From Kent Police RPU twitter feed
M2 jct 5 London bound. Detached trailer from lorry. Thankfully no other vehicles involved. Recovery being sorted.
Pin or other failure?
.
Normally failure of the big nut located behind the steering wheel.
Looks like the driver had time to paint over the name on the trailer to hide its identity before doing a runner 
WhiteTruckMan:
Looks like the driver had time to paint over the name on the trailer to hide its identity before doing a runner
Think it’s a Fowler Welch
Pictures elsewhere clearly identify it as Fowler welch, also their depot is not far away from where it happened, so I’d say it’s driver error
Question for you all.
How can you get so far if you are not coupled up properly? If I pull the pin I’ve never had a the trailer come with me when I uncouple… It clicks out, I dropped air and drive away.
I think someone said something about half catching the pin etc… If I raise the trailer up with my air suspention and then connect to the pin can this still happen? I’m asking as I don’t wanna be in this sort of position myself.
Cheers
I can’t see it being driver error. If his pin wasn’t engaged he wouldn’t get out of the yard, it’ll come off the first corner he went round.
sent using smoke signals
Any driver losing their trailer - would be advised to take a picture of their snapped-off kingpin. 
I CONNECT KINGPINSKI HONEST !!!
mick.mh2racing:
I can’t see it being driver error. If his pin wasn’t engaged he wouldn’t get out of the yard, it’ll come off the first corner he went round.
There has been cases where they’ve managed to get several miles from the yard before loosing it, especially if it’s been partially engaged. ie it’s clicked in, but the arm hasn’t fully snapped into place and they’ve not bothered with the dogclip
DTS had one run from Hornsey to Woking and then it still only departed from the unit after he had unloaded & was leaving the site he tipped at, jaws closed and safety clip in place. I thought people had wised up to what caused the trailers to slide off. 
Ive seen it where the bottom lip of the pin is actually sitting on top of the jaw jaw and wedge and the cog clip fitted and it got a little way until it fell off, in fact I know of at least three incidents over the years where they have done exactly this.
Basically the driver had the tractor suspension set to low.
Im pretty sure every time its driver error and if they took the time to shine a torch into the back of the fifth wheel to confirm the wedge has come across it cant come off they would also see if there was a gap between fifth wheel and rubbing plate.
As part of my routine I duck down and shine a torch to see if the 5th wheel had locked in place
Trickydick:
Ive seen it where the bottom lip of the pin is actually sitting on top of the jaw jaw and wedge and the cog clip fitted and it got a little way until it fell off, in fact I know of at least three incidents over the years where they have done exactly this.
Basically the driver had the tractor suspension set to low.Im pretty sure every time its driver error and if they took the time to shine a torch into the back of the fifth wheel to confirm the wedge has come across it cant come off they would also see if there was a gap between fifth wheel and rubbing plate.
Look on the bright side.At least there’ll be no grease wiped off the turntable making anything dirty when he went under the trailer and it fell off the back rather than rolling over the catwalk when he put the lines on. 
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=150360&p=2382823&hilit=pin+fouling#p2382823
mick.mh2racing:
I can’t see it being driver error. If his pin wasn’t engaged he wouldn’t get out of the yard, it’ll come off the first corner he went round.sent using smoke signals
What about this guy then M6 last year?
twitter.com/cheshire_cvu/status … 20?lang=en
youtube.com/watch?v=UC1111dtsa0
Inspected in situ, no defect found and deemed driver error for failing to ensure pin was engaged properly.
Would the ‘tug test’ not show up a problem if you’re not hooked up properly…■■
Goldfinger:
Would the ‘tug test’ not show up a problem if you’re not hooked up properly…■■
Not if the jaws have locked and the kin pin base is sitting on top of them, the casting of the fifth wheel keeps the pin in place on the tug test, its only when you get going and go over some uneven ground that the trailer bounces off.
Where i worked in the 80’s one of the lads drove empty all the way from Sth Wales and the trailer only bounced off along the Embankment just past Parliament, at the time none of us believed it could happen, but a few weeks later i had to pick up a loaded trailer that had been dropped on the ■■■■, when i connected up the fifth wheel connection sound wasn’t quite right, so when i dragged the trailer out onto level ground i had a look, sure enough a sliver of daylight between fifth wheel and rubbing plate, and pin sat on jaws 
The only way to be sure is as said above, shine your torch up the fifth wheel’s bum once connected to see the bar across the back of the king pin, with pin safely in its place, then you know you’ve got it.
Always told to blow suspension up until legs are off floor,do two tug test,put clip in walk under back and look up skirt with torch,shine torch and make sure it’s flush with trailer too.
If it drops off then something’s failed mechanically.
peirre:
As part of my routine I duck down and shine a torch to see if the 5th wheel had locked in place
And me takes approximately 2 seconds at most armed with a torch of course .