Heard this from a driver today who said he only did one on a Monday and the rest of the week didn’t bother, because it would not have changed.
Anyone else do this?
Why do you?
Ever worry what could go wrong?
theonlybigman:
Heard this from a driver today who said he only did one on a Monday and the rest of the week didn’t bother, because it would not have changed.Anyone else do this?
Why do you?
Ever worry what could go wrong?
Depends what you mean by daily vehicle check. I have the same truck all the time and live in it the whole time I’m at work, which could be weeks on end so I dont do a full out inspection every day on it as I’m constantly keeping an eye on it at all times as it is. If I change trailers then I obviously check those before leaving and then keep an eye on them just the same. If I was on a different vehicle every day, or someone else drove my truck on a night shift etc then fair enough, but otherwise no.
Guess I needed to be more clear, he drives it all week, but I would say 3 out of 5 days it is used overnight by another driver. I know you don’t loose for example 10mm of tread on a tyre overnight, but surely a check to make sure it doesn’t have a big fat bald flat spot on it, rather than just jumping straight in the cab and heading off!
VOSA will soon point out the bits he should have seen and didn’t, and present him with a fine for their trouble.
I drive the same motor all the time but always have a walk around every morning and fill out the defect book whilst also showing 8 minutes of other work. I keep an eye on things through the day aswel. As its a hiab with legs front as well as rear, theres a little more to keep in order than maybe a box etc and stuff can get knocked about abit more.
This week, a mate drove it on nights which is a very rare occurance, he dosesn’t fill out the book but thats upto him.
i always check the oil, and water. but everything else is prety much a visual check. i don’t break into a sweat, none of that manual labour stuff.
and always check to make sure my illegals havn’t escaped. they’re worth a few quid. 
The law says that the driver is responsible for the condition of the vehicle and anything attatched to it and if anything falls off or fails that’s considered to have been possible for a competent driver to have known about and/or to have noticed while checking it then it’s the driver who gets done for it.In which case it could be as serious as causing death by dangerous driving because the charge of dangerous driving comes under that remit.
theonlybigman:
Guess I needed to be more clear, he drives it all week, but I would say 3 out of 5 days it is used overnight by another driver. I know you don’t loose for example 10mm of tread on a tyre overnight, but surely a check to make sure it doesn’t have a big fat bald flat spot on it, rather than just jumping straight in the cab and heading off!
The vehicle is used about 3 times a week by another driver and he still doesn’t bother to check the vehicle, either he has a lot of faith in the other driver or he’s nuts.
well i park my car behind the truck so i think the walk past to get to the cab is classed as a “walk round check” but then again no one drives it but me and if something was dropping off i think i would know about it , mind you there is quite a few bits dropping off at the moment after the shunter on the docks reversed into the front of me 
If it is a regular truck, a jog round when you go for a morning ■■■■ should be enough. The tyres are inflated and the lights are on.
Tax or MOT isn’t going to suddenly run out, neither is a mudguard or spray flap going to come off in the night. So a cursory glance is more than enough
Wheel Nut:
If it is a regular truck, a jog round when you go for a morning ■■■■ should be enough. The tyres are inflated and the lights are on.Tax or MOT isn’t going to suddenly run out, neither is a mudguard or spray flap going to come off in the night. So a cursory glance is more than enough
+1 Hurrah for common sense!
(1) You show 15 mins “lead in” on your digicard before pulling off…
(2) If you are the only and last person to use the combination, then you can do cursory checks, like making sure some oik hasn’t pulled the pin, or like I found tonight - rotated the suzis around so they’ll ping off as soon as I try and spin it in the yard!
(3) Dog clip been nicked?
and of course…
(4) Is the handle wound all the way up, as I heard in an RDC (or was it on the ‘■■■■■■■■ thread’?) that every turn VOSA can make on a spot check is a £60 fine!
Things I DON’T like to find in a cab I’m taking over…
5th wheel grease under the steering wheel, chewing gum on top of the “adjust seat” buttons, orange peel in the ash tray, ■■■ ash in the ash tray, stickers in the middle of the windscreen, bootmarks on the bunk, hard-hat teetering on the edge above your head, old road maps that look like Hittite invasion plans for Thrace,
Radio tuned into Radio One with the knob ripped off, Screwed down bluetooth that keeps beeping and I can’t switch it off, sun flaps that fall off when you gently tug them, Splitter switch has a crack in it, so you get a dead man’s pinch every time you change gear, and last but not least SO LITTLE DERV IN IT THAT I’M CONCERNED I MIGHT NOT MAKE THE ISLAND WITHOUT CONKING OUT!
Winseer:
(1) You show 15 mins “lead in” on your digicard before pulling off…
(2) If you are the only and last person to use the combination, then you can do cursory checks, like making sure some oik hasn’t pulled the pin, or like I found tonight - rotated the suzis around so they’ll ping off as soon as I try and spin it in the yard!
(3) Dog clip been nicked?and of course…
(4) Is the handle wound all the way up, as I heard in an RDC (or was it on the ‘■■■■■■■■ thread’?) that every turn VOSA can make on a spot check is a £60 fine!
Things I DON’T like to find in a cab I’m taking over…
5th wheel grease under the steering wheel, chewing gum on top of the “adjust seat” buttons, orange peel in the ash tray, ■■■ ash in the ash tray, stickers in the middle of the windscreen, bootmarks on the bunk, hard-hat teetering on the edge above your head, old road maps that look like Hittite invasion plans for Thrace,
Radio tuned into Radio One with the knob ripped off, Screwed down bluetooth that keeps beeping and I can’t switch it off, sun flaps that fall off when you gently tug them, Splitter switch has a crack in it, so you get a dead man’s pinch every time you change gear, and last but not least SO LITTLE DERV IN IT THAT I’M CONCERNED I MIGHT NOT MAKE THE ISLAND WITHOUT CONKING OUT!
I hear you on that one!
Don’t get Switchlogic started on this one. Look what happened on the thread about showing time for daily checks on your tacho!!! 
They love me everywhere I go when I actually do the vehicle checks, and always seem to put them off the road on takeover - because I actually found a fault that was missed by umpteen previous drivers! Blown bulbs, tacho doesn’t work, steering wheel loose, wheel nuts missing, and of course “no derv in it at all” that I might decide to fault report as “fuel gauge not working” when in fact it’s just so damned empty, it isn’t registering! 
(Shine a torch inside tank, and you can see the bare metal at the base of the tank and some little puddles perhaps…)
I constantly keep an eye on tyres & lights etc when I’m loading/unloading etc. So a formal walkaround everyday isnt necessary, although I always check that my trailer pin hasnt been pulled after an overnight stop.
I once worked for a firm in the early ‘noughties’ out of East Lincs near Boston that had a less than ideal reputation in the local field shall we say after a few ministry visits. I was agency at the time, young, keen to get my own unit wth a regular firm and they offered me good money so I took it.
One morning I was pegged to be in Bristol tipping paper. Arrived in the yard 6am. Unit hitched up to the trailer when ai arrived. So I did my walk around and where there was supposed to be the trailer MOT cert, just a blank circle. Well I was brand new, fairly stumped and being young naive and thinking there must be some explanation set off. Rang in at 8am when transport office opened to report said missing ticket- ‘oh we have it in the office’ when I got back I said now unhappy I was about it and that the trailer was not to be moved until a ticket placed in it’s holder.
Well blow me down the next week, same thing, different trailer, this time my blood was up and I thought blow it I’ll sit here until the office opens as I’m grounded without that ticket. Anyway office opens. The transport manager was pretty angry, saying they had the ticket, I’d miss my slot at Bristol etc etc. Funnily enough, despite their searching they didn’t find the MOT certificate.
Anyhow. Fast forward to the end of the week, an ABS fault light comes up on the unit so with the advice of the office I call in to the the local Scania agents who service for the company (if you’re lincs based and trying to guess who they were, they have switched from Scania now I think to Renault, former big potato haulier-not Masons). I mentioned the MOT ticket issue for the trailers. They told me they had MOT’d the trailers only that week and there was a back log and strangely the trailers shouldn’t have been down the yard and the haulier never had the MOTs as they hadn’t yet been issued. That day I learned!
I check my motor multiple times every day, I just can’t be particularly arsed first thing in the morning.
Not ideal if some clever spark has pulled your pin as a joke
I live my entire life looking out for “jokers” trying to f me over, so I’d consider that the main reason for doing my checks every day without fail… 