Hi folks, just a heads up for anyone north & south bound around Wetherby over the next few wks. Police are pulling in lorries at random & doing checks on infringements on your Digi cards.
Pulled me in this morning about 11am, spent about 30mins in the back of the traffic car while he downloaded & looked at infringements over the last 3 months!!
Give the guy his due he was really good & a few WTD infringements where disregarded as they not interested in that only drivers hrs & breaks. I had a couple of driving times at 4.36 & 4.32 which again he overlooked & deleted the infringements.
Two issues he wanted explaining fully where a 5hr 2min drive with only a 17min break, had a printout of that day as I was stuck on the M6 in an accident & took over 1hr to do the 6miles to the services I was intending to stop at.
Second was similar with a 4.52 drive & only 15min break, again I had a printout with explanation on the back which was an accident on the M25.
All in all the guy was great & understanding & lived in the real world. He did however point out that some officers would of issued a fixed penalty there & then, but the fact I had printouts & was honest with him he overlooked them & my card now reflects this so if pulled again these previous infringements will not show up when the card is down loaded.
So just to remind you these checks are purely random.
Was nice & cool in the back with air con on though, just felt a real criminal with other drivers looking at you !!
Best advice, if you know you have an infringement, print it out or your mind will go blank & will cost you a fine, which apparently is going up next month.
dar1976:
I was unaware that infringements could be deleted or overwritten except by a tacho head when the card is full.
Every day is a school day.
I wonder if they sell these machines on eBay
I didn’t either, but after the initial download on the usual handheld machine he then transferred it to a laptop & could then look at individual days which showed a graph similar to the old manual graphs. On this screen he could change POA to breaks etc, any alterations basically hide the original infringement underneath so to speak, so now if my card is downloaded on a handheld by vosa or police only the ‘new’ info is shown.
The old info can still be seen on the laptop but this info is changed & accepted & signed off by the said officer so no come back on these issues again.
dar1976:
I was unaware that infringements could be deleted or overwritten except by a tacho head when the card is full.
Every day is a school day.
I wonder if they sell these machines on eBay
Was wondering my self as to what happens if you get checked and given a warning for an infringement, then get stopped 3 weeks later wether the next guy could do you for the same infringement!! But if they can do that I suppose no one else would know you had done, it if it gets removed.
Print out…write on it…and sign it.
Just last week I arrived to deliver at Hammersmith Hospital in London (just off A40 nr the old BBC TV Centre) 4.38. My sat nav had told me that I’d be there with 20 mins to spare, but my sat nav doesn’t know about Hangar Lane, or the A40, or London Bus drivers who block junctions, and I stopped at 4.38.
My idea was to drop, and then take 45 mins on the loading bay at the hospital. They’re never too busy so I knew I’d be ok.
However…the delivery was refused (a large 2 tonne machine) because there was no way of lifting it off, and when I explained I needed a break I was politely told to [zb] off from the hospital. I know a good place to park in Brentford so thinking I might as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb I drove for another 25 mins & parked up. Tacho screaming 5.03!
I duly wrote on the printout what had happened.
This morning I was pulled off the M6 (sod’s law) by VOSA at Stafford. I explained the circumstances when I handed over my weeks envelopes. They came back 15 mins later and reminded me of the law regarding driving overtime etc etc. Then the VOSA officer said if I hadn’t written an explanation & signed it a more zealous officer might well have taken it further. It was still technically an offence, but I was allowed to get on my way with a verbal ‘reminder’.
Born Idle:
Print out…write on it…and sign it.
Just last week I arrived to deliver at Hammersmith Hospital in London (just off A40 nr the old BBC TV Centre) 4.38. My sat nav had told me that I’d be there with 20 mins to spare, but my sat nav doesn’t know about Hangar Lane, or the A40, or London Bus drivers who block junctions, and I stopped at 4.38.
My idea was to drop, and then take 45 mins on the loading bay at the hospital. They’re never too busy so I knew I’d be ok.
However…the delivery was refused (a large 2 tonne machine) because there was no way of lifting it off, and when I explained I needed a break I was politely told to [zb] off from the hospital. I know a good place to park in Brentford so thinking I might as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb I drove for another 25 mins & parked up. Tacho screaming 5.03!
I duly wrote on the printout what had happened.
This morning I was pulled off the M6 (sod’s law) by VOSA at Stafford. I explained the circumstances when I handed over my weeks envelopes. They came back 15 mins later and reminded me of the law regarding driving overtime etc etc. Then the VOSA officer said if I hadn’t written an explanation & signed it a more zealous officer might well have taken it further. It was still technically an offence, but I was allowed to get on my way with a verbal ‘reminder’.
You should have threatened to phoned the police while you was at the hospital if you felt you was being threatened into committing a criminal offense. Would have soon sorted it
Born Idle:
Print out…write on it…and sign it.
Just last week I arrived to deliver at Hammersmith Hospital in London (just off A40 nr the old BBC TV Centre) 4.38. My sat nav had told me that I’d be there with 20 mins to spare, but my sat nav doesn’t know about Hangar Lane, or the A40, or London Bus drivers who block junctions, and I stopped at 4.38.
My idea was to drop, and then take 45 mins on the loading bay at the hospital. They’re never too busy so I knew I’d be ok.
However…the delivery was refused (a large 2 tonne machine) because there was no way of lifting it off, and when I explained I needed a break I was politely told to [zb] off from the hospital. I know a good place to park in Brentford so thinking I might as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb I drove for another 25 mins & parked up. Tacho screaming 5.03!
I duly wrote on the printout what had happened.
This morning I was pulled off the M6 (sod’s law) by VOSA at Stafford. I explained the circumstances when I handed over my weeks envelopes. They came back 15 mins later and reminded me of the law regarding driving overtime etc etc. Then the VOSA officer said if I hadn’t written an explanation & signed it a more zealous officer might well have taken it further. It was still technically an offence, but I was allowed to get on my way with a verbal ‘reminder’.
You should have threatened to phoned the police while you was at the hospital if you felt you was being threatened into committing a criminal offense. Would have soon sorted it
You’ll be surprised how much chalk these police cars carry
Born Idle:
Print out…write on it…and sign it.
Just last week I arrived to deliver at Hammersmith Hospital in London (just off A40 nr the old BBC TV Centre) 4.38. My sat nav had told me that I’d be there with 20 mins to spare, but my sat nav doesn’t know about Hangar Lane, or the A40, or London Bus drivers who block junctions, and I stopped at 4.38.
My idea was to drop, and then take 45 mins on the loading bay at the hospital. They’re never too busy so I knew I’d be ok.
However…the delivery was refused (a large 2 tonne machine) because there was no way of lifting it off, and when I explained I needed a break I was politely told to [zb] off from the hospital. I know a good place to park in Brentford so thinking I might as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb I drove for another 25 mins & parked up. Tacho screaming 5.03!
I duly wrote on the printout what had happened.
This morning I was pulled off the M6 (sod’s law) by VOSA at Stafford. I explained the circumstances when I handed over my weeks envelopes. They came back 15 mins later and reminded me of the law regarding driving overtime etc etc. Then the VOSA officer said if I hadn’t written an explanation & signed it a more zealous officer might well have taken it further. It was still technically an offence, but I was allowed to get on my way with a verbal ‘reminder’.
You say satnav doesn’t know about the usual London hold ups but quite clearly you do so to cut it so close in London is just asking to get done,I would have my 45 outside of london leaving myself 4.5 hrs. To get in and back out,so yes you were very lucky.
Boo9729:
Hi folks, just a heads up for anyone north & south bound around Wetherby over the next few wks. Police are pulling in lorries at random & doing checks on infringements on your Digi cards.
Pulled me in this morning about 11am, spent about 30mins in the back of the traffic car while he downloaded & looked at infringements over the last 3 months!!
Give the guy his due he was really good & a few WTD infringements where disregarded as they not interested in that only drivers hrs & breaks. I had a couple of driving times at 4.36 & 4.32 which again he overlooked & deleted the infringements.
Two issues he wanted explaining fully where a 5hr 2min drive with only a 17min break, had a printout of that day as I was stuck on the M6 in an accident & took over 1hr to do the 6miles to the services I was intending to stop at.
Second was similar with a 4.52 drive & only 15min break, again I had a printout with explanation on the back which was an accident on the M25.
All in all the guy was great & understanding & lived in the real world. He did however point out that some officers would of issued a fixed penalty there & then, but the fact I had printouts & was honest with him he overlooked them & my card now reflects this so if pulled again these previous infringements will not show up when the card is down loaded.
So just to remind you these checks are purely random.
Was nice & cool in the back with air con on though, just felt a real criminal with other drivers looking at you !!
Best advice, if you know you have an infringement, print it out or your mind will go blank & will cost you a fine, which apparently is going up next month.
I don’t understand why some would’ve given you a fixed penalty and he overlooked it, you went over due to a traffic jam / accident, did a print out explaining why, so what’s the problem?
Fair play to the cop, he used a carrot when he could’ve hit you with a stick. Or could he? Well technically I suppose he could but I’d love to see the consequences when you refused his fpn and elected to go to court. I could imagine the conversation now, CPS lawyer “your Honour Mr Truckdriver here committed the heinous crime of working 2 minutes too long” Judge " do what? Are you seriously clogging up expensive court time on a man who’s worked 2 minutes extra? Bailiffs take him down. No, not the truck driver, the bloody cps lawyer".
So yeah, the cop did you a “favour” by not pursuing it, but why do they insist on talking to grown men like children and patronising you with this crap?
Isn’t it unusual for traffic cops to do random checks,surely that is what vosa is for.The once I have been stopped by a cop and checked was because my reversing lights where stuck on he said they don’normally get involved with trucks unless there has been an incident or there is an obvious fault
martyh:
Isn’t it unusual for traffic cops to do random checks,surely that is what vosa is for.The once I have been stopped by a cop and checked was because my reversing lights where stuck on he said they don’normally get involved with trucks unless there has been an incident or there is an obvious fault
Totally agree, it all sounds a bit walter mitty to me.
martyh:
Isn’t it unusual for traffic cops to do random checks,surely that is what vosa is for.The once I have been stopped by a cop and checked was because my reversing lights where stuck on he said they don’normally get involved with trucks unless there has been an incident or there is an obvious fault
Initially I thought the same, thought maybe I had a brake light out or something.
The A4 pad he had in a clip board read ‘HGV check list’ across the top & the bits I could read while he was setting up the laptop had check lists for ‘op licence visible’ ‘digi download’ etc etc, like I originally said this apoears to be something they are doing for a short period of time, he did say VOSA where also pulling in vehicles over this stretch of motorway, you could see the list of drivers he had pulled in himself & I was the 3rd he had done that day.
Born Idle:
Print out…write on it…and sign it.
Just last week I arrived to deliver at Hammersmith Hospital in London (just off A40 nr the old BBC TV Centre) 4.38. My sat nav had told me that I’d be there with 20 mins to spare, but my sat nav doesn’t know about Hangar Lane, or the A40, or London Bus drivers who block junctions, and I stopped at 4.38.
My idea was to drop, and then take 45 mins on the loading bay at the hospital. They’re never too busy so I knew I’d be ok.
However…the delivery was refused (a large 2 tonne machine) because there was no way of lifting it off, and when I explained I needed a break I was politely told to [zb] off from the hospital. I know a good place to park in Brentford so thinking I might as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb I drove for another 25 mins & parked up. Tacho screaming 5.03!
I duly wrote on the printout what had happened.
This morning I was pulled off the M6 (sod’s law) by VOSA at Stafford. I explained the
circumstances when I handed over my weeks envelopes. They came back 15 mins later and reminded me of the law regarding driving overtime etc etc. Then the VOSA officer said if I hadn’t written an explanation & signed it a more zealous officer might well have taken it further. It was still technically an offence, but I was allowed to get on my way
with a verbal ‘reminder’.
You say satnav doesn’t know about the usual London hold ups but quite clearly you do so to cut it so close in London is just asking to get done,I would have my 45 outside of london leaving myself 4.5 hrs. To get in and back out,so yes you were very lucky.
Your absolutely right bobbya,I don’t often do multi drops in central London but plenty of single in and out drops and regardless of what time I have going in I always have a forty five before venturing in,that’s probably the only advice I would give a new starter tipping London.
Well it seems clear today anyway ,just come down from Stanley and no sign of any cops or vosa ,currently sitting in Darlington waiting for special breaky extra mush and hold the black pud
Boo9729:
Hi folks, just a heads up for anyone north & south bound around Wetherby over the next few wks. Police are pulling in lorries at random & doing checks on infringements on your Digi cards.
Pulled me in this morning about 11am, spent about 30mins in the back of the traffic car while he downloaded & looked at infringements over the last 3 months!!
Give the guy his due he was really good & a few WTD infringements where disregarded as they not interested in that only drivers hrs & breaks. I had a couple of driving times at 4.36 & 4.32 which again he overlooked & deleted the infringements.
Two issues he wanted explaining fully where a 5hr 2min drive with only a 17min break, had a printout of that day as I was stuck on the M6 in an accident & took over 1hr to do the 6miles to the services I was intending to stop at.
Second was similar with a 4.52 drive & only 15min break, again I had a printout with explanation on the back which was an accident on the M25.
All in all the guy was great & understanding & lived in the real world. He did however point out that some officers would of issued a fixed penalty there & then, but the fact I had printouts & was honest with him he overlooked them & my card now reflects this so if pulled again these previous infringements will not show up when the card is down loaded.
So just to remind you these checks are purely random.
Was nice & cool in the back with air con on though, just felt a real criminal with other drivers looking at you !!
Best advice, if you know you have an infringement, print it out or your mind will go blank & will cost you a fine, which apparently is going up next month.
LOL this sounds like the police man who stopped me around there about 2 years ago picked up a minor infringement, leaving it on work while on the ferry and not rest. said cos he was a good bloke he would let it go but if I was stopped by his oppos in south Yorkshire then they wouldn’t be so lenient. Have had police say this to several times in various forms as if to make out they are the good egg and that the acronym ACAB only applies to all the other coppers
