Horseboxes & Breakdown services a little note to remember....

[dressagecrazy]

I had a bit of a disaster at the weekend, my Lorry went in for it's anual Plating. Now on the way there i said to my Dad (who very kindly does all the maintenance & came with me) that my breaks felt spongy.

There wasnt much we could do, so we still went to the testing station, as predicted my spongy breaks did fail us. In my usual lucky style one of the back break pipes had sprung a leak, you couldnt even find the break on the pipe when it was over the pit, but it was there we later found it on removal.
Can only happen on test day can't it & to me atm im not blessed by the lucky stick!!!!

So truck failed & then i was issued a Prohibition Notice as well, never had one of these before so a big learning curve.
This no meant that the truck couldnt be driven home (or anywhere until notice is lifted), i said thats fine & rung my break down company only to be told they couldnt pick up if the vehicle had a Prohibition notice. ( it is in there small print & i later found it).
So £200 later (it was a Saturday & the only other quotes where over £400) i got my truck back home where my Dad has now fixed it & re-test booked for tomorrow.


However on talking to the Vosa Officials ( iwas there a while & they wernt busy) they informed me that a Prohibition notice can be served anywhere. So say you broke down on the Motorway & Vosa toddled up (as you know there are many mobile units about now) they could issue a Prohibition notice depending on how serious they believed the problem to be.

So basically once served a Prohibition Notice you would not be covered by some (mabe all i don't no) Breakdown services.

Im now looking around for a better company to do my breakdown cover & hopefully one who will still move a truck if a Prohibition notice is served.

Just thought it's worth letting others know as i have been quite worried by this!!

 

[dressagecrazy]

Oh & i was questioned during the start of the test as they where trying to get me to say i transported horses.

Ive never experienced anything like it during a test, & for the record i don't transport & never have transported anyone else's horses but my own. I actually had to get quite strong with the guy testing as it was upsetting me.

 

[Booboos]

What a nightmare! Thank goodness you didn't have horses in there! I had no idea about the prohibition notices and their effect on breakdown, but VOSA seem to be going nuts with their power at the moment.

 

[Abbeygale]

What a nightmare. My lorry is just coming up for test at the end of next week - I now make my dad take it through, as the bleddy thing seems to fail every time I take it to the test centre!!!

So with the prohibition notice - does that mean you will have to have the lorry transported back to the test centre to be re-tested?

VOSA are a PITA to be honest, and they have powers to do almost anything they like, it seems.

Good luck with the re-test

 

[dressagecrazy]

What a nightmare. My lorry is just coming up for test at the end of next week - I now make my dad take it through, as the bleddy thing seems to fail every time I take it to the test centre!!!

So with the prohibition notice - does that mean you will have to have the lorry transported back to the test centre to be re-tested?

VOSA are a PITA to be honest, and they have powers to do almost anything they like, it seems.

Good luck with the re-test

You have to ring the number provided when you get issued a Notice, they will then lift the notice to enable you to travel to the test station.

If you are found driving the vehicle anywhere other than the test station on that day you will then be fined & possibly end up in Jail!!

 

[Abbeygale]

Ah I see - that makes sense! Thx

 

[RobinHood]

Our lorry failed 2 years in a row for having no back brakes at all and despite having a prohibition notice both times we were allowed to drive it home at 30mph max.

Something else to remember about breakdown services is that they're not obliged to take dogs. Having been left stood on the hard shoulder of the M3 with 4 dogs (one of which is very elderly and scared of traffic, and a 9wk old puppy) it's something I'm very aware of!

 

[dressagecrazy]

Our lorry failed 2 years in a row for having no back brakes at all and despite having a prohibition notice both times we were allowed to drive it home at 30mph max.

Something else to remember about breakdown services is that they're not obliged to take dogs. Having been left stood on the hard shoulder of the M3 with 4 dogs (one of which is very elderly and scared of traffic, and a 9wk old puppy) it's something I'm very aware of!

Thats very strange as under the road traffic act a Roadworthiness Prohibition notice prohibits all driving & towing of said vehicle on Public roads. Ive got the notice in front of me.

We wernt even allowed to use the Motorway coming home with the truck attached to a breakdown lorry.

Good point about Dogs though.

 

[Marnie]

Regarding dogs, I was lucky when my 4WD broke down and the breakdown service sent a lady with a landrover to tow my trailer and horse home (Oxford to Essex!) as she had no worries about taking the dogs - mind you, they are two small terriers and were in a crate! Definitely something to think about though.