Patent ID: 7552606

Claim:
Apparatus for preventing a vehicle from being driven away from a loading bay during loading/unloading, the apparatus comprising: a safety device which is complementary to a coupling on the vehicle and which when fitted to the coupling prevents the vehicle from being driven away, the safety device including a locking device which is operable to prevent removal of the safety device from the coupling and which prevents removal of a key from the locking device until the locking device is so operated, the apparatus being for use with a coupling which comprises a body provided with a face seal, a rim on one side, and a projecting spur on the diametrically opposite side, the safety device including a coupling part which is complementary to said coupling and which comprises a body portion having a rim portion on one side, for engagement with the spur of said coupling, and having a spur portion on the diametrically opposite side, for engagement with the rim of said coupling, the safety device further including an inner part connected to the rim portion of the coupling part and an outer part which is slidable between a first position, in which the coupling part is exposed for connection to said coupling, and a second position, in which the outer part is able to prevent disconnection of the coupling part from said coupling, the locking device being operable to prevent movement of the outer part from the second position, the locking device further including a locking member which is movable between a locking position, in which it is engageable in an internal recess in the outer part in the second position, and an unlocking position, in which it is not so engageable, wherein, in the first position, the outer part interferes with the key of the locking device so as to prevent turning of the key from a position in which the locking member is in the unlocking position to a position in which the locking member is in the locking position.