I got a call in the week, asking if I could do a Saturday morning run, only a short one, down into Waltham Forest, to take a load of steel to a building site on a flatbed trailer. Not a problem, looking forward to it. They told me the address, so I had a good look on Streetview to see the best route in.
The route in looked okay - a bit residential in areas, but nothing too drastic, so at 630 this morning, off I trundled, along with father-in-law who fancied coming along for the ride. When I got the paperwork in the truck, I noticed that it wasn’t actually in the street I’d been told, but a public park off of that road. So off we trundled, wit a bit of overhang of steel, but nothing to worry about.
I got to the drop OK, and drove through the security gates - here started the fun. To get to the drop, I had to turn sharp left then hard right, along what basically amounted to large footpaths, probably about 13’ wide at best. Offloading the steel took an hour or so, then we were on our way, backwards, around two tight bends, with a blindside back onto the road…
It was all going reasonably OK, if a bit slow, when I put a bit too much LH lock on to get the trailer aiming for the gate - the wheel meandered off the paved bit, and onto the verge, and I got that sudden sinking feeling, as the wheel settled itself in for the duration. No amount of forwards or backwards wanted to get it out, despite a load of digging, and scaffold boards etc. These things alwsays happen in front of a large audience, don’t they? The number of people with their camera-phones out, I’m sure I’m going to be on Youtube before the day is out…
Eventually the crane driver came along, and with the help of a large strop, he oiked us out of the mud and back onto the pavement, now just had the fun of reversing out again without using the verges. It took about 40 minutes, God knows how many shunts, and a couple of waits for the air to rebuild - didn’t realise how quickly tanks ran out when you’re tap-dancing on the brakes!
Eventually though, we were out, and on our way back to sunny Essex, with just one minor hiccup, when soembody at the traffic lights behind us bumped into the back of the trailer - no visible damage to his car (BMW), and nothing whatsoever to the back of my trailer, so off we plodded.
Got back to the yard at midday, saw the boss and told him what had happened. After a little chuckle, all he said was ‘You got a bit more experience on reversing, nobody got hurt, the lorry and load are all OK, nothing to worry about, thanks for your help.’ If all bosses had the same attitude, going to work would be a joy for everyone!
Gary
