I had a wheel come off one of those dreadful 1960's Commer vans -the rounded bobbly ones with that that looked like they were trying to hide their wheels altogether. It happened in a farm driveway, luckily. I was working for a small haulage company at the time and I also had a pair of rear wheels come loose, but not fall off, on a 16 ton tipper. This was in the late 1970's and with hindsight I suspect sabotage.
Cheers, SS
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I had a wheel come off one of those dreadful 1960's Commer vans -the rounded bobbly ones with that that looked like they were trying to hide their wheels altogether.
Ah, a PB. Funny looking thing. BT had loads of the things
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Some Transits have LH threaded wheelnuts one side and RH threads the other to stop them working loose.
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PDC
The imprtant thing is that no one was hurt. Minimal damage was done to the vehicle I assume.
The ideas discussed are all valid.
Whatever you do, don't give yourself a hard time about it, you don't deserve it. We've all done the odd stupid thing in or on a vehicle. 99.99999% of the time we get away with it. Besides 4 months and several 000s miles, your actions may not have been the cause.
Some light relief perhaps.....
When I was at school during 1983, we had a post retirement aged ex WW2 officer as a staff member who used to take us sailing. This chap was an absolute gent in every sence of the word, but his hearing and communication skills in general were beginning to waine.
On one trip some of the 6th formers who were bored bought some butane and started sniffing it in town.
On the way back by sheer coincidence, the windscreen was hit and splintered into several pieces. It was a toughened screen so it had to be knocked out for the driver to see properly and we made our way home.
Now the 6th formers on the butane were beginning to find that more and more things were amusing them. Indeed they simply laughed at all efforts made by us to get them to shup up or even the old colonel's efforts in repremanding them. They were very relaxed sitting in the front passenger seat with their feet resting in the hole where the windscreen should have been!
About a mile away from the school the old colonel had finally had enough. So he stopped the minibus and ordered these guys out to walk the rest of the way.
They duly obliged, still giggling like school girls. Whilst exiting the vehicle, one of them slipped as he shut the door.
When the colonel drove off we felt the minibus run over something. It was said 6th former's leg! After what seemed like 1 minuite of the rest of us shouting "Sir, you've just run over Phil!", loud enough for him to hear, the colonel stopped to assess the situation.
Phil had by this time managed to stand up and start hobbling towards the minibus, still giggling and still holding his can of butane, which no doubt would see him through the worst of the pain.
Much subdude 6th formers and slightly quieter colonel then climed back into the minibus and we arrived back at the school.
The leg oddly enough was not broken, but after the effects of the butane wore off Phil did tell me that his leg did hurt.
Since there was no serious injury, we brokered a deal between the colonel and Phil that Phil would keep quiet about being run over in exchange for the colonel's silence about the butane etc.
To be fair though we knew that the colonel would not want to mention the butane incident, and we really didn't want to see this old gent get into trouble about the accident.
Sorry for the long post, but PDC next time that incident preys on your mind, think about the colonel and the butane - you're sure to smile ;)
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pdc,
You have my sympathy and understanding. Despite some replies above I do not believe that you behaved negligently or even in a way that would not be deemed normal by most others. Like you, I often drive youngsters around in minibuses and have done since 1974. I have many colleagues who do/have done the same. As far as I know, none have a torque wrench or go round checking the wheel nuts before every trip. I have also hired many minibuses and vans and cars. I have never checked the wheel nuts with a torque wrench. Nor, when queuing behind others have I ever known them to check wheel nuts before driving off. I have checked tyres, oil and water - in fact I turned down a bus with what I thought was a rather treadless tyre. I have to say that, while fitting a towball recently, I asked all my colleagues (about 50 of them) whether anyone had a torque wrench I could borrow. About 75% did not even know what a torque wrench was, none of them owned one.
For people to imply that you should check wheel nuts is, I think , somewhat excessive. Should you also whip off the wheels and ensure that the brake pads are OK? Or do you trust the organisation/school/club etc to have had the bus properly serviced/maintained etc?? I think the latter is reasonable and that you should not blame yourself. Lets be reasonable about this.
By the way, could someone tell me how to get at the inner wheelnuts on a double back-wheeler minibus? Are they on the inside or outside? Could I get a torque wrench on them without taking off the outer wheel?
Shows how much I know about checking wheel nuts.
Maybe I've just been lucky. There but for the grace of God......
Phil
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By the way, could someone tell me how to get at the inner wheelnuts on a double back-wheeler minibus? Are they on the inside or outside? Could I get a torque wrench on them without taking off the outer wheel? Shows how much I know about checking wheel nuts. Maybe I've just been lucky. There but for the grace of God...... Phil
The wheels will both be attached with one set of bolts that go through both wheels, maybe if you had ever checked them you would have noticed this!!!!!
As for who is responsible for checking a vehicle, the driver is, and that should include wheel nuts, many an HGV driver has been in court because of loose wheel nuts, it takes 5 minutes to do, you don't need a torque wrench, just a wheel brace or something to give them a tap with. I think it is a little irresponsible of you to say it is someone elses job to check the condition of a vehicle you are going to drive. As a final point can I ask that you never transport my daughter when you have such an attitude towards basic vehicle checks.
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"you don't need a torque wrench, just a wheel brace or something to give them a tap with. I think it is a little irresponsible of you to say it is someone elses job to check the condition of a vehicle you are going to drive. As a final point can I ask that you never transport my daughter when you have such an attitude towards basic vehicle checks."
OK, just to show my ignorance - how does tapping a wheel nut show it is tightened to the correct torque?? I have passed (several times) local authority tests to enable me to transport youngsters. You would have thought that someone might have mentioned checking wheel nuts before setting of wouldn't you? I didn't mean to be irresponsible for the last 30 years, but nobody has even suggested to me before that I should check wheel nuts before setting off. I apologise.
I won't (knowingly) ever transport your daughter, but would like to ask whether you apply the same standards to others?? Have you checked with your daughter's school and all their minibus drivers, school bus driver, sports clubs, youth clubs, friends' parents, local bus company, local taxi firms, wife, grandfather, grandmother, auntie Mary etc etc etc, whether they check the wheel nuts before transporting your daughter? Or do you go round with a wheeltapper before she gets in any vehicle?
Phil
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By tapping you can tell if any sound different from the rest, or a really loose one will turn, not difficult to do and does not take long once you get into the habit (better still if the arrow indicators are fitted to the wheel nuts).
My daughter is not of school age yet, but yes I will make sure they have correct proceadures for checking vehicles, as for taxi's etc she has never had to use them yet and grandparents know exactly what I am like about cars and safety so humour me somewhat.
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Ah, a PB. Funny looking thing. BT had loads of the things
wonderful vehicles, I still have one
managed to keep 4 wheels on it so far
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Ah, a PB. Funny looking thing. BT had loads of the things
Not that funny at the time, still a fantastic vehicle now
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Temporarily not a student, where did the time go???
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