I'ts
a Rum Life Book Four Volume Two
Northcote
Diary 1994 to 2008
STOPPED
BY AN OFFICER FROM “VOSA”
(2004)
I suppose,
if asked to explain to an ordinary citizen, (that is someone who is
not involved in running or “operating” heavy commercial
vehicles), who “VOSA” are, I should say they are the “Gestapo”
of the lorry industry!
VOSA, or
Vehicle and Operator
Services
Agency are a government body that “police”
everything to do with heavy commercials. They are responsible for the
testing stations and spot checks at the roadsides. Everything
regarding legislation for commercial vehicles comes under their
control. They are very much like the VAT officers in that they have
special powers to demand this and that.
Under
normal circumstance, the people one avoids like the plague!
THE
ACTUAL DAY
Well on
this day I am going to tell you about, one of these people was
following me after I had collected a load of hay from our supplier Mr
Morris Gee at Croft.
The roads
in that area around Skegness are bad. Fen roads, built on marshland;
they are narrow and have steep cambers with deep dykes on both sides.
I had been diverted from my normal route by road-works and on
approaching Burgh le Marsh to eventually join the main road and turn
for home, I stopped to check my load.
There were
14 round bales of hay on the flat bed of the lorry and another 12 on
the twin axle low loader trailer. The whole “ensemble” had been
thrown this way and that crossing these dreadful “fen” roads and
it was wise to ensure all the securing straps were still holding
everything properly before joining the busy “A” road. A car
pulled up behind me and I thought the driver was under the impression
that I had stopped for some obstruction or other, despite the fact
that I had indicated that I was stopping. The driver introduced
himself as a VOSA officer and said he had been following me for some
little while and become interested in my vehicle and load. Thus began
the “interrogation”!
Where had
I come from? Who’s vehicle was it? Where was I going? How much did
the load weigh? The last question was difficult to answer as hay is a
variable. Every bale is different but in “round” figures they can
weigh about five hundredweights each. This gave me about three and a
half tons on the lorry which was well within its limit and another
three tons on the trailer which was registered at three and a half
tons “gross”; that is trailer and load!
“JUST
COME THIS WAY SIR”!
The
officer certainly knew his “onions” and quite soon told me he
wanted my lorry to follow him to the nearest commercial weighbridge.
Fortunately
this was not too far away, some three miles in the direction of
Skegness, in the opposite direction to one I wanted to go. Here he
found that as the trailer was “close coupled” he could not get a
reading of the exact weight of the trailer and its load. The trailer
axles are quite close together, so part of the load is carried by the
lorry, via the
tow bar of the trailer and it is not a sensible idea to detach the
trailer while loaded. The total weight of trailer and its load on
the weighbridge was just inside the three
and half tons. To prosecute me, he had to show that I had overloaded
the trailer on one of its axles, but because of the way the trailer
was constructed, he could not prove it!
He was not
going to give in though as the vehicle I was driving had no road fund
licence displayed in the lorry window. I had explained that it had
been “off the road” for several months as it was only basically
used for collecting the hay and straw we used. I was genuinely
certain that a tax disc was on my desk in the office and I had just
forgotten to display it! He declared that he would follow me to the
Horse Centre and check my vehicle records. (Here, I should explain
that a “responsible” vehicle operator keeps good records of
regular safety checks on vehicles and servicing.)
Back on my
desk, the tax disc was for the second lorry, the horse box. I had
forgotten to tax the hay and straw lorry! Black mark there, but he
said that provided I did tax it that day he would not prosecute! He
asked endless questions about the operation of the Horse Centre and
after about an hour declared that we should have an “operator’s
licence”. I did know all about these things from my days at ECYB
Transport and was also confident that as we did not sell anything the
Lorries carried, than we were not required to have this kind of
licence which was expensive and demanded far stricter controls. It
also meant that someone in the operation of the centre needed to have
a Transport Manager’s Licence. Fortunately, I do have one of
these, and argued my case vociferously!
ADAMANT
The
Officer was however adamant and insisted we applied for the statutory
“operator’s licence”. This involved newspaper advertisements
declaring our “intentions” so that neighbours and “uncle tom
cobbley and all” could protest to the proposal of the Horse Centre
becoming an “Operating Centre” for commercial vehicles, if they
felt inclined. (To digress a little here, it had only been a couple
of years or so before, when we had been collecting second hand
pallets, donated to us, to
raise funds; we could have genuinely been caught out for not having
one of these licences, as at that time we were actually selling the
pallets.)
We also
had to prove to the Traffic Commissioners that we had sufficient
finance available to operate the vehicles properly. We were lucky
with this requirement, as we had been left a legacy and there was
still some money in the bank. This is not normally the case!
If we
could not conform to everything required of us, or indeed if there
had been any objections locally, then the Lorries would have to go;
that would have been a disaster!
The
licence was eventually granted and we had to pay a further “hundreds”
of pounds for the actual licence itself. But, now, the sanctuary for
horses was officially an operating centre for two commercial vehicles
and could theoretically apply for more. The status of the premises
had been changed forever and in the future, this could be to our
advantage!
I did also
get the road fund licence that day, and I never did see that officer
ever again.
Five years
later when the licence came up for renewal, the Centre had become an
official registered Charity so we did not renew the licence as the
status of the whole operation had changed.
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