Ok lets be totally honest here, I think most lads/lasses on distance work have run over occassionally, Tipped off the chart or otherwise slightly warped the rules, But where do we all draw the line??
5 minutes
10?
30?
I hour?
3 hour??
At what point would you make the call to the VI■■? and report a driver or operator for floutng the law?
I have made THAT call in the past, for a driver/Owner running with no operators licence/Tax and on red diesel… did it make me feel good■■? NO, but it needed doing before the guy killed someone( the guy would load Teesside… tip Humberside/ reload … tip teessside …reload… tip humberside and do his best to reload again and tip in the same day back on teesside
I have no doubt the guy was only doing his best to make a living for his family, But at what possible cost?
I dont know if the VI took action, or even if he is still running, but in all conscience I coudlnt sit back and do nothing…
At what point do you / would You make that call■■?
one off our lads got done 385quid for 3mins over his 4.5hrs driving when he was with another company. he was in london and he had enough time but did not anticipate the volume of traffic. by the time he got to secure parking he was 3mins over and got pulled just short of the parking area.if i new of drivers running bent yes i would make that call,theres no need for it no matter if your self employed or work for a company.and i don’t care who the customer is, no one is above the law. we don’t carry frt where someone is lying in hospital depending on us getting there,so why run the risk. if you do run bent and you get caught then tough,you deserve what you get.
I’ve informed the Dock Police about an operator who has no tax or operators licence in the past . Nothing has been done, if the police aren’t bothered why should we?
I am not stating that this driver was “bending the rules”, but what if he was and under that trailer was a family of four, and you could have prevented it■■?
20 years ago I had my one and only stab at tramping as an owner driver,working for a big operater as a sub contractor. I thought at first I was keeping up with the experienced blokes until one week when the docks were on strike. All the boats were bringing the chipboard into the privateley run dock in South Devon. I loaded my first trailer on the Saturday ready for an earlyish start on Monday morning. I was driving my car up to the yard when one of the other O/D’swas leaving to go to Truro. I left to go to Jarrow with my load, tipped had a night out in Durham ,got to my backload in Beverley and joined the enormous queue. Guess who was at the front ?Only the bloke who had started Taunton tipped Truro,loaded Teignmouth tipped Jarrow and got to Beverley all in one day .I saw the same guy later in the day on his way back north with his second load as I was approaching Bristol. I gave it all up a month later,and have run local ever since.I was not prepared to run bent .
I think somebody would have to really be flouting the regs before I made the call. I’ve made mistakes on calculating my hours, especially on multi drop work, but then again I will pull in if I feel tied whether my hours are up or not. As for operators licence and unroadworthy vehicles then thats a differant matter, you don’t run like by accident.
NEVER would i ever inform any organization about the doings or wrongdoings of any fellow driver, unpoular as this may be … u did say lets be honest … thats my honest opinion…ok i will get slaughterd for this… but hey…isnt it hard enuff in our game without do gooders ringing old bill or anyone else for that matter… we had a similar posting regarding parking rigs outside our homes… the amount of people who are ready to phone police , vi at the drop of a hat beggers believe… as long as ur your doing it right …isnt that all that matters.dont get me wrong i dont run bent… not for no employer…but if i was working for myself well who knows…I THINK I,M TO OLD FASHIONED FOR THIS GAME ME… effin hell i cannot believe it…
ohterry555:
NEVER would i ever inform any organization about the doings or wrongdoings of any fellow driver, unpoular as this may be …
I wouldn’t worry about a truck being weekened nextdoor to me as long as the driver showed respect when leaving at some ungodly hour.
but if what they were doing was so dangerous they were a threat to life and limb of themselves and others. then that would make me think about it.
rikki, i hear what ur saying… i really do… but where do you draw the line… ok no one wants to hear of stories involving lorry drivers involved in any kind of accident, let alone a fatal…where i,m coming from is like i say. i,m to old fashioned and i wont change… i was brought up to NOT spread gossip. tell tales (if you like)… you know wot i,m saying…if my next door neighbour was on the dole and earning more than me by fiddling the old king cole, i wouldnt go and ring the dole up complaining… i would say hey fair play to you man…as i have done and will continue to do… we are all brought up in different circumstances… and all have differing values on life… mine is not and never to rat on any one… for anything…it is a hard one to call… as i said .where do you draw the line.but from a personal point of view. i,m sorry(no i,m not). i would never rat on a fellow pro. be it in wotever walk of life…my opinion of people who do such things is they are sad mothers…
my opinion… i wont slag anyone off for doing it as i dont want to get into any arguments, but you know my feelings now anyway…
slated i will be… but hey i,ll take it on the chin.
that is not to say i wont give help /support to any one who needs it… it doesnt make me a bad person… just i was dragged up proppa.like
I’ll probably get slated for this as well…but I’m one that wouldn’t tell tales regarding running over hours. Insurance, dodgy tax discs and no operators licence then that’s a different matter. But as an ex owner driver who did break all the rules and also whilst employed in the old days on the continent for trip money saw the opportunity to make better money (yes, I’m a capitalist) and took it would make me a hypocrite to do so. Honestly guys, think back when it was the good old days - it was them and us…and it was a lot more fun!
The biggest problem with an operator running with no O’licence is it is usually because he/she cannot reach the financial requirement needed to apply for a licence.
The question is are these people running without licences because
A] they are greedy and want to earn lots of money?
B] the company they are running for are paying crap rates?
or
C] a combination of A and B
Remember an unlicensed truck is not likely to have a proper safety inspection schedule and therefore could be in a dangerous condition.
One other thing to think about is every one of these unlicensed trucks are working at an unfair advantage to the rest of us,they are allowing companies to pay rubbish rates and that means that any haulier that tries to go by the book has to cut costs somewhere else to try and get some work…Guess where■■?
your wages
Why should I have to pay to have my truck inspected every six weeks??
Why should I have to prove to VOSA that I have adequated financial back up??
Why should I have to prove that I am of good repute??
BECAUSE ITS THE LAW …THATS WHY
I have in the past reported unlicensed trucks and I will continue to do so.
what would you do if you caught these drivers stealing fuel from your tank whilst parked up at night i mean if they don’t pay tax or insurrance then why pay for fuel when they can get it of mugs like you and i.
I thought about this, and I have to say, I couldnt grass even if I wanted to, Ive never done it and never will, maybe I just got bought up that way, who knows I just know it aint in my nature to do it so Im being honest. I spose its horses for courses, some will, some wont. Its just the way it is.
Although I have always gone through life being the quite one, I am happy enough to ‘snitch’ if it is dangerous.
I went through my school life being bullied and the only reason that it came out is one day I refused to go and said I’d be better of dead. I was trying to protect the bullies. ( Stupid of me I know.)
But I have since learnt that some things are better off being reported as a matter of safety and sanity.
As it happens, i’m waiting for a bit of cooling off time before I make a phone call, as my former employer (I jacked it on monday) told me that working over 50 hours a week, whilst only paid for 40 was because I was slow and not as good as other drivers.
I know for a fact the majority don’t take breaks, drive at 56 no matter what the limit and don’t give a monkeys what state the vehicles are in. One that sticks in mind was trying to stall, the imobilisor was cutting in, had a leaking air tank and could not get the presure up.
My attitude is, what if it was my partner or family on the crossing in front of that truck, I know I would not be able to life with myself.
I’ll put my box back in its cupboard for another ffew months.
Interesting thread. There’s two sayings that spring to my mind when reading this and they’re :
LIVE & LET LIVE.
IF YOU CAN’T DO THE JOB LEGALLY, YOU SHOULDN’T BE IN THE BUSINESS.
It was only early hours of Monday this past week when I was running back north from Southampton fruit market along the A34 doing a “good” 56mph when an empty draw-bar Scania outfit hurtled past me doing 60mph+
I pulled in to Family Farm services at the top of the A34 to see if they did Keyfuels (which they don’t) and the geezer was there filling up. We got chatting, like you do, whilst at the pumps and he was telling me he was an owner driver and was delivering said outfit to the Scania dealer at Thirsk in N Yorks. I asked him how far he’d get tonight and he said, “all the way”. The current time was 2230 so with it being so late I casually asked what time he’d started that day. He said, “5am” and ducked his head in embarrassment
I laughed and said, "[zb] me, HOW MANY HOURS You’re stretching it a bit aren’t you ". He said, “yeahh, 'Ministry are never about at night though so it’s no problem to me. The job pays good money and I’ve already made £120 for today on 4 local deliveries and this one’s paying £70 up to Thirsk so £190 for a days work…”.
"What about your tacho though " I says to him.
“I use a new card for each wagon and when I’ve delivered it I just take the card out and bin it. 'Ministry don’t know any different. I just tell them I’ve been on holiday for the past 4 weeks and this is my first shift back…”
So, I reckon it’s got to be a tidy 4hr drive from M40/A34 junction up to Thirsk; you work out the figures for yourself…
That’s got to be the worst “infringement” I’ve heard of.
Rob K:
I pulled in to Family Farm services at the top of the A34 to see if they did Keyfuels (which they don’t) and the geezer was there filling up. We got chatting, like you do, whilst at the pumps and he was telling me he was an owner driver and was delivering said outfit to the Scania dealer at Thirsk in N Yorks. I asked him how far he’d get tonight and he said, “all the way”. The current time was 2230 so with it being so late I casually asked what time he’d started that day. He said, “5am” and ducked his head in embarrassment
I laughed and said, "[zb] me, HOW MANY HOURS You’re stretching it a bit aren’t you ". He said, “yeahh, 'Ministry are never about at night though so it’s no problem to me. The job pays good money and I’ve already made £120 for today on 4 local deliveries and this one’s paying £70 up to Thirsk so £190 for a days work…”.
"What about your tacho though " I says to him.
“I use a new card for each wagon and when I’ve delivered it I just take the card out and bin it. 'Ministry don’t know any different. I just tell them I’ve been on holiday for the past 4 weeks and this is my first shift back…”
So, I reckon it’s got to be a tidy 4hr drive from M40/A34 junction up to Thirsk; you work out the figures for yourself…
That’s got to be the worst “infringement” I’ve heard of.
Answer me this if you had then driven up the road and later you saw this driver and his wagon with a family carrier wrapped around his front end and the paramedics are stretchering the bodies away with blankets covering how would you have felt to know that you may of been able to prevent that by a phone call to the police or vosa ■■?
Rob K:
I pulled in to Family Farm services at the top of the A34 to see if they did Keyfuels (which they don’t) and the geezer was there filling up. We got chatting, like you do, whilst at the pumps and he was telling me he was an owner driver and was delivering said outfit to the Scania dealer at Thirsk in N Yorks. I asked him how far he’d get tonight and he said, “all the way”. The current time was 2230 so with it being so late I casually asked what time he’d started that day. He said, “5am” and ducked his head in embarrassment
I laughed and said, "[zb] me, HOW MANY HOURS You’re stretching it a bit aren’t you ". He said, “yeahh, 'Ministry are never about at night though so it’s no problem to me. The job pays good money and I’ve already made £120 for today on 4 local deliveries and this one’s paying £70 up to Thirsk so £190 for a days work…”.
"What about your tacho though " I says to him.
“I use a new card for each wagon and when I’ve delivered it I just take the card out and bin it. 'Ministry don’t know any different. I just tell them I’ve been on holiday for the past 4 weeks and this is my first shift back…”
So, I reckon it’s got to be a tidy 4hr drive from M40/A34 junction up to Thirsk; you work out the figures for yourself…
That’s got to be the worst “infringement” I’ve heard of.
Answer me this if you had then driven up the road and later you saw this driver and his wagon with a family carrier wrapped around his front end and the paramedics are stretchering the bodies away with blankets covering how would you have felt to know that you may of been able to prevent that by a phone call to the police or vosa ■■?
I’ll get back to you on that.
PS. Don’t hold your breath.
Sorry, but I refuse to answer that question. With respect.
i mean if they don’t pay tax or insurrance then why pay for fuel when they can get it of mugs like you and i. 
