Before i start i would like to say i work from an outbase in severn beach near avonmouth & the main r.d.c is in Birmingham.
Anyway i start work at 05.15 every morning delivering on a set route to somerset & south wales, a total of 8 drops every day. Normaly when i arrive the night driver has arrived back from Birmingham in plenty of time for me to start work. Today 7/5/09 i arrive to find no truck on site so i ring the main r.d.c & was told about an accident on the m5 & that the night driver would be late back. At 06.20 he arrives back at the yard & as he’s reversing i notice theres no rear numberplate on the trailer. When i asked the driver where it was he said it was on there when he left Birmingham & off he went. I rang the r.d.c to inform them he was back & then told them i couldn’t leave as i had no rear numberplate. They told me to make one using cardboard. I said (1) no because it was illegal & (2) as it was raining it would just fall apart anyway. The reply was…so your refusing to take the truck out. I said yes but only because it’s not 100% legal.
Anyway to cut a long story short i got the impression they thought i was being over the top & causing them grief when there was no need to. They had to make some calls & i was told to get my ■■■ to a place in avonmouth to get a new plate. Only problem was it didn’t open untill 08.00. They decided to call in another company to take some drops off me so by the time i had taken the drops off & got the plate i didn’t leave untill 10.00. All in all not a good start.
Couple of questions
1…what would you have done?
2…Was i right or wrong■■?
3…does anyone know what exactly the law says on driving with a made up plate etc etc
Hmmmm a difficult one…
By the letter of the law your totally right, in practice as long as you have made the effort to make the vehicle identifiable 99.9% of enforcement officers would turn a blind eye. But there is always the one…
personally I would have asked the question, “Its not 100% legit, if I follow your advice and put a temp plate made out of cardboard in, and I meet the 0.1%, will you back me and carry the can?” If they say yes, then go for it, if no be awkward.
Rikki-UK:
personally I would have asked the question, “Its not 100% legit, if I follow your advice and put a temp plate made out of cardboard in, and I meet the 0.1%, will you back me and carry the can?” If they say yes, then go for it, if no be awkward.
You did the right thing, why can anyone get arsey with you for not wanting to breaking the law. Iam lucky that my firm operate within the law to the letter i.e. if I was at a rdc on a friday aft and I discovered i hadnt a number plate and made one out of cardboard my firm would put me on a disaplinery for breaking the law.
it is illegal to drive without a trailer plate, as far as i am aware, if you make a plate out of cardboard, you are admitting the offence because the cardboard plate does not meet the required standard.
in my opinion, it is far better to drive without the plate than with a temparary made up one, you can always use the excuse “it must have fallen off whilst i was driving officer”
hi mate i worked for a trailer rental company and it was there policy never take a trailer out without a plate on if the truck did not have one would have to use a other truck that as one or have one made up by a firm
this is from DVLA
Number Plates must be easy to read and meet the British Standard.
l Lettering should be black on a white plate at the front and a yellow at the rear.
l The background surface should be reflex-reflecting but the characters must not.
does a cardboard number plate meet the above i think not you did the right thing mate
Id have taken i out, and just pleaed ignoance if got caught, or pinched another number plate, off another trailer and wrote in marker pen, as Rikki says youd be very unlucky to get done for it.
I suppose you were technically right, but in my opinion a bit over the top. There seems very little can do attitude amongst drivers these days and if I was in the office when you rang I’d have probably just laughed at you.
switchlogic:
I suppose you were technically right, but in my opinion a bit over the top. There seems very little can do attitude amongst drivers these days and if I was in the office when you rang I’d have probably just laughed at you.
But after you’d finished laughing would you of agreed to pay his fine for him?
Technically you were right 110% Sounds like the company did’nt see it you’re way, maybe a bit OTT but as is also said making a plate up you might aswell put a big sign on trailer informing the authorities of the facts…
Tech u were right, but OTT, sure report the plate missing, and go out, in the very unlikely event of getting a pull, tell em it either fell of or some scrote must have nicked it (Works well in Liverpool that one)…
Bosses happy, you are left alone, all fine tomorrow…
as all above 110% right but i would have ripped the one off the back of the unit and used that one but only after i had told the office the other guy did it
switchlogic:
I suppose you were technically right, but in my opinion a bit over the top. There seems very little can do attitude amongst drivers these days and if I was in the office when you rang I’d have probably just laughed at you.
But after you’d finished laughing would you of agreed to pay his fine for him?
switchlogic:
No I’d have just sent him home. Sure there are plenty out there desperate for a days work.
Then you really do not desreve drivers of integrety do you. How much does a plate cost when weighed against a fine(for the driver) the ill will and bad mouthing to customers, clients and the enforcement agencies. How is tyler wrong to bring a defect to the attention of the company, and how are you right to ignore a legal requirement?
I didn’t mean he was wrong to bring it to the attention of the company. It was early in the morning, nowhwere to get a new plate, a run needs to be done and that maybe he should have just got on with it was my point.
As an aside, a friend has been working in Gist Thornbury as a shunter in agency recently. One of their employed drivers from Thatcham came in with a trunk. When he noticed a headlamp bulb was out he refused to drive back to Thatcham till it was fixed. It was 2am and DAF had to come out. I can’t begin to imagine the expense.
Lots of you moan about jobsworths without realising your becoming the very same.
Faced with that situation in the past I’ve unscrewed the one from the unit and used that, faced with that situation in the future that’s what I will do again.
