A close shave !

I had a bit of a ‘shake up’ the other night. I pulled off a dock a few feet around midnight, and then climbed out of the truck to go to the back of the trailer to check that the shutter had been closed securely by the loading staff. As I walked along the trailer, the truck started to roll back and bounced off the rubber stops on the dock. I had forgotten to put on the handbrake.

I was a bit shook up because I realised I could’ve been standing at the back when she started to roll, and I don’t think I could’ve jumped clear in time. It wouldn’t have ended well for me, the police would’ve been knocking on my wife’s door around 2am I reckon, and in a year’s time, a couple of you may have thought ‘Hmn, that Citycat bloke hasn’t posted on Trucknet for a while’. :smiley:

Of course, I was cursing myself the rest of the shift for not double checking the handbrake. It’s an easy thing to miss if you’re not concentrating. It’s definitely taught me to check the handbrake, pull further away from the dock, and to pull the trailer brake if I’m going into a possible position of danger at the back.

The reason for the post is to tell you guys to learn from my mistake and stay safe, and ask if anyone else has had a close shave in their career that might not have ended well for them?

Ever since I saw that vid of that silly old ■■■■ running down the slip road, carrying a piece of wood chasing after his truck which was running down on to the dual carriageway :laughing: ,…I’ve always double checked my handbrake. :smiley:

I remember years ago parked up for night on an ind est, just got in bunk, I thought somebody had jumped on my step and was vigourously shaking the cab,.I jumped up, looked out and I was rolling backwards. :blush: :unamused: :laughing: .
(Earlier I’d been wiring something up on the dash and knocked the handbrake off to get at it or something,.and left the bloody thing off.)

No warning buzzer when opening door with no handbrake applied?

Best to check the shutter is closed before moving it.The ‘few feet’ is enough to take out any warehouse staff that might still be working on the trailer between the ramp and the dock. :wink:
I found it could be easier to forget mechanical type hanbrakes on cars and older type trucks, especially the ones with the lever to the right of the drivers seat , than the air valve type on the dash etc, with the bonus that air valve hand brakes generally also have a spring loaded lock on them.

Hopefully no jobsworth or grass saw it happen? these days its often instant dismissal.

I’m not a fan of the electric parking brake but in theory it prevents this happening.

Franglais:
No warning buzzer when opening door with no handbrake applied?

Problem is the OE ones are typically just another version of the seatbelt/lights on/still in gear (and any number of other bings, bongs and buzzes emitted by modern lorries) so won’t be noticed. Our fleet has (Aftermarket) shouty alarms that say “Handbrake not applied!”

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Roymondo:

Franglais:
No warning buzzer when opening door with no handbrake applied?

Problem is the OE ones are typically just another version of the seatbelt/lights on/still in gear (and any number of other bings, bongs and buzzes emitted by modern lorries) so won’t be noticed. Our fleet has (Aftermarket) shouty alarms that say “Handbrake not applied!”

Aye…Thank God for it all.
It makes you wonder how the hell we all managed to do our jobs before all this dog ■■■■ came about, don’t it. :unamused:
Oh yeh, just remembered… you had to have a brain,.and have a bit of common sense about you.

Roymondo:

Franglais:
No warning buzzer when opening door with no handbrake applied?

Problem is the OE ones are typically just another version of the seatbelt/lights on/still in gear (and any number of other bings, bongs and buzzes emitted by modern lorries) so won’t be noticed. Our fleet has (Aftermarket) shouty alarms that say “Handbrake not applied!”

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That thought occurred.
Headlights On, or Left In Gear, for an auto…possibly similar noises, but very different levels of risk.

Franglais:
No warning buzzer when opening door with no handbrake applied?

There’s a very low volume ‘ding ding’ sound when you open the door and leave the handbrake off. Thing is, it’s an almost identical sound to the one the truck makes when it warns you that you’ve left the lights on when you open the door, so you don’t really notice it (MAN TGX). It’s my fault for switching off my brain for a few seconds, and it almost cost me…

Aah, Franglais beat me to it.

Juddian:
I’m not a fan of the electric parking brake but in theory it prevents this happening.

How does that apply to truck type air valve parking brakes and even cars don’t apply electric handbrakes automatically. :confused:

ahhh, so cloggy land is’nt totally flat :smiley: just learn from it mate and move on…

I had a roll away a couple of years back.
Hooked up to trailer in yard, connected lines, knocked trailer brake off, and the whole unit started to roll forward.
Pretty flat yard but it gathered speed pretty quickly.
Without thinking I ran in front of truck around to driver door and managed to jump in and put handbrake on.
Very dangerous looking back.
This place ran you ragged with 15s and reduced, and I put it down to exhaustion.
I no longer work at places like that but I double/triple check the handbrake every time I get out now

Its nearly always rushing that causes this, same with missed pins, what i don’t get…and no its hasn’t happened to me and appreciate at that moment panic sets in…is why if you’ve released the trailer park brake or connected the red line and it starts to move you don’t simply re-apply the park brake or take the red line off again.

Mistakes happen, and normally you learn from them hopefully!
I had an incident in the early 90s, where I jumped out the cab on Immingham docks after tipping my load, started to walk to another driver to ask directions for my next loading point, then looked back after a lot of shouting and horn blowing to see my truck heading towards the boat we was loading with a couple of drivers trying to stop it, fortunately ended ok, but to this day I can’t leave a truck I’ve just parked up without having to walk back to double check that the handbrake is on, and that includes trucks that shout at you when ya open the door when it’s off, and has now got rather silly that 30 years later, I’m still going it.

Roymondo:

Franglais:
No warning buzzer when opening door with no handbrake applied?

Problem is the OE ones are typically just another version of the seatbelt/lights on/still in gear (and any number of other bings, bongs and buzzes emitted by modern lorries) so won’t be noticed. Our fleet has (Aftermarket) shouty alarms that say “Handbrake not applied!”

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I slipped up just the other night when reversing on a bay to drop the trailer. I stopped short (in a DAF XF) to get out and get the reg plate when another driver came over to chat. Was still in reverse gear but the bleeper was turned off. I got out and heard the d-d-dum d-d-dum warning noise but thought nothing of it as leaving it in reverse for 20 seconds isn’t a problem if the handbrake is on… Went and got reg plate and got back in then realised the handbrake wasn’t even on! Luckily the bays are on the flat and the truck was already at the bottom of the slope down to them before I got out.

There are so many warning noises on them that it’s easy to become complacent and ignore them as being annoyances. Eg. the seatbelt warning is the same. As is the warning when you open the door with the lights still on and engine off… as is the warning when you turn ignition off with it still in gear, or even open the door with it still in gear. None of those are the end of the world and can be safely ignored as they’re not going to kill you, but the one that WILL kill you has the same noise as the others !

robroy:

Roymondo:

Franglais:
No warning buzzer when opening door with no handbrake applied?

Problem is the OE ones are typically just another version of the seatbelt/lights on/still in gear (and any number of other bings, bongs and buzzes emitted by modern lorries) so won’t be noticed. Our fleet has (Aftermarket) shouty alarms that say “Handbrake not applied!”

Aye…Thank God for it all.
It makes you wonder how the hell we all managed to do our jobs before all this dog [zb] came about, don’t it. :unamused:
Oh yeh, just remembered… you had to have a brain,.and have a bit of common sense about you.

In the 1980s there were about three times as many fatalities at work in the UK.
How did we use to manage?
Badly

DCPCFML:
There are so many warning noises on them that it’s easy to become complacent and ignore them as being annoyances. Eg. the seatbelt warning is the same. As is the warning when you open the door with the lights still on and engine off… as is the warning when you turn ignition off with it still in gear, or even open the door with it still in gear. None of those are the end of the world and can be safely ignored as they’re not going to kill you, but the one that WILL kill you has the same noise as the others !

That was my point, the job has been dumbed down that ■■■■ much to allow for idiocy, that the so called preventative measures are now almost a cause of what they are trying to prevent.

Franglais:

robroy:

Roymondo:

Franglais:
No warning buzzer when opening door with no handbrake applied?

Problem is the OE ones are typically just another version of the seatbelt/lights on/still in gear (and any number of other bings, bongs and buzzes emitted by modern lorries) so won’t be noticed. Our fleet has (Aftermarket) shouty alarms that say “Handbrake not applied!”

Aye…Thank God for it all.
It makes you wonder how the hell we all managed to do our jobs before all this dog [zb] came about, don’t it. :unamused:
Oh yeh, just remembered… you had to have a brain,.and have a bit of common sense about you.

In the 1980s there were about three times as many fatalities at work in the UK.
How did we use to manage?
Badly

We? :neutral_face:
Just you speak for yourself mate, I (and many many others) managed just fine thanks.

idrive:
I had a roll away a couple of years back.
Hooked up to trailer in yard, connected lines, knocked trailer brake off, and the whole unit started to roll forward.
Pretty flat yard but it gathered speed pretty quickly.
Without thinking I ran in front of truck around to driver door and managed to jump in and put handbrake on.
Very dangerous looking back.
This place ran you ragged with 15s and reduced, and I put it down to exhaustion.
I no longer work at places like that but I double/triple check the handbrake every time I get out now

I did exactly the same years ago, but couldn’t make it to the handbrake, and wrote the lorry off when it collided with a wall. The worst part was that it was my first trunk on my first (and last) night in a new job. I never felt so bad in my life. I’d only been a class 1 driver for 6 months. I’ve never come close to a rollaway since, as I’ve conditioned myself to release the trailer parking brake last, without fail. There’s nothing like painful experience for future prevention.

robroy:
Ever since I saw that vid of that silly old [zb] running down the slip road, carrying a piece of wood chasing after his truck which was running down on to the dual carriageway :laughing: ,…I’ve always double checked my handbrake.)

This is what I was on about…drop the bit of wood ffs!
youtu.be/0KIVeBngWv0