I loaded out of a place in Runcorn last night. I had a chat with their shunter while I was getting loaded… He asked me a question. He has an artic licence so I can’t see any problem there…
However, the company are saying that if he is off sick or on holiday that they could use any non HGV driver to do the job as long as he has been on a "shunting course "…
What does the HSE say about it ?
What does the insurance company say about it ?
What if there was a serious accident ?
OK… it was 3 questions.
As it’s on private land then technically they wouldn’t need a License… but as said the Insurance company could take a dim view on it.
I used to load out of QVC , they had a yard shunter with no HGV … and he also claimed to be able to run on public roads (albeit very limited i.e. 150 yds twice a day).
del949:
I used to load out of QVC , they had a yard shunter with no HGV … and he also claimed to be able to run on public roads (albeit very limited i.e. 150 yds twice a day).
Apparently Sealy beds have a tendancy just to ask a warehouse worker to shunt the trailers around the yard, and it accounts for about three quarters of all the damage done to the trailers 
If they want to, the insurance company can specify that shunters must have doctorates in ancient Greek and drive wearing pink woolly hats - it’s impossible to know without asking them in a specific case.
The HSE would want to know that people were competent, so if it came to court after an accident there would be discussions about the quality of the shunting course.
Seems to me that you could make a reasonable argument that the normal C+E test is completely crap training for a shunting job, and that a specific shunting course might actually be better than the normal driving test.
IFAIK you can drive 1.5Km on a public road from one premises to another as long as they are both owned by the company and you have a class B. But I think there is a weekly limit or something.
Can drive what you like on private land.
10-08:
IFAIK you can drive 1.5Km on a public road from one premises to another as long as they are both owned by the company and you have a class B. But I think there is a weekly limit or something.
Can drive what you like on private land.
1.5km is for agricultural use, I’m not aware of a limit for goods except that it can’t exceed an aggregate of 9.7km in a week.
We used to have an exemption order from the council to run 1/2 ml down the road from one works entrance to the other, the order had to be displayed in the windscreen (no road tax !) and you couldn’t cover more than 6mls on the road in a week.
An artic could be driven on a motorbike licence or car licence as they used to have a group which stated vehicles that are exempt from tax on a movement order, however if you passed either entrance by a foot they could nick you for everything !
This was many years ago and I don’t know if it is still allowed today, I got pulled by a motorbike cop driving a Scammell artic when I was sixteen, his eyes lit up when he thought he had got me for a dozen offences or more(no hgv,no mot, red diesel etc. etc.!) , he was spitting when my the boss got his inspector to the scene, showed him the order, who then told the bike cop I was perfectly legal to carry on ! did he look pee’d off or what 
his eyes lit up when he thought he had got me for a dozen offences or more(no hgv,no mot, red diesel etc. etc.!) , he was spitting when my the boss got his inspector to the scene, showed him the order, who then told the bike cop I was perfectly legal to carry on ! did he look pee’d off or what
I used to get that when I was with the NHS. Our vehicles were exempt from tax and insurance (couldn’t use red though) and some plod had a hard time beleiving it. As for members of the public… 
(
Santa:
his eyes lit up when he thought he had got me for a dozen offences or more(no hgv,no mot, red diesel etc. etc.!) , he was spitting when my the boss got his inspector to the scene, showed him the order, who then told the bike cop I was perfectly legal to carry on ! did he look pee’d off or what
I used to get that when I was with the NHS. Our vehicles were exempt from tax and insurance (couldn’t use red though) and some plod had a hard time beleiving it. As for members of the public… (
Probably because they are self insured not exempt.
You don’t need a licence to shunt anything off road, you can drive almost anything as long as you can reach the pedals. However HSE may have a word if something went wrong.
On the farm tractor side you have to be 14 years old or above
haha wrong thread, need to get off the drugs.
We have 4 shunters,1 has a hgv licence.
Walkers Crisps use people out of the wharehouse who want to train to be drivers as shunters, i think they spend 6 months in the yard before training, the idea is to gain experience in the yard before going on the road.
melv1golf:
Walkers Crisps use people out of the wharehouse who want to train to be drivers as shunters, i think they spend 6 months in the yard before training, the idea is to gain experience in the yard before going on the road.
Don’t believe you.
A big company showing common sense and initiative, aye right- O 
melv1golf:
Walkers Crisps use people out of the wharehouse who want to train to be drivers as shunters, i think they spend 6 months in the yard before training, the idea is to gain experience in the yard before going on the road.
that was prety much the case at fleetwood docks back in the days of pandoro.
a friend of mine did 10 years of it before taking his class one, and he could sink a trailer no matter what length, or width into any gap.
limeyphil:
that was prety much the case at fleetwood docks back in the days of pandoro.
a friend of mine did 10 years of it before taking his class one, and he could sink a trailer no matter what length, or width into any gap.
In the case of one or two of them at Fleetwood, the gap didn’t necessarily have to be as big as the trailer…
The warehouse lads in Mammoet move the trailers using the shunter wagon, one of them is only 18. They do a pretty good job of it to be fair but I would say that I wouldn’t like to have my own truck bumped into by them, that would be a whole new can of worms !
the flying foden:
melv1golf:
Walkers Crisps use people out of the wharehouse who want to train to be drivers as shunters, i think they spend 6 months in the yard before training, the idea is to gain experience in the yard before going on the road.
and it shows
They really should show em high range before they let them out the gate