Hiya all. Newbie c+e driver here although still stuck on rigid work. My question is how many of you guys do a walk around check in the morning when you away from the depot. Was parked at services the other week and I felt a right knob walking around my truck with a torch in the ■■■■■■■ rain at 6am when all the other drivers seemed to be just opening their curtains and driving off. Another question is on etiquette. When I have had to begin work at 4am etc, I have felt bad idling my engine on a quite lay by, services or industrial estate for 15 minutes while doing my checks as I was uncomfortable with waking other drivers up. Is it considered bad manners to idle for 15 min next to other drivers at ungodly hours?
Gotta make sure your load hasn’t been tampered with. Monday gets a full check, pull fire extinguishers out etc while the rest of the week gets a quick once over, check the tyres, the lights etc.
It annoys the crap out of me if you leave your truck idling at 4am. My Premium has the annoying habit of reving the ■■■■ off itself when its cold so I leave the engine till the last minute then move to the fuel pumps or somewhere where I’m not going to disturb anyone.
Why is your engine running for 15 minutes, if there is a need to do that for an air leak or other problems, then if stopped by D V SA, they will impound it and fine you.
Trampers do less checks as they know the vehicle.
There is nothing written in law to specify the time to check the truck, the checks are done in case of an accident, and the other work mode is selected, but there is no proof a check has been done.
Full check on my first shift, then throughout the day keep having a quick lookover, after a nightout usually just check kingpin, lights, suzies and tyres.
You feel a bit of a knob doing your checks while others around you just drive off. They’re the ones who are the knobs, they’re the ones whose tyres burst just up the road, whose wheels fall off and kill someone, who pull away and their trailers fall off because someone’s tampered with their fifth wheel etc…
Don’t feel a knob just feel comfortable and proud that you’re doing your job properly and aren’t a danger on the road, just keep going as you are and you’ll be fine.
You really don’t need to run your engine for 15 mins while doing walkaround checks. 
10 mins shown on my card mon 5 mins rest of the week 
Don’t forget every time you’re out of the truck you can be doing checks as faults etc can happen at any time 
Not on breaks though, you’ll get shot 
Thanks for the replies guys, it’s good to know there are still professional drivers out there
When I was tramping,after every stop mostly Lymm or Weatherby I would go round and feel the wheels for heat and eyeball the wheel nuts .Then only idle until the air was up to listen for air leaks and check nobody had pulled the pin when I was asleep and a basic check around,it’s your job to check it over.Even if I only went for wee in any of these places I always checked my fridge
I’m the same as you matey still fairly new to the game but I still do my checks every morning with out fail and it’s saved my bacon a few times. As for me letting it run I do the same as the other lad off to the pumps even if it’s just to the loo or a bottle of pop hope your Injoying matey
Beware of the phantom pin puller, some folks get a kick out of seeing a trailer ■■■ end up like the Titanic.
Loo or coffee stop, I check my nuts and pin in case it has been pulled.
Parked in a Rouen truck stop one night when on my way to Spain and when it was time to leave first thing it were ■■■■■■■ down royally so a quick look only at the chains on the loads and cursory glance at wheels, drove off but a while later on the motor way the truck started to wobble so decided to pull over when one of the drive wheels on the passenger side came off and started to overtake me running parallel to the hard shoulder luckily it rolls against the barrier and not into the carriageway and stopped while I was chasing it down the road, managed to get it back to the truck but the holes in both were oval and the studs knackered. Not good position to be in considering the width of the hard shoulder there and I had a wide load on to boot. MORAL … better to look a fool while doing checks than to look a bigger idiot chasing a wheel when it falls off ! 
Seems like the fitters had changed a couple of tyres without telling me and failed to torque the studs but my fault, employer was Richard Long so everything was my fault.
Put it on other work while doing your check and don’t start the engine until you are ready to build the air up and go.
Always do your checks, mate. Sod everyone else.
I’ve been pulled over by police doing a carriage of dangerous goods check and got a clean sheet off them. I also got out of some serious bother, because I do my checks , about two weeks ago.
You’ll feel more of an idiot having to explain to your boss why vosa have deemed your equipment unsafe.
Always do mine religiously, never once contemplated that anyone might find it humorous, and wouldn’t give a monkeys if they did. My truck, my responsibility.
Hardly a huge effort, even for the laziest so and so’s.
How come with all the mishaps occurring with HGV’s with bridge strikes, lost loads, back end shunts, wheels falling off etc etc not one Trucknet member (apart from me has owned up to dropping a bollock) so I must be the worst here. I envy you perfect people …
raymundo:
How come with all the mishaps occurring with HGV’s with bridge strikes, lost loads, back end shunts, wheels falling off etc etc not one Trucknet member (apart from me has owned up to dropping a bollock) so I must be the worst here. I envy you perfect people …
I think most of us have drop a bollock in our time, but I didn’t think this was the thread for it, I think there was one asking people to confess sometime ago.
Newbie7064:
Hiya all. Newbie c+e driver here although still stuck on rigid work. My question is how many of you guys do a walk around check in the morning when you away from the depot. Was parked at services the other week and I felt a right knob walking around my truck with a torch in the ■■■■■■■ rain at 6am when all the other drivers seemed to be just opening their curtains and driving off. Another question is on etiquette. When I have had to begin work at 4am etc, I have felt bad idling my engine on a quite lay by, services or industrial estate for 15 minutes while doing my checks as I was uncomfortable with waking other drivers up. Is it considered bad manners to idle for 15 min next to other drivers at ungodly hours?
First of all yes you do your checks. I once parked a wagon up one night, went home, came back the following day and doing my walk round checks noticed a bit of tread missing on the outer drive axle tyre. When the tyre fitter removed the tyre the bit of tread I’d actually seen was the only bit left on the wheel. Had I just jumped in, turned the key and driven off I would have had a blowout and it wouldn’t have been one but both tyres on that side of the drive axle due to the weight I was going to be running at.
And why the hell are you running the engine for 15 minutes when doing your walk round check? Other than checking it starts and its not belching out loads of crap I don’t run mine at all when doing my checks.
This is going to poke a few noses 
On tramping. I was always checking throughout the day without realizing or noting I was doing it. I didn’t have a list, or balls about, I just knew where to look. Didn’t make a meal, just habit, always looking at things as went about the job.
I looked over the thing in the eve whist stretching my legs. Nothing mental, just an excuse for a dally. In the morning, before leaving the parking, I did pretty much naff all compared to some - just checked oil, pin and had cursory look at the thing to make sure 14 wheels and basic security crap. Wasn’t a check really, just extras I couldn’t do during the day or things relevant to leaving it out of sight over night like the pin and oil/water.
The rest, well, day to day. Still signed the form. Let’s face it. A working bulb when you checked it at 0500 or bulb blown 0520 after you checked it, complete with signed PDI, a hide nor hair does not make by logic. It’s still buggered and with a tick in the box, it’s the same practical story if pulled over.
But then, it’s all down to judgement and not forgetting to look throughout the day ( a better way). Some forget. Hence your full on 747 mechanics on walk rounds staring at wheel nuts in the dark like confused dimwits.
Why would you idle a lorry for 15 mins in the dark surrounded by parked trucks by the way? I never ran it until I moved. I struck it up and left, unless empty layby and fancied the novelty of starting it early . Balls to the turbo warm up myth crap. They never got cooled down post use at tips by anyone, er, ever, so why worry in the morn. And modern lorries don’t even need it.
On day jobs, different story, did a full check over as new unit/trailer.
Cheers! Conor, over to you for a telling off
bubsy06:
Full check on my first shift, then throughout the day keep having a quick lookover, after a nightout usually just check kingpin, lights, suzies and tyres.
- 1, also after a night out add to that, load and diesel. I check and coolant the oil 2 or 3 times a week, old habbits die hard.
Newbie7064:
. Another question is on etiquette. When I have had to begin work at 4am etc, I have felt bad idling my engine on a quite lay by, services or industrial estate for 15 minutes while doing my checks as I was uncomfortable with waking other drivers up. Is it considered bad manners to idle for 15 min next to other drivers at ungodly hours?
The only time you have to idle the engine for ages at 4am, is when the driver parked next to you, has woken you up at 11pm the previous night when returning from the Pub, then by all means run you engine, and open your door with your radio turned upto 11 for as long you like. Otherwise a few minutes should be plenty for a modern diesel.
I would advise you not to leave your keys in your Truck especially with the engine running, EVER . The batteries should be suitably healthy, that you can check your lights without the need to have the engine running. The only times that the keys should be out of your sight/touch, is when you return them to the transport office or key store or whatever system your employer has. Also when you are tipping/loading, opening/closing doors or curtains, coupling/uncoupling trailers on your employers or a customers premises, if undertaking any of these activities on the side of the road, such as on an industrial estate, then pop the keys in your pocket, or when you visit a site with a key surrender policy during loading/unloading. I am amazed at the amount of times I see guys leaving trucks outside premises, idling or unlocked with the keys in the ignition, whilst they arrange access to the premises
there is nothing wrong with warming your engine up in the morning. 15mins is fine at 6 but at like 2am when everyone else is sleeping is not very respectful to others. However if you do it don’t get annoyed when others do it as well. Best place to park is with the fridge trucks or lay by.
It’s not good to start a truck up cold and start beating it down the road like you will see a lot of people do. If your worried about flattening your batteries with the lights on doing your checks then leave the lights till last and then check them.
Trucks have different size compressors on them so building your air up can take longer on some/older trucks and some trailers depending on the number of axles and if it’s on air or hydraulic suspension and what weight you have on it.