1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216 
"It has to start at home. You've got to take
Page 74
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
the responsibility yourself. If you're talking about safety-related products. and a lot of trailer components are just that, in the UK for some people it's a case of turning a blind eye. And things will only change when VOSA starts to inflict some penalties. then there will be a reaction to it and I feel there is a fundamental problem there to get them [VOSA] to raise the industry's standards.
LITIGIOUS SOCIETY
Significan tly, a number of our panellists echoed that concern over VOSA's current ability to fully focus on trailer roadworthiness given its many other tasks.
Meanwhile, Michelin's manager for truck product marketing, Paul Kendrick commented: -We've become a litigious society getting closer and closer to the American model of doing things-and how we deal with things now is very different to what we did 10 years ago. We take the matter of product liability very seriously because we've an awful lot of product liability laws. Some of my colleagues on the Continent find them quite frightening." Kendrick explained that the tyre giant works closely with enforcement agencies like VOSA if there's been an accident that involves tyres. "We explain our procedures and you get the whole gambit of questions including 'is it a known manufacturer's tyre or is it a copy?"
While our group acknowledged the pressure to keep vehicles out on the road and earning, proper maintenance had to come firsta point underpinned by GE/TIP operations director Karl Davies:"We only ever fit genuine parts.By going down that route we're in control and for the same reason we set up an in-house service resourceyou have to be a far more committed player to do that."
The assertion from Clancy, and the SMMTs manager of commercial vehicle affairs Robin Dickeson, that operators need to consider the consequences and their own liability and their duty of care when fitting the cheapest possible part (rather than imagine it all falls back on their equipment suppliers) had fellow panellists nodding in agreement. "There's a lot of [nongenuine] product out there that's not branded if there's no traceability, who is liable? In the end it WILI come back to the operator,■