I was talking to a mate the other day who was telling me his red airline had snapped, he didnt have a spare so he clamped it off and put the trailer on shunt, then drove back to the yard loaded about 20 miles away.
I was a little shocked as surely that would mean there were no trailer brakes and all the braking was reliant on the unit, on top of that im sure if he had been stopeed by VOSA he would have been done big time?
What do you think VOSA would have done?? £1000 fine and a ban??
Madguy 
Yes, hit shunt, no trailer brakes - think you’d have to drop the yellow airline too but not sure.
I’ve clamed a broken red airline to move a unit before, but never took the trailer with it - but we’ve all drove with a hire trailer where the brakes are … useless / none existent
Ah VOSA, the death squad of the ‘get you home’ fix and ‘proper drivers’ and instigators of steering wheel attendants.
o what do you think he would have got if he had been stopped??
Madguy
madguy:
o what do you think he would have got if he had been stopped??Madguy
trollies dropped to ankles, chocolate starfish vaselined up and Donald ducked anally fashion! 
who cares ? he got home didn’t he ? 
initiative driver OR SCREWDRIVER■■? 
what’s the chance of getting a tug anyway 20 miles from home! YAWN 
Depends where you based I suppose, I have 2 local Vosa stations to me within 10 miles of base…
Dunno, but when your been recovered in an artic and they put the underlift under your tractor unit and pull the whole lot do you think they have brakes on your unit or the trailer no? OMG what would VOSA do… WHY DON’T THEY THINK OF THE CHILDREN
Geez what is it recently with all the stupid posts I’m surprised alot of you even dare start the truck in the morning OMG what happens if it catches fire or opens up a worm hole to another dimension where VOSA will understand its a temp fix as long as your going to place of repair or your yard
I always carry a couple of plastic push on connectors for such an emergency, cost £1 each and have got me out the ■■■■ a few times over the years
What we could do with is a quick ‘fix’ that the drivers know about when the brakes lock on in a ‘live lane’ to shift it to the hard shoulder or a few yards out of the way.
The way it is if you can’t shift it if it’s a big un, your gonna get ‘rimmed’ a minimum £4500k bill to shift it for you as it will probably be classed as substantially damaged as the wheels won’t turn 
Below is some info i got from someone on Trucknet nearly 6 years ago stored away to try and shift those trucks that were jacknifed/down on air, i’m not going to comment on if it works or not
from when i used to give a toss:
did my 30 years in “The Job” which included a few years on the Mid-Links, mainly before Spring Brakes became the norm, which made it a lot easier, and sort of fell into driving as a means of supplementing my pension.A ‘potted version’ as to how brakes work, without teaching a grandmother…, hopefully.
The Red Line supplies air to the trailer tank and keeps it up to pressure.
The Yellow Line carries the signal from the Foot Control Valve to the RE6 valve (on the trailer) which determines how much air is passed from the trailer air tank to the brake actuators.
If any of these levels fall below about 6 bar, then the brakes are automatically applied.
The majority of jack-knifes result in, or are caused by, a failure of the Red Line.
The Unit is unable to continue forward, because the brakes have become ‘applied’, but the momentum of the trailer is still pushing forward.
So. You arrive at the scene. The Red Line is either fractured or punctured. The first priority is to negate any reduction of the residual pressure in the trailer tank.
Disconnect the Yellow Line, as a driver who is buggering about with the brake pedal or the parking brake, will be reducing that residual pressure.
Your next best friend is/are Cable Ties. By disconnecting the Yellow Line, you;ve isolated any further pressure loss from the trailer reservoir. But what you now need to do is establish a working pressure in the unit.
If the Red Line has ‘failed’ then it is simply a matter of ‘kinking’ the Red Line back on itself and securing with a cable tie. This then allows pressure to build up within the Unit. Once 6 bar+ has been obtained, push in the ‘Shunt’ button on the trailer, the black one, and it should move. Although I wouldn’t recommend anyone driving it at much more than walking pace.
If the Red Line has sheared off next to the Unit, then consider a cloth bung, something out of the First Aid kit, and a scrap of wood, held in place by a couple of cable ties, and then stand well clear whilst it is established if pressure builds up.
The main thing to remember is that it is not a ‘multiple choice’ exercise. You have a ‘Finite’ resource, Air. And if the means of getting that Air from the Unit to the trailer has been severed, then you are restricted as to how many attempts you have to move that trailer .
After being bollocked on numerous occasions by ‘management’, if i wasn’t sat in the office now i would now leave it and cone othe ■■■■■■ out and let the queues build up until recovery shifted it an hour or 2 later
K5Project:
Dunno, but when your been recovered in an artic and they put the underlift under your tractor unit and pull the whole lot do you think they have brakes on your unit or the trailer no? OMG what would VOSA do… WHY DON’T THEY THINK OF THE CHILDRENGeez what is it recently with all the stupid posts I’m surprised alot of you even dare start the truck in the morning OMG what happens if it catches fire or opens up a worm hole to another dimension where VOSA will understand its a temp fix as long as your going to place of repair or your yard
This is why people dont bother asking questions on here anymore, cause of the stupid up there own arse twaats that have nothing better to do than moan about everyones elses post, guess what, i looked at some of your previous posts and they aint all that either.
It was just a question cause i was curious, if your not interested dont bother answerin knoob head.
Madguy
K5Project:
Dunno, but when your been recovered in an artic and they put the underlift under your tractor unit and pull the whole lot do you think they have brakes on your unit or the trailer no? OMG what would VOSA do… WHY DON’T THEY THINK OF THE CHILDRENGeez what is it recently with all the stupid posts I’m surprised alot of you even dare start the truck in the morning OMG what happens if it catches fire or opens up a worm hole to another dimension where VOSA will understand its a temp fix as long as your going to place of repair or your yard
Are you for real ? Any recovery operator will automatically put red and yellow air lines from the recovery truck to the trailer,so that when you brake the truck,it brakes the trailer.
If,from the op,the trailer was laden,what if the driver had gotten a wee bit enthusiastic-lost the truck and killed some poor ■■■■ !would all the hero’s on here say it was ok,as it was only a short journey-or would he be villified for being a cowboy and murdering somebody.
If an airline bursts–and you don’t have one/can’t repair it yourself then for ■■■■ sake call out a fitter to replace it.
Well said Skip ! 
Dont think the company i work for would be to happy about me doing that, to move it to a safe place yes, but not 20miles back to the yard.
Saaamon:
Dont think the company i work for would be to happy about me doing that, to move it to a safe place yes, but not 20miles back to the yard.
Norbert Dentressangle dont like you using the shunt button in the yard, got bollocked for that once
madguy:
I was talking to a mate the other day who was telling me his red airline had snapped, he didnt have a spare so he clamped it off and put the trailer on shunt, then drove back to the yard loaded about 20 miles away.
Usually when they snap it is at the cab end. Just cut the remnants off the brass union on the cab, shove the red pipe back on and you’re good to go again as its a seriously tight fit and ain’t going anywhere.
Conor:
madguy:
I was talking to a mate the other day who was telling me his red airline had snapped, he didnt have a spare so he clamped it off and put the trailer on shunt, then drove back to the yard loaded about 20 miles away.Usually when they snap it is at the cab end. Just cut the remnants off the brass union on the cab, shove the red pipe back on and you’re good to go again as its a seriously tight fit and ain’t going anywhere.
Some boiling water will help if it is really tight.
Not any huge real risk to road safety, different matter if it happened at the start of a journey up the road and you carried on.
If you haven’t got any cable ties you can often kink the red airline and wedge it in a hole in the cat walk.
VOSA are human too. A human decision making process is therefore the most likely don’t you think?
If I were a VOSA official who’d just pulled someone over for a spot check, and found the blue button in, and a cable tie around the red airline, then… If the trailer is empty or the bod is on their way home, then off you go.
If he’s on his outward trip, and fully loaded… Hope he brought his own vaseline!
I’d probably need to do what the wreckers do before a tow as well, and disconnect the transhaft, greasing that up as well… 
Equipment needed for a right-royal shafting:
(1) A large shaft
(2) Some heavy-duty grease
(3) A large force to insert fully.
Conor:
madguy:
I was talking to a mate the other day who was telling me his red airline had snapped, he didnt have a spare so he clamped it off and put the trailer on shunt, then drove back to the yard loaded about 20 miles away.Usually when they snap it is at the cab end. Just cut the remnants off the brass union on the cab, shove the red pipe back on and you’re good to go again as its a seriously tight fit and ain’t going anywhere.
I’ve done this with the yellow line, but wouldn’t want to risk it with a red one. If it DID work loose in transit, you’re gonna anchor up, possibly causing a serious accident in the process that may or may not involve third parties to boot. Don’t go there. 