Lorry drivers get most people's backs up when they decide to overtake a fellow lorry but end up taking 4 miles to do so. What I saw on A38 today was downright dangerous end of.

Basically, Mondeo in front gets halfway past big artic lorry with loads of pallets on the back when he decided to pull into outside lane! It was british vehicle too so no left hand drive excuses. The mondeo was almost crushed into the central reservation which would have doubtless led to pallets ending up on the opposite carriageway. He spotted the mondeo at the last minute and pulled back.

As I drove past the lorry I saw he had one hand on the wheel and the other on his phone

I thought that reporting it would mean my word against the lorry driver so I decided to get the reg number of the mondeo too. I called the fuzz on the bluetooth system and gave them the reg numbers of the modeo and the lorry and also a description of the driver. I even got the name and telephone number of the haulage firm as traffic slowed right down.

The fuzz can trace the mondeo owner using the PNC and hopefully make contact and get a statement from him. I am meeting an officer tomorrow to give my full statement and I will pursue this all the way.

Hopefully the mondeo driver will get properly involved and with a bit of luck they could check with the mobile phone service provider and show that the phone was in use at that time.

Idiot could have killed and injured people including kids. I hope they get the stupid mother fu er

Rant over. LL.B (Hons) - University of Derby
LOT (Lord of Time) - University of Gallifrey

Good on you, too many people would let it go, lorry drivers are some of the worst culprits.

"Knights of the Road" ... NOT

Good on you! Freelander 1 TD4 HSE - gone, 2 weeks after the Cat.Converter!
Freelander 2 TD4 SE Auto MY08 - Santorini black

It is surprising that some lorry driver still use hand held mobiles when driving, the penalties for a proffessional driver caught doing this are much heavier than car drivers, never worked that one out for the same offence. As there was an incident which relates to him using his phone you did the right thing he should know better. the chance of the Police being able to act without seeing it for themselves is unlikely. I have been hit three times by cars whilst working roadside, all three left the scene, the Police claim they could do nothing. May be when the driver realises he has been reported he may mend his ways.
As for lorry drivers being some of the worst, utter tosh, all ages driving all vehicles, both sexes make calls and text. I even had a women do an emergancy stop to avoid my reversing truck, she had 300 yards of vision after the bend, when she started having a go at me I saw her phone was in her hand, I said if you put that down you would see the truck, she said nothing.
Knights of the Road we are not or have ever claimed to be. 2009 FL2 GS
1985 90Tdi

They are SOME of the worst, it is not utter tosh or this post would never have been created

taztastic wrote:

They are SOME of the worst, it is not utter tosh or this post would never have been created

In your argument you imply that motor cyclists and coach drivers are some of the best then?
Divided by a common language I guess

That's one heck of a mileage and hats off to you for that

I do many miles a year and not in a LGV but some of the manoeuvres winessed have to be seen has to be believed, I do have some of the amazing feats on film, I have to say mostly by car drivers but this could be due to the amount of cars on the roads compared to LGV's, you think you have seen everything but the next day it will be surpassed by someone else, half the problem is that most car drivers seem to think that with all the safety measures in their vehicle they are invincible, the other half drive vehicles that are mutch to quick for their level of ability.

iangam wrote:

the chance of the Police being able to act without seeing it for themselves is unlikely. I have been hit three times by cars whilst working roadside, all three left the scene, the Police claim they could do nothing.

ad210358, do you have one of the fixed forward facing cameras permanently recording? If so is it a personal or a company decision and why? Just curious.......JT Upgraded to an ex demo, 7 mth old, Rimini Red/Ebony Napoli Auto HSE on 28th Jan 2011, added roof rails, mudflaps and side strips.
Gone - A great 57 Plate, Auto SE, Bought Feb 2009, Roof Rails and Mudflaps added on purchase. Blue colour, anything but drug dealer black.....

[quote="iangam"]It is surprising that some lorry driver still use hand held mobiles when driving, the penalties for a professional driver caught doing this are much heavier than car drivers,

The penalty for using a mobile phone is the same for any road user regardless off what they are driving, the only extra thing that can happen to a LGV driver is he can be reported to the traffic commissioner, who can suspend his LGV license for a period of time.
As for LGV drivers being any worse than any other road user, i would have to say that i have seen some unbelievably stupid things from ALL drivers regardless of what they drive. It is just when an LGV driver F**KS up it causes alot more damage.
The Doctor: As for the LGV driver being taken for Dangerous/ Driving without due care and attention, i very much doughty this will happen as all he will say is the mondeo was in his blind spot when he checked his mirrors. Again i very much doughty a report will be generated for his mobile phone usage, for two reasons 1: The mobile phone was not seized at the time of the offence so how do we know that is the phone he was using at the time ? can you describe the make and model of the phone ? ( the courts will ask this) 2: The simple reason it costs quite abit of money to check mobile records.
As the law stands at the moment the only real chance of getting a prosecution for using a mobile phone while driving is for the offender to be stopped at the time of the offence by the Police.

To be fair I think that the combination of the phone plus a statement from me and mondeo man would be enough to secure a conviction for driving without due care (plus he may cave in and admit it ) but as you rightly say which phone? I was basing my earlier point on the hope it would be a business phone owned by the haulage firm and easily traced for usage.

I do agree on cost etc. To be honest I would just like to see him get a roasting from the cops if nothing else. LL.B (Hons) - University of Derby
LOT (Lord of Time) - University of Gallifrey

Whilst I appreciate a few raw nerves have been touched, I will categorically state that there are good drivers and bad drivers. I have been known to make mistakes - who hasn't.

However, as a regular user of the A14 I see no end of crazy driving activities perpetrated by 'professional' drivers. Just take a look at the police records of accidents on the A14 between Huntingdon and Cambridge (assuming you can). If there isn't one 'accident' on that section of road per week then it's a good week. Just at a guess I would say 75% of those incidents involve one or least two lorries. It makes me weep to think of the pain and injury caused in those incidents. And the complete chaos that ensues in surrounding area when one of the incidents occurs.

How many times have you been in a caravan of vehicles on non-dualled A-roads only to find a lorry doing 50+ mph when they should be doing 40? It's not the car drivers breaking the speed limits at the head of the mobile road block. Then they can't keep to their side of the line when it comes to the bends. Kerrunch! Lorry falls over.

It wouldn't be so bad if I hadn't lost a close friend and her kids (3 months and 2 years) who were killed outright when a lorry just drove into the back of them on the A1 because the traffic had slowed and he didn't. He got a custodial sentence of 3 years (with a consideration of parole after 18 monhts) but a man lost his wife and two kids forever! (Co-incidentally, the lorry driver was transporting pallets).

Read just one report

I'm not saying car drivers are brilliant, blameless drivers but you have to wonder at the shananigans of SOME lorry drivers.
[rant] I've finished now - deep breath [/rant] Freelander 1 TD4 HSE - gone, 2 weeks after the Cat.Converter!
Freelander 2 TD4 SE Auto MY08 - Santorini black

Well done there, shame more people don't do this. I have to say that I do call Police if I see this happen. (Past) Freelander 2 HSE 2010 MY In Rimini Red.
(Past) RR Evoque Dynamic Lux Si4 In Firenze Red.
(Past) RR Evouque Pure Tech in Barollo Black with bespoke Firenze Red colour coding.
(Present) Freelander Metropolis 2015 MY In Santorini Black with Ivory Premium Leather.

Too right
but as a non-emergency, what number are you guys using to call the police?
as its different for each county, how did you know? Is there a common one that can be held on my phone?

Last edited by EYorkshire on 30th Jun 2011 8:21 am. Edited 1 time in total