On Friday by, our lovely local Vosa Weighbridge was open at Castle Kennedy A75. Anyways to cut a very long story short a PL plated foreigner with a scruffy old 4 series Scania and empty fridge trailer must have been a bad boy. He was parked up, with green cord around rear wheels/trailer body 3 miles away in what can only be described as the A77 - Cairnryan Road (Just as you leave Stranraer heading towards Cairnryan) in a Lay-By with no facilities close by whatso-ever. Nearest toilet would be, if allowed, at the very small garage across the road, which has no cleaning facilities (Showers or Washing Machine). Apart from that the nearest available toilet within a very short distance but yet still a 15 mins walk would be a public toilet (20p a shot - Which I doubt he would have) or the local Morrisons between opening hours. As for showering facilities well the nearest & dearest would be the 2 x local ports 7 miles away but they wouldnt just ALLOW you to wander in. Anything for food AGAIN would be a min 15mins walk into Stranraer (Most Johnny Foreigners stock up but still…)… Would they have even cared for his health wether he was on medication etc? Anyways its now Monday 14.00pm and the poor bugger still there corded up… As much as I dis-like the smelly foreigners, surely parking a man up, doesnt matter wether its me, you or Paul The Pole, 15-20mins from any facilities is a tad harsh for 3days+…
If the foreigner had just come off or was going to the boat for a sailing should have the VOSA contacted either Stena or P&O to ask for suitable parking facilities and the shipping companies could have charged any parking fees to the companies a/c or were they right to just leave him?
Or perhaps if he hadn’t been running bent, he could have taken his rest period somewhere that suited him instead of trying to get somewhere else illegally.
Although I do admit if it was a shoplifters or burglar etc, they probably would have been ensured of their basic human rights, that were denied to the driver you seen parked up.
100% true and this will be more or less what all the replies will be… BUT the question wasnt wether he was right or wrong in running bent and/or whatever he done to get parked up… The question is has Vosa overlooked the mans basic Human Rights?
scottishcruiser:
100% true and this will be more or less what all the replies will be… BUT the question wasnt wether he was right or wrong in running bent and/or whatever he done to get parked up… The question is has Vosa overlooked the mans basic Human Rights?
i’d say yes they have, if he has just been left there.
the likes of hamza and qatada certainly never seemed to go without. think its about playing the system and knowing how to make it work for you.
Like you said he was only 15-20mins away from facilities…He can skip having a wash for a few day’s he ain’t going to die…or catch disease…Then again he may stuff in his truck for having a wash…i used to carry stuff…and plenty of food…
Tuff ■■■■■ run legal…Then again did you actually see him…Was his curtains ever open…He might have been living it up down nick!!!
Think I’d rather be jailed for the period rather than left in the middle of nowhere with nothing around at least in prison you get meals, comfy bed and washing facilities.
Makes me laugh to think if I assaulted some one my punishment would be less severe than my punishment for running over time.
He was deffo there… Sure he had tghe whole Irish Sea to his left to bath, wash clothes and feed in… SOrry about this post, VOSA WERE thinking about him… LOL.
Surely if they’d lassoo’d him for insufficient rest, then he was free to dispose of his time, which might include catching a bus to the nearest population centre.
vosa and the police don’t get the rules right all the time.
i’ve been issued with two £200 fines.
the first was by the police for having just 7 hours rest. it was actually 11 hours and 1 minute. he told me that if he’d caught me the previous week, then he’d have parked me up for 24 hours.
the second was vosa, they said i’d worked 7 days without a weekly rest, this was untrue. i was still within 6, 24 hour periods.
the first fine was revoked about a week or so later, the second was revoked a few minutes later when his colleague pointed out that i was right and he was wrong.
However, i had the benefit of no language barrier, i also had the benefit of appealing. but johnny foreigner can’t do this. he pays up or stays put. judge and jury at the side of the road.
I don’t think i’d have been able to argue both fines with confidence if it wasn’t from reading up on the rules and regs on a regular basis, and using this site to clarify certain areas that can be interpreted in several ways.
scottishcruiser:
The question is has Vosa overlooked the mans basic Human Rights?
I’d say they have if they forced the driver to stay there, and not if the driver was free to go where he likes.
What he said. ^
If there was something dangerously wrong with the truck, drivers hours etc etc it would apparently be kept there until repaired or recovered, and why not!
