the beginning of the year, I did it to prevent wheelbearing and brake component vibration, the tyres weren’t bald, although I knew they had flat spotted because I hit a deer which ripped my airlines out from under the trailer, locking all the wheels at 70mph, but all the same, you can usually hear the noise, if you do, jump out and check the whole tyre, if you haven’t already done so, especially if your shunter is a lazy [zb] 
).