ANNUAL TEST
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Nothing suggests your maintenance isn't up to scratch like a low pass rate at annual test, and with only 60% of trucks passing the MoT test first time, the Vehicle Inspectorate intends to target sloppy hauliers. Miles Brignall reports on how to improve your pass rate.
f you were asked to guess how many HG Vs passed their annual test first time last year, what figure would you come up with? Considering that the UK's fleet of trucks has never been younger, you'd be forgiven for thinking it would be quite high, but it's not. Last year 39% of trucks, and just over a quarter of trailers, failed first time round. This figure might not be so important except for the fact that the authorities now make a great deal of such statistics. Keep presenting ill-prepared vehicles for test and sooner or later you are bound to end up on the end of a Vehicle Inspectorate (VI) investigation, or even up before the Traffic Commissioner.
Earlier this year North Eastern Traffic Commissioner Tom Macartney issued a formal warning to a Bridlington tipper operator after hearing him admit his annual test pass rate was just ro%. Macartney told Richard Watts, a director of W Clifford Watts, that his pass rate suggested there was something wrong with his maintenance system and that he should be aiming to get every truck he tested through first time. Although Watts argued that he had been let down by a fitter, he still received the warning and his future conduct is bound to be monitored. He is not alone.
Failure rates
A look through CM's legal pages will reveal that comments similar to Macartney's have been made by every single TC around the country. In countless annual reports the VI has made a great issue of annual test failure rates, and it still publishes them every year. Surprisingly the failure rate went up slightly last year and VI managers admit to being frustrated that it stubbornly remains in the mid 305, despite their efforts to bring the rate down.
But while the rates have remained roughly the same over the last five years, the importance that is attached to them has increased dramatically. One of the first things the VI's intelligence officers now look at before deciding to investigate a haulier is its annual test failure rate. Traffic Commissioners now routinely ask for, and are presented with, the failure figures at public inquiries. Ask any TC and they will explain they set great store by high failure rates as a clear indication that a maintenance system is not working.
It might seem bizarre in this day and age, but the biggest single thing that trucks fail for is having their headlamps incorrectly adjusted. Faulty or inadequate brakes are the second most common failure, followed by emissions—although failure rates for this last area are not as high as they once were.
According to Alex Fiddes, VI regional manager in Leeds, many of the failures are for stupid things that clearly demonstrate the operator failed to prepare a vehicle for the test.
We are looking for evide that a haulier has a robust m; tenance system in place, and te honest, few things suggest less than an operator turning with a vehicle that has clearly 1 no preparation."
Preparation tirr
Fiddes says the first thing operator should do is schedule a period of time to spend prey ing it for the test and giving good clean. The VI can refuse test a truck if its major corn nents are covered in mud, an should be done at least a before the test. Any work on brakes such as changing bn linings should also be done a days before the test to allow th to bed-in over a few journeys. s vehicles somees fail because their ners steam clean m on the day of the t—they then fail the ke test because their rigs are soggy.
It will save you a lot ime if you.get a fitter ake the vehicle to the ting station. if the idlamp adjusters are working order and has the tools, he will allowed to adjust m there and then. same goes if sometag would fail because some?. forgot to refit a split-pin, the Lam presenting the truck can it there and then."
-le says small operators should c advantage of a pre-test ser
"For Lao operators can put their vehicles through a pre-test inspection that will check the headlamps, brakes and emissions. It's not a lot of money. especially when you consider it could result in the operator getting the vehicle back on the road a day earlier than he would have done."
Fidd.es accepts that the nature of the test means some vehicles will fail for a variety or reasons, but he says it is no accident that hauliers who have the best preventative maintenan.ce regimes in place usually have the lowest failure rates at annual test.
Taking advantage
In many 'ways hauliers should be taking advantage of the fact that the VI is so keen to get failure rates down. As well as running courses for fitters (see box, above), testing staff are encouraged to give advice both over the phone and to personal callers. The VI also publishes a guide— The Goods Vehicle Testing
Manual which is available at a cost 011.25. It is also promising to put some pages devoted to the annual test on its web site, which will be upgraded in the autumn. Both the Freight Transport and Road Haulage Associations operate schemes that will monitor a haulier's maintenance system and build in a period to be spent preparing for the annual test.
Whatever you do, says Fiddes, don't treat the test as a way of Ending Out what's wrong with the vehicle, make sure you've found, and put right, any faults before you send it along to the testing station.
• To order a copy of The Goods Vehicle Testing Manual call 0870 o6o 440 and pay by credit card. * The VI runs Minn in Bristol and Manchester for those preparing vehicles to explain exactly what they are looking for and how testers examine both HMIs and roaches. While the majority of those on the courses are trained fitters, some supervisors also attend to enable them to undertake a "quality assurance" role. The cost of the weeklong course is around £600, excluding accommodation.
Larger operators who have several fitters to train can ask the Vi to run the course on their own premises. They must have certain equipment in their workshops, but this option does have the added advantage that hauliers can tailor courses to include any specialities peculiar to their operations.
CONTACT
• FOf all course information phone Jo McDonald at the VI on 0117 954 3310.