Stopped by police

[dig-dug-dan]

11 minutes ago, Haironyourchest said:

 

Yeah he was probably hinting about your "woodshure" registration. ( Think that's what it's called). Licence to sell firewood. Complete bull. The police shouldn't even be thinking about policing this, or even know about it. Not a road safety matter.

 

Did he say he was going to report you to woodsure or do something else?

Reported for insecure load. I think as I was giving the logs away, he said no more. I genuinely was, giving them to my ex wife to keep my kids warm!

 

[Haironyourchest]

8 minutes ago, dig-dug-dan said:

Reported for insecure load. I think as I was giving the logs away, he said no more. I genuinely was, giving them to my ex wife to keep my kids warm!

 

 

I see. Probably nothing will come of it. It's important to secure loads though, especially on major roads, cos if the load spills (say, as a result of being t-boned by another vehicle) it could cause a chain of accidents to other road users and the insurer would walk away.. i was coming home with a guy from a job one time, I wasin my car, he was towing his chipper and he took a log home with him to mill into planks. It was about five feet long by 9 inch and he tied it in the chute of the chipper, chute half closed and log sticking out diagonally, bits of webbing straps wrapped around the whole thing. I had bad vibes about it and said it should be tied up better but he was satisfied.. long story short, the log fell off on his way home and another car hit it. Minor damage, thankfully. It was all very embarrassing and stressful..

[Brushcutter]

2 hours ago, dig-dug-dan said:

Put three bulk bags of seasoned conifer on my twin Cab iveco daily, got on a1m and was immediately asked to follow a police traffic officer to a weighbridge.

I was 5.1% overweight!!!

He let me off that, but told me the load was unsafe as the logs were higher than the sides.

I then manually reduced said bags so loose logs were now lower than the sides.

He still wasn't happy, and insisted the load should be sheeted as if I go over a pothole, a log could jump out!

Even a load of sand has to be sheeted he reckoned!

The final sting was asking why I had them on. I told him I was giving them away, so he let me off but if I was selling them he would need to check my licence!

It's getting harder to make a living!

I'm being reported and may get prosecuted!

A random stop or had they set up an operation?

 

 

The weighbridge at Hatfield on the A1 is very busy now with stops. Never seems to be stopping the overloaded over width/length agri vehicles. 

 

 

[monkeybusiness]

Were you towing anything? If your load was being sold then a trailer would take you over the 3.5 tonnes ‘hire and reward’ threshold whereby you would have needed a tachograph etc. 

[eggsarascal]

We all know we bend the law, just secure your load properly..

 

 

[dig-dug-dan]

1 hour ago, Brushcutter said:

A random stop or had they set up an operation?

 

 

The weighbridge at Hatfield on the A1 is very busy now with stops. Never seems to be stopping the overloaded over width/length agri vehicles. 

 

 

That's exactly where it was! They were waiting to pounce once I got on just before the Hatfield tunnel

[Essexlogman]

3 hours ago, Haironyourchest said:

 

Yeah he was probably hinting about your "woodshure" registration. ( Think that's what it's called). Licence to sell firewood. Complete bull. The police shouldn't even be thinking about policing this, or even know about it. Not a road safety matter.

 

Did he say he was going to report you to woodsure or do something else?

No Traffic police would not get involved with that as Hetas have their own tactical support group for that 

[Bob The Dog]

3 hours ago, Haironyourchest said:

 

Yeah he was probably hinting about your "woodshure" registration. ( Think that's what it's called). Licence to sell firewood. Complete bull. The police shouldn't even be thinking about policing this, or even know about it. Not a road safety matter.

 

Did he say he was going to report you to woodsure or do something else?

It’s nothing to do with a licence to sell logs. It’s about vehicle insurance. If you’re selling firewood and transporting it in / on a vehicle, you’ll need business use insurance. Selling of logs and all those legal requirements are not something police have any involvement in. Insecure loads cause accidents, and it’s good that police are dealing with these matters, and in a sensible way too. 

[Haironyourchest]

13 minutes ago, Bob The Dog said:

It’s nothing to do with a licence to sell logs. It’s about vehicle insurance. If you’re selling firewood and transporting it in / on a vehicle, you’ll need business use insurance. Selling of logs and all those legal requirements are not something police have any involvement in. Insecure loads cause accidents, and it’s good that police are dealing with these matters, and in a sensible way too. 

 

His type of vehicle would almost certainly already have business (commercial) insurance. The insurer *may* have been interested in what he was doing with the logs *if* there had been a claim, as the small print on his policy would specify if he was covered for goods deliveries, which is a step up from the standard "own goods". Hard to prove if he wasn't advertising log deliveries. And you're allowed to deliver stuff on a personal or "occasional" basis anyway under own goods coverage. All depends what policy he has. I think it's unlike the cop would have been interested in this (though you never know).

[GarethM]

He would have business insurance, but doubtful it would cover delivery of logs as I've a separate policy for firewood.

 

That's on top of a business vehicle insurance, think the description is delivery to end user or finished product.

 

Most agri or commercial policies cover movement of wet timber and chip but not the dry.

 

Hire or reward one presumes.

Edited December 30, 2023 by GarethM