Prohibition Of Roadworthiness

droodle

At work our normal van broke down and while away to be repaired one of my bosses brought in an old van to us for deliveries. I checked i was insured, the van was taxed and mot'd. I also done a walk round (checking lights, tyres, washers and wipers) However i was stopped at the roadside by a Vosa inspector, and they found a defect with the propshaft main bearing carrier, and issued a prohibition of road worthiness certificate stating the van must be repaired and presented for an mot within 14days or they will prosecute. However judging by my bosses response i don't think they want to pay for work on a temporary van. Will i be prosecuted as i was the driver or will the owner be prosecuted?

Hammyman

As someone who has been through many checks by the "wheeltappers", you probably won't as it isn't something VOSA would expect you to find with a thorough walkround check. However, they WILL go after your employers. One thing I will mention though is that in law, the driver is responsible for everything so there is always the off chance.

I will point out that VOSA are serious and they DO follow up. So if your employers are thinking they can just ignore it and hand it back, then they're going to find out the hard way and VOSA fines ain't cheap. It's not just a quick £60. In addition to that, they have a tendency to sink their teeth into a company and may call in all the vehicles for inspection just to teach a lesson. As well as that, they have a "traffic light" system. All roadside inspections, whether passed or not, are logged into their database. If your company starts being found with things more than a few times, you get amber status which means you're likely to find yourself being pulled in a fair bit. Get to red status and you'd be lucky to get past an open weighbridge/inspection area without being pulled in.

In short, if VOSA say fix it, you fix it.

Hintza

I was looking at this post earlier and from the replies you have had, I tend to concur that it is a bit of a grey area.

Why not call them and ask who gets nailed for this and depending on the reply you can decide on your next course of action.

You will want to ask what happens if van is just scrapped (I imagine they will happy with that)

droodle

Thanks for the replies, the van is not being used as far as im aware, as i have refused to drive it now. I spoke briefly with the technician who issued the paperwork, but they were not very forthcoming with answers.

Hammyman

Judas wrote: »

I don't believe that VOSA can force them to fix it;

Actually they can.

cyclonebri1

Hammyman wrote: »

Actually they can.

So are you saying, (actually you have)that Vosa will not permit you to scrap it, but you must repair it.

Seems wrong to me, please provide something to substantiate that.

The end goal for any vehicle enforcement agency must be to get defective vehicles dissmissed to the scrappy???????????????

Hammyman

The end goal of VOSA is to get dangerous vehicles off the road, whether or not they're scrapped is up to the owner.

If I owned that van though, I'd sure as hell not be scrapping it for a £50 part.

Paradigm

Hammyman wrote: »

One thing I will mention though is that in law, the driver is responsible for everything so there is always the off chance.

That's just plain wrong!

The driver of a company vehicle is required to ensure that a vehicle is road worthy in respect of the items he can check within the scope of his position I.E. A driver!

This would mean lights, brakes, horn etc etc + load security/weight issues.

To know if a propshaft bearing was defective would take a trained mechanic... way beyond the duties/responsibilities of a "driver"

sassy_one

I can't see how the OP can be held accountable for the claim by VOSA on the defect, as how would have he of known?

No where in the high way code or similar does it state you need to do a examination of the entire vehicle.

I think you need to speak to your company manager OP, and perhaps a telephone call to CAB would be wise

goldspanners

Paradigm wrote: »

To know if a propshaft bearing was defective would take a trained mechanic... way beyond the duties/responsibilities of a "driver"

to know that it was exactly the prop shaft bearing that had gone would take someone with some mechanical knowledge.
but if the prop sahft bearing was bad enough for it to be deemed un roadworthy then any driver would have noticed it.
if you've ever had a rear wheel drive van with the prop shaft away you would notice it shuddering as you pull away or accelerate,or the clunking noise should also be a bit of a clue that somethings wrong.

the mess left by the front propshaft bearing totally collapsing is not nice,some vehicles have been thrown into the air or flipped over when the shaft breaks and digs into the ground. not a nice place to be at 70mph.

vaio

Paradigm wrote: »

……The driver of a company vehicle is required to ensure that a vehicle is road worthy in respect of the items he can check within the scope of his position I.E. A driver!

This would mean lights, brakes, horn etc etc + load security/weight issues.

To know if a propshaft bearing was defective would take a trained mechanic... way beyond the duties/responsibilities of a "driver"

sassy-one wrote: »

I can't see how the OP can be held accountable for the claim by VOSA on the defect, as how would have he of known?

No where in the high way code or similar does it state you need to do a examination of the entire vehicle.

I think you need to speak to your company manager OP, and perhaps a telephone call to CAB would be wise

So the owner is liable not the driver?

What if the owner is the driver?