Hi all, we are intending to purchase our own trailer and unit soon. Based in Midlands - Northampton. Do you have any experience with companies that offer on site or mobile servicing or we could drop the trailer there if it isn’t too far. What exactly happens during the 6 weekly servicing ? Thank you all and Happy Easter
The inspections are similar to a MOT test, where a mechanic checks the roadworthiness of the vehicle/trailer. Ramps or a inspection pit are required and roller brake testing is now required at every inspection, which a mobile mechanic is unlikely to be able to offer. I would advise find a good local independent workshop that you could drop the vehicle & trailer into for inspection. Many workshops operate 24 hours, so you shouldn’t have any downtime.
There is no reason whatsoever that prevents you from using a mobile service to carry out Servicing and Inspections on your vehicles. This sort of work is not only carried out by self employed mechanics, but also by companies specialising in the work and running many vans. If you have a suitably competent person employed you may carry out the work ‘yourselves’, but you must have well lit means of accessing the underside of the vehicle/trailer, under cover from the elements and supply certain basic equipment. Neither is it true to say that a roller brake test must be carried out at every inspection.
From the departments own Guide to maintaining roadworthiness:
“As per the annual test, every safety inspection must assess the braking performance of the vehicle or trailer. It is strongly advised that a calibrated roller brake tester (RBT) is used at each safety inspection to measure individual brake performance and overall braking efficiencies for the vehicle or trailer to the annual test standards. However, it is also acceptable to use an approved and calibrated decelerometer to measure overall brake efficiency values for vehicles without trailers.”
The DVSA rightly point out that a decelerometer does not record an individual wheel’s ability to lock and does not assess the parking brake. For this reason one cannot rely soley on a ‘Tapley Test’ print out year round. However the DVSA is forced to admit that it may not be practicable for an operator to carry out a loaded RBT every six weeks. In particular the operator may not have access to loads sufficiently heavy to trigger the brake effort generated to record the required efficiency on an RBT. At the same time as emphaising the RBT’s ability to record an individual brake’s ability to lock the DVSA are quite happy to accept very low, practically meaningless, brake effort readings (link below) for an unladen triaxle trailer simply because the individual brake did lock up. And they will accept this at every inspection and MOT for as long as the trailer exists.
gemco.co.uk/wp-content/uplo … GEMCO2.pdf
Yet they seem to overlook that given certain conditions it is possible to carry out laden trailer Tapley testing and produce results relevant to the trailer’s normal operating condition. They even go so far as describing how -in part- this can be done. They further advise that the simple expedient of taking individual brake temperature readings offers the indication that a brake is doing its share of the work.
In fact the vehicle only ever needs to have one RBT at its MOT if an Electronic Brake Performance Monitoring System is fitted and arrangements have been made with the DVSA for this to be acceptable for a particular operator. Since the pressure triggered by the driver very rarely exceeds 2 bar, the actual effort delivered by each individual brake almost never gets near the capability of that brake.
What is required thoughout is a system that can be proved to work, by producing roadworthy vehicles, that is suitable for the individual operator’s actual conditions. There is nothing about meeting a Gold Standard. Certainly the vehicles will require several roller brake tests during each year. For the small operator who can provide undercover space it is quite possible to use the services of a visiting company, combining this with an alternating visit to an ATF or larger workshop for what is known as a multi test (RBT, emissions, Headlight aim) many of these can offer a loaded trailer on site and/or the ability to load ‘ballast’ onto standard types of bodywork.
What all this overlooks is what actually happens once the vehicle is on the Roller Brake Test Machine. Should the person at the controls not follow the correct procedure; and more importantly feel pressurised into hurrying; then what should have been a perfectly satisfactory performance can result in a failure to meet the necessary readings.
The servicing aspect is of no interest to the DVSA. The operator can make whatever arrangements he desires.
My company’s fitter services most of our trucks then takes them to Pitter’s for a brake test
The trailers are either serviced in the yard or we take them to the trailer service company’s yard in Totton which has brake test rollers
If we take it to their yard most times a service done while we wait
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You will find as a general rule trucks/trailers serviced/inspected on site wont get as good a job done as those in a workshop especially when the weather is pants.
The guys will be able to do the work its just they wont have all the facilities of a workshop and TBH the mobile ones Ive come across tend to be slap dash merchants.
People will tell you otherwise and if you believe them thats fine, just wait as time will catch up with you and cost you money.
Trickydick:
You will find as a general rule trucks/trailers serviced/inspected on site wont get as good a job done as those in a workshop especially when the weather is pants.The guys will be able to do the work its just they wont have all the facilities of a workshop and TBH the mobile ones Ive come across tend to be slap dash merchants.
People will tell you otherwise and if you believe them thats fine, just wait as time will catch up with you and cost you money.
Definitely this and it won’t be cost of the repair but the couple of hundred quid callout charge for attending at the side of the road as well. Then you also risk getting a reputation with VOSA which will see your vehicles getting a higher chance of getting tugged at checkpoints.
there is ST Fleet services on lodge farm ind est Northampton, they are now owned by Truckeast. They would be worth a call to answer any questions you may have. 01604582199.