The only water VoSA are going to be interested in would be if it was originating from the load, or in the case of a bus or coach from a waste water system (eg. toilet).
Wot if, wot if, wot if. For christs sake, it’s a WATER leak, not oil, fuel or anything dangerous. This leak may not be as bad as a lot of people think it is. Just because the boss said to stop and check it and top up every hour or so doesn’t mean it’s peeing it out. It might only need topping up once in every three or four hours depending on work done and ambient temp’. It’s also been mentioned that it might have been booked in for repair. It could also be waiting for parts.
If Dipper_Dave thinks I’m a bean counter or a yes man, he’s really, really badly mistaken. I’m just someone that used to just get the ■■■■■■ job done without letting little things stop me dead. If this was an ongoing thing, but the vehicle was safe I’d drive the thing until it hand grenaded itself if that’s what the boss was stupid enough to want. A defect would be put in every day and the rest (repair bill) is down to him.
God help us all. I wouldn’t dream of taking a lorry out with a water leak, I’d pmt it. Anyone who would are working for a dodgy outfit of a company. You’re not a ■■■■■■ hero.
Pmt eh. Sounds like afew on here have it. 
When I go to work driving a truck for someone my attitude is that I am there to get the job done as efficiently as possibly thereby helping the boss/co. to earn some money that day in order that they can offer me paid work again.
There are so many drivers here who clearly like to prevaricate, sit having brews and talking ■■■■■■, then stretch the job out as long as they possibly can “because I’m on hourly pay”.
If NO drivers took the pi55 stretching the job out and had a can do attitude and got on with the job perhaps the hourly rate might go up a bit.
Many years ago I worked for a while for Tesco National Distribution Centre in Milton Keynes. I got sent on a trunk run to Magor, South Wales. Off I went, tipped, reloaded & came back. Walked in the office & put the papers down in front of the traffic clerk. He looked up & said in a surprised tone “I thought you’d gone to Magor”? I certainly hadn’t rushed.
Driveroneuk:
When I go to work driving a truck for someone my attitude is that I am there to get the job done as efficiently as possibly thereby helping the boss/co. to earn some money that day in order that they can offer me paid work again.There are so many drivers here who clearly like to prevaricate, sit having brews and talking [zb], then stretch the job out as long as they possibly can “because I’m on hourly pay”.
If NO drivers took the pi55 stretching the job out and had a can do attitude and got on with the job perhaps the hourly rate might go up a bit.
Many years ago I worked for a while for Tesco National Distribution Centre in Milton Keynes. I got sent on a trunk run to Magor, South Wales. Off I went, tipped, reloaded & came back. Walked in the office & put the papers down in front of the traffic clerk. He looked up & said in a surprised tone “I thought you’d gone to Magor”? I certainly hadn’t rushed.
Exactly this ^^^^^^^^ +
That’s one of the reason I use to make substantial more money in the past, got on with the job and made silly amounts of money.
The Bossman made good money, and we where all happy.
Nowadays Drivers waste so much time to find reasons not to do the job.
I always said “Drivers are their worst own enemy” and this is not about being a yes man, or creeping up his backside.
This is doing a honest day work for a honest day pay, and in the last 30years I always managed that very well.
I been on both side of the fence, I wouldn’t ask a driver to a job I wouldn’t do myself, and on the other side I wouldn’t do a job what I would KNOW it would be a risk for myself or other people around me.
A little water leak on a vehicle is not going to kill anybody.
10 minutes to much driving time is not going to damage anything (I laugh about it, I use to have a college who wouldn’t do a minute over the stated driving time, but on the other hand wouldn’t have a problem to drive after a 15hour shift, drive in his car from Glasgow to Manchester to catch a holiday plane. he didn’t think he would cause a risk that way)
We moan that they tread us like little children, but many of us give them all the reasons not to tread us as a professional.
A professional would be able to make the right assessment, if it is gushing out is unusable, if it’s a slight drip, than it’s very usable.
Don’t need more than that, easy isn’t it.
Man up, get the job done, cash the money and go home, life isn’t that difficult!
Secretelephant:
Consider these points. It’s all very well getting a note from the boss saying “Yeah I know about the water leak, so take a big barrel of water & top up every hour or so”, but I would argue if VOSA pulled you they would judge it unfit for the road. Their reasoning would be obvious. You would be driving a vehicle that will at some point in the near future break down. What if that occured on an mway, or busy duel carrage way or A road. If an accident occured because you were stuck at the roadside on a refil then I would imagine you would bear some responsibility, especialy the way the authorities try to blame truck drivers if at all possible.
On a seperate point our place runs Renault Premiums with water free coolant. The stuff is so expensive any leak has to sorted pronto. It would also prevent any topping up on the road if a leak occured as you are not allowed to mix water with it.
I cannot believe anybody in a right state of mind would post this, any vehicle could break down at any point, so let not take any vehicle out.
Any driver could fall ill or get a heart attack at any point, so be safe dont send any driver out.
Come on, we work with people and technology which can fail at any time, its a thing we need to accept.
The chance that the guy with the waterleak breaks down middle in the road is actually less, than anybody with a brand new truck, he will watch his gauges and warning lights like a hawk.
The problem is that nowadays we are so pampered and so scared that all the iff’s stops us from thinking rational.
My old mother, use to say: if the sky falls down, we all have a blue cap.
I always remembered that and live life at the full, IF i am gone tomorrow, i haven’t let any IF’s stand in my way.
I’ve had a little re-think about my earlier posts on this thread, mainly as I really shouldn’t post on here when sober.
It appears I have been a little harsh and failed to look at this situation from other perspectives.
Now if you work for a massive company that needs a risk assesment and paperwork completed in triplicate just to give one of the secretary’s a pearl necklace chances are ■■■ covering mode is set to maximum so any fault means the vehicle stays put.
But if you work for a smaller / family business that treats you as more than just a number then its reasonable to expect a driver to crack on, hell if its a good company I would ask them to provide a hose/funnel + can of water so I could fill it up whilst driving along. Its these companies that need drivers to go that extra inch or two in order to get the job done.
Also some relevance is needed regarding the quantity of liquid being lost. I mean are we talking a massive squirting like an Ann Summers product testing focus group or a little trickle like a shy bladder sufferer forced to use a busy public urinal.
So there is no wrong answer to this, it all depends on the size of the gush, the quality of your employer and the willingness of the driver to keep her lit.
caledoniandream:
Secretelephant:
Consider these points. It’s all very well getting a note from the boss saying “Yeah I know about the water leak, so take a big barrel of water & top up every hour or so”, but I would argue if VOSA pulled you they would judge it unfit for the road. Their reasoning would be obvious. You would be driving a vehicle that will at some point in the near future break down. What if that occured on an mway, or busy duel carrage way or A road. If an accident occured because you were stuck at the roadside on a refil then I would imagine you would bear some responsibility, especialy the way the authorities try to blame truck drivers if at all possible.
On a seperate point our place runs Renault Premiums with water free coolant. The stuff is so expensive any leak has to sorted pronto. It would also prevent any topping up on the road if a leak occured as you are not allowed to mix water with it.I cannot believe anybody in a right state of mind would post this, any vehicle could break down at any point, so let not take any vehicle out.
Any driver could fall ill or get a heart attack at any point, so be safe dont send any driver out.
Come on, we work with people and technology which can fail at any time, its a thing we need to accept.
The chance that the guy with the waterleak breaks down middle in the road is actually less, than anybody with a brand new truck, he will watch his gauges and warning lights like a hawk.
The problem is that nowadays we are so pampered and so scared that all the iff’s stops us from thinking rational.
My old mother, use to say: if the sky falls down, we all have a blue cap.
I always remembered that and live life at the full, IF i am gone tomorrow, i haven’t let any IF’s stand in my way.
Of course you might have breakdown, even if your truck was apparantly fine at the start of the shift. The point here is it’s a known fault, & if it needs topping up once an hour then it’s fairly bad leak.
If you took this truck on a mway and it started overheating because of a lack of coolant, which ended up with you stuck on the hardshoulder, and plod or whomever found out it had a leak you knew about, I say you would get an arse kicking. Saying it wasn’t due for topping up for half an hour wouldn’t cut much ice.
I’ve driven vehicles in the past with faults & driven “around” the faults, but thats not the enviroment were in today.
One final point. Assuming you have antifreeze in your cooling system, then your leaking a hazzardous chemical into the enviroment. That’s why you cant dump your old coolant down the drain when you change it. You have to get it disposed of at your local tip.
Clearly though it looks like I’m not in my right mind so looks like I’m due a mental breakdown, so I’ll take Monday off & go see a quack.
If drivers are so pedantic these days about the smallest of a fault how is that so many trailers you collect have unreported defects? Usually these faults have not developed whilst the trl has been standing for a few hours, but have obviously been like that for some days/weeks.
I’m talking more here about the real world of haulage not super market trolley dollies.
Driveroneuk:
If drivers are so pedantic these days about the smallest of a fault how is that so many trailers you collect have unreported defects? Usually these faults have not developed whilst the trl has been standing for a few hours, but have obviously been like that for some days/weeks.I’m talking more here about the real world of haulage not super market trolley dollies.
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