Hi!Just wondering if anyone knows whats happening if a agency driver runs out of fuel on a motorway because the fuel gauage isnt working, and the truck is recovered!Can they charge the driver or holding back his wages for the expenses?Thanks
Agency driver should get arse kicked for taking a vehicle out without knowing for sure that there was enough diesel in it. Fuel gauge not working? Refuse to drive the POS, unless there is another sure way to tell if it’s got enough fuel in it, e.g. a method for dipping the tank like a wooden pole. If that can’t be done because of anti-syphon or the design of the tank/filler neck, then sorry … I won’t be driving it.
As for who pays for recovery, good luck with negotiating your way out of that one.
alcraw62:
Agency driver should get arse kicked for taking a vehicle out without knowing for sure that there was enough diesel in it. Fuel gauge not working? Refuse to drive the POS, unless there is another sure way to tell if it’s got enough fuel in it, e.g. a method for dipping the tank like a wooden pole. If that can’t be done because of anti-syphon or the design of the tank/filler neck, then sorry … I won’t be driving it.
As for who pays for recovery, good luck with negotiating your way out of that one.
We don’t know if the gauge was stuck on 3/4 and he didn’t find out until it ran out 20 miles up the road?
As for paying for recovery, I agree with you.
wheelnutt:
We don’t know if the gauge was stuck on 3/4 and he didn’t find out it ran out 20 miles up the road?
True. I was assuming it wasn’t working as in showing empty but someone had told the driver “Don’t worry mate, there’s plenty of diesel in it!”.
If it is as you say, then it’s the company’s problem IMHO…
raidd:
Hi!Just wondering if anyone knows whats happening if a agency driver runs out of fuel on a motorway because the fuel gauage isnt working, and the truck is recovered!Can they charge the driver or holding back his wages for the expenses?Thanks
Agency driver or directly employed driver - the guy is a Muppet either way.
I’d have thought holding back his wages for the recovery charges would be between the agency, your company and said driver.
My firm and the agency that provides our drivers when needed have an agreement on an excess limit when one of our agency drivers drop a clanger. So I’m lead to believe by my boss.
raidd:
Hi!Just wondering if anyone knows whats happening if a agency driver runs out of fuel on a motorway because the fuel gauage isnt working, and the truck is recovered!Can they charge the driver or holding back his wages for the expenses?Thanks
I’m wondering how far you got before you realised the fuel gauge wasn’t working.
paul1181:
Agency driver or directly employed driver - the guy is a Muppet either way.
What was the gauge showing? Might have been stuck on full.
Captain Caveman 76:
I’m wondering how far you got before you realised the fuel gauge wasn’t working.
Depends. I’ve gone all the way from Howden to Radlett and got part way back to Northampton before the needle has moved from full when the day driver has brimmed it.
Years ago…
I did a shift for Eddie in one of those wagon and drag things. I spluttered to a halt on the M18 at silly o’clock in the morning.
First thing I did…took a picture of the fuel gauge showing just above a quarter of a tank.
When Scania turned up with 25 litres, I got the fitter to take a picture of the fuel gauge too.
I wouldn’t drive for an agency that charged me for anything.
Irrespective of blame the initial financial contract is between the haulier and agency, if the haulier instigates a claim for losses then the agency should argue the toss or take the hit.
The secondary financial contract (assuming the driver is paye) is between the agency and the driver who should expect to be paid for the hours worked.
If the driver was Ltd Co then they should expect a back charge (read agy T’s & C’s re: 1st £50K)
We need a little more info to draw a better conclusion:
Was fuel or a fuel card available to the driver when they started the shift?
Where they told the truck has enough fuel for the run?
What exactly was the driver told when he was given the keys?
What is with all the hate for Limper’s on here?
It’s not their fault that every time they touch my lorry something breaks and I end up with the grief.
Come on guys, we should pity their illness not mock it
The fact that the fuel gauge is faulty is not helpful. If the gauge was on empty then the driver was to blame for not filling the truck up. At this point he would know of the faulty dial, and dependent on the size of tank, amount of the fuel added, would… sorry should know roughly how far he would get.
If the gauge was broken “on full” then the driver would not know until he would have reasonably expected the level to drop or move.
It happened to me once. The sender unit had snapped - in the tank, and the gauge read about a third of a 750 litre tank. In reality it was way below, and when I stopped - half way across the A46@ Evesham, the police were not happy… until they saw the level. I couldnt have forseen that.
Recovery is expensive, better to bring a can of fuel and put it in the tank.
yourhavingalarf:
Years ago…I did a shift for Eddie in one of those wagon and drag things. I spluttered to a halt on the M18 at silly o’clock in the morning.
First thing I did…took a picture of the fuel gauge showing just above a quarter of a tank.
When Scania turned up with 25 litres, I got the fitter to take a picture of the fuel gauge too.
I wouldn’t drive for an agency that charged me for anything.
I’ve run out of fuel when the fuel gauge still showed over a quarter of a tank. I wouldn’t be paying anything for the callout, any more than I would pay for anything else defective on the truck which I had no way of knowing about.
I ran out of fuel in Scania once with a full tank on other side of truck. Was I to know that it was not transferring.Problem was even with tank nut removed from bottom of tank no leakage onto road. It was full of gunge and that’s after it came out of dealership supposedly all working fully.
If the post had started with: ‘my employer is blaming me because the lorry ran out of diesel and is now going to stop the recovery costs out of my wages’, then you would be able to hear the HOWLS of protest from Australia and the post would be running to 84 pages.
But because it’s an agency driver involved then it seems it’s all in order. …nice. Pull up the ladder Jock I’m OK. 
cav551:
If the post had started with: ‘my employer is blaming me because the lorry ran out of diesel and is now going to stop the recovery costs out of my wages’, then you would be able to hear the HOWLS of protest from Australia and the post would be running to 84 pages.But because it’s an agency driver involved then it seems it’s all in order. …nice. Pull up the ladder Jock I’m OK.
I think most of the posts are saying if the gauge was showing fuel then the driver really can’t be held to blame, agency or employed.
Personally if it’s a truck you don’t know you probably don’t really know how much the gauge might move during a shift, so might not be to worried if it didn’t seem to move.
Used to drive a truck with a barrel shaped tank, the gauge dropped like a stone from full to 3/4 then moved slowly to 1/4 and then dropped like a stone again until empty, I was the regular driver so knew to fill before a 1/4 tank, but somebody not knowing the truck could get caught out.
kavs44:
I ran out of fuel in Scania once with a full tank on other side of truck. Was I to know that it was not transferring.Problem was even with tank nut removed from bottom of tank no leakage onto road. It was full of gunge and that’s after it came out of dealership supposedly all working fully.
Had the same thing with a Volvo with twin tanks.
If the fuel gauge is broken, then you’d pick it up on the walkaround checks we’re all supposed to do.
I don’t know of a way the gauge can be “broken” so the thing appears to be full up, which is the way you’d expect to find a vehicle on takeover - right?
I once filled a palletliner at the “wrong fuel station” and as a consequence, ended up getting the client firm I was driving for billed over the odds for the fuel (no discount)
I was offered to have the difference taken out of my wages, or banned from site.
I took the latter option - no brainer.
If anyone thinks its a good idea to be a doormat just once - then it’ll end up being for the rest of one’s life.
Sure, I made a mistake out of mis-understanding. I was asked to fill at such and such fuel stop, and I filled up somewhere else. Public fuelling is public fuelling. If they’d explained that they had a discount at this particular garage, then of course I would have gone out of my way to stop where they said.
If you don’t bloody keep me informed - I’m going to make that kind of mistake in good faith, as I imagine many others would in the same scenario.
Winseer:
If the fuel gauge is broken, then you’d pick it up on the walkaround checks we’re all supposed to do.
On the truck I ran out of fuel, the gauge appeared to be working, was on 3/4 when I took it over but spluttered to a halt when it was showing just over 1/4, when I was about 10 miles from the yard. Can’t see how I could have picked that up on a walkaround check to be honest.