ashbyspannerman:
‘…what am i going to do now? … i did get a right rollicking once for fixing a throttle linkage that had come adrift, i thought i was doing the company a favor by fixing it and getting home, but was put on report for not calling out a fitter!..’
Damned if you do & damned if you don’t, eh…
I try to ask myself what the vehicle ‘critical systems’ are when I’m in such a position. Brakes for sure, but then in an extremity what aint?
Harry Monk:
What on Earth is the world coming to when an HGV driver cannot change a bulb for himself?
i totaly agree … if i refused to take out the amount of trailers i have had to pull that have just come off the boat ( mainly out of felixtowe ) that have got minor things wrong with them then i would be out of work and totaly unemployable…
always carried spair bulbs and other things… and the most improtant was a small tool kit…
if i employed someone that refused to take a trailer for such a minor thing then sorry i would be looking for someone else with a bit of comon sence…
zorg2006:
Harry Monk:
What on Earth is the world coming to when an HGV driver cannot change a bulb for himself?i totaly agree … if i refused to take out the amount of trailers i have had to pull that have just come off the boat ( mainly out of felixtowe ) that have got minor things wrong with them then i would be out of work and totaly unemployable…
always carried spair bulbs and other things… and the most improtant was a small tool kit…
if i employed someone that refused to take a trailer for such a minor thing then sorry i would be looking for someone else with a bit of comon sence…
hiya,
common sense rules, at last.
thanks harry long retired.
if the arla said- dont do it - then dont do it and you’ve got ready answer.
the world is doing an idiots of us - why? cos somebody else is geting money for that.
so it seems like rope and shetting is more safety like changing the bulb.
do you know for example if u want to change indicator bulb in renault laguna 3 , you have to remove whole bumper? that’s stupid.
harry_gill:
‘…common sense rules, at last…’
Perhaps consider your version of ‘common sense’ as being in common with one other person. Without being flippant, I suggest that the phrase ‘common sense’ is an outdated cliche because in this age of diversity, ‘one-size-fits-all’, ‘care-in-the-community’ & ‘equality’ lark we are treated the same despite being all different. However, because we are all considered humanly equal - the ‘rules’ (the one’s that some here are upset about because others don’t apply them with reasonable sense) are there to protect the one-armed wallpaper hanger, the able bodied lorryist & mentally retarded Lithuanian, etc, alike.
I didn’t invite this stuff to happen, but we perhaps need to realise that it’s a reality that our government (and the ones that you voted for, Harry) have got us to the situation that they want none of us dead or maimed, etc as we change a light bulb. In that respect we could all share a common value - but I’d not be surprised if some didn’t.
hiya,
happy keith, not only good with words but also physcic, bet i’ve spelled that incorrectly i’ll have you know that my poliical leanings have been steered well away from the current ruling party and have been that way ever since they promoted a person to be boss of the ministry of transport, she couldn’t even drive, you obviously regard me as some sort of dinosaur but am a dinosaur who can change a bulb or even a damaged light fitting, yes just common sense.
thanks harry long retired.
harry_gill:
‘…am a dinosaur who can change a bulb or even a damaged light fitting, yes just common sense…’
Harry, I think nothing derogatory of anyone here, fella - but maybe accept that since the Pankhurst woman chained herself to the railings to help women be equal, things - including a need to be reasonable in applying regulations and to use simple but accurate language, have changed at an incredible lick. In reality, maybe some run faster than others…
Meanwhile, a lot of rules & conditions have been bulldozered onto us - a lot of them from Europe that even many MP’s see as daft - while our Great British society has little in common anymore - let alone having any senses that are common to all that live and/or work here.
What you used to carry out that relatively simple light-fixing job of yours included your experience, your awareness, your knowledge of which tools to use & your ability, etc, etc. Those talents, however modest, are not common to all within the industry we enjoy & certainly not within the society in which we live. It seems that some folk don’t much like others that don’t see stuff their way but it’s arguably a need if we’re gonna stay healthy about it?
call a mechanic out…every time. 
you don’t want to be messing about with all that voltage and stuff.sticking bigger and bigger fuses in until the fuse board melts.
then calling the mechanic out after removing as much melted wiring and stuff as you can and saying you don’t know what’s happened.,but now it won’t start.
hiya,
H K , you win, your intelligence is on a far higher plain than i ever hope to achieve, i shouldn’t even be on the same stretch of road as you so you can call it 1 0 to you and best of luck, just one favour good buddy always carry a spare bulb or two just in case i may run out and need to borrow from you.
thanks harry long retired.
harry_gill:
‘…hiya, H K…’
Harry, what’s mine is yours, bro …no winners only equals, mate
aranger:
This is some thread, its meandering all over the place.Do us lorry drivers have a big chip on our shoulder or what.
Since becoming a lorry driver myself…I would say the chip is on both shoulders and of differing sizes, thus no balance has occured 
I really cannot believe the attitude of 90% of drivers in this country…Thats why most of the stuff posted on this board is about petty things, because thats what most lorry drivers are, petty
Thankgod there is a small percentage who are helpful, flexible and intelligent, otherwise I would leave the industry…But lorry drivers…Don`t do themselves many favours do they?
att:
‘…But lorry drivers … Don`t do themselves many favours do they?..’
Favours? Despite plummetting down the national trades pay scale I’ll still happily drive & tip/load your truck with smart & smiling courtesy, in safety with efficiency whilst obeying the law …dunno what else is sought?
That’s only me though & maybe it’s fair to generically suggest that other ‘…lorry drivers…’ reflect the society they work in?
Any driver, be it truck, van, bus, taxi will moan about anything and everything that is minor and unimportant. The bosses like us to do it because we keep quiet when it comes to things like wages being cut or salaried drivers having the mick ripped out of them with their hours. As for changing a bulb every driver should be able to do this but if a company has specifically banned drivers from doing something then you shouldn’t do it. And as for the argument about obeying the depot manager and not head office’s blurb that is all well and good being flexible and helping out but if anything goes wrong anywhere it will get you exactly ■■■■ all and that same head office blurb will appear at your disciplinary hearing as you get the bullet for ignoring it. For what it’s worth at my site we don’t expect drivers to change bulbs but if they are happy to do it then we let them, if not then one of the shunters ends up doing it, and as for side markers all ours are LED and have to go to the garage to be changed. And tin hat on for this I have knowingly run out of the yard with a blown side marker planning to pass it off with the “it was working at my last drop line” in the event of a tug. And yes I know my “fleixibility” would have got me no favours if I got busted for it.