Rob K:
scanny77:
Do you still climb under trailers with your torch when you’re doing your daily checks?
i still get under, with me torch, 
my trailers are still on springs! 
ratchet trailer brake 
and wheels on the bottom of the winding legs!
Fatboy slimslow:
Rob K:
scanny77:
Do you still climb under trailers with your torch when you’re doing your daily checks?i still get under,
Great fun chasing them round the yard I check it but then I’m paranoid about the fifth wheel, got a dog clip obsession too.
Sometimes a driver may do more harm than good by simply attempting to change a bulb. There may be water ingress(side markers etc), they may need special parts (LED units) - these do fail occasionally. There may be a wiring fault,especially on trailers. Wiring may be shorted out by a ham-fisted driver - they do exist!! Causing at least a blown fuse on one or multiple circuits.
So there is a case for drivers not attempting/being allowed to change bulbs/carry bulbs/carry tools & test lamps. Where does it end■■?
Of course some drivers CAN do their own minor repairs & maybe allowed to do so especially for smaller firms/older tackle.
Every job role is different, of course an unroadworthy vehicle should never be ‘taken out’ & all serious defects rectified before use. ALL defects to be reported - even minor ones.
About a fortnight after I started working at my place at 18 I had a flat on the rear I called the boss up told him his reply, go back to the yard then and put the spare on it. If I kicked up a fuss every time I’ve got a bulb out or the tyres needed air I’d be shown the gate. My lorrys mine, it’s my responsibility to make sure it’s not defected, make sure it’s clean and that there’s oil in the engine and that’s how it should be. Working for a small family firm we haven’t got an on site workshop and we certainly wouldn’t be ringing a fitter up for something so trivial. I keep a spare bulb set and a screwdriver it’s hardly rocket science although it seems the way the larger firms go these days they want there drivers to move the steering wheel and that’s about it I was speaking to a driver the other day In his yard for the exact same thing, waiting for there own mobile fitter to come and change a bulb because they weren’t allowed to. The day I’m not allowed to do what I want with my lorry and treat it like its my own is the day ill search for pastures new.
Indeed Daz. There are drivers and there are screw drivers. Unfortunately for the low pay rates many large companies offer they see their share of the screw drivers - the ones who drop trailers on their knees, put headlight bulbs in upside down, double contact tail light bulbs in single contact holders and so on. So you can see why they ban so called drivers from messing with things they obviously neither know nor understand.
Myself, if there was a load that needed to be there (usually the case) I think a unit brake /tail light bulb would only have apparently gone out after I left the yard, but it would of course be defected on return. (assuming I knew in advance their was to be no bob tailing).
Cant understand drivers who want to arse & ■■■■ about the yard for a couple of hours before getting set off. Only gonna make you 2 hours later back isn’t it? Maybe suits some hourly paid but then they must have such empty lives they really don’t care if they are 2 hours later home.
Me? I’m old school. If I’m employed by someone to assist them with their business, that’s exactly what I try to do - help them get the job done, not find any and every excuse to zb about.