Thanks for all the advice everyone.
The road traffic act says it’s dangerous driving if anything happens because of the condition of the vehicle or anything attached to it which also means the load regardless of all the issues concerning sealed containers etc.
I always go to the security or transport office of where i am and ask them to accompany me to check the load and to re seal
mick.mh2racing:
Wincanton run Argos transport at Castleford. I Did an inductionthere but never had any work from Transline at the site. Their policy is that a trailer is sealed before it leaves a bay and no way no how does the driver get to break the seal. I argued the clear points made above about a driver turning over a vehicle and killing a mother and child and using the argument that the load was sealed by the depot and that the driver not being allowed to check the load as not being a valid defence in court.
Sadly it fell on deaf ears with Wincanton so I was kind of releaved not to work for them to be honest.
Simple, you break the seal and check the load and then ask for it to be resealed. They may not like it but that’s life. It’s your freedom at stake if anything untoward happens.
I had many a problem with a certain supermarket i worked for years ago, mainly always down to bad strapping. The worst being 2 straps holding 45 cages in, the 2 straps were at the back of the trailer and both loose when i arrived at the store.
I did complain to the manager when i got back to the rdc, probably fell on deaf ears tbh
Simple answer…the driver is always responsible for the load on the vehicle if he or she is going to drive it.
nick2008:
Sains bugs used to bar or strap every 9 cages.
ASDA’s rule of loading is the same, it’s written in the back of every trailer several times…I’ve never seen it happen every 9 cages though.
As for containers, when they have them heavy duty seals, how do you get them off to check the load ? Mind you, i think most 20ft boxes wouldn’t need checking if they’re on a 40ft skelly.
Bear in mind that the person/organisation is legally liable too.
‘Causing or permitting a dangerous load’ to go on the public highway is an offence under the Construction & Use Act. It’s just the same as ‘casing or permitting’ a truck with a bald tyre or other fault to go on the road. If you alert someone in authority to the danger of a load and they insist you take it out, ask them if they want to stand in the dock and explain themselves to a magistrate/jury because you can arrange it for them. If they are lucky, they could even get into Commercial Motor! Point out how proud their friends and family will be, not to say their boss!
It’s the opposite, heavy 20fts are less stable than 40’s
dessy:
mick.mh2racing:
Wincanton run Argos transport at Castleford. I Did an inductionthere but never had any work from Transline at the site. Their policy is that a trailer is sealed before it leaves a bay and no way no how does the driver get to break the seal. I argued the clear points made above about a driver turning over a vehicle and killing a mother and child and using the argument that the load was sealed by the depot and that the driver not being allowed to check the load as not being a valid defence in court.
Sadly it fell on deaf ears with Wincanton so I was kind of releaved not to work for them to be honest.All Bollox!! Tesco say the same but I many many times at Lichfield,Goole and Thurrock had the seal broken to check the load! And twice the trailer had to be tipped and reloaded!
What’s ■■■■■■■■, the fact that Wincanton told me I couldn’t break the seal or that fact that i should be able to break the seal to ensure I was happy to take a load and be responsible for said load?
The fact that Wincanton gave instruction at induction to me that under no circumstance was I to break any seal in order to check a load is not something for debate here. That my friend is a fact.
What is ■■■■■■■■ is that the fact that this should be the case. Who on earth could possibly use that in a court of law as a reasonable defence? “Oh yeah sorry i rolled a trailer over and killed a bus queue but I wasn’t allowed to check the load before entering the public highway”, is not going to result in your aquittal.
The driver is always responsible for the load and if anything untoward happened Wincanton, DHL or AN Other employer would wash their hands of the driver and hang him out to dry.
Agree on that?
limeyphil:
mick.mh2racing:
Wincanton run Argos transport at Castleford. I Did an inductionthere but never had any work from Transline at the site. Their policy is that a trailer is sealed before it leaves a bay and no way no how does the driver get to break the seal. I argued the clear points made above about a driver turning over a vehicle and killing a mother and child and using the argument that the load was sealed by the depot and that the driver not being allowed to check the load as not being a valid defence in court.
Sadly it fell on deaf ears with Wincanton so I was kind of releaved not to work for them to be honest.you argued the toss■■?
if you want to check it, you check it.
I argued the toss at induction. I never actually worked for them.
I do some supermarket work - the trailers are always sealed when you get your allocated run, but they do allow you to break the seal to check the load is a) - the right load, & b) - loaded safely.
They will then issue a new seal & note it on the paperwork.
Co-Op Portbury - Wincanton site.
chester:
I would say nothing can’t stop a driver checking his load before he goes on the highway. Locks and seals are company procedures only and systems should be in place where a seal can be broken, check load then re-seal.This is the firm who I work for policy anyway.
Nope, if your delivering to a bonded warehouse you wont be able to break the seal.
Saaamon:
chester:
I would say nothing can’t stop a driver checking his load before he goes on the highway. Locks and seals are company procedures only and systems should be in place where a seal can be broken, check load then re-seal.This is the firm who I work for policy anyway.
Nope, if your delivering to a bonded warehouse you wont be able to break the seal.
they cant stop you if the trailers pre loaded they will reseal at the gate
nick2008:
Saaamon:
chester:
I would say nothing can’t stop a driver checking his load before he goes on the highway. Locks and seals are company procedures only and systems should be in place where a seal can be broken, check load then re-seal.This is the firm who I work for policy anyway.
Nope, if your delivering to a bonded warehouse you wont be able to break the seal.
they cant stop you if the trailers pre loaded they will reseal at the gate
What gate? If you do a trailer change you cant re-seal, if you pick up from the docks you cant re-seal.
Why can’t you re-seal what’s stopping you?
This is the kind of thing that’s got me warnings, disciplinarys, verbal bollockings from agency, previous employers, yards I’m delivering to etc etc
I’m just not made for this industry I think, or the way it’s run anyway.
From the general public looking in, it looks a tough guy industry where men are men but in reality you get a moany bunch of spoon fed girls who bend over every day because they are just ■■■■■■, and I’m talking for the industry as a whole, drivers, office staff, forkies, managers, warehouseman, health and safety bods etc etc
I’ll break a seal whenever I have to.
I don’t wear a hard hat when opening 3 buckles to get 1 pallet off.
I climb onto the trailer to secure a load.
I’ll climb on TOP of a trailer to change a marker bulb where someone’s smashed it with a tree branch.
I dont where safety boots just to walk across a yard…sometimes I like wearing flip flops when it’s hot.
I’ll drive 15 minutes over my time if it means ill get a better rest.
I’ll get out of my cab if a forkie has dropped one of my pallets and help him re stack it.
I’ll take a break when I need recuperation even if its before my time.
I basically think for myself and do what’s best for me, the general public and my boss.
The load is always the drivers responsibility 
If it’s sealed you have the right to request the seal is cut and replaced, you should know by the feel of it when you hook up and move it a bit as to how secure the load is, you can sense most movement, treat the whole vehicle as an extension of your own body, feel how it reacts as you turn before actually setting off if you can. If you don’t have that chance then once on the road if it feels unsafe go back to where you got it from and refuse to take it. Check the weight before you leave
The police and VOSA will not blame the people who loaded it if something goes wrong, they will blame you every time.
chester:
Why can’t you re-seal what’s stopping you?
Nothing is physically stopping you. If you choose to do so you can break your customs seal in Immingham, Harwich, Felixstowe or whatever dock on a bonded load. Its no good you putting your little jonny quango plastic seal on and expecting them to take delivery at Trafford Park though, if its not the original seal on there that it left Germany/Holland/Sweden etc with then they wont be accepting it and you’ll be returning it to the dock. UK customs have a non-existant presence on most docks when it comes to things like this, its alright saying that by law they should break the seal and re-seal it for you, but its not going to happen in a month of sundays and as usual its then the driver taking things in to his own hands. Breaking the seal is not an option, the load will automatically be rejected and all sorts of fines for the company will follow so you either refuse to take the trailer and risk losing your job if its something you do regularly or take it and hope for the best. I’ve noticed that a lot on here get high and mighty about how they’d refuse to leave without checking and as such would theoretically put their neck on the block and lose their job over it as a matter of princepal but then we see dozens of people on here every day crying out for work as they’ve just been made redundant or just passed their test etc. How many drivers are really in a postion to stick their neck out over this when getting another job is at best a big uncertainty. Like everything else these days the law says one thing, standard operating practices of the entire industry we work in does something else and we’re left in the middle to pick up the pieces and be the fall guy when both sides come after you when you go against how they want it done. This is definetely something we need industry wide clarification on and compliance forced on to the shippers, receivers and transport companies so that we can do our job properly without fear of any negative consequence. Its one thing when supermarkets and such like are allowing drivers to break seals on own account work and re-seal before they leave the yard but that just isn’t the same scenario as picking up an import trailer thats sealed and the receiving company demand it arrive with the same seal intact or God forbid a bonded load.
nick2008:
stringy:
This is a regular problem on containers, you collect a laden import but you cannot break the seal to see how it’s loadedyou can ask customs to do it they will reseal and mark your paperwork as such. had one that every time I stopped and pulled away there was a banging, saw someone about it and there was paper rolls on pallets but one had broken away from its strapping making other strapping break the whole lot was moving around…they stripped out and re packed. so anyone that says you cant YOU CAN but need good reason to do so.
Customs have no jurisdiction over an RDC trailer and wouldn’t be interested anyway, the plastic or lead seal is only ever going to cover the arse of one person. If a company is worried about pilferage they must seal the cages or wrap the pallets so they are tamperproof.
If I picked a trailer load of tyres up from the ferry and it was sealed, then that seal stayed on as the tyre tread could be seen in the stretched curtain. If it was a full shoot of Evian water I would generally break the seal and see how the last driver had loaded it.
To be honest I think the amount of bonded loads is so negligible coming into Immingham, Grimsby or Hull I wouldn’t worry