Another one, as someone new to the industry can someone tell me whats wrong with the way its strapped (both the Op and that one) ?
It would have been fine if they hadn’t decided to stick labels on the pallets with their weights on or at least loaded them on the inside. One pallet is 800kg so over their plucked from the air 400kg for internals figure so needs pointless ratchet staps that’ll do nowt but risk injury putting them on.
GORDON 50:
Sad to say common sense takes second place to any harebrained idea. It also earns lots of money for the enforcement agencies etc.
I think this is more to the point!
Oddly they now regret fining so many motorists for speeding over the previous decades as the belief is traffic in general drives unnecessarily slowly and it’s thought it is the result of this combined with the draconian penalties and insurance ramifications for young drivers is creating a culture of pottering about from the get go.
Now people (car drivers) are driving so slowly on A-roads that they’ve found in many cases they go from national speed limit to a 50 and don’t have to drop their speed as they’re doing below it already or drop it even further. It’s believed the additional congestion caused by this is quite significant.
neilg14:
I’m another one that’s thankful I’m not on General anymore.
In the 80’s & 90’s we did load after load, carrying various commodities in taut’s without a rope or strap in sight but if something looked like it had a chance of moving, then it got strapped down.
Carried fertiliser out of Immingham or Ince for years on flat’s and taut’s in bulk bags and only ever put a cross with a rope on the back row of bags, never had anything move.
Same with any palletised tinned product, if it was wrapped and loaded tight, it ain’t going nowhere, the curtains were enough to keep it in place. The truck would go on it’s side before anything fell off it.
This is complete BS now.
Got to totally agree with this. When I was on general using taut’s, you hardly ever used straps on palletised products. Even paper reels on end we didn’t even use internals, well maybe on the front and back reels to look good. Did 100’s loads all over the country without one moving. If anything the load in the picture looks over strapped.
Thank goodness I only pull box vans now. Thinking about it, when we used to cart packs of bricks on a flat, we didn’t put anything on them and never had a problem. I wonder what vosa would make of that now?
So long as I have strapped it to standards the customer & my boss would normally be happy with, i’d be having serious words about them paying the fine for me.
The driver here has made more effort than most to strap the load up, fulfilled the customers requirements & would doubtless have damaged the load with ratchet straps his boss probably hasn’t supplied anyway. What more can he do & why should he be penalised for doing his job as required.
It would be interesting to see the evidence that justifies all this nonsense. From what I can see, palletised loads have forever been systemically pulled without “adequate restraint” and I’m not seeing them littering the roads & causing a problem.
So if a curtain is weather protection ONLY and trailer straps aren’t adequate. How would you secure that load of drinks on a flat before putting a sheet over it?
DickyNick:
So if a curtain is weather protection ONLY and trailer straps aren’t adequate. How would you secure that load of drinks on a flat before putting a sheet over it?
Most prisons are classed as secure without having to strap the inmates to their beds, so how on earth can a load that is still within the confines of a trailer be classed as insecure?
Pulled into Hartshead moor eastbound by the traffic cop that sits in the little slip as you come down the hill from jct 24 to 25 I reckon.
Pulls in front of you and sticks the follow me on,gets you into services then asks you to open it up,Speaking from experience
the maoster:
Most prisons are classed as secure without having to strap the inmates to their beds, so how on earth can a load that is still within the confines of a trailer be classed as insecure?
If your wheel nuts are loose but the wheel didn’t fall off does that make it a secure wheel ?.
Own Account Driver:
Nonsense, find me a link where a pallet of wrapped goods, that hasn’t been double stacked has ever come through a secured curtain and injured anyone.
BTW the way thank you for fully endorsing what I previously said and you are correct. There is absolutely no requirement for straps or restraints for positive fit loads (max 8cm gap to side wall provided the curtain is as you state “secure”.
An old style tautliner curtain is only secure for the lightest of loads due to its very low weight bearing capacity as it was primarily designed for weather protection and privacy back in the day.
An Xl rated curtain can secure a much heavier load but the pallets need to be built in a way that they will remain in tact under heavy manoeuvring and sudden stopping forces as well as distributing their force fairly evenly over a reasonable sized area of the curtain.
The pallets in the original photo due to their weight and ability to split apart require an XL rated curtain and a couple of side laths here and there.
Absolutely no straps whatsoever are required.
It really is that simple so why the red mist on this topic because this is far from your usual form■■?
Reckon you’re right mate, Euroliners with boards and strap nets clipped into the top of the boards, or God forbid… go back to Tilts.
Indeed. Rob, but no net or straps whatsoever required cos that looks like a posi-fit load to me in the original photo.
A Euroliner, max 8 cm gap at the side wall and possibly a few side laths required and you are good to go. If there is more than 8 cm gap inside the back doors then 2 or 3 bracing laths/bars at the last pallets.
It really is that simple but while there is no responsibility on the shipper if it goes wrong then the cheapest guy in down gets the job with bad gear and how does a decent operator with the proper trailer compete with that?
Lots of drama here over this topic but most of it is due to total confusion about what’s required and incorrect equipment or accessories.
Between cops, fines and exacting loaders in Germany I am getting a better handle on this stuff now although I used to consider it mostly bolleeks before.
We run with a full set of side laths under our curtains and always use 13 straps. I was spending at least 5 hours a shift opening and closing up the trailer securing a load that doesn’t need securing. I finally cracked last week and told them fridges and containers only from now on. After a few vieled threats about no work for inflexible drivers I now work on trunking containers with a bit of fridge work. Should have done this years ago.
Yorkielad:
Pulled into Hartshead moor eastbound by the traffic cop that sits in the little slip as you come down the hill from jct 24 to 25 I reckon.
Pulls in front of you and sticks the follow me on,gets you into services then asks you to open it up,Speaking from experience
yep i had the pleasure of his company 4 years ago and got exactly as you describe, he left disappointed as i had a load cardboard tubes on board secured by the internals, each double stacked pallet weighed 200kgs, had he stopped me going the opposite direction 6 hours earlier he would have got me with an unsecured load of coca cola
DickyNick:
So if a curtain is weather protection ONLY and trailer straps aren’t adequate. How would you secure that load of drinks on a flat before putting a sheet over it?
we always put the two halfs on first then had purpose made 8 foot long boards with 4 pieces of old ratchet strap hold 2nd board to first so 1 board was on top and 2nd hanging down around the entire load, strap down the load (or if your old school rope it down) then put on the fly sheet cross the front and rear with rope and away you go but sadly that dont happen in the uk now as most drink suppliers would refuse the load if it turned up on a flat
I was on a DCPC course a few years ago, and this bollox came up yet again. I asked the instructor how do chipliners work then? He replied, what do you mean chipliner?
