A twist in the tail?

[nicsawalker]

Mike-C:
I’m one of them reall know all drivers who knows nothing. I’m at home in the city

The open motorway

Or out in the sticks.

You can’t tell me nothing, i’ve been there done it, seen it and got the tee shirt. I am however about to come spectacularly unstuck, in more ways than one !!
Sitting at home on Thursday night, being the geek i am i decide to have a look at where the company i am collecting from on Friday morning is.
Hollingsworth & Vose,
Waterford Bridge,
Kentmere,
Kendal.

Satnav and Autoroute show it to be out in the sticks. So i have a google for the company website see if that helps me. Bingo !!! They have a map, cool. That attention to detail is what you expect from a good driver like me

Friday morning sees me going through Staveley, bit narrow

Turn right at the zebra crossing like the map says

Through the tight village, a bit tighter than i expected

Out the village and come to a bridge on my right, and this in front of me. I’m no numpty and there is no way i’m going through that sign in an artic.

Well i have my map, i’m over the bridge and away up through the hills.

Around this tight left hander

A reverse back for another shunt around as i don’t want to take the stone wall out.

And bat on down the lane.

I’m now at the end (few miles from the bridge i came over) and the farmer comes out to see me.

“You’ve ran out of road, it ends here and there is no where to turn around, pull forward past my gate so my horseboxes can get in and out, you’re going to be here a long time, if you need anything like tea/coffee/fone just call down to the house. I suggest you call someone for help as you won’t be driving out of here”

Well the first thing to do is put my head in my hands , sigh and just say to myself “no, i can’t believe it”.
I call my company and tell them i am ‘round the corner’ from the customer and i maybe stuck, i’ll ring them back and let them know some more in a short while. Then a friendly face turns up, its the guy from the customers. He explains that they’ve had no end of wagons stuck down here, not many make it past the tight left hander though They’ve had them stuck here for days, had them fall over through the stone walls, dragged around the fields by tractors etc. What do i want to do, proffesional recovery or what? I decide i’ll give reversing all the way back a go. My only concern really is the tight (blindside now) bend, if i’ll get around that. So we give it a go.

I nearly lost the cab in the soft ground here. I was in no mood to take a piccy, i was touching the wall with my hand out the cab window. How i got it out i’ll never know but i did think it was going over.

Now the shunting starts on the tight bend.

There is no way its going round. Problem is, my offside trailer wheels are riding up a grass bank and my traction wheels are spinning, taking a hard fast shunt is not an option as if i hit or go through that small fence there is a stream there. Guys says you give it a good go but its not going to get around there, so its all the way back to the dead end so i don’t block the lane up totally. He then goes off back to work, i ring my company and tell them i am really stuck. “Not being funny Mike, but if it was that tight to get in, did you not think maybe you shouldn’t go down there?”…Fair question i suppose. “I thought i shouldn’t be going down here the minute i came through the village”.I ask if he’ll speak to the customer and see what they suggest as they’ve had the problem before, often.
I’m now about to get really lucky. A lady farmer, who also does some tanker driving for Wisemans dairys comes and helps me. She tells me they’ve taken walls down before and turned the trailers around with a tractor, but the ground is so soft now that this is not an option. She had seen me trying to get around the bends and suggests if we get a big enough tractor to pull the arse end of the trailer off the bank i’ll get around. I’ll need some cash though, so off we go into the village in the Landy to get some cash, a steak slice and a bag of horse nuts.

Oh, before i get sidetracked here (pardon the pun) i should of gone through the width restriction !!!

On return to the lorry, i now have the Police here.

“I’m not happy” the lady officer says. Name/DOB/registration/weight/length…i assume that just to make sure i have not contravened any regs? Then another fair question…“did you not see the dead end sign?”…“yeah i did, i seen two. One had a width restriction and this one didn’t and like my map shows to go over a bridge, thats what i’ve done”. She goes offto put some cones by the bridge so no one elsecomes up here. Meanwhile, the Fast track we called in the village is on his way up to me from the M6. I was glad to see him.

Right, reverse all the way back again to the bend. Chains on to pull arse end round.

And i’m clear of it !!

Long laborious revers back.

And i’m out. No damage and the Fast track cost me a ton. I ring and tell my company i’m now free. Its 2.30pm now i been there since 10am. “Cancelled Mike, they can’t load you now just come back”

I head off to the M6, fone goes. Its the customer, “Hi, are you still coming?”…no i got told you cancelled. “we thought you would not get out today but if you’re out we’ll load you”, ok, i’m coming back. Right way this time.
Back through the width restriction, over this bridge.

And then up a proper road to the factory, not that stupid lane i was in.

Boy was i glad to see this.

In and on the bay in one piece.

Whilst i’m here i think i’ll pop this in my favourites on my sat nav.

Loaded up and ready to go, out over the small bridge and i’m on my way home.

What a day !!!
Coming down the M6 on the way back i see this.

I can’t fathom out whats happened here. And then just behind them i see this little fella.

All his arse end was smashed in, he must of been in shock as he seemed as calm as if he was itting on his owners step. I just wanted to go over and give him a pat on the head.

Cars where passing him at 80mph by just inches, it was freezing cold and wet. My stomach just went sick,i couldn’t swallow and my eyes filled up just thinking about the poor guy Kind of puts my bad day in perspective.
Them poor HATO guys will have to come deal with this i would imagine, i couldn’t do there job for all the money in the world, imagine the things they must see every day? Mind you, the way i’m shaping it looks like i can’t do my own job for the wages i get
Pressing on like everybody else i head home, we’ve all got places to be, people to see and things to do.

Nice tale. Sad ending though. But very talented! Does your company reimburse you the ton? ■■

[twoninety88]

No need to quote the whole post mate!

[robstracey]

I grew up in Kendal, and spent a lot of time on a friends farm very close to where you got stuck. I was much smaller wagons get stuck up there and didn’t make it out damage free.

Inselaffe, it’s just inside the national park, and any unofficial signs usually cause “locals” (I.e. non-locals who moved to the area) to moan, or just rip them down.

[embo83]

Omg I can’t get that little dog out of my head. How did he end up there? Poor little thing

[wirksworth_rod]

Mike-C:
I’m one of them reall know all drivers who knows nothing. I’m at home in the city

The open motorway

Or out in the sticks.

You can’t tell me nothing, i’ve been there done it, seen it and got the tee shirt. I am however about to come spectacularly unstuck, in more ways than one !!
Sitting at home on Thursday night, being the geek i am i decide to have a look at where the company i am collecting from on Friday morning is.
Hollingsworth & Vose,
Waterford Bridge,
Kentmere,
Kendal.

Satnav and Autoroute show it to be out in the sticks. So i have a google for the company website see if that helps me. Bingo !!! They have a map, cool. That attention to detail is what you expect from a good driver like me

Friday morning sees me going through Staveley, bit narrow

Turn right at the zebra crossing like the map says

Through the tight village, a bit tighter than i expected

Out the village and come to a bridge on my right, and this in front of me. I’m no numpty and there is no way i’m going through that sign in an artic.

Well i have my map, i’m over the bridge and away up through the hills.

Around this tight left hander

A reverse back for another shunt around as i don’t want to take the stone wall out.

And bat on down the lane.

I’m now at the end (few miles from the bridge i came over) and the farmer comes out to see me.

“You’ve ran out of road, it ends here and there is no where to turn around, pull forward past my gate so my horseboxes can get in and out, you’re going to be here a long time, if you need anything like tea/coffee/fone just call down to the house. I suggest you call someone for help as you won’t be driving out of here”

Well the first thing to do is put my head in my hands , sigh and just say to myself “no, i can’t believe it”.
I call my company and tell them i am ‘round the corner’ from the customer and i maybe stuck, i’ll ring them back and let them know some more in a short while. Then a friendly face turns up, its the guy from the customers. He explains that they’ve had no end of wagons stuck down here, not many make it past the tight left hander though They’ve had them stuck here for days, had them fall over through the stone walls, dragged around the fields by tractors etc. What do i want to do, proffesional recovery or what? I decide i’ll give reversing all the way back a go. My only concern really is the tight (blindside now) bend, if i’ll get around that. So we give it a go.

I nearly lost the cab in the soft ground here. I was in no mood to take a piccy, i was touching the wall with my hand out the cab window. How i got it out i’ll never know but i did think it was going over.

Now the shunting starts on the tight bend.

There is no way its going round. Problem is, my offside trailer wheels are riding up a grass bank and my traction wheels are spinning, taking a hard fast shunt is not an option as if i hit or go through that small fence there is a stream there. Guys says you give it a good go but its not going to get around there, so its all the way back to the dead end so i don’t block the lane up totally. He then goes off back to work, i ring my company and tell them i am really stuck. “Not being funny Mike, but if it was that tight to get in, did you not think maybe you shouldn’t go down there?”…Fair question i suppose. “I thought i shouldn’t be going down here the minute i came through the village”.I ask if he’ll speak to the customer and see what they suggest as they’ve had the problem before, often.
I’m now about to get really lucky. A lady farmer, who also does some tanker driving for Wisemans dairys comes and helps me. She tells me they’ve taken walls down before and turned the trailers around with a tractor, but the ground is so soft now that this is not an option. She had seen me trying to get around the bends and suggests if we get a big enough tractor to pull the arse end of the trailer off the bank i’ll get around. I’ll need some cash though, so off we go into the village in the Landy to get some cash, a steak slice and a bag of horse nuts.

Oh, before i get sidetracked here (pardon the pun) i should of gone through the width restriction !!!

On return to the lorry, i now have the Police here.

“I’m not happy” the lady officer says. Name/DOB/registration/weight/length…i assume that just to make sure i have not contravened any regs? Then another fair question…“did you not see the dead end sign?”…“yeah i did, i seen two. One had a width restriction and this one didn’t and like my map shows to go over a bridge, thats what i’ve done”. She goes offto put some cones by the bridge so no one elsecomes up here. Meanwhile, the Fast track we called in the village is on his way up to me from the M6. I was glad to see him.

Right, reverse all the way back again to the bend. Chains on to pull arse end round.

And i’m clear of it !!

Long laborious revers back.

And i’m out. No damage and the Fast track cost me a ton. I ring and tell my company i’m now free. Its 2.30pm now i been there since 10am. “Cancelled Mike, they can’t load you now just come back”

I head off to the M6, fone goes. Its the customer, “Hi, are you still coming?”…no i got told you cancelled. “we thought you would not get out today but if you’re out we’ll load you”, ok, i’m coming back. Right way this time.
Back through the width restriction, over this bridge.

And then up a proper road to the factory, not that stupid lane i was in.

Boy was i glad to see this.

In and on the bay in one piece.

Whilst i’m here i think i’ll pop this in my favourites on my sat nav.

Loaded up and ready to go, out over the small bridge and i’m on my way home.

What a day !!!
Coming down the M6 on the way back i see this.

I can’t fathom out whats happened here. And then just behind them i see this little fella.

All his arse end was smashed in, he must of been in shock as he seemed as calm as if he was itting on his owners step. I just wanted to go over and give him a pat on the head.

Cars where passing him at 80mph by just inches, it was freezing cold and wet. My stomach just went sick,i couldn’t swallow and my eyes filled up just thinking about the poor guy Kind of puts my bad day in perspective.
Them poor HATO guys will have to come deal with this i would imagine, i couldn’t do there job for all the money in the world, imagine the things they must see every day? Mind you, the way i’m shaping it looks like i can’t do my own job for the wages i get
Pressing on like everybody else i head home, we’ve all got places to be, people to see and things to do.

brill mate once did that down a lane in exeter we a 40 tanker no the feeling crackin read mike when you think you no it all you hav to lern sumat alse

[immigrant]

google.co.uk/maps/place/Hol … 8a!6m1!1e1

[truckman020]

a guy turns up from the customers to say they have had no end of trucks stuck down here,my reply would be if that’s the case why don’t the customer send information telling the company which route to take to their premises that surely would solve the problem of trucks taking the wrong route and getting stuck and causing the driver problems,all they need to do is send info on what direction to take once you get to the village,they sound like a bunch of muppets to me,if I don’t know a route to the customer I will allways call them if I get a number and I ask which is the best way into their premises for an artic,nine times out of ten you will get someone in their office/warehouse who know the area like the back of their hand and will know exactly which route will get you to them without problems,as I say they sound like a load of muppets at this place you were picking up from to mike,question,whos arse end was smashed in,dog or car cos the dog looks ok in the pic,maybe I am not looking correctly

[mike-c]

I’m one of them reall know all drivers who knows nothing. I’m at home in the city

The open motorway

Or out in the sticks.

You can’t tell me nothing, i’ve been there done it, seen it and got the tee shirt. I am however about to come spectacularly unstuck, in more ways than one !!
Sitting at home on Thursday night, being the geek i am i decide to have a look at where the company i am collecting from on Friday morning is.
Hollingsworth & Vose,
Waterford Bridge,
Kentmere,
Kendal.

Satnav and Autoroute show it to be out in the sticks. So i have a google for the company website see if that helps me. Bingo !!! They have a map, cool. That attention to detail is what you expect from a good driver like me

Friday morning sees me going through Staveley, bit narrow

Turn right at the zebra crossing like the map says

Through the tight village, a bit tighter than i expected

Out the village and come to a bridge on my right, and this in front of me. I’m no numpty and there is no way i’m going through that sign in an artic.

Well i have my map, i’m over the bridge and away up through the hills.

Around this tight left hander

A reverse back for another shunt around as i don’t want to take the stone wall out.

And bat on down the lane.

I’m now at the end (few miles from the bridge i came over) and the farmer comes out to see me.

“You’ve ran out of road, it ends here and there is no where to turn around, pull forward past my gate so my horseboxes can get in and out, you’re going to be here a long time, if you need anything like tea/coffee/fone just call down to the house. I suggest you call someone for help as you won’t be driving out of here”

Well the first thing to do is put my head in my hands , sigh and just say to myself “no, i can’t believe it”.
I call my company and tell them i am ‘round the corner’ from the customer and i maybe stuck, i’ll ring them back and let them know some more in a short while. Then a friendly face turns up, its the guy from the customers. He explains that they’ve had no end of wagons stuck down here, not many make it past the tight left hander though They’ve had them stuck here for days, had them fall over through the stone walls, dragged around the fields by tractors etc. What do i want to do, proffesional recovery or what? I decide i’ll give reversing all the way back a go. My only concern really is the tight (blindside now) bend, if i’ll get around that. So we give it a go.

I nearly lost the cab in the soft ground here. I was in no mood to take a piccy, i was touching the wall with my hand out the cab window. How i got it out i’ll never know but i did think it was going over.

Now the shunting starts on the tight bend.

There is no way its going round. Problem is, my offside trailer wheels are riding up a grass bank and my traction wheels are spinning, taking a hard fast shunt is not an option as if i hit or go through that small fence there is a stream there. Guys says you give it a good go but its not going to get around there, so its all the way back to the dead end so i don’t block the lane up totally. He then goes off back to work, i ring my company and tell them i am really stuck. “Not being funny Mike, but if it was that tight to get in, did you not think maybe you shouldn’t go down there?”…Fair question i suppose. “I thought i shouldn’t be going down here the minute i came through the village”.I ask if he’ll speak to the customer and see what they suggest as they’ve had the problem before, often.
I’m now about to get really lucky. A lady farmer, who also does some tanker driving for Wisemans dairys comes and helps me. She tells me they’ve taken walls down before and turned the trailers around with a tractor, but the ground is so soft now that this is not an option. She had seen me trying to get around the bends and suggests if we get a big enough tractor to pull the arse end of the trailer off the bank i’ll get around. I’ll need some cash though, so off we go into the village in the Landy to get some cash, a steak slice and a bag of horse nuts.

Oh, before i get sidetracked here (pardon the pun) i should of gone through the width restriction !!!

On return to the lorry, i now have the Police here.

“I’m not happy” the lady officer says. Name/DOB/registration/weight/length…i assume that just to make sure i have not contravened any regs? Then another fair question…“did you not see the dead end sign?”…“yeah i did, i seen two. One had a width restriction and this one didn’t and like my map shows to go over a bridge, thats what i’ve done”. She goes offto put some cones by the bridge so no one elsecomes up here. Meanwhile, the Fast track we called in the village is on his way up to me from the M6. I was glad to see him.

Right, reverse all the way back again to the bend. Chains on to pull arse end round.

And i’m clear of it !!

Long laborious revers back.

And i’m out. No damage and the Fast track cost me a ton. I ring and tell my company i’m now free. Its 2.30pm now i been there since 10am. “Cancelled Mike, they can’t load you now just come back”

I head off to the M6, fone goes. Its the customer, “Hi, are you still coming?”…no i got told you cancelled. “we thought you would not get out today but if you’re out we’ll load you”, ok, i’m coming back. Right way this time.
Back through the width restriction, over this bridge.

And then up a proper road to the factory, not that stupid lane i was in.

Boy was i glad to see this.

In and on the bay in one piece.

Whilst i’m here i think i’ll pop this in my favourites on my sat nav.

Loaded up and ready to go, out over the small bridge and i’m on my way home.

What a day !!!
Coming down the M6 on the way back i see this.

I can’t fathom out whats happened here. And then just behind them i see this little fella.

All his arse end was smashed in, he must of been in shock as he seemed as calm as if he was itting on his owners step. I just wanted to go over and give him a pat on the head.

Cars where passing him at 80mph by just inches, it was freezing cold and wet. My stomach just went sick,i couldn’t swallow and my eyes filled up just thinking about the poor guy Kind of puts my bad day in perspective.
Them poor HATO guys will have to come deal with this i would imagine, i couldn’t do there job for all the money in the world, imagine the things they must see every day? Mind you, the way i’m shaping it looks like i can’t do my own job for the wages i get
Pressing on like everybody else i head home, we’ve all got places to be, people to see and things to do.

[coffeeholic]

You bugger. A good tale of misadventure, with a bit of comedy and we thought it had all worked out well when you conned us with a false happy ending before you hit us with the sad one.

[shade]

Nice one Mike, you got broad shoulders putting that up on here mate

I assume your firm will reimburse the ton you had to fork out

[brit_pete]

Thanks a good read and fantastic photos
glad you got out all right inthe end,but
its a shame that your reprebateof a customer
does not warn those firms who suppliy
them as to the best way intontheir premerses

[mike-c]

That was the twist Neil !!

[flying_fenman]

Glad you got out of there OK Mike.

What a day?!!

I take my hat off to you for having the balls to re-tell it on here with good pictures to illustrate the problems. It just goes to show that it can happen to all of us.

[coffeeholic]

Mike-C:
That was the twist Neil !!

Yeah but I didn’t think you meant an actual twisted tail.

[hombre]

Brilliant pics, and I tell you, I was sweating just looking at them!! I think we’ve all been in that postion at least once - and I have no doubt probably will be again one day!!

[mekong]

a bit late now mike , but if you had been one of the many that post asking for directions in this instance you would have saved yourself a lot of greiff, i live in staveley and my house is on one of your pics. opp shop and behind the trees. i will see my mate tonite who works at that spot an get rundown on what really happened.

[p90dls]

I was enjoying that until you came to the dog

[dgw131]

flying_fenman:
Glad you got out of there OK Mike. I take my hat off to you for having the balls to re-tell it on here

I couldn’t agree more it takes a lot to posts that… well done

[inselaffe]

Mike-C:
Then a friendly face turns up, its the guy from the customers. He explains that they’ve had no end of wagons stuck down here, not many make it past the tight left hander though They’ve had them stuck here for days, had them fall over through the stone walls, dragged around the fields by tractors etc. What do i want to do, proffesional recovery or what?

I would have been inclined to punch his lights out Then go round and do the same to the boss man at the factory
If what the “friendly face” says was common knowledge in the firm, why the hell wasn’t the route to the place clearly signposted, especially when it’s down such a narrow road
Typical Yank attitude. No respect for the local area or community. Presumably if the locals started kicking up a fuss about damage caused by trucks trying to access their factory, they would up sticks and move to Poland.

I think a lot of us will have been in a similar position, Mike, although perhaps not that far upstream without a paddle

Fair play to you for getting out of such a tight spot

[jimti]

Great post, apart from the poor dog

I wonder what all the anti tom tom guys will make of this, blaming drivers for not reading signs…you did and it got you into trouble

I am a bit confused as to how a truck can go passed this sign though,
you had no option open to you once you reached there, maybe the customer should get a sign put up for drivers who visit them, or better still pass on the information before the truck arrives, although that would probably end up in the secret draw all transport offices have for “useful information the driver needs”

Well done getting out of there