VOSA - Be aware HGV drivers.

[ROG]

Welcome to the world of
vosa!!!
Im an ex long distance trucker and these little wannabe policemen were the bane of my life.
My oh left his depot the other day after doing the usual checks..and cleaning his lights and plates.
At the next service station he stopped for fuel.. the roads were filthy and at the same time as fuelling he had a walk round and checked the lights and plate again,,, cleaning both once more.
he returned to the pump and was approached by a vosa officer who asked him to pull off the pump for a check.
on pulling off the pump he was given a gv9 for a dirty plate.... it was clean but the officer insisted that it was dirty when he pulled into the service station so therefore warranted a gv9.
he then immediately lifted the gv9 but it still goes on the hauliers record. Both his boss and my oh have made an official complaint but these are the little tossers that hauliers have to deal with!
I reckon my bloke is a top trucker ... but evan he can t clean his number plate whilst driving!

There will be jobsworths or little hitlers in every aspect of enforcement and any normal reasonable officer would have easily determined that the muck was fresh and not hard dried on the number plate

In all of my LGV driving career I found 95+% of VOSA officials to be very good - unless the driver gives them attitude !!

 

[soulfull]

do you avoid all these checks if you have a 3.5t ?

 

[Mrs Pink]

Yes, lucky thing

 

[luckyoldme]

There will be jobsworths or little hitlers in every aspect of enforcement and any normal reasonable officer would have easily determined that the muck was fresh and not hard dried on the number plate

In all of my LGV driving career I found 95+% of VOSA officials to be very good - unless the driver gives them attitude !!

i could go on... like being pushed over a 15 hour day because the inspector is gutted that the cards are right and is desperate to find something.
The officer wouldn t be able to tell if it was fresh dirt or not because it was allready cleaned when he "inspected" it.
I don t agree with running bent ... thats where they need to put their efforts.. not harassing profesional drivers doing their job in a profesional manner.
The laws are so complicated that the proffesional drivers struggle to get their heads round it... therefore you lot with your horse boxes are easy game to try and get a little bit of revenue in these desperate times.

 

[soulfull]

Yes, lucky thing

I haven't bought one yet. not long sold my 7.5t. only have one horse and as soon as he is better will be buying one. I was leaning towards a 3.5t as it is easier for me as I am not in the best of health. But no getting hassled by VOSA is the deciding factor

I just need to find one where the horse area is totally separate from the living as don't want hay and slobber in there for under £12k preferably under £10k but don't like van types

 

[Santa_Claus]

3.5t are not totally exempt from being pulled up. They dont need a tacho or operators licence but they will be pulled up and weighed. They are often targetted because they are often overweight

and reading your last post I would go for a 5.5 or 6t if I was you. They have a bit more room and are more sturdy than the 3.5ts plus you won't have weight issues!

 

[perfect11s]

Agreed, however the safety of the vehicle/construction cannot be reduced in order to achieve this. Interestingly, the Iveco website quotes their lightest 7.5 tonne chassis that can carry a 20' box as 4.4 tonnes. That's with NOTHING added to it, no people, no fluid, no sides, etc, etc and that's for a brand new modern vehicle. They quote the older models as 4.8 tonnes and above. That's a huge challenge to the coachbuilder.

Yes I just checked the iveco web site sorry but 4.4 tons is what the CHASSIS can carry not its weight... from iveco's own spec the bare chassis is just over 3000kg .....