In my mind, DVSA is pretty effective in its quest to keep unsafe commercial vehicles off the road. The thought of an encounter with the Agency creates enough fear to make me want to work night and day to ensure that our vehicles are defect-free and that our drivers are doing their jobs correctly.
At times, I do not feel that I am winning. Every MoT failure causes me a degree of mental anguish and to overthink what I could have done differently to avoid such a failure happening again. That is probably the way it should be.
However, I do not think that any of the defects that have ever been discovered on any of my vehicles are as dangerous as the hazard that every one of my drivers must face almost every time they leave my yard, and that is overgrown hedges and how-hanging trees.
Yet there is no effective mechanism in place to deal with these hazards. Local authorities have apps and phone numbers where potholes and overgrown hedges can be reported. In my experience potholes eventually get dealt with but not hedges. I can only assume that authorities do not believe the problem really exists or is worthy of attention.
I am in a rural location, but I see this problem in many counties. The council sends a tractor around to trim the grass verges, presumably to improve visibility for car drivers who sit close to the road. But where a verge does not exist, these tractors trim the lower part of the hedge at the side of the road instead.
This then means that cars can use the full width of the road. Now, car and van drivers – who probably make up 90% of traffic – no longer have a complaint, and it is just the taller and wider traffic such as coaches, buses and HGVs that finds itself having to straddle the centre line and use the same part of the road as oncoming traffic that is also travelling at 50mph!
We lose thousands of pounds’ worth of mirror units and side windows each year. The councils always tell me that it is down to individual landowners, but when I try to point out that it is surely the council’s job to enforce that, my words seem to fall on deaf ears. The police and the fire brigade do not seem interested in helping either.
Both Herefordshire and Powys councils seem to rely on high-sided lorries when it comes to trimming low-hanging branches. Those often snap and then dangle above the road. Several times I have had the shock of my life when hitting them late at night, and I have the broken glass to prove it.
I wonder whether our trade bodies realise the scale of this problem. So please join me in letting your trade body know – or failing that, your MP.
Simon Hayes
Forest Coaches, Shropshire
