I got stopped on the French / Belgium border on the A2 with my clock 12 hours out once ( Card showed i’d started driving in Paris). My arse was squeaking like billy-O. The very nice policeman with the lollypop showed me how to reset the clock in an FH12 after being told it was in for a service a few days previous and the fitter must have taken the batteries off and not reset the clock properly.(fortunately for me he didn’t notice the times and dates on the CMR when I loaded in London and tipped in Paris)
Not sure if it was because it was a gorgeous sunny day, or because I greeted and spoke to him in French…
The point of running bent is you HAVE to brag about it (even if you never done it) - it’s the law! The English drivers pulling for Eurotrans that I used to run with in the early 90’s had the cards to proove it though. Won’t get away with it these days though.
Harry Monk:
Even ten years ago you couldn’t get away with running several hundred kilometres without having a card in. Haven’t these people heard of the V trace?
Interruption to the electrical supply (wire, magnet or pulled fuse) and no V trace
yep sorry harry but it is possible to pull the plug on the whole tacho unit so no mileage or distance or movement is collected but the clock will run!
Once stopped in Basque area of Northern Spain,the copper did the same route in his caravan,and asked me to explain how i could get there in less time.You can not kid a kidder.
Another time,was waiting around all week for a load back from Porto,then non stop to the French border,got a tug before the border by a young faced lad fresh out of police college.
He studied the tacho,and was about to get the attention of his superior who may have put me in the jail for the night,but the kid said go on your way.
Judging by the attitude of many on this site, plus my own experiences in real life, it pays never to tell anyone anything you wouldn’t tell your boss, the police or the judge.
Harry Monk:
Even ten years ago you couldn’t get away with running several hundred kilometres without having a card in. Haven’t these people heard of the V trace?
Interruption to the electrical supply (wire, magnet or pulled fuse) and no V trace
yep sorry harry but it is possible to pull the plug on the whole tacho unit so no mileage or distance or movement is collected but the clock will run!
But when you plug it back in & move off the speedo needle will ‘scan’ (go straight to maximum than back to standstill) showing a straight line from top to bottom on the ‘speed trace’ indicating to the authorities that it’s been tampered with. Alternatively, you could take the disc out, move a few feet till the speedo does it’s thing then put the disc back in. Trouble is, this shows the disc has been removed & re-fitted??
The thing about running bent is that you will get caught out one day. The powers that be are not stupid, they would notice a certain truck out all hours, the member of the public complaints, or the gentle lane weave where the driver is falling asleep smashing a broken down car up the arse on the hard shoulder killing the 2 children who are on the back seat because the parents haven’t had a chance to take them out yet!!
It’s just not worth it, what is so important that you need to put other people in danger?
Drivers regs were bought in for a reason, I know they are a pain in the arse and some go way over the top, but the fact is that when they were bought in and started to become enforced the accident rate involving hGV’s fell by 36% over a 5 year period and deaths where the HGV driver was at fault dropped by 29% over the 5 year period.
3 Feathers Haulage:
The thing about running bent is that you will get caught out one day. The powers that be are not stupid, they would notice a certain truck out all hours, the member of the public complaints, or the gentle lane weave where the driver is falling asleep smashing a broken down car up the arse on the hard shoulder killing the 2 children who are on the back seat because the parents haven’t had a chance to take them out yet!!
It’s just not worth it, what is so important that you need to put other people in danger?
Drivers regs were bought in for a reason, I know they are a pain in the arse and some go way over the top, but the fact is that when they were bought in and started to become enforced the accident rate involving hGV’s fell by 36% over a 5 year period and deaths where the HGV driver was at fault dropped by 29% over the 5 year period.
Silverback
3 Feathers Haulage
The European Government are to blame for the increase in dead kids in cars. Speed limiters cause bunching, boredom and frustration, there are far more accidents involving tired drivers driving into or over cars, then there were when I started driving.
Wheel Nut:
The European Government are to blame for the increase in dead kids in cars.
This is most ridiculous statement I’ve ever seen on here (and that includes anything by toby123abc, ady1, Lovlyperson or myself) and I find it extremely distasteful.
Having seen first hand a “dead kid in a car” and the moments leading up to that, I can say with absolute certainty that it had nothing to do with any politician in Brussels or anywhere else. From what I saw, it was entirely the fault of the driver who failed to avoid hitting another stationary vehicle.
No driver objected to the speed limiter,as you have to do what the government tells you to do,did you write to your MP to stop them bringing in speed limiters?
Given the current price of fuel, I suspect that if the current speed limiter law was repealed, most fleets would not bother to take them out.
If you look at the objectives of the legislation, speed limiters were introduced to save fuel and reduce pollution (although the Traffic Commissioners seem to be labouring under the misapprehension that they are a safety device).
Many fleets actually have their limiters set to below the max…draw your own conclusions.
GasGas:
Given the current price of fuel, I suspect that if the current speed limiter law was repealed, most fleets would not bother to take them out.
If you look at the objectives of the legislation, speed limiters were introduced to save fuel and reduce pollution (although the Traffic Commissioners seem to be labouring under the misapprehension that they are a safety device).
Many fleets actually have their limiters set to below the max…draw your own conclusions.
Depends what kind of work a company does.
If its time sensitive or by the load then a lot of companies would probably jump at the chance of removing it. Make more money or buys more leeway on delivery times.
Likes of Tesco’s etc who are all in house work, the savings on wear and tare, fuel etc are more important
Mr B:
I was chatting to a guy yesterday who was bragging he’d be leaving bellshill running down to keele where he’d put his card in. Go down to enfield then run back.
There’s no point in judging the legality but why would anyone brag to a stranger when his company name is on side of truck not to mention his reg no?
An old post with some statistics to show what drivers get up to when they are alone.
Truckulent:
WTF would you want to run bent? We can already work quite enough hours legally, without adding to them and breaking the law!!
Some time ago I worked for a company that made quite an issue of the fact they dont ‘run bent’, however I soon found out that the schedules I was given were impossible to complete without running bent. This was of course down to pen pushing planners that didn’t have a clue, they couldnt understand that if your hours were up at 9pm you couldn’t be at your next pick up 150 miles away at 5am the next morning. I walked away from this job, a lot didn’t
Truckulent:
WTF would you want to run bent? We can already work quite enough hours legally, without adding to them and breaking the law!!
it really depends on the circumstances.
let’s say someone is a few hours from home on a thursday evening, but they are coming up to their 90 hours driving time.
after being away for a few weeks, they could have totted up quite a few extra hours with a digi tacho in traffic and shunting etc.
they may have only driven 7 hours that day, and they may have been fully rested on the wednesday night. driving bent for a few hours wouldn’t be a any risk to anyone.
would you park up until midnight sunday? i know i wouldn’t.
the way i see it. running bent isn’t as cut and dry as some would imagine.
