Franglais:
robroy:
Franglais:
windrush:
It wasn’t pre tacho, cheeky sods, I’m not quite that old! 
Pete.
Whats cheeky? Ya young whipper snapper! :smiley: I remember log books, and Im only 30-something.
Well, 30-something-quite-a-lot.
1981 was when tachograph cards were first used… afair.
I remember, vaguely, using the log books with multiple start/end points for each driving stint. Times and places written out in longhand. Before the log books with the squared, graph type blocks, where you just put a line in.
I doubt a youth such as yourself would remember them. 
Vaguely(?), bloody hell you must be young 'un Franglais, I remember the time before the graph books when hauliers printed their own log sheets, to their own design, unumbered, unchecked and impossible to regulate.
The unwritten law was to have multiples of these, updated regularly during the day, to make sure you were always covered by at least one if stopped. The only way they could get us was by a ‘silent check’, the ministry would hide behind a hedge and jot down times and numbers as the lorries passed. Then 3 months later the boss would have to decide which logs to give them if they visited. They only asked for logs for a specified day, without mentioning time or location.
Thus, just before arriving at Hull docks with an older driver one day, we couldn’t have our breakfast immediately because the table was covered with log sheets in the process of being sorted. 
Did i work for the only straight running outfits back then, and yes i used the from/to sheets with written in times, didn’t fiddle as such and kept the book up to date at the time, might have bent the odd rule but never took the ■■■■.
Silent checks were the thing (urban legend of the time?) but i wasn’t aware of any visits by the ministry where i worked, but then where i worked was respected as being on the 70’s equivalent of a ‘green light’ so to speak, no doubt the ministry would concentrate on those likely to offend, that really is no different to now, i work for a company that runs squeaky clean and everything looks the part too, we never get so much as glance from the DVSA or whatever they are known as today.
I have been pulled up back in log book days by police cars also containing a ministry bod, usually at unusual hours in unliveried vehicles (mainly rigids, always wondered if this was looking for explosives or arms being moved during the times of the Irish troubles), few times for weight checks, and once only around 1977 for a fuel dip, none since.
Haven’t been pulled by the vehicle enforcement people of any description for donkeys years, last time was a weight check at Risby some 10/12 years ago following one of our clots who loaded Land Rovers badly leading to an axle overload…i was ok on weights but had an 18 hour day tacho from the previous week in my pack due to a blow out on the M11 near the end of my day with a weirdo tyre size, it took hours to locate one, i’d written an explanation on the back of the card, they checked the cards and were quite happy, no warnings at all, they did say they could see it was a one off and not a habit.
Again, not taking the ■■■■, its the ■■■■ takers they’ve always gone for, they don’t expect perfection just do your level best to keep within the spirit of the law, don’t try to hide an error or mess up, and they are right as rain…what ■■■■■■ them off the most is if you to take them for fools, which they surely are far from.
Got silent checked (and eventually done) coming out of Newcastle Under Lyme cattle market truck park once.
There was a retired ex. Ministry man who lived nearby who used to take it upon himself to silent check and pass it to his mates, the words ‘‘arse’’ and ‘‘hole’’ were very fitting for this character.
Got pulled a few times as an owner driver, and numerous times (most weeks) while driving foreign plated trucks.
My lot now are a ‘Green light’ firm, so not been pulled (ooer mrs ) for about 9 yrs now.
Never been pulled or prosecuted, well not till that time working here when the ministry man let me off running 15 minutes/kms without a disc in. ‘Running to a resto?’ he said, ‘Yes’ I said. ‘OK’ he said. Don’t you just love the French ministry, always thinking of food as the most important aspect of the job.
At Ilkeston Haulage if we stopped in a layby for a kip, the police would pointedly not ask for logsheets, but, knowing we carried whisky roped and sheeted on flats, insisted we drive on to the next county. 
Clean wagons btw, just to keep on thread, must have had some blokes in to do it as we were dieseled up and gone home every time we hit the yard.
robroy:
Got silent checked (and eventually done) coming out of Newcastle Under Lyme cattle market truck park once.
There was a retired ex. Ministry man who lived nearby who used to take it upon himself to silent check and pass it to his mates, the words ‘‘arse’’ and ‘‘hole’’ were very fitting for this character.
Got pulled a few times as an owner driver, and numerous times (most weeks) while driving foreign plated trucks.
My lot now are a ‘Green light’ firm, so not been pulled (ooer mrs ) for about 9 yrs now.
Green light doesn’t men you don’t get pulled rob. We are green OCRS, yet we had a spate of getting pulled a few weeks back We had one crew head up to Glasgow, got pulled at Gretna on the way up and no problems. Next day got pulled at Gretna on the way down.
I even started a thread on it, I was getting paranoid!
By the time I started driving for a living in 1984 logbooks had been replaced by tachos, however I had a logbook for recovery work when I was a fitter and I’m guessing that it may still be gathering dust on the shelf in the quarry garage! None of which has anything to do with washing a blooming truck of course! 
Pete.
toonsy:
A hosepipe and brush?
These two would be best for washing trucks. This thread is awesome and full of key information. 
albion:
robroy:
Got silent checked (and eventually done) coming out of Newcastle Under Lyme cattle market truck park once.
There was a retired ex. Ministry man who lived nearby who used to take it upon himself to silent check and pass it to his mates, the words ‘‘arse’’ and ‘‘hole’’ were very fitting for this character.
Got pulled a few times as an owner driver, and numerous times (most weeks) while driving foreign plated trucks.
My lot now are a ‘Green light’ firm, so not been pulled (ooer mrs ) for about 9 yrs now.
Green light doesn’t men you don’t get pulled rob. We are green OCRS, yet we had a spate of getting pulled a few weeks back We had one crew head up to Glasgow, got pulled at Gretna on the way up and no problems. Next day got pulled at Gretna on the way down.
I even started a thread on it, I was getting paranoid!
Yeh, maybe I worded it wrong.
On my understanding on it all, you’ve got a lot LESS chance of being pulled…is that about right or what?
Just for the record I got my HGV Class I in `76. Was driving a non-HGV on locals before hand. That was under 3ton unladen and under 7.5 gross IIRC? First job on proper lorries we were paid off the log books so no (or very little) taking the mickey.
And to repeat my position on washing trucks, if youre being paid you use whats available. A hose and brush wont give a showroom finish, but itll get the worst of the muck off. I wouldnt spend ages doing it at the end of a full day, but wouldnt sit around having coffee breaks with a dirty truck sat there and nowt else to do.
robroy:
albion:
robroy:
Got silent checked (and eventually done) coming out of Newcastle Under Lyme cattle market truck park once.
There was a retired ex. Ministry man who lived nearby who used to take it upon himself to silent check and pass it to his mates, the words ‘‘arse’’ and ‘‘hole’’ were very fitting for this character.
Got pulled a few times as an owner driver, and numerous times (most weeks) while driving foreign plated trucks.
My lot now are a ‘Green light’ firm, so not been pulled (ooer mrs ) for about 9 yrs now.
Green light doesn’t men you don’t get pulled rob. We are green OCRS, yet we had a spate of getting pulled a few weeks back We had one crew head up to Glasgow, got pulled at Gretna on the way up and no problems. Next day got pulled at Gretna on the way down.
I even started a thread on it, I was getting paranoid!
Yeh, maybe I worded it wrong.
On my understanding on it all, you’ve got a lot LESS chance of being pulled…is that about right or what?
That’s my understanding, I think the DVSA’s memo went missing for a few weeks though.
Franglais:
Just for the record I got my HGV Class I in `76. Was driving a non-HGV on locals before hand. That was under 3ton unladen and under 7.5 gross IIRC? First job on proper lorries we were paid off the log books so no (or very little) taking the mickey.
And to repeat my position on washing trucks, if youre being paid you use whats available. A hose and brush wont give a showroom finish, but itll get the worst of the muck off. I wouldnt spend ages doing it at the end of a full day, but wouldnt sit around having coffee breaks with a dirty truck sat there and nowt else to do.
As long as the same brush that’s cleaned the diesel tank isn’t the same one used on the windscreen. Hours, if not days, of multiple images on rainy nights. 
You’re right though, if you are ‘on the clock’, use whatever is suitable that is to hand. Never makes a good impression for a boss to see someone wasting time.
That was my policy when I was a manager. I was frustrated for a time though when, after a driver turned his ankle on the small step leading to the Karcher and broke it, we were banned by the H&S culture from washing down until a ramp had been made with an iron handrail alongside. This step was the same size riser as those leading up to the directors’ offices, bannisters there, yes, but no ramp required.
Oh, and passed my car test in '63 and straight onto wagons the next day, no HGV required
Two of the tidiest fleets I worked for had a cold water hose and brushes. One of the fitters measured us out a fixed amount of detergent and the lorry was washed every time we went in the yard
Peter Roff had one of the smartest fleets around in the 80’s, all Scania 142’s in blue and white and hand washed with a sponge then polished inc the chassis emblazoned with ‘riding on air’…
I was one of the worst for washing my truck when I drove for Tilcon, would much rather be out on the road earning a crust than getting an hours pay once a week in the wash bay. Some folk were in there every day though and no way was I queuing so it rarely got wet! However ■■■■ Bentley, the TM, would spot you on the weighbridge and order you to get it cleaned before you delivered that load so you had no option, he would also inspect the white painted bumpers and if they were looking tatty you had to get some paint and smarten them up before going out again. When I changed jobs I washed the lorry on a saturday morning if there was no work, we had a power washer, and then greased it round etc afterwards, but then we had to move to another yard in another town with no water on site so the gaffer would sometimes take it to a local farm for me and he washed it there!
Pete.