Just got told something interesting, as usual it sounds absolute [zb] but just thought I’d ask if anyone has been stopped by VOSA while they had passengers ie the son or the misses. What did they say if anything?
Nothing but I would ask anyone with me to bring their license as well.
Just make sure you are insured for passengers.
jessicas dad:
Nothing but I would ask anyone with me to bring their license as well.
Why?
I got pulled in by vosa one day and had two passengers one on the seat one on the bunk
guy on the bunk i told him to hide
gave vosa all tachos etc he goes off to inspect meanwhile another guy goes checking the unit and trailer while he doing that myself and one of passengers get s out for a cig
then guy comes back with the tachos hops on steps of cab open door and looks into cab what a shock he got when the other passenger moved in the bed
he nearly fell back down the steps comes back has a chat says he didnt realise there was three of us says all is ok and be on our merry way
so he didnt have a prob but could be diff rules on that for diff areas or else just cause he got the shock of his life that he let it go
Dafman:
Just make sure you are insured for passengers.
I was under the impression that you are always insured for passengers, which is the problem. Anyone in that vehicle is covered by the insurance and can then claim against it/the company in the event of an accident, which is why the company may not want passengers in their trucks, not because they arent insured, but because they are.
robinhood_1984:
Dafman:
Just make sure you are insured for passengers.I was under the impression that you are always insured for passengers, which is the problem. Anyone in that vehicle is covered by the insurance and can then claim against it/the company in the event of an accident, which is why the company may not want passengers in their trucks, not because they arent insured, but because they are.
That’s what I thought aswell
I can’t see why they would be bothered.
I’ve been pulled with my son in the cab, and the bloke just said something like “is your dad teaching you the ropes”?
When i’ve been pulled with the missus with me, they just kept me for a couple of minutes, then said on your way. They probably didn’t expect me to be up to no good when the wife is with me. Which is pretty true as it happens.
This vosa and passenger question is kind of on the same lines as " you can’t have passengers due to insurance issues", And i’ve yet to see a policy that dosn’t allow passengers.
robinhood_1984:
Dafman:
Just make sure you are insured for passengers.I was under the impression that you are always insured for passengers, which is the problem. Anyone in that vehicle is covered by the insurance and can then claim against it/the company in the event of an accident, which is why the company may not want passengers in their trucks, not because they arent insured, but because they are.
100% correct, and its got nothing to do with vosa if you have passengers or not 
I pretty much thought that was the case with VOSA although company policy usually dictates no passengers allowed… usual excuse is insurance but thought they would have to remove passenger seat for it to not be covered?
Anyway reason for the thread was I was told “watch you’re not stopped by VOSA, even if gaffer says so” by a fellow worker who seemed a little jealous the misses was with me.
robinhood_1984:
Dafman:
Just make sure you are insured for passengers.I was under the impression that you are always insured for passengers, which is the problem. Anyone in that vehicle is covered by the insurance and can then claim against it/the company in the event of an accident, which is why the company may not want passengers in their trucks, not because they arent insured, but because they are.
This is not true , most company’s don’t allow passengers as there insurance only covers employees …
Sam Millar:
I pretty much thought that was the case with VOSA although company policy usually dictates no passengers allowed… usual excuse is insurance but thought they would have to remove passenger seat for it to not be covered?Anyway reason for the thread was I was told “watch you’re not stopped by VOSA, even if gaffer says so” by a fellow worker who seemed a little jealous the misses was with me.
I know of one company that does remove seats lol A certain paint manufacturer of Batley
wildfire:
robinhood_1984:
Dafman:
Just make sure you are insured for passengers.I was under the impression that you are always insured for passengers, which is the problem. Anyone in that vehicle is covered by the insurance and can then claim against it/the company in the event of an accident, which is why the company may not want passengers in their trucks, not because they arent insured, but because they are.
100% correct, and its got nothing to do with vosa if you have passengers or not
Agree, the only thing that should worry Vosa I would have thought is that you have passengers who aren’t in a purpose built/fitted seat with a seat belt if appropriate.
SYE-1:
robinhood_1984:
Dafman:
Just make sure you are insured for passengers.I was under the impression that you are always insured for passengers, which is the problem. Anyone in that vehicle is covered by the insurance and can then claim against it/the company in the event of an accident, which is why the company may not want passengers in their trucks, not because they arent insured, but because they are.
This is not true , most company’s don’t allow passengers as there insurance only covers employees …
They say that, But have you checked the policy?
I got stopped in a unit on the A35 just outside Dorchester with myself, my wife, small daughter and dog. We looked like the Beverly Hill Billies going along. Thought they found it quite amusing.
I got stopped at a multi agency checkpoint at Chieveley services once,when I was doing recovery. (Many moons ago ). I had a passenger on board,whose broken down car was on the back of the truck. Police pulled me in,escorted me to VOSA part. The VOSA guy couldn’t have been better- asked me when it had last been serviced-told him last week-he gave it a quick look over and sent me on my way. No mention of passenger.
Customs and excise just waved me through,then it was DWP. 1 woman came round and started talking to me. While she spoke to me,I heard someone at the passenger door. I stopped talking to ‘my’ dwp woman ,and asked the man on the other side what he was doing?
He replied he was trying to find out the passengers name and address. He was quite put out when I told him it was none of his business. I had to point out the car on the back-and that the passenger was a customer-not a colleague. Was waved out quite quickly after that.
SYE-1:
robinhood_1984:
Dafman:
Just make sure you are insured for passengers.I was under the impression that you are always insured for passengers, which is the problem. Anyone in that vehicle is covered by the insurance and can then claim against it/the company in the event of an accident, which is why the company may not want passengers in their trucks, not because they arent insured, but because they are.
This is not true , most company’s don’t allow passengers as there insurance only covers employees …
are the passengers not classed as a third party?
SYE-1:
This is not true , most company’s don’t allow passengers as there insurance only covers employees …
Most companies dont allow passengers because the vehicle insurance covers any person who is in that vehicle at the time. Your personal car insurance probably only covers yourself as the driver, but any family or friends you have as passengers are also covered in the event of an injury and in the case of a company they dont want the risk of higher premiums because your or my friend puts in a claim on the insurance for whiplash or whatever else.
Incedentally…what is the position of carrying passengers while carrying an ADR load? I belive it used to be that at least one of the vehicle occupants had to be fully certified in the correct categories of ADR. More recently, before moving to Canada in 09 it seemed that ‘all’ occupants of the vehicle had to be ADR qualified. Is that the case? I dont recall if I read about it or just heared about it, but I’d like to know what the actual situation is.
All passengers carried in a vehicle are covered by the vehicles insurance (assuming it has some!) It is I believe a legal requirement of the insurer to do so. However companies may not want you carrying passengers and make it against company policy or could be under the impression that they are not covered.