Wheel fell off Cont

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Fri 27 Dec 2019 15:38
Wheel fell off Cont - HGV ~ P Valentine

I have put this on because the other post has been marked as spam, but it brought to mind a real story I heard, actually a lot but I will restrict myself to only 2.

A trucker was jailed when the wheel of his vehicle came off, mounted the pavement and killed this elderly woman instantly.

THE JUDGE SAID : That the wheel must have been lose before it fell off, and that 3 of the 6 wheel nuts coming off would have been enough ( he took advice about this from others in the industry ) for the driver to have noticed a difference in the way the vehicle handled, especially on the turns of the wheel.

When he failed to feel that something was not right, or maybe he did but could not be bothered to stop and check he became responsible because if he had gotten out of the vehicle and checked he would have seen with his own eyes that the wheel nut was missing and that would have been his job to refuse to move the vehicle any further and await emergency recovery.

The same responsibility applies to cars.

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A truck driver in Bath also got fined, and even though the company ceo got jailed and 4 people died, 3 of them childen. The driver never drove a hgv again.

A truck was going down a steep gradient in the town centre, and brakes failed and the driver had no way of stopping the vehicle. Other drivers had reported the vehicle as being faulty and many refused to take the vehicle out, but this young lad was KEEN to get experience and did what no one else would do and drove it.

Safety is a serious thing for all drivers, this could easily have been you in your car.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2946278/Four-dead...l

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Fri 27 Dec 2019 15:44
Wheel fell off Cont - HGV ~ P Valentine

Vehicle checks are important and not just for the MOT.

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Sat 28 Dec 2019 15:30
Wheel fell off Cont - focussed

Many years ago when I took my first company car for a service - A mark one 1300 Ford Escort - I collected it and on getting out of town there was huge front wheel and steering wheel vibration - stopped as soon as I could. Walked around it, couldn't see anything obvious, it was getting dark so drove slowly home. Looked at it next morning, jacked the front wheels up in turn, the offside wheel and tyre was eccentric by half an inch or so.

Hub cap off - the wheel nuts were on wrong way round with the tapers facing outwards.

Supplied and serviced by a (then) well known Ford main Dealer.

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Sat 28 Dec 2019 16:31
Wheel fell off Cont - gordonbennet

The Bath incident was in 2015, the driver of the lorry was 19 years old and the case highlighted (those at the coal face of the industry for years have been complaining about this for years) the poor specific vehicle control training for new lorry drivers...though from a personal view a 19 year old has no place being in control, or rather out of control, of a 30 ton 8 wheel tipper anyway.

The lad was flying around as they do driving the vehicle as taught, ie by that method favoured by car instructors and by the old police method, again cars, of brakes to slow gears to go.

This has never, and never will be, the proper way to drive a lorry, which is by using the right gear and maximising engine and auxilliary braking and using the service brakes minimally.

Yes the vehicle was in poor condition but even a brand new vehicle if driven hard enough on hills relying solely on the brakes those brakes can and will cook.

There were people missing from the dock, the training industry, and the fools who pushed through legislation allowing children to drive big lorries.

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Sat 28 Dec 2019 17:10
Wheel fell off Cont - bathtub tom

I've lost a few wheels in my driving career:

1. A Moggie Minor van that sheared the wheel, leaving the centre fixed to the hub.

2. Standard Super Ten - A well known fault, the same as above.

3. Caravan nearside wheel on the M6. I'd recently had them off to paint them and inspect the brakes. I assume I hadn't fully tightened it or got some paint under the fixings. I was fully aware of the dangers of the latter!

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