Checked truck over and low on engine oil ,so went down and asked fitter where engine oil was as never filled up there before ,over there in vmu mate but you need a defect note 
,no mate there’s nothing wrong I just want to top up with oil ,you need one as we bill the t.o for any oil you use ,so off down t.o thinking this is going too be one of those glass hammer / metric sticky pin moment when you a apprentice ,but no ,they write one out ,take it back too vmu and he lets me have some engine oil .
Even the blokes at counter said he needs a defect note for engine oil 
Ffs.
Standard practice in my place.
It’s a scam. We do it at our place. The workshop is run as a separate business. If you need even the most minor of things like a light bulb or engine oil then a defect note is required. The workshop will then bill the main company an hour’s labour plus parts etc. It’s a tax fiddle.
Same at a supermarket RDC at Lichfield. Also had to do a defect note so I could have tyre pressure checked and screen wash lol
andy187:
Same at a supermarket RDC at Lichfield. Also had to do a defect note so I could have tyre pressure checked and screen wash lol
If this is the same RDC I’m thinking of just drive up to the screenwash and tip it in. Or have a word with the shunters. Either way no-one will stop you.
Once it’s in, they can’t get it back out :L
I used to work for a car manufacturer and most of its suppliers were owned by itself and charge stupid amounts for the smallest of parts!
Standard practice in many places,its a matter of dept budget accounting by the people from “admin” you see walking around with bits of paper and wonder who or what do they do.
lolipop:
Standard practice in many places,its a matter of dept budget accounting by the people from “admin” you see walking around with bits of paper and wonder who or what do they do.
You mean the ‘non job’ dept that get paid a lot more than we do. The type of guys that send out memos (about basically ■■■■ all) and stick graphs up on the wall about production or accident records or something, to justify their existence.
If the maintenance dept is ran as a separate business, that’s how it is, basically business practice b/s, and all the cross billing and accounting keeps these guys in their non jobs
I note any oil I’ve added in the box for “unusual circumstances”. My reasoning is if the engine suddenly let go I can’t be accused of neglect, and they have a record the that wagon’s using oil. Surely getting grumpy because you need to note down oil is just another case of a driver finding something unremarkable to moan about?
The workshop in many RDCs is run by an entirely separate company. The driver’s defect note acts as an order number to supply parts and services. Large companies act on a policy of no order number = no money. With some engine oils costing not far short of £5 a litre, it is hardly surprising that Pullman or whoever it is, want to keep tabs on where it and other consumables go.
Slightly off topic… we had an agency driver take my truck out a few weeks ago, he defected the truck as it only had half a tank of diesel and not the full tank he was hoping for 
It’s also an easy way to track and check up on an engine using a lot of oil/water etc which could indicate a more serious issue. The records can also be shown to manufacturers as evidence in a warrenty claim too. 
We arent allowed to put our own oil in for some reason and we have to go to a garage to get it filled up which is bout 7 miles away , so they would rather waste vast amounts of money, time ,diesel, plus the fitters time all for the fact they dont trust us to do something simple
^^^^^ that’s nothing to do with whether or not you lads are capable of doing the job correctly, it’s more about corporate box ticking of the type that is slowly strangling the life out of this industry.
Did a walk round on an fh the other day - a PROPER one, as per company check list - oil level not even registering on the dipstick. Brought this to the attention of the stuffed shirts in the T.O., and had to go to the main dealer a few miles up the A47 for the much-needed top-up. Strict company policy demands a completed, signed check list every time any vehicle exits the depot gates. What a load of old ■■■■■■■■, eh? Made me wonder how long the unit had been run on next to nothing, as it sure doesnt happen overnight. No comment from anyone about it - mightve been a different story if theyd been stumping up for a major euro5 re-build tho. Number plate and marker lights seem to be another favourite to be ignored. Raised a defect on the Monday - still not done on the Thursday. Same old crap day after day!
■■■■■■■:
Did a walk round on an fh the other day - a PROPER one, as per company check list - oil level not even registering on the dipstick. Brought this to the attention of the stuffed shirts in the T.O., and had to go to the main dealer a few miles up the A47 for the much-needed top-up. Strict company policy demands a completed, signed check list every time any vehicle exits the depot gates. What a load of old ■■■■■■■■, eh? Made me wonder how long the unit had been run on next to nothing, as it sure doesnt happen overnight. No comment from anyone about it - mightve been a different story if theyd been stumping up for a major euro5 re-build tho. Number plate and marker lights seem to be another favourite to be ignored. Raised a defect on the Monday - still not done on the Thursday. Same old crap day after day!
Sounds like my place. The same defects noted time and time again, different truck every day so either the office really ignore everything or defect sheets aren’t being done.
Its not just marker lights or blown bulbs either, much more serious faults go completely ignored or ‘its fine, the warning light is only amber’.
A.
We have a customer who when his vehicles are in for service inspection will not authorise us to top up his engine oil …Needless to say when the driver collects the vehicle ,he does his checks ,then points out that it has just been serviced and the oil is low .We then have to inform him that we are not authorised to do it no matter how many calls we make ,due to the fact they have their own bulk oil
R.D:
Slightly off topic… we had an agency driver take my truck out a few weeks ago, he defected the truck as it only had half a tank of diesel and not the full tank he was hoping for
We had a driver defect a truck this week coz the screen was dirty. We have a full drive through truck wash as well.
They don’t deserve licenses
norb:
We have a customer who when his vehicles are in for service inspection will not authorise us to top up his engine oil …Needless to say when the driver collects the vehicle ,he does his checks ,then points out that it has just been serviced and the oil is low .We then have to inform him that we are not authorised to do it no matter how many calls we make ,due to the fact they have their own bulk oil
I had similar when I used to go to MAN at Swindon for inspection. I listed things to do, they wanted to do it but were overuled by my employer. I thought MAN would’ve just done what needed doing as it was a lease vehicle. Air con was knackered, engine warning light always on, heavy on fuel, brakes on third axle needed re lining etc, MAN coukd’ve sorted everything over the weekend but weren’t allowed. A shame as they were always helpful and polite but it made their product look crap because other drivers had similar problems that wouldn’t be allowed to be fixed, and these drivers told others how “crap” MANs were.
Had this at Yodel in Hatfield a while back,used to be able top up the oil in the yard,went to do said task and the drum of oil was empty.
So I drove out of the gates after waiting for about 10 minutes in a queue to get out of the place,the garage is about a hundred yards away from the yard.
Asked for some top up oil only to be told in need a note from the transport office ( can’t remember if it was a defect note or not) for them to do the job,thought he was taking the pi$$,but he wasn’t !
Couldn’t be ar$ed going back in the yard,fired it up and buggered off out for the day with no problems.