The guy who does our servicing/inspections told me this last week when I said our old 6wheeler had something wrong with the brakes. I took it to a local repair garage for a brake test (mot due later this month) and the results were enough to get a GV9, never mind an mot failure. Thankfully downtime for it is not a problem at the moment to get it repaired but it’s scary what could’ve happened (think Bath truck crash).
Anyone else had a concern ignored by a “competent person”?
Seems to happen with most main dealer inspections
I worked for a ■■■■■■ this and most of last year. I complained about my brakes on the way to and from Milan. They were grinding something rotten. He said that there was nothing wrong as they had been done recently. So I crossed the Alps on the way back through France, was pulling into a service area when the brake pads actually fell out! 
Had a new 17ton MAN years ago, brakes were absolute crap, even fitter said they did not inspire confidence but he could find nothing wrong with them. It went for first MOT and failed, then only just passed on retest. Finally ended up on M1, container wagon jacknifed in front of me and I went straight in the back of him, thought it would be a write-off but they put a new cab on it then tried to give it back to me. I refused to drive it and that was the end of that job.
The ones which often worry me are the ones with sharp brakes you only have to breathe on, because sometimes that’s it, that’s your lot.
OVLOV JAY:
Seems to happen with most main dealer inspections
Surprising how many main dealers don’t have a roller brake tester and aren’t even doing a decelorometer test and printout either at least with the latter you know the vehicle is coming to a stop with a safe efficiency - which is what matters at the end of the day - even if you aren’t going to be able to detect one wheel’s a bit inefficient.
So many times though I look at inspection sheets for trucks that have either been with big blue chip companies or hire fleets and in the section for writing in brake test results it just has ‘skid test’ and a tick scrawled across it diagonally. Which I would guees, with a unit, means between the yard and the workshop, they’ve just slammed the brakes on, with no trailer coupled, on some loose gravel. Ridiculous and the whole charade just relies on new trucks giving little trouble.
bigvern1:
I worked for a ■■■■■■ this and most of last year. I complained about my brakes on the way to and from Milan. They were grinding something rotten. He said that there was nothing wrong as they had been done recently. So I crossed the Alps on the way back through France, was pulling into a service area when the brake pads actually fell out!
Didn’t you have a wheel and hub assembly come off somewhere else?
Muckaway:
The guy who does our servicing/inspections told me this last week when I said our old 6wheeler had something wrong with the brakes. I took it to a local repair garage for a brake test (mot due later this month) and the results were enough to get a GV9, never mind an mot failure. Thankfully downtime for it is not a problem at the moment to get it repaired but it’s scary what could’ve happened (think Bath truck crash).
Anyone else had a concern ignored by a “competent person”?
As the investigation seems ongoing with the Bath tipper crash I would guess there was no obvious maintenance issues.
Own Account Driver:
bigvern1:
I worked for a ■■■■■■ this and most of last year. I complained about my brakes on the way to and from Milan. They were grinding something rotten. He said that there was nothing wrong as they had been done recently. So I crossed the Alps on the way back through France, was pulling into a service area when the brake pads actually fell out!Didn’t you have a wheel and hub assembly come off somewhere else?
Yeah…I forgot that! Did a few days for a City-link subbie and the wheel bearings collapsed on a 7.5t and the whole hub and wheel fell off.
Own Account Driver:
bigvern1:
I worked for a ■■■■■■ this and most of last year. I complained about my brakes on the way to and from Milan. They were grinding something rotten. He said that there was nothing wrong as they had been done recently. So I crossed the Alps on the way back through France, was pulling into a service area when the brake pads actually fell out!Didn’t you have a wheel and hub assembly come off somewhere else?
Here ya go!
Telling porkies… You clipped the kerb 
Bloody lucky there
There is TOO much reliance on expecting mechanics to be responsible for your safety… … Do what truck drivers do in many Asian countries and cover your truck in religious imagery, preferably covering multiple faiths. That way you’ll have more than one person covering your ■■■■ out there. Most importantly though, remember when you leave RDC’s you locate the shift manager and ask him to come outside and bless your truck. 
One thing I have always found strange, is DVSA can can pull you offroad to a pull in, have a highly experienced vehicle inspector crawl underneath with a torch checking every joint and bolt on a truck, then potentially land a driver a fine for something they are genuinely unaware of, or that is often well beyond their skill matrix. Many companies you aint let anywhere near the truck mechanicals, with very good reason, yet you can still pick up a fine if things aint right on the truck?
On a firm I did m/e for, the foreman mechanic who has since passed away, RIP, would always tell you to, “Let it develop”, if you had a mechanical problem.
As a former truck mechanic myself, after doing several repair and recovery jobs whilst abroad, I was offered his job, but as I preferred driving, I declined, as long as I could just be responsible for my own motor!
This is the whole reason I’ll be putting my notice in on Monday if i get this job saturday! I pulled into a services tuesday, as i came out noticed the tyre was quite low (was okay when i came in!) driver next to me said it had gone down whilst sat there, so i gave the garage a ring to be asked if i can hear an air leak.
Which i couldn’t, to where i got a sarcastic reply of ‘so theres an air leak but you cant hear it…’ where he told me he wasnt doing a call out and that im to put air in it and carry on. Refused and told him do a call out or he can suffer the consequences when it goes ■■■■ up. Was threatened if the tyre man found ■■■■ all id be charged tje £200 for the call out…
According to the tyre man had I followed said idiots advice itd be a different call id be making to the office…
Bring on saturday! 
Cheers
Jonny 
I think I’d be dropping that idiot right in it when I was leaving. Take a bike pump in with you when you hand in the keys. 
Already in hand mate, what angers me more is thw fact some other driver would have took his advice and had it gone horribly wrong as it was the front steer tyre, itd be that ■■■■ explaining to someones parents/wife/kids why he told them to run with a defective motor. I did leave a nice message for the ‘mechanic’ though 
Cheers
Jonny
One of the only times it’s legit to ■■■■ on your wheel if you cant hear it leaking, you may well see the bubbles and it relieves your bladder 
jonnytruckfest:
This is the whole reason I’ll be putting my notice in on Monday if i get this job saturday! I pulled into a services tuesday, as i came out noticed the tyre was quite low (was okay when i came in!) driver next to me said it had gone down whilst sat there, so i gave the garage a ring to be asked if i can hear an air leak.Which i couldn’t, to where i got a sarcastic reply of ‘so theres an air leak but you cant hear it…’ where he told me he wasnt doing a call out and that im to put air in it and carry on. Refused and told him do a call out or he can suffer the consequences when it goes ■■■■ up. Was threatened if the tyre man found [zb] all id be charged tje £200 for the call out…
According to the tyre man had I followed said idiots advice itd be a different call id be making to the office…
Bring on saturday!
Cheers
Jonny
Blokes back at the yard, be they mechanics or managers, can be ( and sometimes with justification ) a right suspicious and cynical bunch.
My advice is don’t give them any excuse to think " Jonny’s been driving round with a soft tyre for days, and it takes another driver to point it out to him before he notices"
" got a front puncture boss, by the look of it it will be flat by the time we get off the phone , can you get the tyremen out ? " leaves him in no doubt as to what needs to be done.
I agree with you totally though, no matter what you don’t mess about with tyre issues, get it checked out before you go any further. As for charging you for the call out,thats just ridiculous.
Regards. John.
I wouldn’t trust them fitters to pump my tyres up on me push bike.
Well done Jonny
Lucky for me I drive around with an airline as the company supplies them to us. Saves them money in the long run if we can just pump it up a couple of times whilst returning to the yard to save call outs.