Who is responsible

ASK THE EXPERTS SAFETY, LAW AND WORKING TIME DIRECTIVE FORUM (INTE
1

I work for a local authority and there is a debate over who is responsible for inflating under inflated tyres, I consider myself a professional driver and I know my answer .

Scenario. You come to work in the morning and during your vehicle check you notice your tyres or a tyre looks soft what do you do.

  1. Inflate the tyre to the correct pressure.
  2. Wait until the tyre fitter starts work and get him to inflate it for you.

Any ex TK TPTR drivers reading this will know my answer.

This could be construed as a health and safety issue as well as a legal requirement.

sensible reply only .

2

You are in charge of the vehicle and its your responsibility to ensure the tyres are at the correct pressure. If you have access to an airline capable of doing the job then why not do it?

I presume you inflate the tyres on your car on a regular basis rather than popping into Kwik-Fit every time they need air.

Personally I would have no problem putting air in the tyre(s) myself and have always done so but these days it would come down to company policy and the usual H&S bullcrap, which I would ignore and put the air in anyway.

3

I’m ex tp tptr but I don’t need to be to know the correct answer! As I no longer have a No2 it’s squarely my responsibility and my job.

4

I had a soft super single this morning/slow puncture, 06.30. I just connected my own airline to the red Suzy & ‘Voula’ got on the road within 15 minutes & not the 2 hour wait for a tyre fitter. (Workshop doesn’t open until about half eight)

Does this make me a Bad Person ?

17.30 It’s still pretty much fully inflated so I’ll get if fixed tomorrow when I get back to the yard. (I’ll put some more air in if it needs it)

5

I suppose you could argue that a clearly under inflated tyre may possibly be damaged/faulty and simply inflating it without first checking it could possibly lead to problems later meaning it should be checked over by a relevant person.

You could also possibly argue that inflating a clearly under inflated tyre to possibly 100+ Psi could be kinda dangerous and should be left to a trained person with the relevant training and equipment.

You could also argue all the above is H&S ■■■■■■■■ gone mad :wink:

I do however have a fear of tyres that ‘suddenly become under inflated’ overnight and personally think they are likely to fail in just the wrong place at just the wrong time later.

My answer - It depends on circumstances but I’d probably inflate it

6

Cheers for the replies, for the record I always inflate my own tyres after a thorough check ,just trying to get a point across it ain’t a major task some folks think it is .