I am in a new country and I found a new job as a truck driver.
The truck I was given is ridden with faults – most of them not sufficient to warrant taking vehicle off the road, but annoying. But two faults are serious: the valve on a susie (the pneumatic lead to connect the truck to the trailer) that does not close properly after disconnecting. So if you drive solo, you are constantly losing air.
The second issue was the fifth wheel not securing properly.
I was told that it's just I have no experience driving in winter (this is my first proper winter in a nordic country after many years of driving in a mild climate) and such things just get stuck sometimes and minor faults are accepted. But hitching trailers was a pain. Sometimes I spent an hour trying to aling it properly, ramming it, cleaning the fifth wheel, trying to take another angle, raising and droping suspension, shaking the release handle – virtually all the tricks in my sleeve – before the lock finally drops and secures the pin. I keep reporting it, they say I don't clean it properly and it's my fault. I asked them to show me what I am doing wrong, but they refused. Apparently they are too busy to show me how to do it “the right way”.
They started to send other drivers to supervise me hitching the trailer. On one occasion I just got out and told the guy “you do it” after hearing some snarky comments. It took him well over 10 minutes to secure the trailer on the truck, and he was ramming it pretty badly – I would never dare to slam the truck into the trailer with such a force as he was doing it.
Last friday I was sent to pick up a trailer that has not been used for some time. It meant that I spent a lot of time first shoveling the snow off, as it was literally parked in a snowdrift (or rather, a snowdrift built up on this trailer where it was parked). Then the other driver, sent to supervise me, arrives. I am backing my truck under the trailer, he comes and starts to giving me advice that I believe was to mock me, as he was telling me things as if I never drove a truck before. But Ok, I reversed under the trailer and the lock does not drop, as usual. He says it's good. I said no it's not. He shakes the handle a bit and says “no, it's perfectly fine, you are just not used to winter”. I am saying “I might not be used to winter, but I am used to the sound it makes when engaging properly and it did not made this sound”. He said he is driving in the nordics for 40 years and so if he says it's locked properly, I should believe him. So we connected the leads, raised the legs and I am pulling the trailer out – I was not willing to take it on the road, I just wanted to pull it out of that snowdrift, so I can do all my checks without having to wade in a waist-deep snow. As I drove about 10 metres forward it turns out I was right – the trailer was not locked properly, it falls of the trucks, snapping the leads and causing damage to the corner.
What the most experienced driver who was just assuring me that the trailer is secure does at this point? He jumps into his trucks and buggers off leaving me to sort the mess on my own.
The trailer lies across the trailer park busy route, blocking the access to several other trailers, so I can't just leave it there. I get to work, winding the trailer legs up manually, then fixing provisionally one of the snaped leads so I can build an air pressure in the truck. At this time I am taking a closer look at the trailer and I am noticing that the diesel tank (it was a fridge unit) mount is broken and they held it up with a loading strap. Finally I winch it high enoguh to be able to take the truck under it, I shunt it back to where I took it from and I am heading back to the company workshop.
On the way there I bump into a boss, who is driving his car to see me. He tells me to go back, fix the snapped leads and take the trailer for the two-days-each-way trip across Europe. I say no. He says I should stop complaining as I simply know fuck all about winter, and that minor defects in winter are normal (which I don't believe so, the truck being Volvo, so made in Sweden, I would think they took winter into consideration when desiging it). I ask him if the diesel tank held with the strap is a winter thing too, he tells me to go to fuck and that he will find someone else to drive it then spins his wheels and drives away.
I think I can agree with him on that: if he wants someone to drive the truck with all those faults and a diesel tank hanging on the strap, he needs to find someone else as I won't be doing it. So I drive the truck back to the yard, hang the keys and go home.
Not to excited about this whole situation, as I don't understand everything in this country yet and I am worried it can spoil my employment history, as our contract says both sides are to give mandatory two weeks notice but I will definitely NOT drive a truck that is not road worthy for them even on my notice period. Luckily they haven't called me today, so I guess they consider me disciplinary sacked or something, but of course I still would like to be pay for this week I worked for them…
I applied for trade union membership (trade unions here are HUGE) but don't got a reply yet. I still think I should go and try to speak with them, maybe they will give me some advice regardless…
So this is my little story I wanted to share. Bottom line is: don't agree to use equipment that is not safe, because NO JOB is worth the risk of harming or injuring someone.