Tales from the open road, #281; sometimes it’s best not to ask. A familiar-looking lorry inches its way into the yard, stopping outside the warehouse. The engine was cut, and a bleary-eyed and weather-beaten Stan steps from the cab. On hearing the motor our benevolent boss emerges from the warehouse approaching his employee. He eyes the unshaven, dishevelled Stan up and down before inspecting the wagon. He stops briefly to glance at the flatbed. A lone pallet with several bags of animal feed perched on it sits against the bulkhead dollied down. He continues to the back of the truck, giving it a cursory glance before making his way back towards the cab. The boss looks Stan straight in the eye and asks: “Where is the trailer?” For the best part of two years during the 1980s, I drove for a small family business delivering farm machinery, pallets of feed and bedding, and other tools of the agricultural industry. Customers included farmers, retail outlets and wholesalers across the south of England.
A fleet of Iveco Ford Cargo two-axle rigid flatbeds were supplemented by a single two-axle drawbar trailer…with an A-frame. I manhandled a Ford Cargo 1615 that had a 16-tonne gross vehicle weight. Powered (I use that term loosely) by Ford’s own 148hp engine it worked tirelessly (and often in vain) with Ford’s own six-speed synchromesh transmission. What speed was generated by the engine was lost with a single gearchange. Occasionally, it would be hooked to the trailer grossing out at 26 tonnes to maximise potential. Now, I know what you are thinking. Skin and rice pudding; bed and blanket. And you’d be right, the Ford Cargo 1615 couldn’t separate any of them. From the warehouse to Cornwall and back was pretty straightforward; a two-day job. Down in the morning to make two-or-three deliveries, the first couple off the trailer that is then left in a layby. Next day would be one-or-two drops at most, collect the trailer and then trundle back empty. There was always enough time. However, in the summer Cornwall represented something of a challenge. Tourism. In the 1980s Cornwall was a very different place. Although there was less traffic the roads were single-carriageways. Everything backed up as families of four in aged motors towing caravans sought poorly-signposted campsites, or directions to the ‘seaside’. While the South Hams in Devon was already popular with second-home owners, Cornwall was less so. There were genuine local communities living in fully-equipped villages and there were more working farms with smaller acreages. Today…well, I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again; Cornwall is ruined by the flood of affluent Londoners buying up houses to use for a fortnight every other summer, misguided wealthy second-generations bringing their artisan business concepts to sell to fellow outsiders, all the while choking up the impoverished road network with large, powerful SUVs, sports cars and aged Volkswagen campervans. Anyway, I partially digress. Stan had been taken on a fortnight before. He’d been shown the ropes, and how to rope. His dolly wasn’t bad, but you couldn’t play a tune on it. Initially his role was local work. On the third Monday of his employment he was handed several detailed maps of Cornwall – many with notes as to procedures for farms – and the keys to the 1615, my wagon, which was attached to a trailer. With five drops, one more than usual, he was sent on his way. That would have been me; instead I spent two days traipsing to London and Warwick collecting tractors, machinery and animal feed bound for the warehouse covering a holidaying driver. By Wednesday morning I was to have the keys to the 1615 but Stan had not returned. The boss got on the phone. The feedback was inconclusive. The farmers were out baling but retailers said they had received their parts – so at least two of the five deliveries had been made albeit out of sync. The boss waited all day, but Stan didn’t reappear. He got back on the blower. Stan had not yet been to two of the farms he was meant to deliver to Monday afternoon. It was now Wednesday evening. The boss made efforts to get to the bottom of why it took Stan so long. Seemingly he couldn’t find the first two farms at Yeolmbridge and Treneglos. He made two deliveries of tractor parts to retailers in Bodmin and Helston then showed up at a farm outside St Austell where he spent an afternoon reversing the A-frame trailer back down a lane because he’d missed the turning. To Stan’s credit, and without any experience of using one, he successfully reversed an A-frame trailer 150 yards. The farmer said as much. He got the farmer to transfer the remaining two loads from the trailer to the prime mover, then dropped the empty trailer in a layby to make the last deliveries back at Yeolmbridge and Treneglos. Out of time, he parked up and bobtailed back on Friday morning…without the trailer. No one knows what happened to the maps, why he couldn’t find the farms, or why he transferred the load. Stan took his bollocking without question, then walked to his car and left never to return. However, Stan’s experience did force change on the company. The benevolent boss got rid of the wagon and drag concept and went to an all-articulated fleet. Out went the Cargos and in came second hand ERF B-series 4x2 tractor units previously used to haul milk tankers. As he stated: “Less chance of you buggers leaving the trailers behind!”
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Applying for a job with a haulier can mean an interview, a driving assessment and a probationary period as well as providing references. For total transparency should prospective employers also provide you with its Operator Compliance Risk Score to show they are worth working for? Big Dave has been waved in so many times by Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) employees that he is on first name terms with most of them.
Many of his impromptu roadside checks came during an 18-month period of employment with a particular ‘haulier’. It got so bad that even Big Dave stopped seeing the funny side of it. Any self-respecting steering wheel attendant will know that when they see a DVSA liveried vehicle on the move there is a moment when the sphincter tightens just a tad pending the yellow lights. Every haulier is listed on the Governments’ Operator Compliance Risk Score (OCRS) database that decides which vehicles DVSA should inspect. They tap in the registration and up comes…well I’m not exactly sure…thumbs? OCRS takes in the operator’s performance regarding the condition of its vehicles and known operational offences. If your employers’ OCRS is high it is more likely you, the employed lorry driver, will be flagged in and given the once over. The OCRS uses data collected over a rolling three-year period based on specific information. There is a distinctive set of criteria and a set-in-stone scoring system split into three; one for roadworthiness, one for traffic (this includes drivers’ hours and tachograph offences, and weighing checks), and these two are combined for an overall third score. This translates into a traffic light system; if green the operator is viewed as low risk, amber is medium risk, red is high risk and grey is ‘unknown operator’. Outside of green and the wagons are more likely to be pulled in. It works off the theory that if the operator isn’t on green then they should be striving for green, so trucks should be exemplary, hence they are pulled in to see if that is the case. If so, all good, if not… Operators know their own OCRS but not that of others and itinerate lorry drivers most certainly do not have access to it in any shape or form. Had Big Dave known that his employer was most likely in the red, I wonder if he would’ve joined the company. At his interview for the job of ‘lorry driver’ Big Dave provided references, had an extensive interview about driving hours and pre-shift checks, and was asked if he’d been stopped, had any prosecutions, fines, points or cautions. Big Dave met all the conditions for employment even if his appearance and personal hygiene doesn’t . He was also asked to put his details into the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) online ‘license holder check system’ to make sure he was ‘legit’. He did so without hesitation. Inside the first week Big Dave was pulled in at Carlisle. His considerably sized sphincter responded accordingly, no mean achievement, and he followed the DVSA highway patrol into the roadside facility. His mind raced back to his pre-vehicle shift and any over-speeds or other ‘offences’ that might have popped up after downloading his digital tachograph. His wagon was given the once over and was sent packing. Pulled over once maybe considered random, twice (this time at Stirling) smacks of intent. Big Dave does self-preservation better than Boris Johnson. He adhered to his pre-shift vehicle check religiously, reported anything that hinted of defect and even queried the brevity of the vehicle check sheet. He began adding his own notes to it to show its minimalism. When he got waved in at Beattock and then Warrington his sphincter barely registered a response knowing he’d done all he could to ensure his vehicle was roadworthy and that any driving offences were little more than misdemeanours or one-offs. During the 18 months he’d been pulled seven times across the country. A tyre on the verge of baldness was, according to Big Dave, the nearest they got to pinning anything on him. It was clear his employer wasn’t the best at maintaining their own rolling stock so rather than risk his livelihood, Big Dave walked. He was lucky. There are thousands of wagon drivers motoring across the country working for employers whose OCRS are less than stellar. Drivers often work in ignorant bliss, only to get wise when caught with a wagon not suitable for the open road. If employers can give you the once over, I think it’s only right drivers can do the same by having access to their employers (new or current) OCRS in the same way Big Dave had to go through the DVLA license check. Big Dave had nothing to hide, if an operator has nothing to hide, they should gladly boast a ‘green OCRS’. Lorry drivers will, to the best of their ability, make sure their wagon is roadworthy but if the operator is on red or amber surely this might make the lorry driver reconsider their options, after all, why play the game fairly if your employer cannot be bothered to do the same? |
AuthorAging proletariat with face, teeth and body to prove it. Archives
August 2021
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