Turned up for work to find day driver brought back trailer with broken lights see pic, tail light was smashed so he took of lens for fog light and taped it to bumper where tail lights lens should be, company wanted me to drive the truck out the yard 300k to Manchester on the night trunk, if stopped i had to make up some story it must of happened on route lol, i said no and did not drive the truck, got sent home with no pay, same day driver drove it to Manchester following day ? he is the hero i’m the trouble maker 
Should have done and would have done here are two very distinct differences. Should have is exactly what you did, you obeyed the law, you weighed up the risks and quite rightly refused to take the thing. Would have differs from person to person tbh,
I for example in that scenario would’ve asked whoever was sending you to put it on headed notepaper with their name and signature on it. I’d do that in full confidence that “suddenly” it wouldn’t be so vitally important that it went.
Luckily I work for a company that greatly values it’s green light OCRS score so wouldn’t be put in that position.
Edit to add; after looking at the picture again I’ll say that if I’d caused that damage down the road then I’d have no problem whatsoever driving it back with them repairs. That’s not what you asked however, you were asked to TAKE IT OUT like that, you made the right call imo.
I’d have done the same mate is he going to pay the fine when you get pinged for it!!? No soon as the guano hits the fan the umbrellas will come straight up! Or As maoster says get them to put their name to it!
Why no pay?
You were available for work but they didn’t have anything legal for you to do.
I would of done the same. The yard i mainly run out of have there own workshop and a stock of spares so if theres ever a problem i drive to the workshop and get it fixed, or if theres no-one there, and i can, then il change/fix small things on my own.
On a side note if i had it in writing that my employer would pay all fines then i proabably would of driven it like it was.
The no pay bit ■■■■■ though, specially seeing as its not your fault.
You were quite right buddy. Even if the damaged light is legal you have an ilegal fog light. Good idea to take pictures then if it goes to a disiplinerery hearing you have evidence to back you up.
Blimey im driving around with a rear trailer light cluster cover with the two top clips broke and held on firmly and securley with bungee chord.
No broken, lenses though.
Bit to much fear of VOSA/DVSA these days, or am I being too cynical. Probably only get a delayed prohibition max and a dry ■■■■■■■ of course.
As mentioned the woulda, shoulda aspect comes in and I agree with maoster, written confirmation / ■■■ covering should be requested, my parting shot would be that I was informing VDSA of this with photo evidence…
Lots of these companies doing night trunks are the same. They seem to think you can get away with it because its night time and VOSA aren’t out. Well yes they bloody well are as a guy at a pallet network firm I used to do work for until this week found out when he got a tug up near Carlisle at 11pm and was asked to open his curtains on his double decker to show the load strapped down.
I now no longer am willing to drive for said firm because it was an endless string of stuff being broken, drivers not reporting it and being expected to get on with the job with the vehicle or trailer as it was. Worst was a yellow airline almost severed through and the attitude was it was going in for service the following Thursday so it would get fixed then. The regular driver had already done a night trunk with it like that over the A66 with a double decker. 
Like maoster I drive for a company which is a green light company and values that. Last night the trailer I picked up for my night trunk had a small 4 inch tear in it which looks like it happened during loading. It got taken to the garage and repaired before it left the yard. 15 minute delay, that was all. There’s no need to be running around in crap like that trailer.
Dipper_Dave:
Blimey im driving around with a rear trailer light cluster cover with the two top clips broke and held on firmly and securley with bungee chord.
No broken, lenses though.Bit to much fear of VOSA/DVSA these days, or am I being too cynical. Probably only get a delayed prohibition max and a dry ■■■■■■■ of course.
Its a bit of that and a bit of the fact there’s really no need for it and for a lot of drivers being expected to go around with bits of tape and bungee cords holding your truck together got old years ago. Your light cluster would take all of 10 minutes to change, 30 minutes if it was being a pig and the screws/bolts needed drilling out. It would take less time to change the light than it would to load it. There’s really no need to be sending them out like that.
Absolutely right to do what you did (even with the bodge job there is white light showing), only thing I would suggest with perfect 20/20 hindsight is that you could have filled in a defect form to cover yourself then taken it straight to a place of repair before carrying on?
I’ve been in the same situation once, wagon had oil leak, refused to take it out, but as always theres always somebody else who’ll take it 
making you look like a z/b
dreamlands2001:
I’ve been in the same situation once, wagon had oil leak, refused to take it out, but as always theres always somebody else who’ll take it
Yep the brass always favour the bod with the “can do” attitude. Do they agree to pay any fine IF the driver gets tugged? Course not.
Had a similar situation today. Front dipped beam out, someone had filled the lorries spare bulb kit out with the wrong type of bulb, no spare headlight bulbs at depot so couldn’t fix it. I had a choice … either risk getting tugged for a headlight out or unload the lorry and reload on to 3 x 7.5 tonners meaning 2 extra drivers plus serious delays. If I’d done that it would have been a huge black mark against me so I had to just go with it and pretend the bulb was fine when I left and had only just blown ten minutes ago if I got stopped.
All worked out ok (as in I didn’t get stopped) but it was a serious case of don’t rock the boat mate. What do you do? risk a fine or risk being seen as a trouble maker?
I honestly sympathise with your situation there Ched and like you I live in the real world where unpalatable things sometimes must be done, but I’ll tell you something my fleet engineer told me; he reckons that on our vehicles a blown bulb warning comes up on the dash and is stored, apparently DVSA can access that information which can give the “must’ve just blown” excuse a good kicking when it shows that you left the yard that way! Dunno if that’s true, but food for thought.
What would you do then when out on the road yourself and your light gets broken like the picture. Park up there and then in some grotty Ind estate, RDC, ETC and wait for a fitter. Seems the night trunk lad has improvised.No mention about him running around illegal. Each to there own. If its suits you fine, if not don t.
Im not driving for living, but if it was:
I would have asked permission in writing from the boss, taken a picture, and off i go. IF not then POA.
We don’t live in a perfect world, but we must do all we can to keep it as close to being perfect as we can.
rocketsquadron:
What would you do then when out on the road yourself and your light gets broken like the picture. Park up there and then in some grotty Ind estate, RDC, ETC and wait for a fitter. Seems the night trunk lad has improvised.No mention about him running around illegal. Each to there own. If its suits you fine, if not don t.
There is a difference between making a bodge repair to get you home and knowingly taking a vehicle/trailer out of your yard at the start of a shift that’s damaged.
Pretty obvious really, but I guess you are the sort of hero mentioned in the op.
i would have fixed it, made the fog light as should be. then just to show willing sanded and sprayed the bumper so it looked nice 
A hero? no sorry to disappoint your opinion. So its ok to run around with the bodge job then. But i would take the trailer to the nearest place of repair if the yard had no facilities.
rocketsquadron:
A hero? no sorry to disappoint your opinion. So its ok to run around with the bodge job then. But i would take the trailer to the nearest place of repair if the yard had no facilities.
The op wasn’t asked to take it to a place of repair, he was asked to do a shift with it. A big big difference I’m sure you’ll agree?
tail light was smashed so he took of lens for fog light and taped it to bumper where tail lights lens should be
So effectively you didn’t have a fully functioning fog light… i.e. missing the lens, did the day driver report the damage to the TM and make a note in the defects log book for was that to much to ask…What arrangements had the TM made to get this repaired before being sent out
Surely if VOSA/DVSA /Police…etc etc tugged you they would argue that the plastic wrap around is distorting the vision of the brake light thus making it a danger to other road users… then you get a whacking fine…
Should have been offered an alternative trailer to take or robbed a lens off another trailer… 
leaving the head ache with your TM
Refusing to go out with it was the best thing to do at the end of the day… your licence and would the company have paid the fine if you had taken it out broken and got tugged