So the deliveries we do are loaded by the warehouse and sealed. The notes are then produced and get handed out to the drivers. So you go find your trailer and hook up etc then do your check sheet. Now there’s a box on there that is for “straps and restraints”. I don’t tick this as I haven’t been able to check them as the trailer is sealed (it’s a fridge btw).
So if the vostapo stop me and check the load (cos I guess they can order me to break the seal??) and the cages aren’t strapped in very tightly (often happens cos the loaders are loonies), then what happens…?
Can I get off the hook by saying it was a sealed trailer, not meant to break seals, loaders are supposed to do strap every row of cages…?
Cheers
Phil
I stand by to be corrected, but I reckon that in your case (being on fridges) that there’s not a lot VOSA could do about an unsecured load in your trailer. After all, the trailer itself stops the load falling out (no law against a load falling over though), if you were on a soft sider however I feel that you’d need to break in and check. You’re the captain of the ship so it’s you responsibility IMO.
well a very good mate had this very problem a couple o yrs ago 
A … did a changeover curtainsider wi seals on curtains, driver he changed wi had picked it up at depot preloaded /sealed
firstdriver had brought it down from north ,M6 all the way and A… did about a mile and first roundabout the load came through the curtains/ pulled him right onto his side ,wk old trailer, 6month old unit .
Load had no straps on… police /vosa checked his story and he just got a warning.
BUT company sacked him on the spot aft er 15yrs (average driving record nothing serious)…
jimmy.
As load restraint and security is the driver’s responsibility your company should have a policy in place whereby a driver can request to check the load and be resealed by security/management.
because they could and wanted to bring in younger drivers on less money,any excuse!and not pay redundancy (5yrs ago).
1,he wrote of a nearly new outfit on roundabout. company said it had came down from depot no problem till he was driving!! 2.here is the rub…the load was not strapped down.
sounds strange but i belive him and he showed me his licence no points from incident.
He tried to get help fighting it but found another job and let it go.
jimmy.
3ducks:
As load restraint and security is the driver’s responsibility your company should have a policy in place whereby a driver can request to check the load and be resealed by security/management.
How does that work with containers? i pulled a container full of garlic out of grain years ago, when i got to my delivery point the place was raided for drugs, they found them in my container, i was bloody glad the seal they took off the back door proved i had no knowledge of it’s contents!
3ducks:
As load restraint and security is the driver’s responsibility your company should have a policy in place whereby a driver can request to check the load and be resealed by security/management.
I was offered work from Wincanton about three years ago for Argos at Castleford. They use plenty of double deck trailers and all their vehicles are loaded and sealed with no access for drivers at all.
I asked about the load security and what if the loaders had loaded the top deck only and the implications to road safety. They weren’t interested and so neither was I.
Saaamon:
JIMBO47:
BUT company sacked him on the spot aft er 15yrs (average driving record nothing serious)…
jimmy.
For what?
Tipping the load through the curtain I presume
Had an incident at our depot some years back, all fridge trailers, when a group of roll cages came through the back door while on the road (this was a trailer with an under slung tail-lift). At that time the trailers were loaded and sealed before the driver got anywhere near them so in spite of many complaints and near misses nothing changed until this event.
The driver had an uncomfortable few weeks waiting to see if the police were going to prosecute, they didn’t, there was some other investigations from outside and part of the corrective process was that the trailers are not sealed before the driver had checked both that the stock was for the destination on the run manifest and that the load was secure as far as possible to see.
There are still some occasions when trailers are put back on bays for “loading issues” to be resolved but I am not aware of any repeat of stock coming out the back while on the road.
Saaamon:
JIMBO47:
BUT company sacked him on the spot aft er 15yrs (average driving record nothing serious)…
jimmy.
For what?
Driving like a ■■■ I would imagine.
If the load made it down from Scotland OK, how did he manage to turn it over on the first roundabout?
del trotter:
Saaamon:
JIMBO47:
BUT company sacked him on the spot aft er 15yrs (average driving record nothing serious)…
jimmy.
For what?
Driving like a ■■■ I would imagine.
If the load made it down from Scotland OK, how did he manage to turn it over on the first roundabout?
I do agree he probably was driving like a ■■■ but if its not strap and vosa cleared him of any offence i’d say the company were abit unfair on him. Really the person who should be sacked is the one that loaded it and didnt strap it. I do have abit of biased opinion though as i often pull sealed trailers and you do always hope its been secured probably.
Sounds like Tesco what you can do is check the security of the load by driving like a loony in the yard I did this and when asked why said let me see inside then " NO " well I shall do this !!! If it comes thro the sides there problem !!!
this shows what stupid jobsworth muppets are coming into the job.
it’s the drivers job to secure the load. just because some pen pusher wants a seal on it makes no difference.
it isn’t up to the office to tell you how to do the job. if they say don’t remove the seal, then you ignore them and check the load, or find another job.
From what I have read in the VOSA load security matrix they are only interested in flats, curtains, low loaders, skip wagons etc. Boxes and fridges are on the ‘no need to check list’. They would only check a box or fridge if there was an obvious problem such as leaning to one side, load poking out etc
limeyphil:
this shows what stupid jobsworth muppets are coming into the job.
it’s the drivers job to secure the load. just because some pen pusher wants a seal on it makes no difference.
it isn’t up to the office to tell you how to do the job. if they say don’t remove the seal, then you ignore them and check the load, or find another job.
There can be other scenarios too, such as going to collect a load from a bonded warehouse where they have a policy of no drivers allowed inside the warehouse and they load then seal it whilst on the bay, You say break the seal but if they refuse to give you a replacement seal and amend the POD notes accordingly, then when you come to deliver the goods they would be withing their rights to refuse the load, or should there be any discrepancies with the load, you could be leaving yourself open to being wrongly accused too, Or they may of loaded it to the roof &from bulkhead to back doors , there would be next to no way of strapping such a load without a ladder this type of load could be top heavy so unstable when turning left or right(roundabouts) there’s no way to tell by looking at the load (which is contained within colored plastic boxes all the same colour/size)
Although they say that it’s the drivers responsibly to check/secure the load, And all companies who load the trailers should give the driver access to inspect and if necessary secure it, infact the driver should get a say in how it’s loaded too, thing is in reality most companies won’t allow this, so IMO should be held accountable/liable , because they obstruct the driver from performing checks on the security of the load, and it could be said are compromising road safety ,and putting drivers and other road users in harms way
Good post Tommy,nail on head.
tommy t:
limeyphil:
this shows what stupid jobsworth muppets are coming into the job.
it’s the drivers job to secure the load. just because some pen pusher wants a seal on it makes no difference.
it isn’t up to the office to tell you how to do the job. if they say don’t remove the seal, then you ignore them and check the load, or find another job.
There can be other scenarios too, such as going to collect a load from a bonded warehouse where they have a policy of no drivers allowed inside the warehouse and they load then seal it whilst on the bay, You say break the seal but if they refuse to give you a replacement seal and amend the POD notes accordingly, then when you come to deliver the goods they would be withing their rights to refuse the load, or should there be any discrepancies with the load, you could be leaving yourself open to being wrongly accused too, Or they may of loaded it to the roof &from bulkhead to back doors , there would be next to no way of strapping such a load without a ladder this type of load could be top heavy so unstable when turning left or right(roundabouts) there’s no way to tell by looking at the load (which is contained within colored plastic boxes all the same colour/size)
Although they say that it’s the drivers responsibly to check/secure the load, And all companies who load the trailers should give the driver access to inspect and if necessary secure it, infact the driver should get a say in how it’s loaded too, thing is in reality most companies won’t allow this, so IMO should be held accountable/liable , because they obstruct the driver from performing checks on the security of the load, and it could be said are compromising road safety ,and putting drivers and other road users in harms way
simple answer is not to allow them to seal it until it’s checked. if they don’t like it, then they unload it.
it works for me. the lads on the bay might say “policy this, policy that”. but when you explain it to the big boss, he always understands.
mostly down to attitude. rant and rave, then you’re just antother dumb [zb] lorry driver. explain in a civil manner, then you will gain respect.