Well I am not a bigot or being sarky, but I do think the minibus driver should bear some responsibilty for the outcome. If he had been fully alert (and I am not convinced 3 hours sleep is enough and especially with the possibilty of him being in the office all the previous day) and seen what everyone thinks Wagstaff should have seen, he should have had enough time to signal and filter into lane 2.
Also, has anyone else noticed that the majority of the serious damage to the FedEx cab was on the left hand side? Perhaps Wagstaff had seen something amiss, and was already starting his own filter move.
We will never know because for one thing he says, and it may be true, that he remembers nothing of the time immediately before the impact, and on the other hand, his solicitor may have advised him not to use that defence in order to fight off the, more serious, dangerous charge.
The fact that he didn’t slow or brake shows he was certainly guilty of careless driving for lack of concentration, but it may well be if the minibus had not been there he may have missed the staionary wagon. Who knows?
I predicted to myself beforehand, 14 years for the Pole, and 2 for Wagstaff. Despite the outcome I feel some sympathy for him because I have been long enough on the road to admit that it could have happened to me.
Spardo:
Well I am not a bigot or being sarky, but I do think the minibus driver should bear some responsibilty for the outcome. If he had been fully alert (and I am not convinced 3 hours sleep is enough and especially with the possibilty of him being in the office all the previous day) and seen what everyone thinks Wagstaff should have seen, he should have had enough time to signal and filter into lane 2.
Also, has anyone else noticed that the majority of the serious damage to the FedEx cab was on the left hand side? Perhaps Wagstaff had seen something amiss, and was already starting his own filter move.
We will never know because for one thing he says, and it may be true, that he remembers nothing of the time immediately before the impact, and on the other hand, his solicitor may have advised him not to use that defence in order to fight off the, more serious, dangerous charge.
The fact that he didn’t slow or brake shows he was certainly guilty of careless driving for lack of concentration, but it may well be if the minibus had not been there he may have missed the staionary wagon. Who knows?
I predicted to myself beforehand, 14 years for the Pole, and 2 for Wagstaff. Despite the outcome I feel some sympathy for him because I have been long enough on the road to admit that it could have happened to me.
if drivers were on 20 or 30 quid an hour then may be wgstaffs sentance would be fair enough. But seriously society is taking the pish, not much more than the minimum for driving a 44t wagon on some of the busiest roads on the planet, it is a huge responsibility and yet commands a similar wage for pushing a wheel barrow.
30 hour max driving per week, min of £30 an hour and mistakes not acceptable -
Bluey Circles:
if drivers were on 20 or 30 quid an hour then may be wgstaffs sentance would be fair enough. But seriously society is taking the pish, not much more than the minimum for driving a 44t wagon on some of the busiest roads on the planet, it is a huge responsibility and yet commands a similar wage for pushing a wheel barrow.
30 hour max driving per week, min of £30 an hour and mistakes not acceptable -
Hope you read your post again when you sober up tomorrow morning!!
Bluey Circles:
if drivers were on 20 or 30 quid an hour then may be wgstaffs sentance would be fair enough. But seriously society is taking the pish, not much more than the minimum for driving a 44t wagon on some of the busiest roads on the planet, it is a huge responsibility and yet commands a similar wage for pushing a wheel barrow.
30 hour max driving per week, min of £30 an hour and mistakes not acceptable -
Hope you read your post again when you sober up tomorrow morning!!
curious to know what you think is wrong with it?
I would have thought 50k a year with enough spare time during the week to have a life would be fair exchange for a higher level of professionalism within the industry - lets face it there are some utter clowns out there driving wagons, and even the ones that could do the job properly are so pushed that sooner or later they will fall foul.
folk always bemoan how well the train drivers are paid and treated by comparison, by and large they act a whole lot more professional than many truck divers. We get what we pay for…
Bluey Circles:
if drivers were on 20 or 30 quid an hour then may be wgstaffs sentance would be fair enough. But seriously society is taking the pish, not much more than the minimum for driving a 44t wagon on some of the busiest roads on the planet, it is a huge responsibility and yet commands a similar wage for pushing a wheel barrow.
30 hour max driving per week, min of £30 an hour and mistakes not acceptable -
Hope you read your post again when you sober up tomorrow morning!!
curious to know what you think is wrong with it?
I would have thought 50k a year with enough spare time during the week to have a life would be fair exchange for a higher level of professionalism within the industry - lets face it there are some utter clowns out there driving wagons, and even the ones that could do the job properly are so pushed that sooner or later they will fall foul.
folk always bemoan how well the train drivers are paid and treated by comparison, by and large they act a whole lot more professional than many truck divers. We get what we pay for…
£30hr■■? I wish!! We got a licence which takes about a week to get (well in my day it did) we not doctors, dentists etc. does that mean bus drivers should be on that money as well, because they have 50 odd people sitting behind him or taxi drivers, they carting people about and we all know how bad their driving is.
Thing is now, lorries near enough drive themselves. There seems to be a problem more this day and age for drivers driving with either drink or drugs in their system. One of steady eddies drivers got arrested for that on M25 after two women was killed. The problem is more down to the poor quality of drivers now entering the industry, don’t think a huge pay raise would change things. I would make it law if its possible that all drivers should have to be tested for drink & drugs before they start a shift. In practise it wouldnt be impossible.
Might be sounding like a misable old man, but the younger drivers of today haven’t got any common sense, worse luck
By fluke last week and lack of hours due to weather, last weekend and me being on a salaried deal, I actually achieved £30 an hour! Doubt it will ever happen again though!
elsa Lad:
the younger drivers of today haven’t got any common sense,
Tis true. But then, the younger drivers of 30years ago didn`t have any common sense either. I know, I was one!
Some 40 years drivers with any national can just drive with cruise control,not remember street ,road number,not clue with real h@s.Just dream about big money and ASAP go to KFC or Mac.Can see when driver speak by phone via bluetoth for 1-2 hours not stop,speak by phone when reversing,fill up diesel.And after we wonderfull when Fed ex drivers not stop and kill 8 people.But another motorist cross this not correct stopped lorry correctly in 11 minute.
Markk80:
“fedex made a mistake each and everyone on here will have done at some point in the past”
Seriously?
11 seconds eyes off the road? Mistake?
Don’t think each and every one has done it at all. He was busy doing something completely different than driving for 11 seconds. And at 56mph thats a lot of time. I hope it’s not normal among us, drivers.
Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk
Fedex transport will phone you whilst they know you are on the road. They also moan if you stop for “rest breaks”, and I’ve personally been moaned at - for taking a legally required break (before six hours into shift, or 4.5 hours driving) on at least two seperate occasions, both of them getting me “banned from site” for a few days ( ) after.
Ironically enough, the run I was doing in 2014 - was coming back from Meridan Estate (Leicester) having swapped trailers with a driver from Parkhouse (Stoke Depot) and on my way back into Maston Gate, which is the very next turn off southbound, as to where this fatal collision happened. I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s where Dave Wagstaff was on his way to around 3am as well.
They could’t get anyone to take that full time job (out of Sittingbourne back then) - so my guess is that the Stoke driver had been told to “take it all the way down to Maston Gate” from now on, rather than swap trailers at Leicester any more? What do I know. I have not worked for Fedex since the Spring of 2015.
At Christmas time, they expect drivers to run the entire 4hr25m run non-stop from Sittingbourne to Parkhouse, get your 45 in, and straight back - no hanging about. Needless to say, there was plenty of work for the agency on Christmas run-up, because the full-timers would do whatever they could to side-step that particular last week before Christmas. I managed to side-step on one Christmas among the five I spent doing agency, by working out of Tunbridge Wells rather than Sittingbourne (more time to do the run) and on two other years by getting flat-out work at RM instead. Lucky me. Seriously though, that run was a bloody killer. I’m in no hurry to run up all the way to Stoke ever again, from down here in Kent.
“The World On Time” at our hapless driver’s expense.
Markk80:
“fedex made a mistake each and everyone on here will have done at some point in the past”
Seriously?
11 seconds eyes off the road? Mistake?
Don’t think each and every one has done it at all. He was busy doing something completely different than driving for 11 seconds. And at 56mph thats a lot of time. I hope it’s not normal among us, drivers.
Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk
Fedex transport will phone you whilst they know you are on the road. They also moan if you stop for “rest breaks”, and I’ve personally been moaned at - for taking a legally required break (before six hours into shift, or 4.5 hours driving) on at least two seperate occasions, both of them getting me “banned from site” for a few days ( [emoji14] ) after.
Ironically enough, the run I was doing in 2014 - was coming back from Meridan Estate (Leicester) having swapped trailers with a driver from Parkhouse (Stoke Depot) and on my way back into Maston Gate, which is the very next turn off southbound, as to where this fatal collision happened. I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s where Dave Wagstaff was on his way to around 3am as well.
They could’t get anyone to take that full time job (out of Sittingbourne back then) - so my guess is that the Stoke driver had been told to “take it all the way down to Maston Gate” from now on, rather than swap trailers at Leicester any more? What do I know. I have not worked for Fedex since the Spring of 2015.
At Christmas time, they expect drivers to run the entire 4hr25m run non-stop from Sittingbourne to Parkhouse, get your 45 in, and straight back - no hanging about. Needless to say, there was plenty of work for the agency on Christmas run-up, because the full-timers would do whatever they could to side-step that particular last week before Christmas. I managed to side-step on one Christmas among the five I spent doing agency, by working out of Tunbridge Wells rather than Sittingbourne (more time to do the run) and on two other years by getting flat-out work at RM instead. Lucky me. Seriously though, that run was a bloody killer. I’m in no hurry to run up all the way to Stoke ever again, from down here in Kent.
“The World On Time” at our hapless driver’s expense.
Sounds like someone needs to tell them to Farquhar off. Drivers need to grow some
What is wrong with running 4.5 hours having a 45 minute break then running another 4.5 hours
why would an operator want to pay someone to hang about, make no wonder this industry is ■■■■■■
SHYTOT:
What is wrong with running 4.5 hours having a 45 minute break then running another 4.5 hours
why would an operator want to pay someone to hang about, make no wonder this industry is [zb]
Some driver special drive slow to extend total duty time due second break.
SHYTOT:
What is wrong with running 4.5 hours having a 45 minute break then running another 4.5 hours
why would an operator want to pay someone to hang about, make no wonder this industry is [zb]
Four and a half…
Hours drive is the maximum drive allowed, NOT a target.
All drivers are recommended to take a break every two hours.
I’ve had all that cobblers about you have to one shift it, I give the same reply as always ‘if I’m tired it stops where I happen to be. I don’t care what your blokes do, tonight I’m here cos you any got any blokes. If you don’t like it, tell me to go home now before I get the keys to the lorry’.
It’s because pups like you do it night after night that everyone else is expected to do it.
when you get on a plane, train or bus you have no idea if the driver / pilot is ■■■■■■■ tired or sick but do you give it a second thought
and all of us have turned up for work only having a few hours sleep at some time or another
SHYTOT:
What is wrong with running 4.5 hours having a 45 minute break then running another 4.5 hours
why would an operator want to pay someone to hang about, make no wonder this industry is [zb]
+1
i dont understand the mentality either.
i dont see the point in stopping to sit in a serices or layby when you can just crack on and get it done.
different if theres a reason to stop,but apart from that,do your 4.5 take a break,then nail it again. theres plenty to stop you unexpectedly when you actually dont want to stop,so why not crack on when you can.
no wonder the countrys finished due to the uk workers mentality of how little can i do and still scrape my wages at the end of the week.
) after.