STOPPED BY AN OFFICER FROM “VOSA”

  

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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