First Nightmare Moment! [Merged]

Hi all,

I had my first proper nightmare moment on Sunday morning, when travelling down the A37 towards Midsomer Norton in a double decker artic…

All going swimmingly, until I meet a road closure at Temple Cloud (emergency repair on a gas leak I find out later)…

The closure is at google.com/maps/@51.3204386 … 384!8i8192

So I see the left turn sign towards Trident Works Industrial Estate and think that there must be an area to turn around in or divert back onto the A37 further down…

I follow the road and the lane gets narrower and narrower, until I arrive at this sight… google.com/maps/@51.3161186 … 384!8i8192

As you can imagine, I realise that I’m in trouble by this point, especially with the rest of the A37 traffic also in this area by now. My only hope was the yard on the left, so I’m trying to ring the numbers in the yard to get hold of somebody to open the gate to let me in. After a while of trying, one of the drivers coming through told me the yard owner lives just under the bridge, so after a little walk down to their house, they open the yard and help me turn around. After another 30 minutes or so I’m through the traffic back onto the A37 to work out how to get around the closure properly this time.

A tough lesson learnt (I should have pulled over on the A37 and checked my map for an easier place to turn without assuming), but how thankful was I for that yard!

I have checked on Google Maps again and I can’t see that I missed any signs for that bridge.

How common is it for bridges like this to not be signposted? I wonder if anybody else got stuck there that day due to that emergency road closure.

Goff118:
How common is it for bridges like this to not be signposted?

Less common…

Than you’d like. You did good, you got out of the jam with no bother, no puppies were harmed and you now know about a low bridge.
If you do decker work all the time, a good investment would be a truckers road map. An actual printed antique type one that you buy from a bookshop. I’d have more faith in that than I would a Satnav when it comes to low bridges.

Ive been in these situations,its a nightmare alright,total stress!
I remember once,I asked a car garage owner if I could turn round in his yard,he than went on to tell me how a truck once smashed the canopy and drove off,but he chased him in his car and caught him!

Well done for keeping and using your head, but to be honest that’s more of a FFS moment than a nightmare one. You can tell the latter because when you finally exit the cab (by the doors, the windows or the roof hatch) you’ll find the base of your seat strongly resembles a Cornish pasty, such will be the power of your clenching motion!

yourhavingalarf:

Goff118:
How common is it for bridges like this to not be signposted?

Less common…

Than you’d like. You did good, you got out of the jam with no bother, no puppies were harmed and you now know about a low bridge.
If you do decker work all the time, a good investment would be a truckers road map. An actual printed antique type one that you buy from a bookshop. I’d have more faith in that than I would a Satnav when it comes to low bridges.

Thanks mate, got one on order now! Think I’ll need to get myself a bigger bag though ha ha.

Goff118:

yourhavingalarf:

Goff118:
How common is it for bridges like this to not be signposted?

Less common…

Than you’d like. You did good, you got out of the jam with no bother, no puppies were harmed and you now know about a low bridge.
If you do decker work all the time, a good investment would be a truckers road map. An actual printed antique type one that you buy from a bookshop. I’d have more faith in that than I would a Satnav when it comes to low bridges.

Thanks mate, got one on order now! Think I’ll need to get myself a bigger bag though ha ha.

Beware the maps are not updated enough to make them worth carrying

drover:
Beware the maps are not updated enough to make them worth carrying

I can see…

What you’re saying. For my mind if you use Satnav in conjunction with a road map, it’s just easier. Don’t ask me why, it just is. For my own part, I don’t carry a road map, I do use Waze for traffic but, my fridge is barely taller than the cab.

yourhavingalarf:

drover:
Beware the maps are not updated enough to make them worth carrying

I can see…

What you’re saying. For my mind if you use Satnav in conjunction with a road map, it’s just easier. Don’t ask me why, it just is. For my own part, I don’t carry a road map, I do use Waze for traffic but, my fridge is barely taller than the cab.

I always used to carry one but one day i had a similar problem with unsigned low bridge which also wasn’t on the map so thought what’s the point of lugging it around with me.
Actually i just took photos of all the pages & store them in both phone & tablet just in case. After 5 years i only had to use them once i think

The map links don’t work.

Goff118:
After a while of trying, one of the drivers coming through told me the yard owner lives just under the bridge, so after a little walk down to their house, they open the yard and help me turn around. After another 30 minutes or so I’m through the traffic back onto the A37 to work out how to get around the closure properly this time.

I hope you remembered the guy’s address and mail him a nice little thank you gift

tachograph:
The map links don’t work.

Yes they did earlier on, have they been changed?

That looks a nightmare well done, still waiting to get my first job but these are the things that freak me out a little

stu675:

tachograph:
The map links don’t work.

Yes they did earlier on, have they been changed?

Well they’re certainly not working for me on the desktop in fact if I press the quote button I don’t even get the full link.

However, strangely I’ve discovered that they do work on my mobile so here’s the links for anyone else having the same problem.

First Link in the OPs post: google.com/maps/@51.3204386,-2.5441122,15z
Street View: google.com/maps/@51.3204386 … 384!8i8192

Second Link in the OPs post: google.com/maps/@51.3161186 … 384!8i8192

Yea. It hit me how quickly things can go wrong when I saw that bridge lol. I was quite pleased with how I reacted and managed to get out without hitting anything or causing too much chaos, but I was very lucky the yard on the left was there.

Big lesson learnt and hopefully that sort of thing won’t happen again for a long time! :smiley:

ETS:

Goff118:
After a while of trying, one of the drivers coming through told me the yard owner lives just under the bridge, so after a little walk down to their house, they open the yard and help me turn around. After another 30 minutes or so I’m through the traffic back onto the A37 to work out how to get around the closure properly this time.

I hope you remembered the guy’s address and mail him a nice little thank you gift

It was a woman, and I know the address and am going to send them something :slight_smile:

OK I can now see why the links in this thread don’t work, the whole post has been copy/pasted from a duplicate thread in the new drivers forum :unamused:

I was reading the other thread on my mobile and that’s why the links worked.

There’s no reason to have duplicate topics, especially when the links haven’t been copied correctly, hopefully the mods will merge the two topics to stop anymore confusion.

Worst I find you see a sign low bridge yet your delivery point is less than a mile away.makes you think is it before or after the bridge.
Come close few times…
But these days tend stop Google company and
ring ask the question you before or after the bridge.

I have collected and delivered to one of those companies close to the bridge in my rigid ( high rigid at that ) it’s tough enough to get there even when you know the area in a rigid .
At what point was the turtles head touching cloth , I would imagine it would have been within a minute of being off the A37 .

Happy Trucker1:
I have collected and delivered to one of those companies close to the bridge in my rigid ( high rigid at that ) it’s tough enough to get there even when you know the area in a rigid .
At what point was the turtles head touching cloth , I would imagine it would have been within a minute of being off the A37 .

Ha ha yep that’s about right!

drover:

yourhavingalarf:

drover:
Beware the maps are not updated enough to make them worth carrying

I can see…

What you’re saying. For my mind if you use Satnav in conjunction with a road map, it’s just easier. Don’t ask me why, it just is. For my own part, I don’t carry a road map, I do use Waze for traffic but, my fridge is barely taller than the cab.

I always used to carry one but one day i had a similar problem with unsigned low bridge which also wasn’t on the map so thought what’s the point of lugging it around with me.
Actually i just took photos of all the pages & store them in both phone & tablet just in case. After 5 years i only had to use them once i think

Call me old fashioned (I probably am :smiley: ) but I just find it incredible that a driver of a high vehicle would not think a bridge map is a necessary item.
I get the sat nav thing, but it’s so easy just to pre check if you are on a strange road, and what if your sat nav packs in,.or you can’t charge it…I personally have had 2 pack in while I’m away, ok it wasn’t a problem, in fact I went back to the old days and ran without one for a couple of weeks, but I imagine a new driver would struggle.
As for bridges missed off bridge maps,.I’d imagine that is not very common at all tbh,.and should not be a reason not to have one .

A mate of mine got a call off a driver asking him directions to some remote farm, he tried to explain and said get your map out and I’ll guide you on to it, and mark it off on your map
The lad said ‘‘I don’t have a map’’ my mate hung up in disgust. :smiley:

O/'p nice one for getting out of a fix, nothing like a bit of initiative, many would have rang the office in tears. :smiley: