I went in this morning, collected my paperwork, checked out my unit and trailer, found the coupling for the red airline missing, reported it, a repair company came and fitted a new one. drive 30 mins to a delivery and then on my way up a1 to Newcastle, phone rings, it’s the TM, trailer needs to go back to repairers ASAP I’m told, turn round and start heading back, phone rings again, TM again, pull over as soon as you can im told. park up and ring back. I’m told trailer has been serviced and was VOR’d as middle axle brakes had been stripped and parts were on order, so the fitter had also taken red airline coupling off to make sure trailer wasn’t used. fitter had told night superviser all about the trailer issue, but it still ended up back on the road.
I’m not very happy about this and am wondering if I should kick up a fuss about this as if I’d have been pulled by vosa or even killed somebody, im sure I would now be in all sorts of ■■■■
Did you put the missing airline on a defect sheet when you noticed it and was it signed off as work being completed by the fitter that came out?
If so, you took the necarssary steps and have it documented.
Also seems to me the TM took appropriate action when the mistake was realised. Had anything had happened while the trailer was in your charge, you could prove that you acted in all best interest and done everything correctly.
Just a mistake. Making sure all braking components are there isn’t really driver’s walk round check responsibility.
Unless the missing bits were causing a massive air leak even fully-freighted on a 6x2 pulling a triaxle trailer braking efficiency woudn’t be down even as much as one sixth as unit always does more of the brake effort anyway.
Seems odd to me, a fitter making more work for himself
If a fitter had stripped the brakes down, he would have to remove the wheels, why would he put them back on if he had to take them off again and the trailer was VOR’d as you said?
If the trailer was VOR’d, surely the fitter would have left the wheels off
shuttlespanker:
Seems odd to me, a fitter making more work for himself
If a fitter had stripped the brakes down, he would have to remove the wheels, why would he put them back on if he had to take them off again and the trailer was VOR’d as you said?
If the trailer was VOR’d, surely the fitter would have left the wheels off
I wondered that, assumed had just taken the slacks off or something.
Wheels off isn’t a foolproof way of ensuring it’s clear a trailer’s VOR’d. I was working on one once and had a n/s wheel off and a load of tools and buzz gun scattered around. Went to the loo and when I came back the trailer was gone. After that started a regime of putting a kingpin lock painted red on any trailer being worked on in the yard and the fitter keeping the key until the job was done.
shuttlespanker:
Seems odd to me, a fitter making more work for himself
If a fitter had stripped the brakes down, he would have to remove the wheels, why would he put them back on if he had to take them off again and the trailer was VOR’d as you said?
If the trailer was VOR’d, surely the fitter would have left the wheels off
The OP had maybe just done a cursory walk round check and not noticed there were a set of wheels missing
Joking aside, it was down to whoever called the maintenance company out, he should have checked with the fitters shop first instead of making decisions like that.
The TM would have kicked up more of a fuss if he was stood in front of Ms Bell next month.
Even with a small fleet of 15 motors our night shift man always made out a night log for anything that cropped up between office hours
Yeah I defected the trailer for the coupling missing, that was signed off by the fitter who replaced the part. For some reason it wasn’t the normal company we use for trailer servicing and repairs who came to fit the coupling. The fitter who originally worked on the trailer, cable tied a VOR board to the trailer and removed the coupling and told the night shift manager he had stripped the middle axle brakes. For some reason, a driver disregarded the VOR board, removed it and moved the trailer onto a loading bay, he must have moved it on the shunt button I presume.
All hell is breaking loose over it, a few people in for an arse kicking.
selby newcomer:
Yeah I defected the trailer for the coupling missing, that was signed off by the fitter who replaced the part. For some reason it wasn’t the normal company we use for trailer servicing and repairs who came to fit the coupling. The fitter who originally worked on the trailer, cable tied a VOR board to the trailer and removed the coupling and told the night shift manager he had stripped the middle axle brakes. For some reason, a driver disregarded the VOR board, removed it and moved the trailer onto a loading bay, he must have moved it on the shunt button I presume.
All hell is breaking loose over it, a few people in for an arse kicking.
The C coupling on the trailer had been removed, did the alarm bells not start ringing at this point
Whoever you reported it to should have checked out why the coupling had been removed before getting a new one fitted
It’s not uncommon for some places to remove them just as a trailer theft prevention. If, for example, you were in on agency, I don’t think it’s absence necessarily implies a trailer that’s been VOR’d.
The C coupling on the trailer had been removed, did the alarm bells not start ringing at this point
Whoever you reported it to should have checked out why the coupling had been removed before getting a new one fitted
When I reported it, the maintenance bird thought a subby had nicked it
I later found out the trailer was being serviced yesterday evening and no completed service sheet had been handed in by the fitter. Can’t believe that when I reported the couple missing that it didn’t even register the trailer wouldn’t have been used since service.
Trailers been worked on and left unroadworthy, VOR board fitted and coupling removed just to make sure no ■■■ would try and do anything with it, no problems. Enter ■■■! There is no accounting for the weak link which is usually of Human origin.
The fitter done everything he thought possible to ensure no one touched the trailer, the guy who removed the VOR and shunted the trailer to a bay (who must also have noted the coupling missing) needs one hell of a kick up the arse, at least. As a driver I would have been very suspicious of a Red coupling missing, this being removed is an old well used way of letting people know the trailer is out of use as without the coupling the trailer can’t be run on the road so immediately indicates the trailer has a fault. It might not be something that todays drivers, shunters etc are aware of and a case of old used practises not being passed on to the modern generation. Luckily there was no ensuing disaster, back to the drawing board!
