It certainly has been a bad week Ladytrucker, but what beggars belief and TNT are no exception, is during these strong winds where I was being blown all over the place doing 30 over Carlisle and Gretna, there were loads of curtain-siders passing me doing 50. I was just wondering what the hell are they thinking? Getting there on schedule is the last priority in these conditions. I had a solid side fridge trailer for Brake Brothers, and the wind still affected it badly, do curtain-siders not suffer so much? OK I had very little weight on, and I was empty coming back aswell. LOL I did ask them to stick 20 ton of fries on for the return journey, but alas they had nothing for me.
Incidentally I had a 15 9 double decker curtainsider yesterday. Just a quick trip to Fleetwood docks and back, suprisingly I hardly felt a thing with what wind there was. I was dreading it to be honest, but it wasnt so bad.
allrighty:
It certainly has been a bad week Ladytrucker, but what beggars belief and TNT are no exception, is during these strong winds where I was being blown all over the place doing 30 over Carlisle and Gretna, there were loads of curtain-siders passing me doing 50. I had a solid side fridge trailer for Brake Brothers. OK I had very little weight on, and I was empty coming back aswell…
Its the weight you have on, that makes all the difference. Granted, we shouldn’t be flyin up the road at 90 miles an hour, even with a full load on. But just because you felt you where having trouble keeping control of your truck at 30, doesn’t mean that anyone going faster than you is, by default, an idiot.
Think about what you feel like, when stuck behind some granny (of whatever ■■■ or age), at 30, on an A road which you would quite happily be doing 50 on, given the chance. If you get the chance and fly past them, they are probably thinking, “Look at that idiot. Driving at that speed on a road like this”.
I dont suppose it was one of these blown over trucks but, I came down from Stirling this morning and there was a TDG truck in the dyke upside down near Longtown,
was that just general driving and running off the road?
It looked like the road is going to be closed tonight Saturday to remove it
The TNT Trucks that went o’er were just north of Tebay on the southbound side, our trailers run at just under 14ft so it must have been bloody wild. One of those was from Clayton, Accrington Depot - It looks a bloody mess and is being re-cabbed. Driver is sore! Which depot do you run out of Ladytrucker??
I can remember taking a double decker to donny last year with really bad winds… i was quite surprised at how well it took it, didn’t feel anything most of the time, then a little nudge to keep ya awake. I find that boxes are nasty in the wind, more so than curatin siders… just my humble opinion though.
scanny77:
the roof coming off? thats a new one on me
There’s the roof of a trailer lying on the roundabout below the Straiton junction on Edinburgh City Bypass at the moment, landed there some time last week.
the roof comes off because of the negative pressure caused by the unit in motion
the areodynamics of the unit push the air in such a way that the air pressure is greater inside the trailer than outside ,this lifts the roof off
bit similar to how an aeroplane wing works
or so ive bin told
Liberace:
One of the firms I work for. Spoke to a driver who was blown over. The coppers who came out to him were expecting the worstt, because they’d just attended a blow over where the driver was killed (not wearing a seatbelt). This guy was almost definatley saved due to his seatbelt . Allways put mine on now .
Hi,
I was just wondering how many of you have
driven trucks without wearing seatbelts or
was they even fitted. Why I am asking is
where I did my training all there vehicles
did not have seat belts fitted and I asked
because it felt strange to me not to wear
a seat belt and the instructor said if they
are not fitted then you don’t need to where
them. I think they should be fitted to all
vehicles and you have to wear them unless
medical reasons apply .
Have to admit to only very rarely wearing mine… …I have a skeletal problem which means that it gives me chronic backache in the truck. I do slap it on when it’s windy though…and always wear it in the car…but then I loath driving cars with a vengeance and avoid it wherever possible (I’m a crap passenger too, as Rikki will tell you! ). Just doesn’t feel safe down there.
But just because you felt you where having trouble keeping control of your truck at 30, doesn’t mean that anyone going faster than you is, by default, an idiot.
I’m not sure I like the sound of that, what I’m saying is that with the strong winds that morning, I kept my speed down to about 45, then when I was being battered I slowed down to 30 and it was still bloody hard work. If others want to end up on their sides and be another RTA statistic, then thats their lookout, but I did what I felt was necessary under the extreme weather conditions. Just goes to show, when i was going southbound later on, there were was a curtainsider on its side northbound in the fast lane, and a TDG wagon in a ditch like someone else said. Just glad I wasnt one of those.
Lucy:
Have to admit to only very rarely wearing mine… …I have a skeletal problem which means that it gives me chronic backache in the truck. I do slap it on when it’s windy though…and always wear it in the car
Yeah, me too Lucy, but since I had a go in the truck roll-over simulator at Truckfest, I put mine on as soon as the wind gets up.
And no, I’m not talking about the morning after a curry
daxi:
I’ve been up on 3 wheels in a solo tractor unit once or twice & my stationary unit got moved 2 ft sideways in heavy wind once, but the closest I’ve ever come to going over was on an 8 legged tipper.
It was my fault, I let the builder direct me in with out getting out to look first, I was tipping into a pit & from compacted previous tips, so I should have known better than to trust some one else. But any how 2 axles sank & I had little choice, tip whilst at an angle or wait for another one of our trucks to come in & hope we could pull me out.
I tipped & really thought as the load shifted that I was over, but despite a bit of swaying it kept shiny side up.
Had a similar experience to this whilst tipping woodchips. The chips had been loaded and left on the trailer about 5 or 6 days earlier, and had bedded in well. When I came to tip it most of the load came of fairly well, but about 5 ton or so had formed a deep and meaning full relationship with the front of the trailer, tried to bring the ram down but it seemed to me that the weight was forcing the hydro oil to come out the tank so i stopped with it still a fair way up, the yard bloke said move forward steady and jab your brakes, did this{ clean pants required when it stopped rocking} still no joy. So they get this large tracked grab machine and starts to knock it out which worked. but i stood a safe distance away and tried to work out how to explain how the trailer had come to rest on its side, thankfully it stayed upright, but i dont know how.
Liberace,the guy who went over did not even need to be on the road,my guess is he was an agency driver and at the start of each shift got a job sheet telling him if the weather was bad not to carry on his journey,but was nearly home so carried on,and also I bet there was a different route which was slower but better in high winds and can he now claim from the firm he was driving for,me thinks not.
…I have a skeletal problem which means that it gives me chronic backache in the truck. I do slap it on when it’s windy though…and always wear it in the car…but then I loath driving cars with a vengeance and avoid it wherever possible (I’m a crap passenger too, as Rikki will tell you! 
