Running back to the yard mid morning today I spotted a foreign truck on the hard shoulder of the opposite carriageway of the M45 changing his own wheel ,(OSF unit) as I passed he was dragging the spare along lane 1, so I stopped at the next phone and called it in to the highways ,
would any one else have done the same or not bothered ?
It was his risk and im sure he would be aware of that, i would have just let him get on with it. Fair play to him though for changing his own wheel, euro style obviously, now it seems the norm to call out the tyre man (H&S notmyjob.com) or cant be bothered to carry a spare or train the driver how to do it. I dont think theres many in the UK that carries a spare anyway is there…
I always call it in.
“Hi boss, got a puncture”
Brew time.
If I could…
I’d move over to lane two and give the guy some more room. No I wouldn’t call it in, these Euro-chappies do it all the time they know the risks involved.
I’ve changed a few tyres in Spain in the summer months. I tried to keep in the shade when doing it as well as having a few bottles of water on hand.
Started changing one in France at a routier and two drivers came and helped. We did the job in double quick time and I bought the next few beers. Nowadays if I have tyre problems I just pick up the phone and go to sleep.
We carry spares and the gear to change our own simply because we operate a lot over weekends , bank holidays etc. and would prefer to get on with it than wait for someone else. We do have training and experience.
Had a front wheel blowout once on the M25 once, one of the 4 lane sections, sent me across diagonally from lane 1 to lane 4 and narrowly missed the barrier. Fortunately every lane behind contained people with their wits about them, yes trucks and cars 
, and all slowed down and stopped whilst I dragged everything over to the hardshoulder where I limped along a bit to a slightly wider part with an emergency phone. I told the person in the control centre I was OK and had gear to change the wheel, they just asked me to wait for the Traffic Officer guys to get there. They arrived after clearing the tyre debris 
and had no problem with me changing the wheel were I was, the one stayed with me and his mate went back round via the previous junction and stopped in the hardshoulder a few hundred metres before us signalling the traffic to move over, which most did. For the odd one that did not he told his mate by radio and we weighed each one up, deciding whether to leg it up the embankment 
After I had finished his only comment was " better than waiting 2 hours for that fb AS mate.
I would not want to do it every day though.
Sorry, did not really answer the OP. If it was easy enough I probably would have called it in, to the Highways Agency that is, because they might have come out and given the guy the same sort of traffic management assistance they did me.
manski:
We carry spares and the gear to change our own simply because we operate a lot over weekends , bank holidays etc. and would prefer to get on with it than wait for someone else. We do have training and experience.
Had a front wheel blowout once on the M25 once, one of the 4 lane sections, sent me across diagonally from lane 1 to lane 4 and narrowly missed the barrier. Fortunately every lane behind contained people with their wits about them, yes trucks and cars
I would not want to do it every day though.
Good on you. I personally wouldnt employ a driver if they couldnt do a simple wheel change. Waiting for a fitter/tyre depot to come out could take literally hours and is just time and money down the drain. Simple tasks like this along with bulb changing ect should be taught on driving lessons…
manski:
We carry spares and the gear to change our own simply because we operate a lot over weekends , bank holidays etc. and would prefer to get on with it than wait for someone else. We do have training and experience.
Had a front wheel blowout once on the M25 once, one of the 4 lane sections, sent me across diagonally from lane 1 to lane 4 and narrowly missed the barrier. Fortunately every lane behind contained people with their wits about them, yes trucks and cars
I would not want to do it every day though.
Where do you stow the torque wrench? They’re pretty big, especially in their case.
AndrewG:
Good on you. I personally wouldnt employ a driver if they couldnt do a simple wheel change. Waiting for a fitter/tyre depot to come out could take literally hours and is just time and money down the drain. Simple tasks like this along with bulb changing ect should be taught on driving lessons…
Been in transport over 25 years, 10 in a workshop/mobile and 2 as fleet manager for 2000 trailers. It’s not about being able to do the job but more about the give and take of the rewards of effort.
Been asking our place to provide a couple of spanners and screwdrivers but then we get moaned at as it cost them 2K to replace bulbs at the dealers. Backward logic eh.
powdertank:
Running back to the yard mid morning today I spotted a foreign truck on the hard shoulder of the opposite carriageway of the M45 changing his own wheel ,(OSF unit) as I passed he was dragging the spare along lane 1, so I stopped at the next phone and called it in to the highways ,
would any one else have done the same or not bothered ?
hopefully your goal was to get him some help rather than into trouble?
It’s sad but indicative of the times that another driver had not stopped to help, they would have once but very unlikely now.
Big burner:
manski:
We carry spares and the gear to change our own simply because we operate a lot over weekends , bank holidays etc. and would prefer to get on with it than wait for someone else. We do have training and experience.
Had a front wheel blowout once on the M25 once, one of the 4 lane sections, sent me across diagonally from lane 1 to lane 4 and narrowly missed the barrier. Fortunately every lane behind contained people with their wits about them, yes trucks and cars
I would not want to do it every day though.Where do you stow the torque wrench? They’re pretty big, especially in their case.
Theyre not that big but an extendable breaker bar will do the job just fine, you dont need a torque wrench at the side of the road, the main objective is to change the wheel as quick as possible and get going again, the wheel can be checked with a torque wrench later. Im sure theres room for one somewhere in your truck, maybe keep it with the hi viz, hard hat, gloves and H&S manual…
All comes down to how much i’m being paid whether or not i change a wheel. If im paid peanuts then the firm can get to ■■■■. Simple
AndrewG:
Good on you. I personally wouldnt employ a driver if they couldnt do a simple wheel change. Waiting for a fitter/tyre depot to come out could take literally hours and is just time and money down the drain. Simple tasks like this along with bulb changing ect should be taught on driving lessons…
I’ve done literally dozens in my time, but that was when I was younger and in places where there was no such thing as emergency tyre call out. I certainly wouldn’t change a wheel myself nowadays, I’d respect the right of somebody to decline to employ me because of that, just as I am sure they would respect my right to decline their job offer.
SuperMultiBlue:
All comes down to how much i’m being paid whether or not i change a wheel. If im paid peanuts then the firm can get to [zb]. Simple
Isnt pay a bit irrelevant though? Surely doing a simple 30 min job is better than sitting around for possibly hours waiting for someone else to do it??
AndrewG:
Big burner:
manski:
We carry spares and the gear to change our own simply because we operate a lot over weekends , bank holidays etc. and would prefer to get on with it than wait for someone else. We do have training and experience.
Had a front wheel blowout once on the M25 once, one of the 4 lane sections, sent me across diagonally from lane 1 to lane 4 and narrowly missed the barrier. Fortunately every lane behind contained people with their wits about them, yes trucks and cars
I would not want to do it every day though.Where do you stow the torque wrench? They’re pretty big, especially in their case.
Theyre not that big but an extendable breaker bar will do the job just fine, you dont need a torque wrench at the side of the road, the main objective is to change the wheel as quick as possible and get going again, the wheel can be checked with a torque wrench later. Im sure theres room for one somewhere in your truck, maybe keep it with the hi viz, hard hat, gloves and H&S manual…
The correct toque is not the biggest problem with wheel loss, what’s more important at the side of the road is to tighten each nut equally, this is easy with correct wheel brace of the correct length and if your sensible which you are otherwise you wouldn’t be changing the wheel yourself, you will find the nuts will be slightly over tight but will not come loose. Dougie
Harry Monk:
AndrewG:
Good on you. I personally wouldnt employ a driver if they couldnt do a simple wheel change. Waiting for a fitter/tyre depot to come out could take literally hours and is just time and money down the drain. Simple tasks like this along with bulb changing ect should be taught on driving lessons…I’ve done literally dozens in my time, but that was when I was younger and in places where there was no such thing as emergency tyre call out. I certainly wouldn’t change a wheel myself nowadays, I’d respect the right of somebody to decline to employ me because of that, just as I am sure they would respect my right to decline their job offer.
Ive always taken the view its part of driving. Im sometimes many hours away from help and would much rather spend a short while changing a wheel than waiting around which is both time and money. I do what i can to avoid problems with wheels/ tyres on my unit, Alcoas which are four times strong as steel wheels and only fit premium make tyres which are also slimed and will never recut not even on the drive axle. However the old tilts we pull have all and sundry mix and match tyres fitted and blowouts/ punctures are far more likely to occur but id rather get my mits grubby changing to the spare than waiting for a fitter…in fact repairing/ bodging these old pos has become a way of life… 
AndrewG:
SuperMultiBlue:
All comes down to how much i’m being paid whether or not i change a wheel. If im paid peanuts then the firm can get to [zb]. SimpleIsnt pay a bit irrelevant though? Surely doing a simple 30 min job is better than sitting around for possibly hours waiting for someone else to do it??
30 mins getting paid to sweat and risk my life or 2 hours in the cab getting paid.
Yup the way you pay for effort is paramount IMHO
AndrewG:
SuperMultiBlue:
All comes down to how much i’m being paid whether or not i change a wheel. If im paid peanuts then the firm can get to [zb]. SimpleIsnt pay a bit irrelevant though? Surely doing a simple 30 min job is better than sitting around for possibly hours waiting for someone else to do it??
In my experience, changing a truck wheel is more likely to be a simple 30 minute job in theory than in practice. 
as usual most of the replies have nothing to do with the original question…for me then no…i would not call it in…nothing to do with anyone except the driver changing the wheel…how would you like it if you were getting out of a situation then got greif from officialdom because some dudly doogood road commander dobbed you in.
Why bother pulling over to call the wombles from a roadside box, when you can phone them up on 0300 123 5000 and give them the details of location etc and continue on your way