unfit fleet vans

[scott_evo]

I work for a company where they have a fleet of vans on the road and before you take a van out your required to do van checks before taking a van out on the road. However, this doesn't happen. To put it bluntly, the vans aren't roadworthy and the company (which is obscenely large) refuses to fix certain items on the van which although it might not deem the vehicle to not be road legal, it then becomes a health and safety hazard also.

Managers are more interested in getting the deliveries out than ensuring the health and safety of the drivers.

Where would I be able to (preferably anonymously) report all these vehicles to allow the law have a field day with them and hopefully actually have them fixed properly?

Thanks in advance.

[scott_evo]

Fozziebear said:

I'm guessing vosa, but if they are out on the road I'm thinking the drivers will get hammered, do you want your work colleagues done?

preferably not they're not always on the road, for example, first thing in the morning they're not BUT if they had to fail and hit one of your loved ones, who would you blame? The company or the driver who didn't defect a van when he should've?

NinjaPower said:

Maybe try ringing VOSA? I would have throught they would be able to help or at least point you in the right direction.

I feel your pain though, no doubt someone will come along and say "refuse to drive the vans" or "report it to your manager" when the reality is that anyone who complains to management or refuses to drive is marked out as a troublemaker and eventually fired for some spurious reason.

VOSA I think will be getting a shout. Yeah well after a spat with a manager, I'll be refusing to drive the vans and defecting the vans. As for the managers, they can deal with the fall out.

Edited by scott_evo on Wednesday 22 February 22:06

[scott_evo]

lucido grigio said:

If they were HGVs DVSA would throw a very large book at the company.

Sadly they're LGV's, It's like a Grocery home delivery van. e.g. Tesco/Asda

[scott_evo]

Fozziebear said:

The drivers should be defecting the vehicles, if they can't stand up to the manager for safety it's a sorry state of affairs. I understand they need to earn a living, but if they did kill someone they would be screwed as companies have procedures that they would have signed, the manager would just hold it up and point blame at driver.

unfortunately, its more of a 'don't care, it runs' rather than a 'I'm not defecting it because I don't like the manager'. I've already previously defected vans for them to end up back on the road with the same faults still occurring.

[scott_evo]

55palfers said:

Does your company have an inspection checklist and a defect report form when vans go u\s?

If not, ask why?

Both mate, just some drivers have the 'the next guy can deal with it, I finish in 10 minutes' mentality

[scott_evo]

sorry for the delayed reply, the vans are not red are in actual fact blue. I'm a time served mechanic and was for nearly 10 years before joining this company so I'd like to think I'm fairly confident I can defect a van

having had a fight an an issue last night with the van I was given, I eventually put it off the road, bulbs out (no bulbs to replace bulbs fitted (not legally allowed by the company to fit the bulbs as as far as they're concerned I've not been trained to do so)), brake warning light on, reverse guide lights missing, a step to help you reach the top of the racking was missing which is a health and safety fault. There were a few other reasons too but it doesn't really matter what they were you get the point

[scott_evo]

this is a copy of the van checks we are expected to do, please if you recognise these or the company, refrain from posting the company

[scott_evo]

egor110 said:

The bit about not being allowed to change bulbs , we were told it's down to somehow somebody put a bulb in wrong and it was short circuiting.

He was coming down a dual carriageway the headflights flashed a car pulled out of a junction and there was a serious crash , so from now on we're not allowed to change bulbs.

oh I understand that the company doesn't want the responsibility if I make mess of it! That's why regardless of my experience I refuse to do it. With that said, when its a £150 call out charge, there SHOULD be bulbs to replace them if they are requiring replacing.

[scott_evo]

Just a quick update, put the first van off the road, spoke to my manager and have got him agree to allow me to check all the vans and defect any that have issues and discipline anyone that hasn't defected it without a bloody good reason.

slowly but surely getting a manager to work on this, if this doesn't happen VOSA will be phoned come first chance.

I can't stress enough that I don't think this is a company wide thing, I fear this is more just at this one location..