Today I got pulled by VOSA.
Doing what VOSA do, they went through everything - lorry and tacho - with a fine-toothed comb and then came back and said (and I quote) “Squeaky clean driver.”.
So I left with a grin on my face.
Not long after, I was in the yard when I got called into the office because the people who do our tacho’s had picked up an ‘infringement’ the previous week.
I was asked why I had committed the ‘infringement’ – despite a driver’s ‘briefing paper’ which had been put out?
I, politely, told the manager that as VOSA has said I was squeaky clean, that was good enough for me and should be good enough for him and, as far as I was concerned, the people who read our tacho’s could take a long walk off a short pier.
When the manager tried to push the situation, I pointed out that VOSA could take my licence at the side of the road – the people who read our tacho’s can’t and, essentially, he could put the ‘infringement’ where the sun doesn’t shine.
What would you have done/said in the same situation? ![:open_mouth: :open_mouth:](https://emoji.discourse-cdn.com/twitter/open_mouth.png?v=12)
You may of had an infringement but vosa wasn’t bothered about it. You may of just had one or two and from what they can see your keeping within there rules / laws.
I’ve been tugged a few times and had my diary out ready to tell them what infringements I had n the woman just smiled and said it wasn’t needed until it’s worth them bothering with. She was really nice and so was the wheel tapper. Gave me some advice and had me on my way.
Depends what the infringement was for. It could have been a company infringement.
Co ops rules are that. Drivers must have 30 min. Every 6hrs. (company rules trump everything in that case)
Could have been WTD infringement, VOSA don’t seem to care about that.
Think about it from their point of view; they think you have committed an infringement, you are adamant you haven’t, but you refuse to even entertain the idea you have done anything wrong, and you just get shirty with the guy over the phone. Poor attitude on your behalf.
As said, it could e a WTD infringement which the DVSA don’t care about, or a company infringement which the DVSA don’t know about…
So to sum up, you’ve got your back up over something you may well have actually done wrong… Genius!
The problem that you may now have is that should someone in the office discover in the future that you have committed an indisputable infringement, they may decide to take a lot harder line than they otherwise would as payback for your little tantrum. And who could blame them?
A lot of drivers seem to take the ‘yeah, I told them in the office to go ■■■■ themselves’ line over nothing and not comprehend that it will come back to bite them later.
I got one WTD infringement today. Went 6.16 before taking a break , PLus another where I’d left my card in all night.
I got more grief from my manager than what I would get from DVSA.
I’d already done a print out for it weeks ago and told him why I’d gone over 6 hrs.
After that he was absolutely fine about.
I find it counter productive to get on some high horse about it personally, no point whatso ever.
Win-Stone:
What would you have done/said in the same situation? ![:open_mouth: :open_mouth:](https://emoji.discourse-cdn.com/twitter/open_mouth.png?v=12)
I would have found out if they were right or wrong before getting all attitudinal about it ![:wink: :wink:](https://emoji.discourse-cdn.com/twitter/wink.png?v=12)
As has been said, the infringement could have been a wtd infringement or an infringement of company policy.
By the way, while the DVSA can stop you continuing your journey, as far as I’m aware they cannot take your licence at the road side.
Who actually cares if there is an infringement according to the company Tacho system?
It’s when you get lots of them the toys should start deploying from the pram! ![:smiley: :smiley:](https://emoji.discourse-cdn.com/twitter/smiley.png?v=12)
DVSA often only check the record for today.
We know currently they cannot fine you for an offence committed before your last legal daily rest and need at least 4 previous offences that ‘would’ have been £100 or £200 penalties for a prosecution so they often have little interest in ‘lesser’ infringements from the last 28 days.
Whereas your employer will be interested in any infringement however minor and has a right to do so.
Surely you should have ascertained the facts before getting shirty about it.