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??
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
And here it is, rather sit in the cab being paid rather than break a sweat helping yourself getting back on the road Gone i think are the days of a bit of diy/bodge/ repairing, nowadays its a case of ‘not my job its someone elses problem’…
dieseldog999:
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.
You won’t get grief from officialdom for changing a wheel in the UK, so you wouldn’t be getting “dobbed in” for doing it. Perhaps the OP felt that the driver, not being a British national, might not be aware that HATO might provide him with some protection while doing the wheel change?
dieseldog999:
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.
You won’t get grief from officialdom for changing a wheel in the UK, so you wouldn’t be getting “dobbed in” for doing it. Perhaps the OP felt that the driver, not being a British national, might not be aware that HATO might provide him with some protection while doing the wheel change?
Agreed, for all the complaints they get on here my only experience calling HATO out was nothing but positive, They blocked lane one long enough for me to do a quick running repair on my truck and get on the move.
There was no way I was going to stand between the truck and lane one of the M40 while it was live, even though I only needed to be there for a few minutes.
I would have been worried for this chap, especially as the op said he was moving wheels round lane 1.
suppose the last 2 of you you could be right,but why meddle when its none of your business…if the flipflop needed a hand,then the phones there to do so…anywhere else,you just get on with it and who needs the greif from the wombles once they decide to make the usual mountain out of a molehill.no doubt the next move would be…its too dangerous,we will just get you recovered…cost your firm £8000 quid,and have you sacked on the spot for allowing them to do so etc…
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??
No it isn’t. If I’m taken care of properly by the firm and paid a decent wage I will recognise this by going above and beyond.
If a firm wants to pay ■■■■ all then the firm will get ■■■■ all back from me. Simple
dieseldog999:
suppose the last 2 of you you could be right,but why meddle when its none of your business…if the flipflop needed a hand,then the phones there to do so…anywhere else,you just get on with it and who needs the greif from the wombles once they decide to make the usual mountain out of a molehill.no doubt the next move would be…its too dangerous,we will just get you recovered…cost your firm £8000 quid,and have you sacked on the spot for allowing them to do so etc…
dieseldog999:
suppose the last 2 of you you could be right,but why meddle when its none of your business…if the flipflop needed a hand,then the phones there to do so…anywhere else,you just get on with it and who needs the greif from the wombles once they decide to make the usual mountain out of a molehill.no doubt the next move would be…its too dangerous,we will just get you recovered…cost your firm £8000 quid,and have you sacked on the spot for allowing them to do so etc…
From my one experience of getting them to attend, their main priority is how quick can they get you off the hard shoulder. As soon as I explained I could get my truck running again in a few minutes but needed to get to the O/S of the truck they were happy to close lane 1 briefly to allow me to do it as it would take less time than getting a recovery truck out to us.
So I’m sure in this case they I’m sure they would have done the same, as it would have been the quickest way of getting the truck off the hard shoulder. After all you see them plenty of times behind a truck with a tyre fitter in attendance.
The stumbling block might have been explaining this to an East European driver more used to some of the less understanding European authorities who take a dim view of this sort of thing on their roads. Especially the French police who I can only assume get a cut each time they get a tyre fitter or recovery truck out judging by some of the prices that get charged.
I’d say a lot is down to company policy/ insurance criteria. Sort of question I would ask about before doing a job for a company or at least phone them and ask should a problem arise - assuming I would have the means to resolve the issue myself and take into account a risk assessment, if I thought it too dangerous due to where it was, they can forget it.
I’ve had various issues on the road years ago that I didn’t mind dealing with myself and tipping the cab if need be, but these days even that isn’t usually something you can do.
muckles:
The stumbling block might have been explaining this to an East European driver more used to some of the less understanding European authorities who take a dim view of this sort of thing on their roads. Especially the French police who I can only assume get a cut each time they get a tyre fitter or recovery truck out judging by some of the prices that get charged.
Yep, a driver changing a wheel on the motorway hard shoulder is a huge no-no in France, the Police turned up (almost instantly) and gave me a bollocking just for looking at a flat tyre near Reims once.
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??
No it isn’t. If I’m taken care of properly by the firm and paid a decent wage I will recognise this by going above and beyond.
If a firm wants to pay [zb] all then the firm will get [zb] all back from me. Simple
So… you would rather sit on your arse for possibly hours than do a simple repair and do yourself the benefit of being back on the road?? What about running out of time/ having to spend a night out needlessly? All sounds very jobsworth.com…
Bluey Circles:
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.
Yes my aim was to make sure he did not get flattened by any passing traffic, I did not want him in any bother but equally I did not want him to end up dead.
Just before anyone thinks I am being over dramatic, just over 30 years ago I was involved in a very nasty accident on the hard shoulder of the M6 whilst working for a recovery operation, basically a chap driving for a supermarket drifted off lane one and onto the shoulder and collected both the car that had broken down and the recovery vehicle, by some minor miracal although badly shaken the 3 of us were unhurt.
So as you can imagine you don’t ever forget something like that.
dieseldog999:
suppose the last 2 of you you could be right,but why meddle when its none of your business…if the flipflop needed a hand,then the phones there to do so…anywhere else,you just get on with it and who needs the greif from the wombles once they decide to make the usual mountain out of a molehill.no doubt the next move would be…its too dangerous,we will just get you recovered…cost your firm £8000 quid,and have you sacked on the spot for allowing them to do so etc…
Spot on DD999, that’s exactly what would happen
Seconded, thats exactly what would happen. Seems the Uk’s taken the way of risk assessment/ not my job/ H&S ■■■■■■■■ far too far and brainwashed everyone into thinking everything they do is life threatening
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??
No it isn’t. If I’m taken care of properly by the firm and paid a decent wage I will recognise this by going above and beyond.
If a firm wants to pay [zb] all then the firm will get [zb] all back from me. Simple
So… you would rather sit on your arse for possibly hours than do a simple repair and do yourself the benefit of being back on the road?? What about running out of time/ having to spend a night out needlessly? All sounds very jobsworth.com…
Jobsworth? What the ■■■■ are you on about?
I’ll say it slowly for you
If the company wants to take the ■■■■ out of me financially then I will do the same to them.
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??
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
And here it is, rather sit in the cab being paid rather than break a sweat helping yourself getting back on the road Gone i think are the days of a bit of diy/bodge/ repairing, nowadays its a case of ‘not my job its someone elses problem’…
Andrew I think you need to scroll back and look at my previous answer. Is that egg I see on your face?
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??
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
And here it is, rather sit in the cab being paid rather than break a sweat helping yourself getting back on the road Gone i think are the days of a bit of diy/bodge/ repairing, nowadays its a case of ‘not my job its someone elses problem’…
Im with you on this one up until a year ago I worked for a chap with just 3 wagons, we all carried super singles, windy guns and a few jacks all the gear you need…
We even had air bags on push connectors to get back to the yard if needs be if one ever went pop, simply bend it back onit itself and a cable tie… We was paid generously for our efforts though
dieseldog999:
suppose the last 2 of you you could be right,but why meddle when its none of your business…if the flipflop needed a hand,then the phones there to do so…anywhere else,you just get on with it and who needs the greif from the wombles once they decide to make the usual mountain out of a molehill.no doubt the next move would be…its too dangerous,we will just get you recovered…cost your firm £8000 quid,and have you sacked on the spot for allowing them to do so etc…
Spot on DD999, that’s exactly what would happen
Seconded, thats exactly what would happen. Seems the Uk’s taken the way of risk assessment/ not my job/ H&S ■■■■■■■■ far too far and brainwashed everyone into thinking everything they do is life threatening
So you’ve called the Highway Agency out then?
I have and it’s not what they did, they turned up, we had a quick chat about what I wanted to do, we made a plan to keep me safe while I got the truck running again. They carried it out, I got moving again. Everyone’s happy and safe.
As for the health and safety, not a good place to be trying to work on a live motorway, my little brother used to do recovery work, some of the near misses he had would make you think twice about it and he had a truck with loads of bright flashing lights, but some drivers still didn’t give a dam, some didn’t even give a dam even if the police were there as well.
I was on the hard shoulder for 4.5hrs once before the wombles turned up as I managed to find a camera blind spot ha. They literally just found me whilst they were on a joy ride.
My company was sending out one of our own low loaders for me with a new unit to swap over. Wombles turn up, place a few cones and ring for recovery. My new unit turns up a we use it to load the other one. Recovery turns up and as we don’t need them highway agency pays for the call out, what a waste of money when I told them my new unit was 30 mins away.
AndrewG:
And here it is, rather sit in the cab being paid rather than break a sweat helping yourself getting back on the road Gone i think are the days of a bit of diy/bodge/ repairing, nowadays its a case of ‘not my job its someone elses problem’…
Im with you on this one up until a year ago I worked for a chap with just 3 wagons, we all carried super singles, windy guns and a few jacks all the gear you need…
We even had air bags on push connectors to get back to the yard if needs be if one ever went pop, simply bend it back onit itself and a cable tie… We was paid generously for our efforts though
How it should be mate. Problem being theres too many out there who take being a driver literally,all they want to do is sit in the seat, they dont want to do anything to help their own company or even themselves.In a tool box i have everything possible within reason to keep a trailer on the road, most of it apart from the bottle jack and extendable breaker bar take up very little room and the cost of it all minimal. All it takes sometimes is minutes to get something working again but then again…some drivers though would rather sit for hours waiting for help it seems reading up the company rule book and H&S manual in preparation to quote if they were dared to be asked to get off their arse once in a while to help out…all pretty sad really reading this forum to see the way driving in the UK has changed so very much…
Gone i think are the days of a bit of diy/bodge/ repairing, nowadays its a case of ‘not my job its someone elses problem’…
