Having had a recent injection of enthusiasm into my job and the prospect of something interesting that would involve me I decided to dust off the keyboard and write a diary for the week.
Monday
0630 Start. First job this morning was to load up the cab fridge/freezer with bottles of water, tins of pop and some milk for my tea. Important stuff done it was time to start doing some other menial tasks like actual work. I’d dragged this pair of 8t machines in on Friday afternoon, they’d been rearmed, refuelled and parked in such a way as stop someone nicking my wagon over the weekend.
With them shifted I was off out the yard for the short run down to Lavenham Plant at nearby Cold Norton.
They operate a similar policy of barricading and usually hide inside until about half seven when their clock starts. That suits me fine and I manage to break in and join them for a cuppa and a catch up.
Sometime later when they finally grind into action I’m given the keys to a 4t JCB and after finding a set of buckets it’s loaded up ready for the off.
I’m off to Harlow with this one, it’s at a country property down a tree lined lane. Very nice but the branches are pinging away like crazy on the roof. Having had a flat lidded P cab for the last 9 months it’s a noise I’ve not heard for a while.
With the machine swiftly unloaded, the next stop is in Epping just a few miles away. I’ve been asked to look and see if I’ll be able to load out with containers later in the week. I’ve got my doubts as I’d noticed the boxes about 6 months ago and thought they’d be difficult then.
There is no room on site to turn around so it would mean driving in to load with the crane and then reversing back down this road.
There’s no chance I can load these containers, two sharp corners to negotiate and hard ground that stops short. Luckily the site agent agrees with my recommendation that they will have to get a mobile crane in to lift them over the houses onto waiting vehicles.
I point out that they need several vehicles ready to load out in short order to keep the crane time to a minimum. In other words I don’t want the job of shuttling the boxes all day and hopefully someone else will get the whole job. Thursday was the proposed day for this to happen. We’ll see later on if my recommendations get acted on.
Next stop is at Toot Hill near Ongar, I’ve a couple of machines to load here from a farm there’s a 6t dumper and a 5t JCB machine. It’s a tidy little load but now there seems to be an 80 roller to go as well. The only way to load this is to get the crane out amongst the trees and put the roller on side ways at the front, dumper backed right up with the machine sat on the tail. There is about a ■■■ paper width between everything but my battery died so this picture of the crane is last one I got.
It’s now about 1030 and 28degrees, time to crank the aircon up and open the fridge for a nice cold drink. I’m liking this new vehicle more and more…
It’s an hour or so run to drop these machines off at Tolleshunt Knights near Tiptree and give or take it’s 1200, 30 degrees when I’m unloaded and having cleared my list of jobs for the day at 3 hours driving I’m just planning where to stop for a shady break. Or I was until the phone rings, and I’m dispatched off to Gt. Burstead near Billericay to load a JCB 13t machine. It’s a groundworkers machine and his yard is down a narrow lane with some low trees and a nasty corner. I have to position the machine right at the back of the body with the boom forwards so the cab clears the low branches and when I get to the road reposition it normally to get my drive axle weight down from 13.6t. It’s only a short run across to Basildon but I have to run down the A127 and back again to get to the access road, I’ve only got 15mins left at the turnaround point so stop and take my break in a shady layby. Not that shady as the temp gauge reads 44 when I fired it up just before leaving, once I was moving again out of the air I’d heated up by parking there the temp had dropped to a reasonable 33 degrees. The machine was loaded as quickly as I could manage but everything was belting out heat so I was only running about half speed. By the time I finally climbed into the cab we’d got 51 degrees on the display! Thankfully no more phone calls meant that I was able to trundle off back and finish at 1630. 254km.
Tuesday
0600 Start. I’d had a nice job on the cards for today, one of the reasons for bothering to do a diary but instead of lifting a Russian Mig23 I was redeployed to go to Aylesbury and collect some stuff for a piling firm instead. My departure was slightly delayed when I realised I’d left my card on other work overnight and spent ages fiddling with the tacho to see if I could make a manual entry of some sort. In the end I did a 24hr print and wrote an explanation on that. The M25 was a bit stop / start but I arrived at Aylesbury just after 0800. I had to drive round three sides of the square to get to the road I wanted but I’d seen the piling rig so knew it was the right road, in I turn to find a narrow road with cars parked and no access to the site. “Oh no you want Norfolk Terrace, everyone goes down that road” Well perhaps giving people the address of the access gate would be handy. It’s like being transported back 5 years collecting the assorted crap that accompanies a heavy piling rig, this one is only a smallish rig, about 20t so it’s one we move from time to time.
I’m loading some steel bar, helicals, a casing and a wheeled bowser. After a bit of hanging about it gets loaded and I head back towards the M25 and have a quick break on the A41.
My delivery address is given as Archers Fields, Laindon. The only Archers Fields in the map are in Basildon and it’s a busy industrial area with no sign of any housing or potential use for this stuff, I check the order there’s no further detail and I try and Google it on my phone. No joy, so I call the piling company who Google search Bellway Homes, Archers Field. This is the site name on Laindon High Road about 5 miles back the way I’ve come from. I stay put and have my half hour though before trundling off and offloading their stuff.
Whilst I was stopped on break I had a call from our lowloader driver who was carrying the Mig, turns out that they were struggling with the excavator they’d decided to use instead of me and wondered if I was local. This ■■■■■■ me off as they’d tried cutting corners and thought they could manage so I’d been given a crap job to do then they wanted bailing out. In the end they did get it sorted and the only consolation was that they’d got in a muddle by trying to do it themselves. Maybe next time they’ll think twice.
Next job was over at Ernest Doe’s at Ulting, they are large agricultural dealer and we do the odd bit of transport for them sometimes. Today’s more was a small loading shovel, only an 11 tonne New Holland.
We move the occasional shovel about but they are usually the 20 tonne CAT and Hyundai’s so by comparison this one was tiddly.
Or at least it was until I loaded it, when it suddenly seemed fairly big after all. Certainly it needed careful handling as they are frame steered and bend when you move the steering wheel, too much of that and you could tip it off without turning a wheel.
The shovel was destined for a new home with a skip hire firm in Benfleet, they were extremely pleased to see it arrive although finding a space to unload was tricky as they were on a very busy little industrial estate. After about 3 laps I found somewhere vaguely near and unloaded.
Just as I was packing the last of the chains away it started to rain, the sky was black and for 1430 it was really dark. Narrow escape there.
Next job was a simple one, collecting a 3t dumper from Jovic plant at Sandon and dropping it into yard about 2 miles away. It was raining now, but I was in and out of both yards quickly so no big deal.
Back to my planned work, the next job was the reverse of one of yesterdays moves so I headed across to Tolleshunt Knights in the torrential rain. I’m loading here on my own and first on again is the roller, which although needs lifting on had to be driven to where I could grab it with the crane. Starting the thing was a bit of mystery but eventually I got it going and had it onboard.
The dumper goes on next but today the throttle linkage under the floor has broken so it will only idle and not climb the ramps. The solution is to stand on the step in the middle whilst trying to operate the underfloor part that is intact whilst steering the roller with the other hand. Oh and it’s going on backwards, with no chance of getting on the brake if needed and it’s still pouring with rain. If there is an award for a way of doing something as unsafely as possible then this must be well up there for it. Luckily I survive and the dumper is secure.
Last on board is the 5t JCB on the tail, ideally the dumper would have been the other way which would have made the load more even and enabled me to get the boom on the machine down, but there was little room to turn and it was past 1630 when I finally got finished there.
Back to the yard for a 1730 finish. 418km.
Wednesday. 0630 Start. First job this morning is to rummage around and find my scaffold poles that I use as side posts, a cargo net and some wooden corner protectors to stop the straps chafing on packs of blocks. With that lot added to last night’s load I leave and return to Toot Hill near Ongar where these machines were collected from on Monday. I’m on my own there again, but thankfully unloading is a warmer and sunnier affair than loading them up.
Away from Toot Hill and it’s back to Monday’s site at Harlow, it’s a straight forward job here, lifting out an old turd mangling tank / digester thing and setting it down in the field. It’s an easy lift but as I set it down on it’s side evidence of it’s very recent use is there and the stench from the grey sludgy water from the bottom is nearly making me puke. To cap it all the chains dangle down into the filth so I had to wash them off in a field trough. I was feeling pretty ropey this morning anyway so I was glad to leave this particular jobby behind.
It’s a short run back to Ongar next where I’m loading packs of blocks, luckily there is a forklift on site with a good driver and at 1000 I’m out in just over half an hour with 12 packs of blocks loaded.
I’m headed for Collier Row, Romford there is a direct route but it has a 7.5t weight limit on part of it so I stay legal and trundle down through Brentwood. Easter Ave is behaving itself and for once none of the bit I want has been coned off for trivial maintenance. Things are going quite well and I’m on site just before 1100. They are infilling on a housing estate, building houses on landlocked areas that used to house garages. Getting in is tricky due to parked cars and the fact that the paddy groundworkers have dug a massive hole right next to the access road. Eventually I get in, no thanks to Paddy and his mate who seem to flail their arms about with no relevance to what I am trying to do. Once I get reversed in and round the corner he has me shunting back and forwards so in the end I got out and said “FFS just tell me where you want all these blocks”
As soon as I was in position the site was like a ghost town (odd that) so I was forced to do all my own slinging, as a result the blocks were landed haphazardly rather than stacked. If they can’t be arsed to help I don’t see why I should arrange them all neatly for them. An hour later I’m out of the site and headed back to Ongar for another load. Back at Ongar it’s business as usual this time loading 9 packs of blocks and 2 stacks of concrete rings. The journey back to Romford is broken up by getting held up by a fairly serious head on crash in Ongar High Street and as time is running short my break by Gallows Corner. Back at the site it’s the same old story so the stuff is unceremoniously dumped and at 1615 I’m finally heading back to the yard. After unloading all the extra gear from the this morning and reloading for tomorrow it’s 1730 before I head for home. 190km.
Thursday
0630 Start. I was no hurry to leave this morning, still feeling ropey and this morning felt more dopey than normal. I decided to have a brew and admit defeat and take some tablets and see how I fared, they perked me up to the point where I felt I was alert enough so I headed off for my first drop just a few miles away in Stock.
My massive load is a 1.5t mini digger to go to a residential (as in old people, not dids) caravan park we run in and out of several of these places and they are all a pain in the arse. Tight access and full of people that suddenly need to get in or out, amazing how busy retired people can be.
Just to add to my good mood this morning the next job is moving 20’ containers from Rainham to the o2 in Greenwich. The A13 is bollixed and queuing from Wennington to the A406, can today throw much more crap at me I wonder. I pull onto the site and spot two likely containers, these are the ones but as usual they are laden with crap. I’ve found the best way is not to explain that they’ll be too heavy but suggest I’ll try it anyway then let it fail. The first container was going nowhere, not even close to lifting off the ground, at 6m reach the crane can lift 3.6t.
I said I’d try the second less full box and at the same reach it just about manage to lift it, so after all things were looking up as I’d just managed to lose half this job. The guy from the site jumped in the cab and we battled through the traffic to the Blackwall and onto the o2.
After I’d returned my drivers mate to his site, I’d got some spare time so I decided to call into Scania at Purfleet as they had a spare key for me there which needed to be programmed. I thought I might get a sneaky peek at our (not quite as new as mine) new unit but it was still at the paint shop.
Last job on the list today was to collect a 26’ cabin from Shellhaven at Coryton, Once I’d gone through the booking in, ID, and getting an ■■■■■■ rigmarole I’m led to a large open space with one big blue cabin in it. I can just get a 26 footer on board with a bit to spare but this just looked big despite the order saying 26’ cabin. I parked alongside and it was clear that it wouldn’t fit, handily there was a little plate on the said 32x8 Suddenly my day was looking up! Time on site was all of 5 minutes and I trundled back towards the yard. Time was running out and I was feeling ropey again so I stopped for my break figuring that I’d be back at the yard about half two and maybe I’d give the wagon a wash down if there was space or just have a day without overtime for a change.
Wrong. Back at the yard a new part for the crane had arrived so that got fitted and then I was handed two collections. Both were locals, the first one was one of our 5t Hitachi machines down a narrow 6’6” width restriction lane. I usually park up the road and wander down to the site and get the machine ready in the gateway, then bring the wagon down load the machine and trundle off up the road to secure it and cause least disruption possible.
With that dropped back at the yard, refuelled and parked it was back to this mornings call at Stock to collect the mini digger. Finished by 1700. 208km
Friday
0630 Start. I’m off to Leyton this morning, I know it’s going to be a ball ache here as our lowloader was turned away earlier in the week. I arrive on site about 0740 and reverse down the road with parked cars either side. Not too bad although I can’t turn right into the site as there is a car right where I need to turn.
I’m loading a Daewoo 13t machine, but we can’t start up until 0800. There’s no extra buckets with this so it’s a simple load up before trundling up the road to chain it down and check my height.
So far so good, but I know that the next call is going to be an arse as I was there last week. It’s a road in Walthamstow and when I arrive there are cars everywhere meaning I cannot reverse into the road. I wander down to the site to tell them their machine is here and that I am collecting the JS130 that I brought last week. Communications deteriorate from here, Matey says “well back down to the site then” I reply “can’t get round the corner because of the cars” he suggests getting the cars moved in a manner that suggest he’s going to do naff all about it. Now I’m a helpful old chap and I’ll shunt to and fro to get somewhere but I really don’t want the grief of knocking on residents doors asking if they know whose car that is and could they move it. Usually such requests are not well received by the people who couldn’t give a toss about the site down the road. I told matey that he’d better start knocking on doors and getting the cars moved. He replied “Take the f***ing thing back to where it came from then” I told him that I’d happily do that or just track the machine down the road and churn up the tarmac. Someone else gets involved and after a van is moved I’m able to squeeze down the road to switch machines. Helpfully someone has no parked a car where the large van was and getting out was a complete mare although I did breathe a large sigh of relief when I finally escaped.
The JS130 was headed back to Jovic Plant at Basildon, and by the time I was offloaded it was 1030.
Next stop was the appropriately named Mucking Tip, a huge landfill site that has been swallowing London’s waste for years. I was unsure about where on the site I needed to be and now found out that my phone although appearing to work actually did not. Eventually I found the place where I needed to be and my collection here was a couple of buckets that belonged to a 20t machine that was stolen a couple of weeks ago.
I now head back to the yard to collect a breaker and another bucket and these were then taking to McGeoghan Plant at Waltham Abbey.
It’s now 1500 and I’m still not done yet, it’s a blast up the A10 to Buntingford where one of our Yanmar 8t machines has been on an archaeological site there. I arrive on site to spot the machine parked behind a locked gate as everyone has buggered off for the day.
Luckily I carry a universal key for this sort of situation, it’s a scaffolders spanner and I’ve soon got the Heras fencing open.
I’d been asked to build up the bank on the way out to stop the dids so a quite few swipes with the machine and I’m ready to load up. I’m then joined by one of machine drivers who has been working a couple of miles away, he’s come to give me the gate code (as my phone doesn’t work) but stays and helps me load. Trundled back to the yard for a 1730 finish. 358Km
All in all a fairly varied week, a bit longer than most but a fair slice of the work I do.
Also if you are unsure about something, better to learn and load it yourself than wait until you have to unload it because there is no-one else there. I do a few Unimogs and I always load them unless they are going back to the dealer, they are always different with hundreds of levers with worn descriptions and mostly in German.
. General regional plant hire firms don’t tend to go too far as it’s cheaper to hire locally than pay the transport. Most long distance plant work is lowloader work. I’d happily do the odd night out but they don’t like letting me get too far away as it restricts our own operations. That said in the last year I’ve been to Wakefield, Wolverhampton, Immingham, and a few other fairly long day runs, we do get aked to quote for stuff to Scotland etc but nothing ever comes off. Tomorrow I’ll get as far as Basildon, Braintree, Ashtead, Farnham, Camberwell & Salcott if there’s time.