Been fined by Vosa £30 for no tachograph seal on the Gearbox. Now my understanding of a daily walk round check is to WALK round not crawl under the truck to check seals. its not coming out of my pocket but still my name is going to be on their Database from now on. If i wanted to run bent I sure Iam not going to climb under this truck just jump in the passager seat and hey presto.
Moan 2 Roadworks and car drivers doing 40mph in the middle lane and theres nowt infront of them and slow down to 35mph when you get closer to them and yet there is nothing infront of them.
Had two blow outs on two trailers last week and this week running out of heysham instead of birkenhead
I must admit to having a hard time trying to reason out why VOSA would fine the DRIVER for something reasonably beyond the drivers control !! - can someone explain why
That dont seem right,nit picking again by vosa,they are short of money with UK Bust.PLC.Is it down to the mechanic to check things like that,what next,drivers doing a clutch and engine rebuild at the road side.What driver would don a boiler suit and climb under every ■■■■ and cranny.
ROG:
I must admit to having a hard time trying to reason out why VOSA would fine the DRIVER for something reasonably beyond the drivers control !! - can someone explain why
My understanding ROG is that the driver at the roadside is effectively the “agent” of the company for which he or she drives. For example, when a fixed penalty is given it has to be issued to a named individual and a combination of legislation and policy has dictated that this is always the driver as they are the company representative.
What makes it even worse is that some gearboxes aren’t required to have a seal on the sender unit. Newer Scanias are one such exempt vehicle. Its something to do with the manufacturer using some plastic retaining mechanism that breaks whenever the sender unit is removed. I recall driving several Arla Scania units into a tacho test centre in Leeds to have seals fitted despite them not needing them.
Check out the road traffic act the condition of the vehicle and anything attatched to it is the drivers responsibility.A walk around check won’t satisfy the reasoning of a court if someting lets go underneath which could reasonably have been noticed by the driver if he’d checked the underside properly like an actuator hanging loose or the like.
its like this, since vosa have been given powers to fine, roadsafety will go out the window they are after easy cash! last time i got stopped it took him 20mins to decide i had a cracked disk! everything else was a1. result is i will take big detours to avoid these parentless people and there fines!! with them being able to fine, every driver should now know how to mot a lorry cos its the only way to come away from 1 of there checks without a fine if you do your walk round checks how would you know if you have a cracked disk? hair line at that i argued with him for half an hour. i just gave up. if you are a vosa man on this site may your head boil in water and your turds be rearward hedgehogs!!thieving scum!!!
the maoster:
I take it you’re not a fan then Its Trouble?
not any more. road safety is a good thing and we need it. what we dont need is fines for things we cant possibly see or feel during driving.that to me is theft of my hard earned cash. so if im taking detours to aviod the scum how many others will be avoidung them?
not sure on others but when I did my LGV learning and test and was only shown to check obvious things on my walkround checks, and although i do have some mechanical knowledge I would fail to spot some of the faults which drivers are now being fined for, if vosa want us to check the things they are picking us up for then they should finance the training and get it incorporated in the learning stage.
Saying that I drive a ryder lease vehicle, propshaft went a few weeks back and i contacted the help center told them but they still sent a mechanic out to check before getting the repair organised, 1.5 hours wait for the mechanic for him to say “yep your right” he then disappeared and a recovery truck came 2 hours later to take me 10 miles to a ryder depot for a repair that could have been done roadside, for me to wait another 2 hours for them to source the new part and then another 2 hours for a mechanic to be free to repair. a complete day wasted!
last night i was parked up in a layby off the A702 near Biggar. when i got up at 0145 to drive back i should have crawled under the truck and trailer in the dark (very dark) with my small torch and checked for seal on a gearbox!
DONT THINK SO
I did my usual checks of lights, suzies, 5th wheel pin, wipers, etc and on my way.
The company issued defect books made by Tachodisc dont mention tacho seals on the checklist and they are an industry-wide accepted form of defect report.
I’m beginning to wonder how much longer its going to be before we get the first report in the press of a driver “severely assulting a VOSA officer.”
If they gave me a fine for not having a plastic seal on the gearbox they would see me in court, and I’d take diagrams with me (as to where on the gearbox the seal is located) as well as a copy of the defect sheet for the magistrates to examine. I think the courts might just throw it out, seeing as it isnt part of the daily walk round routine, or the 6 weekly inspection… infact it would surprise me if it was actually part of the service inspection.
Anyway back to my original start, I can understand that we need safe vehicles on our roads, but one day a driver that has nothing to fear is just going to swing for the VOSA examiner. Why? because he has just been told he has a niggling defect that he couldn’t possibly know about and is being fined £■■■.■■ for it, VOSA have been given too many powers and too fast imho.
Here is the VOSA guide to walkaround checks, no mention of tacho gear box seals. Like Wheelnut and limeyphil there is no way I would have accepted and paid that fixed penalty, even if someone else was paying it.
I know I dont help myself by driving for a Irish firm but as some one said vosa are people who aint good enough to be coppers the person who did gave me the fine was a woman who never climbed under the truck and the mechanic was a ex lorry driver,
To top it off I had PC’s Pinky and Perky Breathalize me then when it came back negative (to which that wiped there cocky smiles of there faces) they then accused me of taking drugs to my reply we will go over there and I will do a urine test AS I HAVE NOTHING TO HIDE. In my years I have been driving I have had many of these and the same old saying “your eyes look glazed” but this was a first in a truck as If i am going to drink and drive when I hardly drink for one and two my licence is my life.
Warning beware of Vosa at Sandbach southbound.
The fine was issued to me not the company so I pay the fine with the companies money
Funny thing was I was pulled in this truck in May and nothing was bought to light that there was no tacho seal on the gearbox and that was in Bromborogh test centre
I think these fines are a money making scheme me thinks as if we dont have enough tax to pay on fuel etc etc
last time i got stopped it took him 20mins to decide i had a cracked disk! everything else was a1. result is i will take big detours to avoid these parentless people and there fines!! with them being able to fine, every driver should now know how to mot a lorry cos its the only way to come away from 1 of there checks without a fine 