Your machine stands 13:9 your lorry stands5:6(brimec) overall height 19:5. Leaving Lairg in north Scotland heading for Shropshire - how far could you travel before you discover you have bitten off more than you can chew? Joepipe
Joepipe3:
Your machine stands 13:9 your lorry stands5:6(brimec) overall height 19:5. Leaving Lairg in north Scotland heading for Shropshire - how far could you travel before you discover you have bitten off more than you can chew? Joepipe
Not sure. It happened 11 years ago…
10 year old thread! 
Self driving trucks don’t go off route or need to eat. Point of fact they don’t need breaks either. I know this thread is 10 years old, but my how things change! I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, when the s/d trucks get here, trunking will be the first casualty.
Well, about 3 weeks ago, I FINALLY got the unit Freightroute had been promising me for the last 12 months since passing my Class 1.
Put a new perspective on things, there I was, ready to go start with another employer and BINGO, I gets a unit. Whatever I thought, might as well stay here for a BIT longer then.
Ok, so it’s a V reg DAF 85CF, and it’s a bit tatty, but its a start and I am lovin it, I feel we have bonded, the unit and I !
By day I drive it, by night it’s the Night Trunker.
Anyway, the reason for the title…
just over a year ago, when the Durham Depot opened, we had only 1 night trunk, and the driver was a lovely lass who I wont name, lets just call her ‘P.’
P left after 3 weeks to go do continental work but hated it and begged for her old job back (which by now had gone.)
Jump forward 12 months to nowish and the 2nd trunk starts and She gets back in. Overjoyed she was, well happy to back on nights in a job she loved.
My phone goes last night, she’s hit a low bridge in Darlo, very near to the train station.
BLOODY HELL! WTF I thought.
Turns out she’s gone off route for a bag of chips and walloped the low bridge near to the train station.
I’ll elaborate further if any1 would like, but to cut a long story short, today she was sacked.
I personally think its awful, I have a lot of time for P and she’s a good girl.
SO, Bad luck, Unfair or plain old [zb] happens?
Of course, whilst I think her sacking was harsh, I know she shouldnt have been off route, and I know she should have been aware of the vehicles dimensions.
I just think it’s a shame.
trunk drivers dont go off route for reasons
A youll be late
B youre tracked tnen sacked
C you hit bridges
live n learn
Has she been specifically told, or is it in her contract “Thou shalt not deviate”?
If not, certainly harsh, the poor lass has to eat, after all, she gets hungry during works time.
Driveroneuk:
Has she been specifically told, or is it in her contract “Thou shalt not deviate”?
If not, certainly harsh, the poor lass has to eat, after all, she gets hungry during works time.
dont think it was in her contract to kill a trailer and dent a bridge take it sanwiches wasnt an option
Think thats harsh. We lost a driver for smoking in his cab. Well that was the reason given. Ok he was a nice lad but did have an attitude towards them in the office. Really it was the tip of the iceburg but smoking was the reason used.
I find that harsh and im a none smoker!
real shame to get the boot, but i would expect hitting a bridge would be a dismisal offence. scraping a post is one thing, a bridge is something else.
going (slightly) off route wouldnt have been a prob for most employers probably, i would think.
i hope she wasnt hurt by the way.
From what you’ve said I would agree that it’s a shame, I hate to see people lose jobs they really enjoy but I’m afraid happens, not all company’s have a rule about trunkers going off route and not all trunk vehicles are tracked but obviously there is a rule/law about hitting low bridges so I’m afraid unless the company will reconsider their decision your friend will just have to accept what’s happend, she’s not the first person to hit a low bridge and sadly won’t be the last, so the only thing she can do now is to learn from the experience.
Good luck to her.
Not quite the same thing, but my boss once phoned me up on a Sunday morning, I’d been out for 4 nights and on my way back. The conversation went something like this;
Boss: Where are you?
Me: At a car boot sale
Boss: Did you manage to get the unit and trailer in ok?
Me: Yes, no problem
Boss: When you’re done there, if you pass a garden centre can you pick up a grow bag for me?
Me: No problem
Boss: Thanks, see ya later.
Worst thing I ever had to do as an ops. manager was dismiss a driver who’d had three minor shunts within a couple of weeks. None were up to much but unfortunately the company had instigated the ruling after a spate of similar (and mostly unreported) incidents.
He was a good lad too, reliable, punctual and a hard grafter. I had a company call me afterwards to ask for a reference, had to be honest with them but I’m happy to say he got the job and was still there ten years later.
My sympathy’s with the lass, but as tachograph says hopefully she’ll learn from it and have better luck in future.
Is hitting a low bridge not pretty serious espec if it leads to a railway line being closed.
I thought good chance be charged by the police, and prob with most companies gonna be outta a job.
Unless the bridge height wasnt marked, or sign missing.
must be hard up north?
we have one driver who got wedged in a country lane down the south west, (no sat nav),
done the trailer and unit,had to be recovered,both off road for three wks.
same driver came back 6 weeks ago from same area,
with a nice tear in curtain(3ft square).
and now done a complete side with a branch sticking out,
£700 quid for new curtain. he paid for that one.
he’s still with us 
.
top one cost £6000 to get him out and the repair.
so to be sacked seems a bit harsh on the woman.
i just wonder how theres not more bridge strikes, got in cab with seat still hot from night driver just finishing , the height indicator was set to 13ft 6 , when i did my checks i noted the trailer was 14ft 10 , he may of known that but to me its risky or idle if you cant be bothered to reset the indicator to the correct height
Going back to the original questions of “Was it reasonable that she was dismissed?” It was certainly justifiable.
As for going off-route? I probably do that nearly every day. It’s not high-value loads, foodstuffs, but they are timed deliveries, Everyone is expected to assess the traffic hold-ups and pick a route accordingly. It is the ‘arrival time’ that is important, as opposed to mileage and fuel used. Damned supermarkets. 
After each delivery, we then invariably have a collection (or two) which is seldom ready for when you arrive. Therefore, I’m not averse to exploring some ‘scenic routes’. The instructional directions only involve a destination. They do not suggest a ‘route’
After all, when you discover alternative practicable routes, it can serve to enhance the employers/employees profile by arriving within the ‘delivery window’ when, because of Motorway closures, others haven’t.
The one thing that I would ask is about the ‘work culture’ of the employer. The employee was hungry and went in search of a decent bit of grub. Does the employer not understand that? To the extent that such detours are frowned upon, thereby placing additional stress upon the employee which caused her to miss the sign for the bridge height?
Personally, I couldn’t/wouldn’t work in such an environment.
Adopting ‘employers’ shoes, which I am not, then I would be inclined to ‘take the hit’ on the basis that, having done it once, then the probability of it happenning again, by the same individual, is minimised by a factor of, not only 2, but probably 4, or even six, or even greater.
You dismiss an employee for a mistake that, in their entire lifetime, they are unlikely to repeat, only to replace them with an ‘unknown quantity’ that might also do the same thing.
Companies are run by Bean Counters. Cost them money, and you are out the door. What they fail to realise is that the next person ‘through the door’ might cost them even more.
Krankee:
Going back to the original questions of "Was it reasonable that she was dism
Adopting ‘employers’ shoes, which I am not, then I would be inclined to ‘take the hit’ on the basis that, having done it once, then the probability of it happenning again, by the same individual, is minimised by a factor of, not only 2, but probably 4, or even six, or even greater.You dismiss an employee for a mistake that, in their entire lifetime, they are unlikely to repeat, only to replace them with an ‘unknown quantity’ that might also do the same thing
I agree, I think hitting a bridge would be a bit like dropping a trailer on its knees, not something you are likely to do twice. I would think every other driver who works there is more likely to hit a bridge before she would do it again
scania245:
trunk drivers dont go off route for reasons
A youll be late
B youre tracked tnen sacked
C you hit bridges
I have a few possible routes to and from the hub - nobody tells me how to get there as long as it’s within the specified time. Obviously different companies have different rules. It seems a bit harsh if the lass made a mistake (I’ve made more than my fair share including taking half the warehouse door surround out the other night). It sounds a shame and as if you have a bit of a soft spot for her matchbox (nothing else suggested!) but I suppose the company has the final say. Hope she finds something else soon.