Lorry MoT Rant

W

WFL

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My lorry got through its MoT this week on the 2nd attempt. The VOSA inspector failed it the 1st time because the side reflectors stuck out by 5mm and the legal maximum is 3mm. The lorry had to be taken back to the garage for them to be moved off the underbars to the chassis.

Also, he thought that the prop shaft bolts "might" be loose. When it was pointed out that they either were or they were not, he said they were loose. 1 retest later proved that they were not...

The word jobsworth springs to mind!
 
Hmmmm bet you were well impressed then! I booked mine in last week, one of the testers politely told me that I might like to remove the baling string from the tie rings outside the lorry as this would be a 'fail'.
 
I left my baling twine on. I will remember that and remove them next year!

I was told that mobile phone or satnav holders suctioned to the windscreen have caused failures at this centre before.
 
I reckon that they are told to fail most wagons, especially horse ones, so that they make more money.
 
What on earth would bailing string on the tie rings have to do with an MOT i dont get it????
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I find when I take mine they are really nice, and let me fix anything there and then that needs doing, I even get to go into the pit sometimes
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They also try very hard to pass a lorry rather than fail it.

What do you mean by reflectors down the side. We have just put lights down ours for the plate and they stick out more than 5mms, but then so does a normal side indicator light.
 
oh im dreading taking my lorry in next week for testing, i can just image the mechanic rubbing his hands togethers, totting up how much he is going to rip me off
 
VOSA do not make any money out of failing apart from the retest fee, which is free if you get it back the same day, £10 for 24hours later and then I think about £30 you have 14 working days to take it back, so nearly 3 weeks.

There are no mechanics there, they cannot fix anything that is wrong they cannot make money out of failing your truck.

They will give you a chance to fix anything there and then, so take some tools with you, or flutter your eyelids at the other lorry drivers.

When I go, they even get in the cab and do the emissions test for me so that my lorry passes, I do it wrong apparently. My Lorry which is 21 years old has gone straight thru for the last 3 years, apart from some minor advisories.
 
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flutter your eyelids at the other lorry drivers.

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Only if I wanted 7 bells of cr@p beaten out of me...
 
well weve been advised to take ours to one center a bit further away then the closest one to us. Apparently the closest one to us is extremely strict will fail you on the slightest thing and dont do same day retests. Its also been reported that the people running it look down thier noses at horsebox owners and think we have no right to drive a lorry

The one a little bit further away are apparently brilliant and if its a small thing they will fix it for you there, if you flutter your eyelashes enough will drive the lorry in the test and ignore things like bailer twine etc on the outside and non major things.
They also dont mind if your a little bit late for your test.
 
They seem to be really clamping down on little things at the moment.... mine failed the other week as the flourescent markers on the back were now illegal..... so they were taken off and replaced with little red triangular things that you would blink and miss!!!! Lorry went back for retest and bloke said, they cant be triangular, they have to be square...... For christ sake, they wanted reflectors, they got them and then they were the wrong shape! So black masking tape was applied to make them square......

Absolutely ridiculous..... obviously they have'nt got enough lorries to test at the moment so have the time to be petty and ridiculous over smal things! I could understand this on major problems, but having replaced flourescent markers that were over a foot long for a set of red triangles that are no bigger than three inches in height, then to tape them and make them about an inch big is verging on the ridiculous!

Oh well lorry passed and thats that done for another twelve months and as for the flourescent markers, they are going back on tomorrow!
 
The garage had already replaced my triangular ones on the back with square ones because of this rule.
 
Mine are being replaced later this week along with the fact that I am replacing the big two tone flourescent stripes whether they like it or not! I've followed my lorry at night and before we had extra lights put on it at the top and bottom, the only thing you could see and which caught your eye was those markers......
Anyway said lorry now up for sale as we going bigger!
 
You need a good garage. Mine is excellent and has many tricks for getting horseboxes through, such as putting a concrete weight in the back for the rolling road brake test (lorry brakes work better under load).

I am torn now between further pimping of my lorry, or redecorating the dining room and downstairs loo, both of which need it badly.
 
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don't need concrete in mine its 28 ft long and weighs too much already!
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So is mine, but since I fitted the go-faster stripes, spoiler, alloy wheels, tinted glass and amplifier/bass in the living area, it goes a lot faster!
 
hey, might try that one, lucky if we hit 55 on the motoway, not sure about tinted windows though, don't pimps have those
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I barely overtook 1 of those modern enormous horse lorries today and I was doing 80!

"Pimp my lorry" has been discussed at work several times and as Nottingham is not too far away, there are plenty of examples to copy.
 
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