Defects .

NEW AND WANNABE DRIVERS (INTERACTIVE)
1

I just need some advise here . I’m on my 5th week into my first class 1 job and all the lads have been telling me it’s impossible to get anything repaired .

Now , the passanger side tyre wear marker has disappeared but there is plenty of tread around the middle of the tyre .

My screenwash has leaks everywhere so I have to keep pulling over to clean my windscreen with glass cleaner .

My drivers window doesn’t wind all the way up . Stops about half inch from top and gets stuck half way up so you have to let go of the wheel and pull it up while holding the button .

My steering wheel wobbles quite bad when first getting up to speed on a motorway does it for a few minutes then settle down.

The fuel sender isn’t working properly so I never know how much diesel I actually have .

No reverse lights on my trailer .

Now I’m logging these everyday on an app on my phone and keep pestering my gaffa . But nothing is getting done .

Where do I stand with it ? It’s my first job and I want to keep my nose clean and get my head down . At the same time the window and screenwash I think is dangerous ■■

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2

I would report your boss to the DVLA enforcement section , you can do it online or over the phone , if it was me , i would refuse to leave the yard , if you get pulled or a tug by the DVLA on the road side , it could back fire on you as the driver and your boss when they chase up his maintenance records ( If he has any .)
The wash is important , if somebody was killed , they will find out you could not see properly , then be looking at gross negligent manslaughter charges or death by dangerous or careless driving , all these are custodial sentences .
Sounds like a rogue operator , i would look for another job , they will find the steering fault at the road side check point , and all the other stuff going on .
Keep noting the faults though to cover yourself .What model of lorry is it ?
Google the fines for those faults , the driver has to pay at the road side .

3

Screen washer is a MOT failure as it don’t clean glass effectively

4

I wouldn’t move the vehicle if it had any one of those defects, let alone all of them.
I know you’re a new driver, just remember how had you had to work to get your licences, and how much they cost. You get pulled driving a vehicle in that condition, chances are you will be waving goodbye to your shiny new licence.
There are other employers out there, don’t put yourself at risk for the benefit of cowboys

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5

Sounds like you’ve got a bit of a rough operator there! As a fleet operator I take the attitude that, if you try really hard to run 100% defect free, you’ll manage it most of the time. But dont make the effort, and you get what the OP is talking about.

There’s defects and defects though. The tyre may be perfectly legal. The window is no more than a nuisance. But the other stuff is definitely dodgy. And my concern is that something relatively simple like leaking washers isnt being dealt with. Doesn’t bode well for the rest of it tbh.

There’s other trucks out there that need a driver. Go find them is my advice.

All the best, Pete :laughing: :laughing:

6

Thanks for the replies . As a new driver it took me 6 months to find this first job so it’s not like I could just up and leave having little experience . Truck is a Renault premium .

I know I shouldn’t but the yard is only a mile away from my house so I’m going down today to fix the washer leak myself . But the other stuff I aren’t touching .

I’ll.keep logging them on my app and keep telling my boss . If nothing changes I’ll just send my reports to the head office I guess , whilst looking elsewhere for work

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7

If you Google the Bath tipper fatal crash , the mechanic and boss both got long prison sentences , the lorry driver was cleared as the court took the view , that part of the daily pre-trip safety checks , does not mean the driver has to inspect the braking system of which the tipper had ongoing defects with , by climbing underneath the lorry chassis .
A mechanic would do this in a pit in their garage , and drivers that tramp away from base have no reason to go under the chassis .

If you look at the DVSA video for daily checks, he only walks around the vehicle .
It seems your boss could be in deep water with maintenance , if you check out Mansell Davies , a Welsh tanker firm , they have had an issue with fraud and false records/log books after an initial stop by DVLA which rose suspicion .

8

Also don’t they have a defect book, usually carbon copy, whereby you fill out and hand in the top copy each day?

Most seem to which gives a plenty of coverage for you and gives the company a heads-up on problems. Also shows compliance on their part which is important if DVSA come knocking.

9

Dransy:
I just need some advise here . I’m on my 5th week into my first class 1 job and all the lads have been telling me it’s impossible to get anything repaired .

Now , the passanger side tyre wear marker has disappeared but there is plenty of tread around the middle of the tyre .

My screenwash has leaks everywhere so I have to keep pulling over to clean my windscreen with glass cleaner .

My drivers window doesn’t wind all the way up . Stops about half inch from top and gets stuck half way up so you have to let go of the wheel and pull it up while holding the button .

My steering wheel wobbles quite bad when first getting up to speed on a motorway does it for a few minutes then settle down.

The fuel sender isn’t working properly so I never know how much diesel I actually have .

No reverse lights on my trailer .

Now I’m logging these everyday on an app on my phone and keep pestering my gaffa . But nothing is getting done .

Where do I stand with it ? It’s my first job and I want to keep my nose clean and get my head down . At the same time the window and screenwash I think is dangerous ■■

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I`m no mechanic, but looking at

Dransy:
My steering wheel wobbles quite bad when first getting up to speed on a motorway does it for a few minutes then settle down.

plus

Dransy:
the passanger side tyre wear marker has disappeared but there is plenty of tread around the middle of the tyre .

I would be quite concerned.
.
Advice?
As a newbie it is difficult for you to get a start I know, but I really think you should get out of there.
.

10

At the end of the day its clearly not safe to be driving, if it were me the truck wouldn’t move an inch until its sorted because its my licence and my safety being put at risk just because someones too lazy to sort it. Not even the best driving job in the world is worth risking your licence/life for. If your were stopped by vosa “I’m new and don’t want to make my ■■■■■■■■ of a gaffer upset at me.” wouldn’t fly as an excuse.

11

Steering tyres are out of balance, this might be cured when the knackered tyre is replaced it might not, it might help if the tyre were to gain a puncture :wink: and when flat you drove it a few hundred yards slowly to finish it off.

You might try lubing the window winder mechanism, and squirt some silicone lube into the window’s guide channels, should sort the window issue between them.

The screen washer thing, you might be able to sort yourself, but if the gaffer supplies washer fluid just keep throwing it in, when he’s gone through £100 worth of washer fluid that’s done nothing other than leak out on the floor he’ll get the message.

Fuel sender, just note the mileage when you fill up and make a note of when you’ll need to top up.

Use hazards for reverse lights for the time being, presumably you’ve checked the bulbs and squirted some contact cleaner into the suzy connectors.

We’ve all worked for people like this in the past, and there are far worse out there, drivers often sort little faults and minor lubing out themselves whilst waiting around.

Before you go jumping ship look at the job on its merits, and think laterally how you could make these faults pay you personally, if you’re hourly paid and a 3 hour run takes you 5 hours because you have to stop and clean the screen so be it, when he asks why tell him why.

If the job pays rather well, then it might be worth sorting some of these issues out yourself, ie if you’re earning £50 or £150 a week more than driving some corporate fleet motor that’s perfectly maintained, but you’re under the watchful eye of a driver facing camera and some snotty nose brat is clocking you on a tracker itching to report you for some transgression.
Course if the job is crap anyway then it won’t hurt to keep an eye open for something better.

You’re new to the game, the very last thing i would do is report the place to DVSA as suggested, it won’t take a genius to work out who grassed and whilst it might not have immediate repercussions physically for you, your name will stink for a very long time in the district as these things get talked about (drivers are the worlds worse gossips) and you might find getting another job hard.

Lastly, this app thing is probably being deleted daily, a defect book is a permanent record of defects (photocopy and keep one for your records), or you could send the gaffer an email detailing the serious faults which will be a similar permanent record and a valuable bit of evidence to your benefit should anything happen.

12

Name and shame

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13

How do you know that ‘nothing has been done’?
The vehicle may have been looked at by the workshop and the defects noted as ‘serviceable, for later attention’.

You say you keep pestering the gaffa but have you asked specifically if the lorry has been looked at by the workshop?
It is not possible to give you a definitive answer about the tyre without eyeballing the actual tyre. However the regs about truck tyres are different to car tyre regs. It may well be OK. If you look up HGV Testers Manual on Google you will be able to get chapter and verse.

The steering shake is possibly related to this tyre, ie wheel balance … but it may not it could be something more serious.

The washers are required to work, but they are not required to leave the screen spotless, this is a matter of degree, are you exaggerating the problem or not? as has been suggested you may be able to at least improve this yourself. Certainly ask for screenwash to take with you, this may concentrate the mind, if refused for some reason then buy some yourself, get a receipt and ask for cash at the end of the shift. If you take screenwash don’t keep it inside the cab.

The fuel gauge is not a safety issue, just eyeball the filler or go to the pump before leaving the yard every shift.

The trailer will have a plate on the side of it noting when it was made. If this was before 2009 or the tractor unit was made before 2009 the reverse lights do not have to work.

The sticking window is a nuisance only don’t try operating it while driving.

14

One other thing, you mention all the other drivers moaning about getting defects done etc.

One thing you will learn in this industry as you go on, it is infested with depressed miserable sods whom if you paid 'em a grand a week to lie in bed would still winge about it, you get two or three of these and they demoralise an entire depot.

When you go back to work next, take a different view (and some screwdrivers and lube spray to try and sort your window out), try to look at the benefits of the job and avoid the wingers who love nothing more than to convince some young victim to be as anti and belligerent as they, every yard has them, you see them coming across the yard with a black cloud of doom hanging over them, walking depressions with the troubles of the world on their shoulders, and your heart sinks because you know they’re going to moan the same drivel and ■■■■■■■■ they’ve done every time before, learn to avoid them soon as mate and you’ll be a lot happier.

Betcha the same bods the first question they ask you is where you’ve been, where you loaded for, terrified you might have a ‘better’ run than them, just avoid 'em mate and your driving life will improve no end.