Now I’m not one to slag off other drivers but today whilst making my way back along the M4 I overtook a foreign wagon and drag on the inside ( don’t worry I was in a filter lane that was going off left ), anyway his drivers side mirror was missing so all he had was the mirror frame and the back to the mirror.
So how was he suppose to drive safely like that? Would anybody else do it too ?
Would I?
I dont know, certainly not if it was the N.S mirror. I hope I never have to find out!
My company wouldnt expect me to drive without the drivers side mirror though, i gota admit.
I reckon I’d phone in and get the recovery service / breakdown they use to bring one out.
Better than blind siding someone and getting locked up!
I doubt he was doing much more than 45 mph so maybe he was intending to stay in the inside lane all the way to Dover.
Driven many miles with the n /side one either missing or broken as around our area there were that many overhanging trees on the B and C roads that you broke them on a regular basis even with mirror guards fitted. Back in the fifties a lot of trucks didn’t have them fitted on the n/side anyway which must have been fun! I did break an o/side one once and had to go down the M1 to Wellingborough from Derby and that was awkward as you didnt know what was overtaking you or when it was safe to pull out etc, normally carried a spare glass after that!
Pete.
I once came across a driver on his phone coming towards me on my side of road in Wolves, I’d stopped and persisted to flash lights and beep horn and eventually he spotted me in time to just avoid a head on. I was over the near side at this point ready to launch myself out the passenger door. The offside rear of his trailer ended up wiping out my offside mirror. He tootled on, didn’t even stop and I had to drive all the way up to Padiham Burnley with no mirror…
I think If I had to make a decision like that, I would factor in where abouts I was on my run, where I was in proximity to an outlet where I could obtain a replacement. I did once break the tiny bracket which fixes a scania mirror to the cab metalwork, in Birmingham. My N/S mirror was hanging at about a 45deg angle to what it should have been. I decided after encountering various speed reduction obstacles, to remove mirror, and make haste to Keltruck for a new bracket. The duely relieved me of £3.96 inc vat for the metal bracket. It did frighten me a bit that my N/S was totally blind, so I went A38, M6, M5 to get there so as to avoid cyclists and left handed turns.
As it happens this very afternoon i have had training on space awareness, its all to do with an initiative that the Met and west yorkshire police are launching at the end of May, and is aimed more at cyclist and pedestrians and hilighting the blind spots on a lorry, anyway during the course of the afternoon it was mentioned that VOSA and the police are going to be doing more checks on drivers mirrors using a laser, (its all to do with eyeline, seat position, and mirror position). Anyway to get back to the op point if you havnt got 6 mirrors operational you are breaking the law and if you have an accident its punishable by 2 years.
Take your blindspot mirror from your offside and put it on the nearside. No ideal but better than nothing.
sydeakinwoods:
I had to drive all the way up to Padiham Burnley with no mirror…
Now that is dangerous, heading through these parts 
bald bloke:
Would anybody else do it too ?
You’d have no choice.
If he doesn’t speak English, and it’s his first trip over here, he’s probably ■■■■■■■■ himself, but doesn’t know what else to do… Who do you call? Ghostbusters? 
I reckon in a left ■■■■■■ in the UK, the best mirror to be missing is the drivers side.
I had occasion to have my FH mirrors knocked off outside Bournville. I was asleep and parked up. Volvo came out and fitted a new set of mirrors and charged about £800 for the privilege. Luckily the bang woke me up and I managed to catch up with the bloke in the factory and his boss paid for them on insurance.
If I had knocked them off myself I would have managed to get it home somehow