The night man broke down and had two front wheels taken off for repairs to the front brakes,the truck was repaired after his shift had ended, so he was next in again to do his night trunk.
In the cab was left a ticket to be signed off to prove the two front wheel nuts had been retorqued, i rang him at home to say he must get the nuts retorqued.
When i next got in for my shift he had not done it and had driven 400 miles, the ticket was not signed off and the garage said he had not done it.
What would you say to him when you saw him, would you let the employers know or keep quiet about it, the worst case scenario is he could have killed someone or himself, as VOSA would know about the record keepin paper trail, then you get O licence issues, loss of jobs, and clients walking away with no more orders/contracts due to the media jumping on the killler monster jugernaut out of control kills a bus full of school kids.
Just have a quiet word in his ear, maybe he doesn’t realise the importance that is placed upon getting the re-torque done. If he’s blase about it or just pig-headed then that’s the time to go further. I’m sure in any event/mishap due to the re-torque not being done, the blame will lie firmly with the driver, which, IMO it should, you can’t miss those yellow tickets.
why did you phone him at home ? and why did you not get the wheels retorqued ? if he is a night driver who is still around to retorque the nuts ? sounds like ■■■■■■■■
Not sure I follow, had the truck been anywhere in between as if not there’s no point in retorquing? 400 miles is too long to do it but ideally wants 40-50 with some load on and some driving that puts a bit of stress on the steering for the fronts.
I phoned him at home to let him know,as the truck was in the garage all day,and the truck was off the road until he came in to start his shift,i was away all day in another truck away from base so could do the nuts before he started work.
The garage is open to 22.oo, the night guys roll in at 18.00 to 19.00,check the truck, scan the double decker trailers then up the road.
The ticket was left in a visible place.
As he broke down the night before he would have known the two wheels were coming off.
All depends on whether he has access at night to facilities whereby the wheel nuts can be re-torqued by a competent person. Also significant is whether wheel nut indicators are fitted. There are many companies that operate a system by which the nuts are retorqued after 30 minutes rather than mileage. If the company system policy is to do this after 30 miles, 100 miles or whatever; how is this done in practice?
‘Every little helps’ used to/may still fit red indicators to any disturbed wheelnuts. The driver’s walk around check then requires enquiries to the garage and traffic office whether the vehicle/trailer has been used or not. After a retorque yellow indicators are fitted and the register completed by the fitter.
So if he had the opportunity and neglected it then have a go at him - if he didn’t, then perhaps you should both be having a word with someone else.
Just a slight distraction from the topic. If anyone thinks they don’t need to bother with doing this then they are wrong. Early 2000’s I had a ryder truck which had a knocking on the front o/s. I’d only left the yard but decided to take it into Warrington Ryder’s. The wheel nuts were loose !!! You couldn’t turn them with your hand and they looked ok but they were defo an accident in waiting.
Another was my mates truck had the 2 wheels on the n/s drive come off on the M62 due to loose nuts. I was an owner driver at the time and had to go and pick up his trailer and tip it 20 miles away as a favour. His driver was so lucky. One wheel went down the embankment and the other ended up in the outside lane in roadworks. No Police or VOSA were called and the workmen retrieved his wheel from the outside lane. VERY LUCKY. His truck was recovered from the motorway as the pins were knackered too.
i check my nuts every month just to make sure there are no funny lumps growing 
you can never be to careful 
Ive learnt that If you want something done to a unit or trailer then you have to go about it yourself otherwise it won’t get done. Simple.
wildfire:
i check my nuts every month just to make sure there are no funny lumps growingyou can never be to careful
classic this was funny +1 hahaha 
wildfire:
i check my nuts every month just to make sure there are no funny lumps growingyou can never be to careful
My missus does mine it’s rather more enjoyable and her hands are small so makes my nuts appear bigger than what they are
You know it makes sense lads!
I can’t see any reason why he would need a note to say retorque the wheel nuts.
they should be checked every day anyway.
so if it’s being double shifted, then it will have two daily checks every 24 hours.
this brings me onto another issue. why does a double shifted vehicle only have to be checked every six weeks, when a single shifted vehicle needs to be checked at the same intervals?
toby1234abc:
I phoned him at home to let him know,as the truck was in the garage all day,and the truck was off the road until he came in to start his shift,i was away all day in another truck away from base so could do the nuts before he started work.
The garage is open to 22.oo, the night guys roll in at 18.00 to 19.00,check the truck, scan the double decker trailers then up the road.
The ticket was left in a visible place.
As he broke down the night before he would have known the two wheels were coming off.
ok, so why did you not tell the TM or leave a defect sheet for the techs to looks at it you drive the vehicle also and was aware of the ticket.
ignorance is no excuse
Yes, people, check your wheel nuts.
A year or so ago I was driving along the M55 when I noticed the steering start to vibrate a bit, I came off and at slower speeds I could hear a knocking noise as well. Stopped, got out and found I had lost TWO wheel nuts from the front n/s, a few others I could have taken off with my hand.
One hell of a close shave, all because I couldn’t be arsed having a quick feel of the wheel nuts when doing my walk round check (no indicators fitted). Lesson learnt!
Posts like this amaze me. everywhere I have worked only about half the drivers could change a bulb and you want a driver to check wheelnuts !!
The night man was responsible to retorque, he was in charge of the truck, and had warnings to do it.
toby1234abc:
The night man was responsible to retorque, he was in charge of the truck, and had warnings to do it.
Maybe his new curtains obscured his view… 
The frilly curtains, lol,with the tassles. 