Within my first year on class 1 I hooked up a trailer for RF Fielding (remember them?) on a downhill slope and didn’t put my handbrake on. Nor was the trailer brake on. It rolled away, and when it eventually stopped it was written off. It was my first night with them on the agency.
A car once left it far too late to move into my lane, and tried to floor it past me and cut in front, as she had a pedestrian island coming up. As she screeched to a stop she was far too close to me and my trailer totalled the side of her brand new car. It felt awesome watching the side of her car explode. I received a NIP soon after, but it got dropped.
It went along the lines of me silently thinking and saying to those who’d offered and been sent to help,watch this as I reversed a 10 wide + mirrors almost 40 ft long newly finished and painted fire truck for the first time,going out of bright sun in the yard into a much darker factory and entrance and along the long offset corridor leading into the factory.With ordinary stores cage rooms one side and metal stores with racks of sheet metal and bars etc stacked 15 foot high the other,with at best a few inches to spare each side.The other experienced drivers can do it easily just on the mirrors with no one directing them checking along the sides so I can obviously do that too.What could possibly go wrong.
The moral of the story is if the words ‘‘watch this’’ are involved in any way shape or form the result is probably going to be expensive and it won’t T cut and polish out.
On tippers years ago I was delivering to a livery stables with an automatic gate that kept shutting before we’d driven through it (due to speed bump). Customer refused to leave gate open as it was “mean to their dogs to shut them inside”).
One load I started to go over the hump, and watch out for the annoying terrier that liked to run under the truck, just as the gate closed on me. Instead of stopping I just carried on and took the gate with me for about 50 yards.
My first trip abroad and i was king of the road in my Daf 95…[emoji23][emoji23]
I had tipped in Albacete and it was all going swimmingly as i headed back into France for my reload but as i came out of one of the many paeges down by Bayonne i T-boned a Ford Orion (i think) on my n/s and pushed it down the autoroute for a bit, the look on the womans face in the passenger seat was interesting.
Well i was cacking it and all the gringo car driver wanted from me was money, the office told me to deny everything and also don’t give them anything, uh ok! So i just told matey I’m gonna get the gendarmes here to sort it out (i didn’t even know how to contact them) well once he heard gendarmes him and his mrs were away like scalded cats, shortly followed by me after I’d picked up a few bits of plastic that belonged to my truck.
Did a couple of shifts for Stobart a few years ago
Sharing this with you all has given me a sense of closure the shame and self loathing I have felt over the years has been un bearable I feel a lot better now
I feel that sharing this with you will help me to move on with my life in a positive manner
its just as well this is an anonymous forum as you would never get over the shame and worthlessness if anyone on here knew you in real life.
i has a similar period of self loathing in my life when i was a limper for a cpl of years working in such places as tesco and sainsburys.
its always left a bad taste in my mouth no matter how i try to forget it.
I’ve had the odd bump and scrape, nothing too spectacular.
The one that made me laugh though was a guy I was working with in my last job. A member of the public ring our boss to complain about him tailgating, flashing his lights etc in an effort to overtake.
He was pulled in, denied everything, but was given a warning anyway.
Later the same week he went into the back of a brand new cement truck after doing exactly the same thing! Except he claimed it wasn’t his fault and that the vehicle was faulty as he’d stamped on the brakes and the wheels DIDN’T lock up!
Ive had the odd knocks and scrapes. Ripped a mudguard off and most recently went to pick up a trailer and bang… the trailer was sat low so the end of fifth wheel caught the susie connectors on the trailer with the fifth wheel pointing up…which i thought was strange unless it happened after i dropped the last trailer
Just the usual knocks that you get with tipper work. I did chew up a large percentage of a Derby park when I became stuck on the grass and had to be rescued with a dustcart, reversed over the top of the foremans van once and pulled the computer wires down with my tipper ram at BL Longbridge. Nothing out of the ordinary really, no kittens were killed.
Went to Biffa site on the Isle of Wight with a powder tank . Luckily got the site manager to sign on the notes that the equipment was fit and ready for delivery , blowing at low pressure for 10 minutes and then BOOM , top blown off the silo , hydrated lime everywhere , looked like it had snowed . All hell broke loose so I rang the limeworks and they sent a rep out . The silo turned out to be a temporary plastic without pressure blowoff valves ( like a septic tank ). I cleared off home to be told the company had a claim for the tank and cleanup . Gave the boss the signed notes and phone number for the rep , Biffa didn’t have a leg to stand on , but if I hadn’t got the equipment signature I’d have been sacked on the spot .
Managed to pull a trailer ABS socket clean out (and nearly took the airlines with it) because I forgot to disconnect them whilst doing a trailer swap at Kingspan Sherburn.
Also, on the same day AND on the same site, I managed to drag a trailer about a hundred yards with the park brake still on, leaving tyre marks all over the trailer park!
Had a drop at an old converted airfield. Looked like the old hangers had been converted into warehouses. The gateman told me which warehouse to go to, the forklift cleared me to enter the warehouse, and I reversed straight into it… with no problems at all. Got tipped, having a natter, smoke and brew with the forkie when the next driver turned up. He was in a rush and running out of time (obviously) so I fastened my curtains up, jumped in the cab and drove out the door. Unfortunately, after tipping 20 odd ton of assorted crap off my trailer, the arse end was sticking up in the air a good deal higher than when I arrived and because I hadnt waited for it to self level, I caught the top of the door. Cue debris, wooden frame and asbestos panels raining down on the poor forkie who only moments earlier was hoping for an early finish.
Garbo2018:
Managed to pull a trailer ABS socket clean out (and nearly took the airlines with it) .
If you take the airlines, rev like hell and get the unit out the way asap (you got about 20 seconds) then knock it out of gear. Not saying how I know this.
Most common ones I see are failing to lift legs and mudguards getting ripped on curtains / internals esp on deckers. Internal straps are very strong.
rigsby:
Went to Biffa site on the Isle of Wight with a powder tank . Luckily got the site manager to sign on the notes that the equipment was fit and ready for delivery , blowing at low pressure for 10 minutes and then BOOM , top blown off the silo , hydrated lime everywhere , looked like it had snowed . All hell broke loose so I rang the limeworks and they sent a rep out . The silo turned out to be a temporary plastic without pressure blowoff valves ( like a septic tank ). I cleared off home to be told the company had a claim for the tank and cleanup . Gave the boss the signed notes and phone number for the rep , Biffa didn’t have a leg to stand on , but if I hadn’t got the equipment signature I’d have been sacked on the spot .
I wonder at times if the average driver is in greater danger to their livlihood if they disobeyed management, and followed procedure rather than kept to the status quo of asking Guvnor “how high” when orders get barked at you in some never-before-visted place…
How many times do we rely on company kit - only to find ourselves in trouble with not the firm - but the LAW - should it then “Malfunction”?
Walkaround checks - cover us for the “vehicle” side of the “Kit” - but what about all the other stuff not related to driving that we get our mits on each and every day?
I once tried to do a cheeky u-turn in a 26t rigid with a massive overhang, going through one of those gaps in the grass central reservation which separate opposite lanes and aren’t really big enough for wagons to fit though without a hell of a swing - it was a 40mph road with two lanes going each way.
I indicated right but hadn’t seen the chav right up my arse in my blindspot - couldn’t see any other cars behind at all. As I swung over towards the left lane to make the sharp turn, he tried to floor it past me in his old Type R, obviously thinking I was moving over. I only saw him in my offside mirror as I was cutting in to the right.
I slammed my brakes on and it would’ve been fine if he’d done so too. But he swerved and hit the grass verge that separates the exiting/entering lanes of the gap in the reservation (luckily much less steep than the central reservation itself). It’s the only time I’ve seen a car do a proper dukes of hazzard jump on the road! He must’ve cleared 1-2 feet of air and smashed down on the other side facing the oncoming traffic.
I don’t think he had any insurance as he didn’t want me to phone it in despite busted rims, leaking radiator, knackered bumper etc. It was him trying to floor it past me that caused it, but I was defo turning in a place which I shouldn’t have been. Could easily have been killed if he’d hit an oncoming car.
Needless to say this was at the very start of my driving career and is a story I don’t often recount.
Tailschwing:
I once tried to do a cheeky u-turn in a 26t rigid with a massive overhang
…not sure you qualify for ‘massive overhang’
anyway, my worst was at hopwood, ab load bay occupied by usual ignorant curtainsiders, lorry bays full so went to turn and drive back out. Turned in right and reversed back on a bit of left with a 38footer on the back. Pitch black, cameras behind cab covered with rain and had had an early start and long day. Gently coming back and felt a small bump… I’d caught the rear o/s of the load on a volvo front n/s corner. creased the bonnet on the corner and damaged the visor a bit. Had only been driving a couple of months and that night, learnt the valuable lesson of “get out and look”
