Just been working for a chap driving c/e, Anyhow this chap is a one man band all the trucks are old tacho form and yes he is that type were he likes you to work 7 days. so he asked me to drive a truck today knowing it had an air leak from the compressor, so to build the air up you have to start truck release handbrake and put limiter on but do not touch pedals, then after around 5 mins the truck then starts to roll and bingo the air is up and your ready to go. WHAT!! i said im not driving that he said why, i said its a death trap maybe you chaps maybe able to enlighten me as i have only 12 months experience. also the truck has a slow puncture and a few off the wheel nuts on two of the wheels the nuts don’t go right down they are like half on as there is around half the thread showing on the nut but they was tight as i checked them. if i am over reacting this is what the forum is for but any air leak is a v, o ,r surely. anyhow would you drive it.
I wouldn’t work for him.
NO
while your able to walk away under your own steam and not be pushed around in a hospital bed due to the serious accident your surely going to have
WALK …
sweeper1gg:
Just been working for a chap driving c/e, Anyhow this chap is a one man band all the trucks are old tacho form and yes he is that type were he likes you to work 7 days. so he asked me to drive a truck today knowing it had an air leak from the compressor, if he asked you to put our head in a oven would you? so to build the air up you have to start truck release handbrake and put limiter on but do not touch pedals, then after around 5 mins the truck then starts to roll and bingo the air is up and your ready to go. WHAT!! i said im not driving that he said why did you end up driving the truck?, i said its a death trap maybe you chaps maybe able to enlighten me as i have only 12 months experience. also the truck has a slow puncture and a few off the wheel nuts on two of the wheels the nuts don’t go right down they are like half on as there is around half the thread showing on the nut but they was tight as i checked them. if i am over reacting this is what the forum is for but any air leak is a v, o ,r surely. anyhow would you drive it. not in a month of sundays, but that’s just me im sure some numpty would
Now that sounds just like things were back in the old days in fact some o the jobs I had that motor would have been the pride o the fleet. Eddie
The air leak is the least of my concerns in the above 
I thought vosa had done away with outfits like this,you would be brickin it when you was out and about ,sounds like its begging to be tugged 
It is possible it is roadworthy and would pass an MOT. It depends if it really is an air leak from the compressor or just a worn compressor which is generally ok and only a problem when starting out or doing a lot of shunting where you use a lot of air.
Wheel nuts sound like they may just have had some shorter replacement studs. This is bad practice if the reason they were replaced is a stud broke, as they should all be replaced, but again would still pass an MOT and would be more ok if the reason they were replaced was the thread got stripped during maintenance.
The slow puncture is not at all good and cannot be justified though and that alone is sufficient reason not to take it out but, I’m not really willing to condemn operators as dangerous based on what is posted here without actually seeing the vehicles.
Air leaks, slow puncture, loose wheel nuts… what else that you didn’t find… Sounds a tad like the truck needed TLC.
Matt Monroe that one… maybe he’s been wanting an Adele to work for him and if you get tugged by VOSA you’ll be a Britney Spears 
But I remember sing a thread on hear about some lad tugged by VOSA and they picked an issue with either compressor or a connecting valve, even though the driver did his walk around checks and didn’t notice any issue, the VOSA office said it was a maintenance issue and driver wouldn’t have noticed, then proceed to issue the driver a penalty notice…
I know some owner drivers would risk driving it as it benefits them directly. As an employee I would walk away. Maybe not for the current faults but for the future hidden faults that the owner quite frankly doesn’t give a ■■■■ about you.
Own Account Driver:
It is possible it is roadworthy and would pass an MOT. It depends if it really is an air leak from the compressor or just a worn compressor which is generally ok and only a problem when starting out or doing a lot of shunting where you use a lot of air.Wheel nuts sound like they may just have had some shorter replacement studs. This is bad practice if the reason they were replaced is a stud broke, as they should all be replaced, but again would still pass an MOT and would be more ok if the reason they were replaced was the thread got stripped during maintenance.
The slow puncture is not at all good and cannot be justified though and that alone is sufficient reason not to take it out but, I’m not really willing to condemn operators as dangerous based on what is posted here without actually seeing the vehicles.
Thanks for that info but i wasn’t willing to risk it be safe than sorry.
Regarding the wheelnuts - some of them might appear to be not done up as far as the others because of the way the wheel trims are fitted. On our Dafs, three (I think it’s three at any rate) of the nuts on each wheel also retain the wheel trims, so they don’t appear to be tightened all the way onto the studs.
you need to ask ? really ?
I worked for a company at heathrow as an agency driver for the day,they gave me a puddlejumper,i had to wait 3 hrs for the brakes to be repaired,and they then said this was my route for the day which was a number of drops in kent and then through the tunnel ending up in Norfolk with a few more drops,took the vehicle out and 5 min later bought it straight back threw the tacho disc on the desk and told him to shove it,the steering had a really bad shaking and when I braked I had to stand on them to stop the vehicle,they informed me it had just passed its M O T ,I argued with my agency for sending me there and they said they would sort it,next day a call from my agency to inform me that the company put it through another M O T and it failed,did not surprise me the company in question was hopes transport [no longer around]
bjd:
you need to ask ? really ?
+1
truckman020:
bjd:
you need to ask ? really ?+1
The chap thinks i over reacted as i didn’t drive it, but just to get some of your thoughts 
so if vosa stopped you and them faults were found what would the penalty’s be, as i have never had the privilege ?
sweeper1gg:
so if vosa stopped you and them faults were found what would the penalty’s be, as i have never had the privilege ?
Brakes, tyres and loading are the real danger areas from a driver’s point of view. Most maintenance failings will fall on operators provided daily checks have been done and nothing spotted.
Provided the tyre wasn’t looking dangerously soft, the wheel was actually secure and no air leak was audible it’s perfectly possible you would be waved through, in all likelihood.
sweeper1gg:
The chap thinks i over reacted as i didn’t drive it, but just to get some of your thoughts
What was his take when you refused to work seven days ?