Vehicle checks showing up on a Digi Card

UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUMS THE UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUM (INTERACTIVE)
61

dinosteveus1:
Hey Ditchlogic, don’t lose the plot. I asked a question, don’t wet your knickers over it, if you don’t feel the need to check your vehicle after a kip then good for you. For my own piece of mine I do a check of mine. What I asked was, do we have to do a check legally and if so does it need to be dine on the card. That’s been answered.
How you conduct your business is of no concern or interest to me, thanks anyway.

Me lose the plot? Your the one with a screw lose. I was merely commenting on your unwarranted angry tirade at Hombre, not your working practises and I have no interest in what you do check wise. In fact I usually avoid topics you’ve commented on because your completely nuts.

62

Wheel Nut:

switchlogic:

welder:
I dont think anybody here is saying you cant be on top of it, but they are saying that if things go breasts up you will be accused of not paying attention because you have no way of proving you did the checks. 10-15 mins at the start of a shift with the card in the reader on other work clears the ‘worry’, and kicks the lawyer in the knuts :slight_smile:

Walk around, paper work, brew, and a visit to the little boys room before setting off… 10-15 mins. Your covered. no problems

iain

So your saying filling in the daily check book means nothing? Like I said before I’d like to see a lawyer pin a non existent law on me.

You are a dip [zb] most of the time.

The non existent law is the fact that if you drive a vehicle (any vehicle, motorcycle, car or lorry) on the road with a defect, you will get done. End of

There are no laws in the land that say you must spend 15, 20 or 36 minutes walking around your lorry, but the law does say, that your vehicle must be roadworthy. If you don’t want to write a defect sheet out and spend a few minutes walking round your lorry, don’t come on here and complain that VOSA or the BAG took £120 off you for a bald tyre

Christ alive did you actually read ANY of my posts apart from that one before you posted that inaccurate pile of crap. Read my posts then come back and tell me my lorry is unroadworthy. As for calling me a dip ■■■■ I actually thought you were one of the better members on here, seems I really misjudged that one didn’t I. Just another arse with a chip on his shoulder.

63

I’m starting to think I’m the only sober one on here tonight.

64

I agree 100% Mr Nut. :sunglasses:

BTW Ditchlogic, how can you be so sure that nothings changed with your vehicle whilst you been sleeping?
I’m not getting into an argument with you, life’s too short for that Bollox. You do it your way if it floats your boat.

65

dinosteveus1:
I agree 100% Mr Nut. :sunglasses:

BTW Ditchlogic, how can you be so sure that nothings changed with your vehicle whilst you been sleeping?
I’m not getting into an argument with you, life’s too short for that Bollox. You do it your way if it floats your boat.

Yeah my tires have gone bald, all my wheel nuts have loosened and my bulbs have blown loads of times in my sleep. Scary.

66

I am so sorry Luke

My post was pointed at the RAF bloke rather than you. I have been to the pub so you could be more sober than me.

My post still stands though.

67

Wheel Nut:
I am so sorry Luke

My post was pointed at the RAF bloke rather than you. I have been to the pub so you could be more sober than me.

My post still stands though.

Ah ok but it was me talking about the non existent law! And yes I probably am as I’ve given up drinking!

68

Maybe we should just all agree to disagree here and just stick to the way we are doing things at present. My way hasn’t seen me get into bother and it would appear the same for Switch. So why worry. :laughing:

69

as far i’m concerned, on a regular truck and trailer the initial checks takes the time to walk or run if it’s cold, around the truck, if everything is ok, i don’t need to stop. i’m pretty fit but even the type that can steer with their gut must be able to lap an artic in a minute? as others have said then it’s an on going check throughout the day.

if ever challenged that i’d not done any checks, then i only have to demonstrate my lap in roughly the same time.

if a company want x amount shown then that’s what i’d do, they’re paying the wages.

luke - the downside of doing it your way, is that by living in your truck and doing on going checks, you’ll not be as close to a brick wall.

70

3 pages for a simple question !! There must be new drivers looking at this and thinking if they’re all arguing about it what chance of we got to know whats right !! There’s a pretty simple answer to most of this petty argument…
before you commence work you should of checked your equiptment and make sure its fit for use. Its no good getting pulled for a brake light out when you’ve shown no daily check on your records, the fact is (or would be) you never checked. Just do your checks and record it no matter what the briefs here say. It covers yourself if nothing else.

71

There is no requirement to show daily checks on your working time. It’s a nonsense that has been blown out of all proportion, mostly by MMTM type rumours. Anyone been fined/convicted for it? Most of the rumours stem from a company being investigated by VOSA and not being able to show sufficient system is place as regards vehicle maintenance and checks. VOSA and the government in general, love a paper trail. Hence this trend of NIL defect reporting that emerged a few years ago. Pointless paper has always keptthe civil service in employment, it’s surprising how easily it spreads to private industry. Anybody seen terry gilliam’ s “Brazil”?

If you’ve filled out a defect sheet to say you’ve checked the vehicle, then you’ve checked it, end of story. No questions asked. Nobody to say how long it takes.

Most of the stuff that the driver can be expected to pick up, could also occur at any point in your shift after the check. Such as a bulb failure, tyre defects or minor mechanical problems. It isn’t reasonable for example, for a driver to be crawling under his trailer in a shirt and tie, checking U bolts and corrosion, yet a VOSA man will do this at a checkpoint. It doesn’t pin anything on you. So get a grip, or get another job.

It’s completely un-enforceable, don’t any of you see? Even if a defect occurs that may result in a vehicle prohibition, it isn’t necessarily your fault, as failures do occur, so what the hell are you worried about? I’ve never known such flapping about nothing, such as that which is found among drivers.

You sign a piece of paper to say you’ve checked the lights (even if you haven’t), 10 miles down the road, a brake light fails. Who is to prove anything about under what cirumstances it occured, and when?

I’m starting to think I’m the only sober one on here tonight.

You’re a better man than I to be able to read all this nonsense sober.

A bus prefect (orange admin) badge, doth not a wise man make, evidently. Proved unto infinity by trucknet.

Drivers, be an independent thinker, read the rules (as written, not as interpreted) yourself, make your own mind up.

72

Never show checks on the card to much time is wasted that way, i get going first then put the card in once im down the road.

73

First thing I do is card in and manual entries. Then adjust seat and mirrors, sort all my stuff out. Five mins. Walk round check, tailift, lights, tyres, etc, note all the damage. Five mins. Fill all dhl’s paperwork in and check load plan against delivery notes, five mins. Apparently DHL want 15 mins of work, our lot say half hour, Coffeeholic’s lot don’t seem bothered. Get signed off, coffee, chat to shunter, roll towards the gate at dead on thirty minutes after starting. Some people spend nearly an hour on checks before going out, they must be servicing the bloody thing as well. I don’t know about the whole legal requirement thing but I see it as wise to have your card in on work whilst checking things over.

74

Thank god we got some sense from the typing Goose.

75

I think that part of the issue is that if you fill in the defect book (not a legal requirement) you should at least show that time and the time you allegedly spent checking the vehicle as other work on your tacho. It is a case of accounting for the time spent rather than a requirement to do it.
As the driver you are responsible for ensuring the vehicle is roadworthy. How you do that is not prescribed in law, and the pre-drive checks are only advice, albeit good advice in most cases.

Just my take on it :wink:

76

O’Reilly:
Never show checks on the card to much time is wasted that way, i get going first then put the card in once im down the road.

You put your card in once your down the road do you :open_mouth: :open_mouth:

77

starfighter:
First thing I do is card in and manual entries. Then adjust seat and mirrors, sort all my stuff out. Five mins. Walk round check, tailift, lights, tyres, etc, note all the damage. Five mins. Fill all dhl’s paperwork in and check load plan against delivery notes, five mins. Apparently DHL want 15 mins of work, our lot say half hour, Coffeeholic’s lot don’t seem bothered

They’re bothered, they’re just not excessively stupid about this sort of thing. We go in, get keys, we know what we are doing so no paperwork or notes to collect at that point. We go to the car park where the units are and stick digi cards in, manual entry for end of previous shift and start of current one. Quick check round of the vehicle, tyres, lights and drive along the road to the yard to get the trailer. Couple up and quick check of that, tyres, lights, then wait for the green light, one of us fills in the defect book while waiting but never mark down any defects until the end of the shift, unless we’ve just changed a bulb then we mark that as it looks as if we know what we are doing then. :wink: Collect the one bit of paper that goes with the load, trailer sealed and bugger off.

That’s it, no hoops to jump through, no nonsense about showing a certain amount of minutes for checks or anything else, no dramas, no making a big issue out of little things, no hassle. We are trusted to do what we have to do with no one constantly on our case. I’ve seen my boss three times this year and spoken to him on the phone a couple of times plus a few text messages when I have been booking a day off. All the stuff I see on here about DHL regarding rules and stuff is not the DHL I know or am employed by.

78

gardun:
I think that part of the issue is that if you fill in the defect book (not a legal requirement) you should at least show that time and the time you allegedly spent checking the vehicle as other work on your tacho. It is a case of accounting for the time spent rather than a requirement to do it.
As the driver you are responsible for ensuring the vehicle is roadworthy. How you do that is not prescribed in law, and the pre-drive checks are only advice, albeit good advice in most cases.

Just my take on it :wink:

Correct, but its a condition for the compliance of your operators licence that you should keep a written record of daily checks and make sure that a vehicle is roadworthy,(as far as is reasonable for a driver to check without a full MOT examination type check) before taking it out onto a public highway. Weather you actually do check your truck daily is up to the individual. Recording the time on your digi just helps back up your case if you get pulled by VOSA or whatever. The only law you are breaking by not showing it on your tacho is failing to record all of your working activities while on duty. :unamused:

79

Doesn,t all working time have to be recorded?

80

WildGoose:
There is no requirement to show daily checks on your working time. It’s a nonsense that has been blown out of all proportion, mostly by MMTM type rumours. Anyone been fined/convicted for it? Most of the rumours stem from a company being investigated by VOSA and not being able to show sufficient system is place as regards vehicle maintenance and checks. VOSA and the government in general, love a paper trail. Hence this trend of NIL defect reporting that emerged a few years ago. Pointless paper has always keptthe civil service in employment, it’s surprising how easily it spreads to private industry. Anybody seen terry gilliam’ s “Brazil”?

If you’ve filled out a defect sheet to say you’ve checked the vehicle, then you’ve checked it, end of story. No questions asked. Nobody to say how long it takes.

Most of the stuff that the driver can be expected to pick up, could also occur at any point in your shift after the check. Such as a bulb failure, tyre defects or minor mechanical problems. It isn’t reasonable for example, for a driver to be crawling under his trailer in a shirt and tie, checking U bolts and corrosion, yet a VOSA man will do this at a checkpoint. It doesn’t pin anything on you. So get a grip, or get another job.

It’s completely un-enforceable, don’t any of you see? Even if a defect occurs that may result in a vehicle prohibition, it isn’t necessarily your fault, as failures do occur, so what the hell are you worried about? I’ve never known such flapping about nothing, such as that which is found among drivers.

You sign a piece of paper to say you’ve checked the lights (even if you haven’t), 10 miles down the road, a brake light fails. Who is to prove anything about under what cirumstances it occured, and when?

I’m starting to think I’m the only sober one on here tonight.

You’re a better man than I to be able to read all this nonsense sober.

A bus prefect (orange admin) badge, doth not a wise man make, evidently. Proved unto infinity by trucknet.

Drivers, be an independent thinker, read the rules (as written, not as interpreted) yourself, make your own mind up.

Would you agree though, that doing checks and filling in the card would be classed as other work?

Therefore, by not showing it, you’re failing to record this on the tachograph, therefore open to a £2000 fine.

The fine is not for the vehicle checks, it’s for the tachograph recording offence.