New toy

[Marc]

All i can say is i've driven past vosa a few times on the motorway in a Mog chip truck and Crane type, they've never even botherd to pull me over unlike many other hgv vehicles being pulled.

Recently one company i work for had their Bedford crane truck (like Andys only i'm guessing newer as it has square not round lights and boxier cab) pulled by vosa on a dual carrigeway they dipped the tank even though they were informed its running on red, there was some confusion by the vosa guys on the road eventually they let them go but warned they were going to check out the legality of running it as a special vehicle and get back to them. They had a load of cord and chip on the back.

 

They never heard back! maybe it was luck?

[Buzz]

Dave, rodger that. Stevie me to, Old bill aren't the problem, the new aggresive VOSA is.

 

I'm sure Andy will do what's best for him.

[Stephen Blair]

i know there is exact rules and regulations somewhere but it is a definate grey area across the country. this will fire up some folk i am sure, but i ran mogs for about 7 years and never got stopped once, i have been out on jobs with the police for different reasons and they all just wanted to have a go in it and all just took pictures and thought it was cool. i know guys that have broken down on the motorway towing a full load of timber, and the police low loaded them to their yard. no question

[tommer9]

All i can say is i've driven past vosa a few times on the motorway in a Mog chip truck and Crane type, they've never even botherd to pull me over unlike many other hgv vehicles being pulled.

Recently one company i work for had their Bedford crane truck (like Andys only i'm guessing newer as it has square not round lights and boxier cab) pulled by vosa on a dual carrigeway they dipped the tank even though they were informed its running on red, there was some confusion by the vosa guys on the road eventually they let them go but warned they were going to check out the legality of running it as a special vehicle and get back to them. They had a load of cord and chip on the back.

 

They never heard back! maybe it was luck?

 

I dont think it had anything to do with luck. That truck, which sounds like a TM BTW, was registered as a crane, so could run on red. It shouldnt have had a load, but the fact that they dipped a tank they KNEW had red in it and didnt pick up on the load, proves what a total waste of time and money the ignorant power crazy tossers really are. They are a private company that has to justify its existence, and most of its employees are ex bouncers or squaddies etc, not traffic cops who actually know the law. They also pick on targets that are guaranteed to pay up without a fight, which usually means transport firms who will just pay, or people in horseboxes or cattle lorries who arent prepared to put up a fight either. They are basicaly scum wasting taxpayers money that could be much better spent on improving public service instead of buying lots of man hours and flashy motors for vosa officials to drive around in.

 

Not that i am bitter about them at all:001_rolleyes:

[treequip]

Hydrocarbon Oil Duties Act 1979 (c.5)

 

Enjoy

[Mr Ed]

Mobile cranes

9(1)A mobile crane is an excepted vehicle.

(2)In sub-paragraph (1) above “mobile crane” means a vehicle which is designed and constructed as a mobile crane and which—

(a)is used on public roads only as a crane in connection with work carried on at a site in the immediate vicinity or for the purpose of proceeding to and from a place where it is to be or has been used as a crane, and

(b)when so proceeding does not carry any load except such as is necessary for its propulsion or equipment.

.....

[ukminch]

Not that i am bitter about them at all:001_rolleyes:

 

I agree in theory with what they're doing but at the end of the day there not doing it right. It should be the police that pull people and then vosa that examine the vehicles, and they ought to know the rules.

 

I asked them before doing the trailer test about the 750kg rule. I was towing a braked trailer with small ride on mower which weighed just under this. They didn't have the foggiest about whether it was actual weight or possible weight.

 

R

[tommer9]

I agree in theory with what they're doing but at the end of the day there not doing it right. It should be the police that pull people and then vosa that examine the vehicles, and they ought to know the rules.

 

 

 

R

 

Wow, it took me ages and a rant to say that!!

[Mr Ed]

Police have even less of a clue than VOSA.

 

I was in france a few years ago, helping a mate out on the windblow contract, driving a forwarder. The trucks were going off site weighing about 60 tonnes. I asked the ONF (French forstry commision) guy how they got away with being so overloaded.

They told me the french police would never dream of stopping a working timber truck going about its business.

We apply the rules far too strictly in this country.

[Buzz]

Maybe Ed but have you seen the state of some of the trucks on the road ? Overloaded wagons are a real hazard.

 

Tommer are you getting mixed up between Highways Agency Officers patrolling the motorways and VoSA ? VOSA are usually in MPV's pulling trucks into weighbridges and service stations for inspection.

 

VOSA can request you to stop, Highways Agency Officers can't but will get straight onto the old bill if they suspect an offence.

 

Most police officers I know aren't to fond of the HAO but acknowledge they take weight off of them.

 

Personally I think they do a good job, motorists definatly seem better informed about motorway protocol when they breakdown etc and there's real evidence that the motorways flow better now as there are always officers on set sections of Motorway.

 

Just my tuppence.