Daily checks

[chevy55]

I'm having a bit of a battle with my transport manager at the moment over the amount of time taken for daily checks. He says 15 minute minimum and if I move the vehicle within that time I have to start again. My argument is that it doesn't take 15 minutes to check a lorry over that I drive day in day out, I check as I go along during the day so apart from lights, tyres wheel nuts etc I'm twiddling my thumbs, or rather making coffee for 10 of those 15 minutes. The other thing is not moving the truck, how the fk do i check the tyres and under the truck for leaks if I don't move it? The manager who has zero knowledge of trucks and no CPC just goes off what the FTA tell him and insists it's 15 minutes at the start of day and 15 minutes at the end, this has to be shown on the tacho. Does anyone else have to do this or is my company making it up as they go along?

[DoubleD]

Pretty standard to be honest.

[Iva Barchetta]

I've never done end of day checks.

We load the next days stuff in the afternoon so will always notice if I've damaged anything.

Like when the rear number plate snapped in half completely unknown to me.

[italianjob1275]

I think the official DVSA line is "a small period of other work to show daily checks"

Obvious your gaffer reckons this is 15 mins. The last place I worked at insisted on this too.

I just used the time to browse PH!

[mp3manager]

10 to 15 minutes is the advised amount but if I pick up a unit, I spend 6 or 7 minutes checking it, then move across the yard to hook up my trailer....spend another 7 or 8 minutes hooking up and doing my checks. So then you have a total of at least 15 minutes of other work before leaving the yard, registered on your tacho.

A tacho print-out would confirm this to anyone with half a brain cell.

If it's already hooked up then it'll show a solid block of 10 to 15 minutes of other work.

There's no need to show a solid block of 15 minutes every time you pick up a unit, then a solid block of 15 minutes for hooking up a trailer.

But if you're paid by the hour anyway, just tell your TM you'll be doing at least 30 minutes of farting about in the yard, before leaving.

[chevy55]

Thanks for the replies, I usually drive an 8 wheeler and on occasions 4 or 6. I have no objection to the 15 minute check in theory but don't get this not moving it until the checks are complete, it seems the FTA don't live in the real world and make things up as they go along.

[leggly]

chevy55 said:

Thanks for the replies, I usually drive an 8 wheeler and on occasions 4 or 6. I have no objection to the 15 minute check in theory but don't get this not moving it until the checks are complete, it seems the FTA don't live in the real world and make things up as they go along.

Got it in one.

[Fun Bus]

chevy55 said:

I'm having a bit of a battle with my transport manager...The manager who has zero knowledge of trucks and no CPC

Not sure why he has the Transport Manager title without a CPC.

/pedant

[chevy55]

Fun Bus said:

Not sure why he has the Transport Manager title without a CPC.

/pedant

Someone else holds the CPC for the depot. A better title for him would probably be depot manager plus our company has some weird management titles for what are often non jobs

[s p a c e m a n]

Can you add it in manually??

[chevy55]

s p a c e m a n said:

Can you add it in manually??

No they want it all shown after the card is inserted

[All that jazz]

I've had this argument myself. The simplest way round it is to stick card in, do manual entry for 'other work' back to 15 mins ago and then ensure wheels are still round and lights work and off I go.

If they want 15 mins from card insertion then just do that, check wheels are still round and lights work then go and toss it off for the other 14 mins drinking coffee with your work pals.

As for 15 mins end of day - not a chance and not a legal requirement. Card switched to break and eject button pressed 3 times as soon as I'm parked up followed by a quick scribble of the end miles on the paperwork and I'm in my car 2 mins later after calling via the office.

Sounds like you work for one of the jobsworth logisics companies like DHL who love that kind of bullst.

edit: typos

Edited by All that jazz on Saturday 3rd September 16:25

[chevy55]

All that jazz said:

I've had this argument myself. The simplest way round it is to stick card in, do manual entry for 'other work' back to 15 mins ago and then ensure wheels are still round and lights work and off I go.

If they want 15 mins from card insertion then just do that, check wheels are still round and lights work then go and toss it off for the other 14 mins driving coffee with your work pals.

As for 15 mins end of day - not a chance and not a legal requirement. Card switched to break and eject button pressed 3 times as soon as I'm parked up followed by a quick scribble of the end miles on the paperwork and I'm in my car 2 mins later after calling via the office.

Sounds like you work for one of jobsworth logisics companies like DHL who love that kind of bullst.

Jobsworth company yes but to their credit we don't drive a truck with a fault and they would never force us to. As for the checks it's a workaround int he morning checking lights, tyres and wheel nuts, we have special clips fitted so we don't ever torque them ourselves and checking general security of the truck which takes all of 3-5 minutes, rest of the time is coffee and a dump. Finish check is quick walk round checking tyres and lights, then check in to the office and come back out and remove card and go home.

Edited by chevy55 on Saturday 3rd September 16:18

[clarkmagpie]

We ask for visual checks but don't specify a time.
Lights, wheel nut indicators, fluid levels.
Just the basics.

Still, when they report a water leak in middle of the day and we ask them to check the header tank level, some do ask where the header tank is.
Well the tank hasn't moved since you checked this morning...

Some drivers!

[All that jazz]

clarkmagpie said:

We ask for visual checks but don't specify a time.
Lights, wheel nut indicators, fluid levels.
Just the basics.

Still, when they report a water leak in middle of the day and we ask them to check the header tank level, some do ask where the header tank is.
Well the tank hasn't moved since you checked this morning...

Some drivers!

I gave up physically checking coolant level years ago around the time when they stopped you from physically checking the oil. If there's a problem with either then it'll come up on the dash and if it doesn't then it's your problem the sensors don't work properly, not mine.

[clarkmagpie]

Do they ask you to check but you just don't?
I know a large proportion of ours probably don't check but they fill out a sheet saying they have!

[chevy55]

clarkmagpie said:

We ask for visual checks but don't specify a time.
Lights, wheel nut indicators, fluid levels.
Just the basics.

Still, when they report a water leak in middle of the day and we ask them to check the header tank level, some do ask where the header tank is.
Well the tank hasn't moved since you checked this morning...

Some drivers!

I drive a Volvo FM and It's very difficult to check the water especially if dark and you can't top it up anyway without tilting the cab, but then they don't use water unless there's a fault, oil can be physically checked but I go off the dash read out and TBH I've never put oil in any Volvo in 40 years of driving them, a bit complacent but you get plenty of warning if the level drops as I found out when the sump plug fell out one day and dumped every bit of oil on the road.

Edited by chevy55 on Saturday 3rd September 18:46

[All that jazz]

clarkmagpie said:

Do they ask you to check but you just don't?
I know a large proportion of ours probably don't check but they fill out a sheet saying they have!

Well, I'm self-employed so will often get different trucks depending on who I'm driving for. If it's a truck I haven't had before then I give it a reasonably thorough once over before moving it just to get an idea of the state it's in. But even self-employed I can often find myself driving the same truck all the time so I approach it like I would with my own car, ie. check stuff over and make a mental note of stuff like tyre tread getting low then basically revert to giving things a quick check over when I feel the need to. I don't check the oil, water and tyre tread/pressures on my car every day so if I've driving the same truck all the time (not double shifted) then I don't see any need to there either. It's served me well for the past 20 years or so, so can't be going far wrong. If someone else has had it in between times then I definitely give it a once over for any obvious tyre or panel damage, which given the increasing numbers of Eastern European's who can't drive for st, has saved my bacon from being charged for damage on quite a number of occasions now.

And yes, of course I check "yes" to all the boxes on the run sheet! Every company knows that it's a complete waste of time as drivers don't even read it, but it looks like the company is complying with the rules should they get an inspection.