If you have on site shunters/mechanics who park your vehicles, and take them to annual tests.. Need some advice please..

[Andynerg]

If you have on site shunters/mechanics who park your vehicles, and take them to annual tests, maintenance events etc, but they are not drivers by jobs, they drive for less than 4 hours a day, some of them do have tacho cards and some do not, all have appropriate hgv entitlements, do you perform any checks on their driving licenses as if they were drivers? If they insert the tacho card when shunting, how do you go about explaining their presence on the tacho analysing software, do you read their cards every 28 days for instance? What kind of contract/agreements with them would you use? Thanks.

[bobster]

If they are driving your vehicles then why wouldn’t you check their licence

[Andynerg]

If they are driving your vehicles then why wouldn’t you check their licence

Well those who only park/shunt in the private operating centre are not usually checked at the moment. However, I am considering to start checking all.

[bobster]

If they are driving your vehicles then why wouldn’t you check their licence

Well those who only park/shunt in the private operating centre are not usually checked at the moment. However, I am considering to start checking all.

You’ll be glad you did if there’s an incident

[JohnBee]

Check the licenses every 3 months,, if any don’t have tacho just order and pay for them, insist all drivers use drivers cards anytime a vehicle is used

[danieloc22]

Licence checks & downloads the same as the drivers.
Edit, Above comment is for any company vehicle road use, HGV or cars. For shunting, as long as driver assed as competent, no checks.

[Andynerg]

Licence checks & downloads the same as the drivers.
Edit, Above comment is for any company vehicle road use, HGV or cars. For shunting, as long as driver assed as competent, no checks.

That would be the best practice, however, from the point of view that they are not under EU hours rules and do not even drive for more than 20 minutes a day, is it sufficient to do less than best practice?

[danieloc22]

Licence checks & downloads the same as the drivers.
Edit, Above comment is for any company vehicle road use, HGV or cars. For shunting, as long as driver assed as competent, no checks.

That would be the best practice, however, from the point of view that they are not under EU hours rules and do not even drive for more than 20 minutes a day, is it sufficient to do less than best practice?

Thats what I do, and will continue, keep it simple, same rules, nothing can go wrong, & barely any extra work.

[darrenaw]

Full checks and must have a card, treat the same as a driver. They moonlight on another firm then kill a lad in the yard. You are in the dock.

[leonixei]

Tacho card to take for test, exemption only applies to road test or research and development

[jagtris]

Don't even need a car licence to drive hgv on private land ie a lorry yard with restricted access to the general public. Taking the truck on the road is a different matter. Most shunting operations take a few minutes most done without a card inserted. If someone is injured in the trucks own yard only the police and hse turn up and the cameras downloaded if fitted when its a shunting operation. My one experience. Obviously suitably trained driver who doesn't have an hgv licence is skating on thin ice

[martinfe]

Don't even need a car licence to drive hgv on private land ie a lorry yard with restricted access to the general public. Taking the truck on the road is a different matter. Most shunting operations take a few minutes most done without a card inserted. If someone is injured in the trucks own yard only the police and hse turn up and the cameras downloaded if fitted when its a shunting operation. My one experience. Obviously suitably trained driver who doesn't have an hgv licence is skating on thin ice

jagtris, amazingly you can drive a number of vehicles on a car licence with vehicle weights more than 3.5 ton!

[jamesblen]

In this day and age a large operation should not need to check licences physically!

[Andynerg]

In this day and age a large operation should not need to check licences physically!

what should they do instead?

[jamesblen]

In this day and age a large operation should not need to check licences physically!

what should they do instead?

Its 2022 people. You can have ALL your drivers licences checked monthly by 3rd parties contracted to DVLA and an exception report is generated for any drivers who have things such as points added, medicals due and all related things. Its a small cost each month but much more trustworthy than a driver showing you what could be a licence thats been revoked and for a large fleet far less work.

[Andynerg]

In this day and age a large operation should not need to check licences physically!

what should they do instead?

Its 2022 people. You can have ALL your drivers licences checked monthly by 3rd parties contracted to DVLA and an exception report is generated for any drivers who have things such as points added, medicals due and all related things. Its a small cost each month but much more trustworthy than a driver showing you what could be a licence thats been revoked and for a large fleet far less work.

that is just the same thing for me if the licences are checked by us or third party, the fact that they need to be checked is important. As some people say it is not necessary in certain circumstances. my friend was managing a huge company that used vehicle cleaners to shunt vehicles around the place, they also used to park their vehicles at the gates of the operating centre and that was a busy public road. they never had accidents but it looks like a dangerous practice.

[glennerro]

In this day and age a large operation should not need to check licences physically!

check licences every 6 months minimum physically

[jamesblen]

In this day and age a large operation should not need to check licences physically!

check licences every 6 months minimum physically

not necessarily in this day and age, please read above

[owenford]

Anyone who drives a company vehicle from car to HGV should have licence checked on a regular basis, especially if they are a points collector, which should be done more often.

[Bluecorn]

If all they do is shunt within the yard, then do a competency test, don’t even need a licence.
Depending on the circs, even private land can require a licence so check.
Taking to maintenance / test, then have full licenceand check as normal.
Are you looking at the legal minimum or for best practices…… they are quite different.