If this has been done before please accept my apologies but I’ve done a search and can only find tiny snippets.
Let me set the scene…
One day in early May I was travelling westbound towards Hartshead Moor Services on the M62 in my new DAF XF. For some time now this area has been undergoing major refurbishment to the central reservation meaning that lane 3 has been closed and the hard shoulder has been substituted for lane 1. Running parallel to the on ramp of junction 26 I, courteously, moved over into lane 2 (normally lane 1) to allow the cars coming up the slip road to merge onto the motorway. This they did and, as is par for the course, promptly sped up, undertook me and left me sat in the middle of the motorway like a complete plank. Needing the services for my 45mins break I checked my nearside mirrors which were completely clear, indicated and started to move back to the inside lane (normally the hard shoulder). On doing this I felt a small bump, the kind you feel when you run over a bit of debris. I couldn’t remember seeing anything in the road so started to slow down just in case there was something wrong with the truck and it was only then that this small, black mercedes sports car appeared in my nearside mirrors. It had been completely in my blind spot by my nearside front corner and I’d just never seen it. I know I hadn’t overtaken her so she can only been one of the cars that had come up the inside of me from the slip road. Anyway I got her to follow me to the services where we exchanged details etc.
Now I’ve got to say that when I rubbed the white marks on the side of her car (from my nearside step) they started to come off, the damage was, IMO, very minimal and I couldn’t see any evidence of any dents or dints. The only damage to my wagon was a black mark on the nearside step which I removed with T Cut the following morning. The lady driver, who was a doctor, was shaken but by the time I left was ok and walking to the service area (from the truck park) to get herself a coffee.
Now it turns out that the car is a write off, she has suffered physically and is now too frightened to go on a motorway near big, nasty, dirty, greasy lorries. And its all bullocks
The upshot of this is that this morning I have been up in front of my operations manager for a disciplinary hearing where I have been issued with a written warning and had my probationary period extended to the end of the year (I had 3 months left of a 6 month period) which also means that the pay rise I would have got in 3 months has also been put back. But, and this is the worst thing for me because I feel like I’ve been hung out to dry…my driver foreman, someone who is supposed to fight my corner, has submitted a report to my boss telling him that there is no blind spot anywhere on the DAF nearside.
This is my first ever accident and I’m not only gutted that it’s happened but I’m absolutely fuming at the way I’ve been treated and I’d just like your input. Are there any XF drivers out there who can verify that the wagon does have a blind spot or has this happened to any of you because, at this moment in time, I’d love nothing more than to go to my ‘driver foreman’ and tell him that he’s full of BS
Thanks guys
I know its a bit late for it now, but for future reference, get photo’s of the damage.
That way when they claim the car was written off, you produce said photo’s and ask how!!!
Camera phones are ok if nothing else, however it is a dodgy area (photoshop anyone ) Best bet is if your firm don’t supply them, get yourself one of those cheap disposable cameras.
Back to the question, I remember answering another thread (can’t remember which) with a chuckaway comment along the lines of
“If you want to talk about blindspots, try the Daf XF”
I’m sick to death of arse-holes who ring up to say I passed them at 57mph, or I did XYZ. The ■■■■ TM that I work for, accusing me of this that and the other. I am almost considering quitting. Why can’t people just let us get on with our job. 25Yrs accident free by the way!
shuttlespanker:
if you position a transit van correctly on the nearside of an XF, you would not be able to see it
if your driver foreman has stated that there are no blindspots, does his XF have the passenger door removed? if not, he is talking out of his ■■■■■■
i have been driving DAF XF’s for quite a number of years, and currently own five of them
as for the car being a write off, ask the insurance company if you can buy it from them
LOL @ last sentence - good idea actually .
I would have to partly disagree with you about the blind spot though. Having also spent a lot of time driving XFs I do agree with you that there is a huge blind spot, but only if you don’t have the bob (kerb) mirror adjusted correctly. Most of my driving XFs were other drivers’ and I don’t recall even one of them having the kerb mirror adjusted correctly. They all seem to have it focusing on the bottom half of the door and the step, angled slightly backwards as well. This is neither use nor ornament as you’d never have a vehicle that close to you to see it at that angle. I always used to adjust them so that I could only just see a tiny sliver of the door in them (ie. angling it outwards so that you can just see the edges of the vehicles in lane 1 when you’re overtaking them normally), but also used to angle it forwards slightly as well, as this is where the XF blind spot actually is; it’s not directly alongside you. Also, mount the wide angle mirror underneath the main mirror (a lot of companies have the wide angle at the top and this is wrong). If you put the wide angle mirror at the bottom and angle it down slightly, you’ll be able to see the cars that are alongside your fuel tank/drive axle area that are usually out of sight in your bob mirror and main mirror. With them set-up like that you’ve got full coverage of all your nearside and your blind spot, thus negating the need to lean forward/life yer arse off the seat to check that no vehicles are there before moving over.
Thanks for the replies so far fellas, Semtex I have photos of the damage, so does my boss, it’s the first thing I did to cover myself so I couldn’t believe it this morning when I was told the car was a write off. The long continuous white lines on the car are just road marking reflections in the sun
Modern cars are made of cheese, but it certainly doesn’t look like a write off from those pics. I’ve had worse than that beaten out of my car and the relevant panels replaced.
Problem with a monocoque is, if you can get the right engineer on your side he can confirm anything he likes to your advantage, claiming the whole structure has twisted or something.
Don’t accept the warning, what qualifications in total no blind spottingness does your best friend who’s trying to hump you have? More importantly, could he prove his parents were married before he was born Hic
There is a massive blind spot on a daf xf on the nearside i have driven both the old 95 and the xf`s for the last 15 years. Prior to this I have driven Volvos, Scanias, Mans and ERFs and out of all of them the DAF has the worst side blind spot by far. The XF is even worse than the old 95 because the cab sits just that bit higher. I personally would not take an XF out unless I have a frenzel lense fitted on my near side window, these are absolutely marvelous as you can look in all your mirrors and everything appears clears clear, look in the lense and you’ll see the car. In my opinion the blind spot is the only thing what spoils a bloody good truck, but with one of these lenses the problem is solved.
I got stitched up a couple of times by the other party lying their faces off, once in my car by an Argos (spits) 7.5 ton ‘driver’, aresole was in a filter lane to turn left, then he didn’t and ran me into a roundabout removing my front wing with the bottom of his tail lift, aresole
It’s strange how a clipped repeater light and bumper scuff suddenly becomes ‘all panels down nearside, front bumper, headlights and severe whiplash injuries and severe trauma .’:!:
The bloke wasn’t even in the car that wasn’t so much parked as abandoned He’d been told not to park there but still did. Like i said he was nowhere to be seen but within a nano-second of the trailer coming into contact with his pride and joy there he is ranting and raving look like he’s going to have siezure or a blue fit or something I just give him the company card, ‘sort it out with them mate.’
This was a most stupid accident on my part as I broke my golden rule never to go shunting about a yard with the tilt half stripped out, not when it’s blowing a gale any way, took me the second time to put a stop to this. ‘Where do you want me? Because I ain’t moving once I’ve stripped it out.’
The next time I was accused of clouting an ■■■■■■ type van thing, parked, no, abandoned again, across a bay almost. This time I/we demanded to see the CCTV tape, they couldn’t produce it so my bloke told them to go forth and multiply.
From then on I always carried a camera, a couple of firms even supplied them, and latterly a digital voice recorder, it’s strange how they suddenly become very quiet when they know they are being recorded.
Woody, I think the ■■■■■ has seen you coming mate, no doubt either she or some other of her areosole aquaintences have seen an opening here for some easy dosh, something else we can thank the Septics for, sue, sue, sue
But why do they chance their arms with trucks? Go pick on somebody your own size, hopefully a joyrider who hasn’t a licence let alone insurance.
‘Crazytrucker’
I have edited this post to add another possibility thanks to Big Joe, that your boss is trying to shaft you I worked for one like that, not for long though
Our firm have issued us with disposable cameras and I also carry a dictating machine, just in case. As has been said before, it is surprising how camera shy these people become.
Look at all the left ■■■■■■ sideswipes there is on our motorways, I’d say 95% were DAF XF’s, I’d want to see the correspondance that says the car is a write off/the woman has been traumatised, otherwise sounds like the boss is trying to shaft you
shuttlespanker:
if you position a transit van correctly on the nearside of an XF, you would not be able to see it
if your driver foreman has stated that there are no blindspots, does his XF have the passenger door removed? if not, he is talking out of his ■■■■■■
i have been driving DAF XF’s for quite a number of years, and currently own five of them
as for the car being a write off, ask the insurance company if you can buy it from them
believe this man, he has the biggest xf in the country, lol
granted its for all his perverse thoughts and his ego but still.
as for the xf having blind spots, yes it has very bad blind spots if positioned correctly, ive had a few close calls in an xf…granted it was a lefty but still.
) Best bet is if your firm don’t supply them, get yourself one of those cheap disposable cameras.
Hic 
He’d been told not to park there but still did. Like i said he was nowhere to be seen but within a nano-second of the trailer coming into contact with his pride and joy there he is ranting and raving look like he’s going to have siezure or a blue fit or something 