Trukkertone:
i reckon VOSA would take a dim view of tacho on break while tipping…nothing wrong with break on tipping as long as your not actively workingsame as fuelling up and setting the pump on its slowest setting so you can get a 15 in…
you are still on duty.
no in this case your actively working
Fileep:
All depends on what you’re blowing and where! Some places you can get 30ton off in 20 minutes, others it can take 2 1/2 hours! Some customers expect you to be at the controls throughout the blowing process, so I wouldn’t book a break. I would imagine vosa would take a dim view blowing on a break. Some do it, others don’t. It’s a bit like speeding, you know it’s wrong but some still do it! How often do you get caught? Just my opinion.
I know one place we went to the guys would back in and that was it they had staff to connect and monitor the tipping and the drivers were there an hour or so they always went up the canteen.
When I deliver or load, I put tacho on work till I connect pipes, then when done and tipping or loading
go back to cab and put tacho on break, have a coffee and make a sandwich then eat them while
tipping, is that not a break then?
Been doing that for last 8 years on liquid tankers, takes 30 to 50 mins on average to tip, only takes
me a couple of mins to connect and get every thing going.
Loading easier as I just connect pipe and factory pumps in 28t, stops automatically when weight reached.
Look at it this way if you get stopped by vosa for it, and there saw you do it, there mite not deal with it at the road side but go to the firm to see if others are doing the same.
alanjblack:
When I deliver or load, I put tacho on work till I connect pipes, then when done and tipping or loading
go back to cab and put tacho on break, have a coffee and make a sandwich then eat them while
tipping, is that not a break then?Been doing that for last 8 years on liquid tankers, takes 30 to 50 mins on average to tip, only takes
me a couple of mins to connect and get every thing going.Loading easier as I just connect pipe and factory pumps in 28t, stops automatically when weight reached.
I do similar to this, i’m on tauts & most of my tips are builders merchants, pull into the yard, open curtains, undo straps then back into the cab & sort out a cuppa & brekky/dinner. Can take anything from 30mins to an hour plus to get tipped & I don’t do any other work til the trailers empty.
My lot are quite ■■■■ with legalities & tacho rules & nothing been said to me.
alanjblack:
When I deliver or load, I put tacho on work till I connect pipes, then when done and tipping or loading
go back to cab and put tacho on break, have a coffee and make a sandwich then eat them while
tipping, is that not a break then?Been doing that for last 8 years on liquid tankers, takes 30 to 50 mins on average to tip, only takes
me a couple of mins to connect and get every thing going.Loading easier as I just connect pipe and factory pumps in 28t, stops automatically when weight reached.
That is about it for me too Alan. You can be pumping or blowing chocolate for 3 hours, it helps with a split rest period later that day 
It has only gone wrong for me once in 30 years with a leak, and I have only had one pipe burst in all that time, the time I was stood over it and ended up with hot knackers from the glucose.
If putting it on break while tipping, or not, is the difference between being home on Friday or having to run in on a Saturday…it’s going on break!
To be fair, most of the places we go to, you can get a break in whilst queueing up to tip!
nick2008:
I know one place we went to the guys would back in and that was it they had staff to connect and monitor the tipping and the drivers were there an hour or so they always went up the canteen.
One place I used to deliver milk to was like that. I used to go get my breakfast in the staff canteen opposite so put it on break, had my 45 in the canteen and I’d come out and find the PoD on the drivers seat and all ready to go.
Conor:
nick2008:
I know one place we went to the guys would back in and that was it they had staff to connect and monitor the tipping and the drivers were there an hour or so they always went up the canteen.One place I used to deliver milk to was like that. I used to go get my breakfast in the staff canteen opposite so put it on break, had my 45 in the canteen and I’d come out and find the PoD on the drivers seat and all ready to go.
sounds much like the same company just dif depot
Conor:
nick2008:
I know one place we went to the guys would back in and that was it they had staff to connect and monitor the tipping and the drivers were there an hour or so they always went up the canteen.One place I used to deliver milk to was like that. I used to go get my breakfast in the staff canteen opposite so put it on break, had my 45 in the canteen and I’d come out and find the PoD on the drivers seat and all ready to go.
Like us with the beer, pipe it up and let it go, bang it on break and its either in the canteen or on the bunk, a full tank is an hour or there abouts dependant on the customer.
You can set liquid of the go the canteen etc no problem but blowing powder/granular esp limestone is a completely different ball game. The granuals are not of a uniform shape and will soon wear through a pipe and then the pipe will suddenly go popand limestone is coming out like bullets, rubber unicone seals can fail. an blow 100 times but the 1 where you disappear you will end you with it either all over the floor or blocked.
Hi ,All
It’s one thing to blow a load off when you have a tank with a donkey engine powering the blower, that way you can put the tacho on break and switch off.It still doesn’t make it legal and if VOSA see this happening ,they will feel your collar.
If you have a PTO powered blower even though you have put the tacho on break Vosa can tell from downloading your tacho that the truck has been doing other work. In this case I am referring to Digi Tacho’s
Like a previous poster said ,some firms are fitted with trackers and the company can tell from these what’s happening, generally there is no problems BUT if something went wrong ,whose head is on the chopping block?
Cheers Bassman
legally no cos you are on duty,working,ie having to keep an eye on blower pressure,pipe security etc. Its a funny old job if haven’t got time to take ya breaks legally!!!
Bassman:
Hi ,All
It’s one thing to blow a load off when you have a tank with a donkey engine powering the blower, that way you can put the tacho on break and switch off.It still doesn’t make it legal and if VOSA see this happening ,they will feel your collar.
If you have a PTO powered blower even though you have put the tacho on break Vosa can tell from downloading your tacho that the truck has been doing other work. In this case I am referring to Digi Tacho’s
Like a previous poster said ,some firms are fitted with trackers and the company can tell from these what’s happening, generally there is no problems BUT if something went wrong ,whose head is on the chopping block?Cheers Bassman
What he said, especially the bit I’ve highlighted. Anyone at our place who tips off the card is on a disciplinary.
When i did vacuum tanker work, It took 20 minutes to load and 20 minutes to unload. When i loaded i had it on other work to make it look right, when i unloaded i left it on break.
I would take a proper 45 minute break on my 3rd load whilst tipping, I would just leave it to tip by gravity which took around 45 minutes.
What’s right and wrong isn’t too much of an issue, Just making the card look right and avoiding prosecution is the issue in my book.
by Sidevalve » Tue Apr 02, 2013 6:06 am
Bassman wrote:
Hi ,All
It’s one thing to blow a load off when you have a tank with a donkey engine powering the blower, that way you can put the tacho on break and switch off.It still doesn’t make it legal and if VOSA see this happening ,they will feel your collar.
If you have a PTO powered blower even though you have put the tacho on break Vosa can tell from downloading your tacho that the truck has been doing other work. In this case I am referring to Digi Tacho’s
Like a previous poster said ,some firms are fitted with trackers and the company can tell from these what’s happening, generally there is no problems BUT if something went wrong ,whose head is on the chopping block?Cheers Bassman
What he said, especially the bit I’ve highlighted. Anyone at our place who tips off the card is on a disciplinary.
same here , tip off the card by all means but it IS traceable , why take the risk ?
Unless you are a real trucker like Phil , who thinks doing anything by the book in the haulage industry is for wimps 
Spoke to a tanker driver this morning, he told me on his firm booking break whilst blowing is a disciplinary matter TM told him as well as VOSA not being very happy ,if there was some sort of mishap that involved an insurance claim ins’ co’ might try and wriggle out if the digi showed a break, as legally driver not in attendance with vehicle!
its supposed to be watched…but if you had a long blow
you could probally knock a 15 off towards the end
Depends if you can properly rest or not in my opinion, every now and then is fine but i worked for a company where the only possible way to get round was to tip on break and it got to the point where i was constantly shattered and once you start doing it for them its difficult to get out of it, as its then expected of you.
It takes a special sort of idiot to tip tankers whilst he is on break.
They have to be costantly monitored, pressure, flow, quantity, elevation, pots (belly tanks) etc.
Every product and site blowing different.
Do things ever go wrong ? ■■■■ right they do, with dire consequences.
Be it tank exploding (ask Scruffy), Valves leaking, pipes splitting (own or custermer), even tops or filter boxs blowing off tops of silos and many, many more.
Have done probably 15 or so years blowing powder, liquid and slurry tanks, so been there and seen the consequences of unatended tanks.
Do you think your company will back you up when the sh-t hits the fan, whilst your tacho was on break ?