Just wondered what would be the best thing to do if

u turn up at the yard at 4:30am to find you have a headlight out. the mechs office is locked up so u cant get a bulb and do yourself, theres noone else about and you’ve gotta be somewhere to load/unload in 2 1/2 hours and it takes 2 1/2 hours to get there.

a. wait around till the manager gets up and puts his phone on and tell him, by which time you’ve missed your deadline and will no doubt get a bollockin
or
b. drive on without one headlight

is this the reason why we should carry spare bulbs?
also on most trucks how do u get to the headlight bulb encasement? is it accesable via lifting up the bonnet (like on cars) and are the encasements able to be unscrewed with the hand (like on a car)
cheers

As you are responsible for the truck and the checks ALL lights should be in working order it is not your fault if the office / garage is not open to replace the bulb or the boss in non contact-able

If you get pulled by VOSA what are you goin to say :question: as they can impound the truck and you will not be able to move it until a mechanic has changed the bulb as you are not allowed to

Not your fault that you are late

Why have daily checks when you are not goin to take any notice :question:

a - every time

What sort of firm doesn’t have an out of hours number - what happens if you got in the yard and found the truck not there?

I’d go with ‘a’ as well.

Just drive around with your sidelights and front fogs on, that’s what everyone else seems to do :unamused:

Kiowan:
Just drive around with your sidelights and front fogs on, that’s what everyone else seems to do :unamused:

I drove with one head light 2 years ago in the summer when i hadf just started driving trucks, but when i started work on the sunday morning it was nearly light so took a chance.

Got 3/4 round my route and all of a sudden driving down the road near the the TESCO/DHL warehouses next to the M1 near rugby a VOSA car appeard heading straight towards me ON A SUNDAY MORNING 7AM i still had my lights on even though their was no real need, couldnt turn them off as he would already of seen!!!

Sheer luck he already had a truck in-tow, i passed him and could see his break lights in mirrors and was just waiting for him todo a u-turn and the strobe lights to appear but he did’nt.

Ever since that day i have never gone out the yard with a faulty bulb, have even replaced them my self.

It’s irritates me whe you jump in a truck and find things like this not working, why dont other drivers report it when they come back and not wait for the next mug to jump in a 4am and discover one head light is out and one brake light is out!!! grrr,

tramp:
is this the reason why we should carry spare bulbs?

If you have a regular truck, is a good idea to keep some in there.

tramp:
also on most trucks how do u get to the headlight bulb encasement? is it accesable via lifting up the bonnet (like on cars) and are the encasements able to be unscrewed with the hand (like on a car)

They’re are all different, MAN TGA got to be the worse. Later DAF easiest :smiley: (waits for comment)