Not necessarily - there were many drivers prosecuted in the case where they worked for a Cambridge haulier and no roads within a 15 min (could be more) drive of the depot were over the LGV 40 limit.
The authorities swooped on the company after complaints from locals about speeding trucks and drivers were prosecuted fron the tacho evidence alone as it showed they were over the speed limit within 15 mins from base.
Sorry Rog, you’re wrong there:)
Newmercerman has it absolutely spot on regarding Knowles Transport
The bit about the locals is wrong too, the authorities were trying to nail them 26 yrs ago when I worked for them, but never quite managed it
newmercman:
I don’t know if the law has been changed but you couldn’t be convicted of speeding on tacho evidence alone, the case against the Cambridge haulier, Knowles, was brought by the ministry as they were then known, or VOSA as they are known today, I think they ‘only’ suspended the HGV entitlement of the drivers concerned, they cannot, as far as I’m aware touch your car licence. As an operator though, that’s a different story, they can pull O licences if a similar situation arises, I think Maritime & DHL at the Isle of Grain had a warning, VOSA had a big purge down there a few years ago & shortly after any Maritime or DHL lorry stuck rigidly to the 40mph limit.
VOSA can & will suspend your HGV for a lot of things, one of my drivers got nicked for yapping on the phone on the M11, he paid the fixed penalty & that was that, until I had an inspection by VOSA (nothing sinister, just a look at maintainance records, they do them every 5yrs or so) the VOSA man mentioned that one of my drivers had been nicked for being on the phone & told me to tell him to watch out as they could park him up for that.
I am in both camps here. The HGV is a vocational licence and can be pulled by the TC, not VOSA and cannot touch the car entitlement. But didn’t the Abbey Hill drivers lose their HGV licences for a while until “the ministry” finally got the company?
alamcculloch:
The buses that I drive have limiters set to 100 k which is 62 mph …
and with the same lane restrictions on motorways as LGVs it makes the whole thing farcical.
Last Monday I went down the M1 to Northampton in my car and was in this position… in middle lane overtaking some slow trucks, keeping my distance behind another truck who was getting passed the other trucks albeit slowly but steadily - traffic in outer lane was so bunched up that it would be unsafe to attempt to get into it.
A coach came up really close behind me in the middle lane flashing it’s headlights and trying to intimidate me to get out the way !!!
Where was I suppose to go■■? - dive inbetween the trucks in lane 1 - unsafe or force my way into the faster really bunched up traffic in lane 3 - unsafe or get up the arse of the truck in front - unsafe.
So I simply eased off, little by little until I had doubled the gap in front of me - coachy did not like that - tough !!
A little later I saw the same coach (full of passengers) tailgating a truck in the middle lane.
Would this type of behaviour have happened or be less frequent if coaches and trucks were limited to the same speed ?
Sounds like you were playing ‘‘mini trucker’’ there Rog. Bet youve got fairy light and a CB radio in the car too haha
The Lyonator:
First Group plc have recently started a rival service to NatEx called Greyhound, which runs direct services from Portsmouth-London and Southampton-London.
I applied to them when they were starting out - application asked for any days you cant attend and interview/assesment so I put I couldnt attend on the 20 July, guess which day they invited me in
newmercman:
I don’t know if the law has been changed but you couldn’t be convicted of speeding on tacho evidence alone, the case against the Cambridge haulier, Knowles, was brought by the ministry as they were then known, or VOSA as they are known today, I think they ‘only’ suspended the HGV entitlement of the drivers concerned, they cannot, as far as I’m aware touch your car licence. As an operator though, that’s a different story, they can pull O licences if a similar situation arises, I think Maritime & DHL at the Isle of Grain had a warning, VOSA had a big purge down there a few years ago & shortly after any Maritime or DHL lorry stuck rigidly to the 40mph limit.
VOSA can & will suspend your HGV for a lot of things, one of my drivers got nicked for yapping on the phone on the M11, he paid the fixed penalty & that was that, until I had an inspection by VOSA (nothing sinister, just a look at maintainance records, they do them every 5yrs or so) the VOSA man mentioned that one of my drivers had been nicked for being on the phone & told me to tell him to watch out as they could park him up for that.
I am in both camps here. The HGV is a vocational licence and can be pulled by the TC, not VOSA and cannot touch the car entitlement. But didn’t the Abbey Hill drivers lose their HGV licences for a while until “the ministry” finally got the company?
It was the possibility of both losing HGV entitlement and probably being sacked after getting the warnings from the guvnor which convinced me that the speed trace on the chart would be enough to put me out of work in which case the car licence would’nt have helped much as there would’nt have been any money coming in to run the car with.Having said that before the limiters came in we could still usually get away with the some spikes in the trace to overtake or make some space between trucks running at close speeds which helped towards making the motorways safer than they are now with limiters.All of which together shows that tough but reasonable enforcement of the old 60 mph limit and no limiters would be the best all round for safe running and better journey times allowing drivers to get more rest time.
