Good read Mike,fair play to you putting it on here,at the end of the day you got
out ok without damaging the motor.Most drivers at some time have that
horrible feeling as the road is getting tighter and tighter,and your thinking
■■■■ this is getting dodgy!
Like others have said the company sound like some right muppets if they
have had loads of trucks taking the wrong road ,you would think they could
have a sign put up!
Coffeeholic:
jimti:
I am a bit confused as to how a truck can go passed this sign though.
Me too. Surely the driver of any vehicle wider than 6’ 6" would be committing an offence by passing this sign? If access is allowed for the factory shouldn’t there be either an except for access sign, or even better a sign saying ‘Except for access to Hollingsworth & Vose’, or a sign indication the restriction begins in ■■■ yards or x miles?
On Farm work I’ve been throught loads of them, plus unsuitable for hgv, and the occasional unsuitable for motor vehicles, and I bet a few others do too. I’ve also had to practise my reversing a few times, and others come to great big yard, where I can turn round without a shunt. Been towed in, towed out frightened senseless loads of times. Homework was done, my only comment would be I may have rung the company when I saw the sign, which I’m sure he will do next time.
Just think, drivings a learning curve, and we’re all still learning. oh and excellent blogg 
Mike-C:
Story is, there was signs up. A few years ago some newer residents of the village complained about them and they had to be removed as they had no planning permission. To date the permision is going to be accepted. When i was stuck the company rang the council, and said we need these signs allowed desperatley. The council said, well you can put some temporary ones up until its sorted out properly !! Doh !!!
Unbelievable 
You couldn’t make it up
I unreservedly retract my pugilistic intentions towards the employees of Hollingsworth & Vose and redirect it towards the local council muppets and the whinging nimbys 
Note to self: Be in possession of all the facts before mouthing off and inciting mindless violence 
renaultman:
Coffeeholic:
jimti:
I am a bit confused as to how a truck can go passed this sign though.
Me too. Surely the driver of any vehicle wider than 6’ 6" would be committing an offence by passing this sign? If access is allowed for the factory shouldn’t there be either an except for access sign, or even better a sign saying ‘Except for access to Hollingsworth & Vose’, or a sign indication the restriction begins in ■■■ yards or x miles?
On Farm work I’ve been throught loads of them, plus unsuitable for hgv, and the occasional unsuitable for motor vehicles, and I bet a few others do too.
I’m sure we all have at some point or another, I know I have. However, the fact remains because of that sign there is no legal way for a vehicle of over 6’6" to gain access to Hollingsworth & Vose. 
The unsuitable for HGV or motor vehicle signs are only information signs if they are displayed on their own and you wouldn’t commit an offence by passing them but the sign above is an order, same as a speed limit sign so technically you cannot pass it in a truck. If you got a stroppy copper, and they don’t seem to be a happy bunch of coppers round there according to Mike’s diary, then they could do you for passing it.
Coffeeholic:
The unsuitable for HGV or motor vehicle signs are only information signs if they are displayed on their own and you wouldn’t commit an offence by passing them but the sign above is an order, same as a speed limit sign so technically you cannot pass it in a truck. If you got a stroppy copper, and they don’t seem to be a happy bunch of coppers round there according to Mike’s diary, then they could do you for passing it.
I agree.
However, in practical terms, there will be mitigating circumstances (in that Mike had no alternative other than to pass the sign if he was going to be loaded) and to be honest, it wouldn’t get past the traffic file evaluators let alone make it to a summons.
Technically though, Mike could have been summonsed to court or had a £30 fixed penalty ticket. (Glad he didn’t though )
I dont get why you were already taking photos before you ran into trouble 
Where you expecting a problem Mike or, dont you get to go to such a rural customer very often, hence a day worth photographing
ellies dad:
I dont get why you were already taking photos before you ran into trouble
Where you expecting a problem Mike or, dont you get to go to such a rural customer very often, hence a day worth photographing
Another fair question!! I have a 1GB memory card on my fone, so , it cost me nothing to snap all day. When i do a typical diary i may sift through 400 pics and may be a fortnights work to give you a few days and a few pics here. I now routinley snap my wagon when i get in and out of it at the start and end of my shift, just incase . If i go any where tight or abnormal i foto it too, again , just incase. When i park in a lorry park i foto it, and the surrounding lorrys , just incase, years ago i have woken up to find my wagons side trashed and its been done by a lorry next to me and i never woke up, so i had to take it on the chin and accept that it was my damage, when it wasn’t. Like most of my foto album, if i would not of had a problem, they would not of seen the light of day. I started snapping through the village as i thought it was ridiculously tight for an artic to have to go through, it may of come in useful at a later date, i had no idea i was about to come unstuck. Some pics (you can tell from the x-if data) where taken retrospectivley (i.e the width limit) and i have used them to show you what i had (have) seen. Some of the pics of me going in the village are actually me coming out the village, but i have used them to show how tight it was. Mekong who lives there will know how accuratley i have used them.
Now, as for me not going to many ‘rural customers’, i have previosly worked for Intermol Mollasses, thats (as you may know) delivering mollasses to farms. Tight villages are nothing new to me. I drove an 8 wheeler and artics, i have been dragged down the side of a mountain in Snowdonia to unload into a tank, have been bogged down on a pheasant shoot in Norfolk and had champagane and salmon canapes at their refreshment bar whilst i awaited recovery, had breakfast in a farnhouse on the cliffs of Angle, just past Pembroke, also drove a pony and cart carrying peat when i lived in Mullingar, at Ennell Lodge, by Loch Ennell (you might know it?). Rural is not new or strange to me, every day to me is worth foto graphing. Like i said, you can’t tell me nothing!!
Mike-C:
When i do a typical diary i may sift through 400 pics and may be a fortnights work to give you a few days and a few pics here. I now routinley snap my wagon when i get in and out of it at the start and end of my shift, just incase . If i go any where tight or abnormal i foto it too, again , just incase. When i park in a lorry park i foto it, and the surrounding lorrys , just incase, years ago i have woken up to find my wagons side trashed and its been done by a lorry next to me and i never woke up, so i had to take it on the chin and accept that it was my damage, when it wasn’t. Like most of my foto album, if i would not of had a problem, they would not of seen the light of day.
Me too 
We’ve had bigger than that down here drive
What a day! Good on yer driver - takes guts to do it, never mind publicly confess it all.
Sound like a day from hell - hope I never go there Mind, the M50 looks a bit like that sometimes
interesting read, sad about the pup tho, although im only a class 2 in my line of work i`ve been in some tight places as i deliver pipe & fittings to treatment works, pumping stations etc both urban & rural and i seem to do a fair amount of unplanned tree pruning
cheers,
roy…
We used to go to Kentmere with 13.6Mtr tilts.
First time I went spent an hour on the phone getting instructions on how to get in.
Glad you posted the pics Mike as still nobody believes me
Clicked on the link for this topic and thought i was going to see that video of that trailer being lifted out of that narrow street by a crane because the driver got wedged
We have all had this. The firm you want is down the narrow road. The sign says low bridge one mile, but you dont know if the firm is before or after the bridge. And you can garauntee that if you try it the firm will be after the bridge with no where to turn round. I’m a coward. I usually park somewhere if i can and phone. But in this case dont see what else could have been done. As has already been said the road showed no warning signs , so why shouldn’t the driver have followed it. The firms map should have said to go through the width restriction.
Great read, I had sweaty palms and dry throat just looking at the pictures 
. The sign should be altered as Coffeholic suggests.
Stu
A cracking read Mike! Well done!
We have the same problems in Ireland. Roads not properly signposted or misleading signs leading you up all sorts of tiny roads. ■■■■ the SatNav. Get a phone number and call the customer!
But really… How hard would it have been for the factory to put up a sign at that junction to indicate to drivers they were on the right path??
One thing I could not understand.
It’s happens there all the time, it’s annoying for farmer, it’s problem for that factory…
Why no-one will get a piece of paper and some cable ties and a marker pen, write “THIS WAY TO THE FACTORY”, laminate it and put it on the sign… Or alter the map given to the drivers?
Is it a part of this “not my job” attitude? Or just some type of inertia?
Well Done Mike A really cracking read.
Well done Mike, welcome to the world of threading an artic through the eye of a needle. You must have been pondering for quite a while as to whether to post this, as the pics were taken well before the trees came into leaf 
Hi Mike
what a day you had, i bet your glad you don’t have a tape in the truck cos i bet there was so many [ZB 's] flying around in there, and i bet a a stiff drink would have being most welcome after getting out.
and on a good note getting out of there without any damage is testimony to your driving skills
Well done for getting out of that one without hitting anything. That is an achievement in itself and the ton spent getting the trailer dragged round is cheap given it could have cost thousands if recovery turned up !!
I have to find out of the way places from time to time and now use Google Earth satellite images (on my mobile phone or home computer) to scan the scene from space and have to say it can help avoid problems. Just punch in the post code in search and have a look - its not always current as the images are not always up to date though.
