No I’m not having a go at VOSA, just recalling being sat on the sidelines to hear an interesting argument today, outside a Tesco store.
A driver (some sort of subbie by the looks of his unit) was being refused entry to the said store as he couldn’t turn his reversing bleepers off. After about 20 minutes of arguing and him trying to play around with some wiring to switch them off, he finally had enough and drove off, recognised him getting a cup of tea a bit down the road so thought I’d see what had happened.
Apparently he couldn’t turn his bleepers off as he’d been pulled on a routine check by VOSA last week and found that he couldn’t turn them ON, faulty switch or something so he just rigged them to always be on to keep VOSA man happy at the side of the road.
I said that I didn’t realise it was a legal requirement but he maintained he’d been told to the effect of “if its installed then it has to be in functioning order”
Is this true? was he making it up as he was pee’d off at his trucks dodgy wiring or just confused.
Its actually on a couple of daily checksheets i’ve seen in my time (Bleeper function check) but I’d never thought it legally required, even though I always check if it works and that I know how to switch it off if needed.
I had a defective bleeper a couple of weeks ago. The workshop said they were aware and that it would be done when unit went to DAF dealer. I was told it was not a legal requirement.
In construction and use of vehicles:
The use of reversing alarms is optional and not mandatory. But they may fitted only to;
1 Goods vehicles with a maximum Gross weight over two tonnes
2 Buses; or
3 engineering plant, works trucks or refuse vehicles
Reversing alarms must not be strident and must not be used on the road if their sound is likely to be confused with that from a pedistrian crossing.
Horn and other warning instruments must not be used between 23:00hrs and 07:00hrs in build up areas
I have never had a reversing bleeper fitted to any truck, but if I did I always have a pair of sidecuts in my bag. The only thing I think they do is point out if anyone has cocked up an easy reverse
Like house and car alarms, everyone seems to ignore them
And next week all shall be refused entry to tesco yards for NOT having a functioning reverse bleeper, just to keep the jobsworths at said S’mark feeling like they have a purpose in life…
kerbclipper:
And next week all shall be refused entry to tesco yards for NOT having a functioning reverse bleeper, just to keep the jobsworths at said S’mark feeling like they have a purpose in life…
The Tesco shunter is going to be busy then dragging trailers in off the road and tipping them while the driver relaxes in his cab with the keys in the ignition
Wheel Nut:
The Tesco shunter is going to be busy then dragging trailers in off the road and tipping them while the driver relaxes in his cab with the keys in the ignition
Don’t they automatically shut off when you put the sidelights on? I’m sure I had a motor that did this, the switch was an over-ride for that so you could use it at night.
Maybe the vosa bot was thinking he was doing an mot,lol if it has something fitted at the point of manufacture it should be in working order, ( a generalisation) but maybe how they think or should i say are programed,
Wheel Nut:
The only thing I think they do is point out if anyone has cocked up an easy reverse
Ahem, the only thing I know about it is mine usually go silent when the lights are on. Daft when they seem to think that DRLs are the best idea in the world and we should always be running with them I’ve not seen a manual switch anywhere on the dash.
I have four vehicles with reversing beepers that have all broken, well, the stupid device in the gearbox that turns on the reverse lights tends to fail. It’s just a simple switch but I don’t see the point in taking out the gearbox at great expense to get them to work. So, two coaches and two artics with no reverse lights or bleeper and they pass the mot every year! Due to the fact that they don’t have to work even though they have reversing lights fitted. However if the vehicle is quite new and is subject to whole vehicle type approval which I thought only applied to cars not commercial vehicles the phrase ‘if it’s fitted it has to work’ does perhaps ring true. A lot of these VOSA roadside examiners seem to talk a lot of pap.
Someone should set up a drivers hotline for drivers to ring if they are getting there leg pulled at the roadside, do the rha, fta offer this I wonder? On the spot fines are yet another tax on drivers.
Just found on the net that whole vehicle type approval is a long way off for commercial vehicles. So the vosa examiner that said if it’s fitted it needs to work is talking out of his … It would pass an mot with the buzzer working so you should not have a problem. However health and safety policies may require it be working on some customers premises.
Btw, if you can find a switch to turn off the beeper in reverse, try putting it in reverse twice in quick succession.
I’ve not seen a manual switch anywhere on the dash.