Lorry and Commercial Drivers
If you think that long-distance lorry drivers or sales reps have it easy, sat behind the wheel all day driving the length and breadth of the country, think again. Road accidents are the number one killer of workers in the UK, with work vehicles involved in over 54,000 crashes every year, or 150 per day, according to the GMB.
“Long hours of working drivers, a lack of regular breaks and unnecessarily tight deadlines all lead to dangerous driving conditions in many occupations,” says John McClean, GMB national safety officer. This was evidently the case in 2001 when a driver fell asleep at the wheel of his Land Rover and careered off the M62 at Selby onto a railway line, causing the deaths of 10 people and 76 injuries as the train ploughed into his car and derailed.
The GMB estimates that 1-in-4 of all road fatalities involve a driver whilst at work.
And some gaffers STILL expect people to work for about 6 quid an hour
finally in 2008 theve clicked on .if people are treated worse than cattle .
driver fatigue kicks in . those immortal words just take your nine off .after another 15 plus shift . (well wheres the parking) do it for a week your tired do it for a few months .your barely alive by the time you get home
penny might have dropped but nothing will get done. It’s only like what the lords found the other day in their survey immigrants are draining the country but the goverment don’t want to know. While ever they get their taxes and the second house it’s f### the rest off us.
The Land Rover driver that crashed at Selby was later found to have been texting and talking to his girlfriend all night prior to driving along the M62 if i recall correctly.
The GMB estimates that 1-in-4 of all road fatalities involve a driver whilst at work.
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So therefore by their own figures 3 in 4 fatalities DONT involve a driver at work
Whilst i dont condone driving while tired most professional drivers should be able to recognize the signs and act accordingly. i.e. take a break or have a kip etc etc
So what do we tell the boss when the phone rings, and you tell him just got on the bed boss, felt a bit tired !!!
One day those who govern, will realise that we work far too many hours, in fact for many…over 70hrs a week…
And one day…they may suggest a 48 hr week…maximum…which means from signing on…to signing off as your working day…and not use times loading/unloading as time not working and deduct it from the working day…
oh dear…there i go …dreaming again…
truckyboy:
and not use times loading/unloading as time not working and deduct it from the working day…
Think you’ll find Time Loading and unloading is NOT deducted from your working day
It’s time that your waiting to be loaded or unloaded thats deducted, a big difference if Vosa inspected your tacho and you’d been seen to be assisting with the loading and unloading
We all get a bit tired from time to time & with current traffic volumes even blinking can be dangerous but with timed deliveries there is always the pressure to crack on, I always pull over when tired, sometimes a walk around the lorry will put me straight again, sometimes I dive on the bed for a quick snooze, but I will never ever put my life at risk just so that some supermarket can have their 20th load of whatever on time, better to be late than upside in a ditch, a call to the boss saying that you’re going to be late SHOULD allow them to phone the customer & advise them, yeah I know that it won’t go down to well & you could even be sacked by some but you have to ask yourself how much use you’ll be to your family when they’re carrying you into a hearse?
A load of bollox really, that’s why there are so many accidents & people racing around like a lunatic, all this just in time malarky should really be called just in time to get to your destination & wait for 2hrs to be tipped.
Davey D…i make you right…but…thats just what our company wants…i even contacted VOSA about it, and told them that our company expects you to put the mode switch onto bed whilst on a bay loading/unloading…unless of course you are in the back…then it goes onto other work. Or we may use the POA application…Problem is…we never know in advance hoe long its going to take…we load from farms/packhouses and quite often we pull onto an empty bay…and they load 2/3 pallets and then we wait for the rest to be packed…and on average we are normally only on the farm for 30mins…
Well VOSA said its not illegal to take a break on a bay…my arguement with my company is whilst having my break on a bay…whilst the farmhands go and have their sandwiches and a cuppa…is not my break…and have complained that after leaving a farm…i go and get something to eat…
heres an example…me and another driver got called into the office…for a telling off…the MD offered us a coffee…and between the conversation…she asked what mode my tacho was on…i told her bed
she asked the other driver what mode his tacho was on he said other work
so she went into one…she pointed out to him that both trucks were on the loading bay…both sets of keys were in the office…we were drinking coffee in her office…so how could he justify being on other work…so he told her the truth…because he wasnt free to do what he pleases…it wasnt free time…he was still on duty…she didnt like it…
Next issue relates to ( the same driver) who said he had overworked his hours…averaging 65/70 hrs a week and breaking the WTD rules on a 48 hr week…he reminded them that he was owed time off…So when they gathered all his tacho charts together…and deducted from them the breaks shown…he only averaged 46 hrs a week…therefore not owed any time off …
Apparently…this ruling depends on the fact that we are paid a salary…and are not on hourly rate…so i think each company interprets the rules to their own liking…which is why we should be counting our working day from the time we clock on…or tacho in…to the time we clock off…and thats a true working day…
Why did they bring out the POA rule…its still time not counted on your working day…and doesnt benefit us at all…but our company still tries to get us to use it as against the bed mode…i guess most drivers use this mode to satisfy their own needs…me included…but we all know that those who make the rules do not do it to help the drivers…its all in favour of the haulier…the simple answer is to unify the rates…a minimum rate per mile…governed by law…£2.50 would be nice to start with…and fining hauliers who work for below this rate…and then a driver would have a good working weekly wage…decent working conditions…and a family life…but we all know this will never happen…
truckyboy:
r…the simple answer is to unify the rates…a minimum rate per mile…governed by law…£2.50 would be nice to start with…and fining hauliers who work for below this rate…
The French used to have this years ago they had a set margin where you couldn’t ‘undercut’ if work was short or you couldn’t ‘overcharge’ if work was abundant ( x amount of francs either way).
I think it was all scrapped back in about '92 with the advent of ‘the free-for-all’.
I remember when tachos first came in you couldn’t work for more than 13 hrs a day. Daily driving for artics was 8hrs no extensions the rules all changed in 1986 to allow reduced daily rests etc. (I think it was the french that lobbied for the change as they were on a fixed tariff )
Edit: I’ve just looked it up. It was called a bracket tariff (23%) and applied to all 8 EEC countries so a load agreed by EEC trade costing 100f could be no more than 123f and no less than 77f. Britain however never recognized it.
what did the wtd do for most of us …nothing poa,s dont make me laugh ! THE HOURS HAVE BEEN DESIGNED TO MAKE US THINK WE ARE WORKING LESS 15 HOUR SPREAD NO POINT GOING HOME IS THERE
(well wheres the parking) 
do it for a week your tired do it for a few months .your barely alive by the time you get home
