Some drivers never bothered filling in any log sheets,at least they reckoned they couldn’t get done for falsifying if their sheet was blank. 
You’d always get a warning from drivers coming in opposite direction,so you’d pull up and scribble summat to keep the mesters happy,simples tssk. 
Chris Webb:
Some drivers never bothered filling in any log sheets,at least they reckoned they couldn’t get done for falsifying if their sheet was blank.
hiya,
Nice to get jenned up by an expert, good lad Chris.
thanks harry long retired.
harry_gill:
Chris Webb:
Some drivers never bothered filling in any log sheets,at least they reckoned they couldn’t get done for falsifying if their sheet was blank.hiya,
Nice to get jenned up by an expert, good lad Chris.
thanks harry long retired.
You would have been at it a few years before me Harry. 
It was easy to change a 3 or a 5 to an 8 as has been written on here by 3300John and a lot of drivers were given a bit of time to get up to date with their paperwork whilst the Man from the Ministry pretended to look round the wagon.The only time I was stopped was way back in 1968 on the A38 between Lichfield and Burton and I was legal,just Sheffield-Dudley and back empty.Well I was legal all the time I suppose,it was only in emergencies that …oh I’m talking boll****.
It was the silent checks that you had to watch out for,bloody snoopers in cars at roundabouts and in t’middle of the A1for example in a caravan taking your reg number and then three weeks later the gaffer,sat with a “suit”,calling you into the office -“how good is your memory” or “can you explain why…” 
Total innocence prevailed at all times as befits a professional driver .It was only BRS,BOC and the brewerys that were whiter than white.
Just to say I only fiddled for my own benefit,not the company’s and then we are not talking anything too rash,honest.
Chris Webb:
Some drivers never bothered filling in any log sheets,at least they reckoned they couldn’t get done for falsifying if their sheet was blank.
I used a log book when I was fitting to use when towing wagons inb but went straight to tachos when I started full time driving.
One of our driver’s told me that he was heading down the A515 to Lichfield early one morning when a copper on a motor bike pulled him into a layby and asked to see his logbook. Well he hadn’t filled it in for the day before, however the copper checked it and sent him on his way! The driver thought that the copper didn’t know what he was looking at, but filled the book in anyway. Next morning, same spot, same copper, can I see your log book? Handed it over, confidently. The lawman said that he “thought it might jog your memory, didn’t see the point in booking you so thought that I would give you a second chance and see if you made a habit of it”!
Lesson learned.
Pete.
Must be 30yrs since I last filled in a log sheet but I can still remember the operaters licence number I had to write in every day OD 165239
how sad is that 
.
Strange thing is 34yrs later The firm has changed names many times,the truck I drive now still runs on the same OD licence number from back then.
@ Chris, some bad news to shatter your whiter than white thoughts , I had many a shakey line in my red +rust book 
and it quite often got me a lift home from Lincoln farm or the Airport too
Regarding the silent checks if you used a blank number plate and chalked a registration number on they never followed them up as some drivers used to put a different number on but I usually had the same trailer so my plate was bolted on ( but it did have extra holes for spare plate )
Trev_H:
Must be 30yrs since I last filled in a log sheet but I can still remember the operaters licence number I had to write in every day OD 165239
how sad is that
Strange thing is 34yrs later The firm has changed names many times,the truck I drive now still runs on the same OD licence number from back then.
@ Chris, some bad news to shatter your whiter than white thoughts , I had many a shakey line in my red +rust book
Well Trev I was waiting for Harry to jump in there but you beat him to it.
And Sammie upside down number plates on trailers didn’t often work as the Sheriff would pull you for that and then want yer log sheet.When we parked on the Dog and Partridge on Woodhead I always backed on with trailer facing the moors but Castrol from Hyde would nose in and take the number plate off.Anyroad the local Ministry man from Penistone,a Mr Nelson,wasn’t allowed on the Dog park to take reg numbers 'cos the landlord’s alsatian said he wasn’t.
My only failure was getting done at Bawtry “weighbridge” for failure to keep a weekly report. Cannot remember why, you did not even need to lie on those.
Wheel Nut:
My only failure was getting done at Bawtry “weighbridge” for failure to keep a weekly report. Cannot remember why, you did not even need to lie on those.
You’ve got me there Malc,what was a weekly report,have I missed summat,what year are we talking about?
When I worked at a soft drinks firm in the 60s, all sales accounts, work sheet hours and log books etc. were all made out using a pencil.
So any ‘mistakes’ could be altered. One day I saw one of the managers rubbing out every entry that 15 drivers had made in the log books.
So that every driver started work at 0730, stopped for dinner 1200-1300 and finished work at 1715. Even though most didn,t finish till 9.00pm.
He didn,t even think he was doing anything wrong. A few years later they did get prosecuted.
Ray
Chris Webb:
Wheel Nut:
My only failure was getting done at Bawtry “weighbridge” for failure to keep a weekly report. Cannot remember why, you did not even need to lie on those.You’ve got me there Malc,what was a weekly report,have I missed summat,what year are we talking about?
I remember there was a separate page at the back of the book, it could have been of those phase 2 Guildhall books that Bernie posted. It would have been about 1977 when I became a criminal
Wheel Nut:
Chris Webb:
Wheel Nut:
My only failure was getting done at Bawtry “weighbridge” for failure to keep a weekly report. Cannot remember why, you did not even need to lie on those.You’ve got me there Malc,what was a weekly report,have I missed summat,what year are we talking about?
I remember there was a separate page at the back of the book, it could have been of those phase 2 Guildhall books that Bernie posted. It would have been about 1977 when I became a criminal
Well I’m a criminal then,might be on a database somewhere
bernielanson:
Is this what you mean? I always kept a spare! Much better then digital tacho and isotrack me thinks.
That signature in column 16 looks very familier .
My log book was always up to date by 7 p.m. Sunday evening ready to hand in the top copy at 6 a.m. Monday morning.
j h wills milk tankers wrexham still use them .what fun they were. 
tachograph:
They should bring back the lie books, it would save a fortune that’s spent on wire and magnets
I couldn’t agree with you more, and if you were lucky like did a couple of times, even borrowed a coppers pen to fill it out, “when I had inadvertently had left mine at home”. I became an artist at drawing castles, not too good on the moats and drawbridges though. 
tvdriver:
i still use one here in the states, but will soon be using an electronic on board recorder, cannot believe in the 21st century that they still use them .i think its only a matter of time before they are phased out
You’ll regret it, just like we did in the UK, I’ve spent a lot of time in the US over the years and it was like going back in time watching my mate filing his log book in after he’d got back home, “just to keep the records straight of course”. :-Jack
Fergie47:
Prior to the “log book”, does any one remember the “log sheets” ? Pieces of copied paper, grab a handful from the office, fill one out at the start, …change during the day… if necessary !!
Oh boy do I remember log sheets, I often had to fill in at least 4 every day just to keep the records straight so I could get home. 
:-Jack
flishflunk:
When I worked at a soft drinks firm in the 60s, all sales accounts, work sheet hours and log books etc. were all made out using a pencil.
So any ‘mistakes’ could be altered. One day I saw one of the managers rubbing out every entry that 15 drivers had made in the log books.
So that every driver started work at 0730, stopped for dinner 1200-1300 and finished work at 1715. Even though most didn,t finish till 9.00pm.
He didn,t even think he was doing anything wrong. A few years later they did get prosecuted.Ray
OOps! and there’s me thinking that it was only lorry drivers who fiddled for the boss.■■ .:-Jack
Jack Graham:
Fergie47:
Prior to the “log book”, does any one remember the “log sheets” ? Pieces of copied paper, grab a handful from the office, fill one out at the start, …change during the day… if necessary !!Oh boy do I remember log sheets, I often had to fill in at least 4 every day just to keep the records straight so I could get home.
Never got to four Jack,three was my max.One run I remember was in 1968 with a clapped out Reiver.I was skint.Early start from Sheffield - they were always early bloody starts -two drops,Garretts,Leiston in Suffolk and Wingets,Rochester.I had to ring a number for a backload and it turned out to be paper reels out of Sittingbourne - was that Reeds? I did all that and went back to Sheffield same shift.The first sheet went out of the window at Rochester.I remember waiting ages to be loaded at the paper mill.The second sheet was disposed of somewhere between the bottom of the M1 and Watford Gap and then I ran legal to outside our house way after midnight.
That is what I call flexibility,there was no pressure (except silent checks) and I was cab happy as well as skint. Nobody knew what I had done,I had a lie in and crept over to Heinz Wigan,tipped and when I rung in got the “tha’d best get thesen back 'ere,thi orders will be in t’diesel 'ut”.
Loved it!
We used to “signal” to other drivers if the Ministry were ahead of them by showing our Log books didnt we,and another advantage was,if you were on a “dodgy” you took your Log book with you,stuck your hand out with the Log in it and you soon got a lift from another driver…those were the days!!..or were they?
Take it easy,
Rgds,
David