So,I was on my way to Swindon last night,running a 16 foot trailer.I knew about the 16 foot bridge on the a420 but when I got closer,I read the warnings that the bridge was 16 foot,and also 4.8metres.
4.8 metrrs is 15 foot 9.I didnt want to take any chances because my trailer is marked 4.88 metres which is 16 foot.Talk about confusing drivers.If I drove under and hit the bridge,what would happen then?
In the end,I turned round and made a big detour down the a34 m4,that added a lot of time.
Are there other bridges with these markings?
Quick type into Google shows 16 ft as being 4.87 m .
Guess they round it up on markings so would be 4.9 m
Isn’t there signs recommending lorries to use a34 / m4 to Swindon ?
Sploom:
So,I was on my way to Swindon last night,running a 16 foot trailer.I knew about the 16 foot bridge on the a420 but when I got closer,I read the warnings that the bridge was 16 foot,and also 4.8metres.
4.8 metrrs is 15 foot 9.I didnt want to take any chances because my trailer is marked 4.88 metres which is 16 foot.Talk about confusing drivers.If I drove under and hit the bridge,what would happen then?
In the end,I turned round and made a big detour down the a34 m4,that added a lot of time.
Are there other bridges with these markings?
The road signs will have a margin of error in favour of safety. The same should apply to the veh heights and NOT round it up!!!
If the trailer shows more than the signs when it hits the bridge then expect to get done, a trip to the TC for a disqualification period, trip to court for some points and fine and then a chat with the boss.
I would say any time you are going under a bridge marked the same as your in cab height display it would be squeaky bum time anyway.
I believe the feet and inches rule the day still since this is what you are legally required to have in your cab.
You would be legal going under, but do you really want to risk it? Probably not, too much paperwork.
Not this again. We only discussed this a few weeks ago. I’m not going over it al again, just ask currywürst to explain it to you.
The signed height is the height that can pass, not the height of the bridge.
The bridge is measured in imperial and metric, each is then given its own criteria on rounding up to a higher height, it’s not a conversation between the 2, so quite common to have different sets of heights displayed
Yes,it does recomend trucks to use a34,m4 for Swindon but that adds about 20 minutes on the journey and its not as if there is any reason trucks shouldnt use the a420.Its wide,you arent going through any villages so I cant understand why they dont trucks on it
For next time, the bridge on the 420 is perfectly fine for a 16ft decker, just stay inside the goalposts 
Sploom:
So,I was on my way to Swindon last night,running a 16 foot trailer.I knew about the 16 foot bridge on the a420 but when I got closer,I read the warnings that the bridge was 16 foot,and also 4.8metres.
4.8 metrrs is 15 foot 9.I didnt want to take any chances because my trailer is marked 4.88 metres which is 16 foot.Talk about confusing drivers.If I drove under and hit the bridge,what would happen then?
In the end,I turned round and made a big detour down the a34 m4,that added a lot of time.
Are there other bridges with these markings?
I’ve never come across a trailer marked in both metric and imperial, I assume your trailer was only marked 4.88?
the nodding donkey:
Not this again. We only discussed this a few weeks ago. I’m not going over it al again, just ask currywürst to explain it to you.
If we avoid discussing things we already previously discussed,it wont be long before we run out of trucking topics…
stu675:
Sploom:
So,I was on my way to Swindon last night,running a 16 foot trailer.I knew about the 16 foot bridge on the a420 but when I got closer,I read the warnings that the bridge was 16 foot,and also 4.8metres.
4.8 metrrs is 15 foot 9.I didnt want to take any chances because my trailer is marked 4.88 metres which is 16 foot.Talk about confusing drivers.If I drove under and hit the bridge,what would happen then?
In the end,I turned round and made a big detour down the a34 m4,that added a lot of time.
Are there other bridges with these markings?I’ve never come across a trailer marked in both metric and imperial, I assume your trailer was only marked 4.88?
No,ours are marked in both…Ithink…
the nodding donkey:
Not this again. We only discussed this a few weeks ago. I’m not going over it al again, just ask currywürst to explain it to you.
My thoughts exactly.
But to avoid the danger of “running out of topics”:
UK drivers should focus on the imperial measurements, the metric figures are not intended to be direct conversions and were created for the benefit of our European colleagues. Anything else worse adding has already been said in CF’s thread (and dutifully ignored by reason of his bizarre mentality)
Sploom:
No,ours are marked in both…Ithink…
Agreed, or if only in one unit, then that would surely be imperial. I can’t recall seeing a trailer anytime in the last few years that did not have both imperial and metric on it.
Sploom:
So,I was on my way to Swindon last night,running a 16 foot trailer.I read the warnings that the bridge was 16 foot,and also 4.8metres.
4.8 metrrs is 15 foot 9.I didnt want to take any chances because my trailer is marked 4.88 metres which is 16 foot.If I drove under and hit the bridge,what would happen then?
Had you accurately measured the overall traveling height when connected to the tractor unit to get the 16 foot figure? If so, no problem, it would be incorrect signage if you’d hit it.
If you were reading the height from the trailer front end and trusting to that without measuring, then hit the bridge, you’d get a Driver Conduct Hearing with the TC and a suspension of HGV entitlement (typical starting point six weeks). Your operator would also be facing a Public Inquiry (big Ouch! for them)
OMG What have you done asking that, we’ve now got to await Carryfast and his ramblings didn’t you see previous bridge strike post, why oh why have you done this to us all
stevieboy308:
The signed height is the height that can pass, not the height of the bridge.The bridge is measured in imperial and metric, each is then given its own criteria on rounding up to a higher height, it’s not a conversation between the 2, so quite common to have different sets of heights displayed
I believe the bridge has to be 75mm higher than the signed height. It was probably good for the 16’ marker but maybe 74mm higher than 4.9m.
Zac_A:
Sploom:
No,ours are marked in both…Ithink…Agreed, or if only in one unit, then that would surely be imperial. I can’t recall seeing a trailer anytime in the last few years that did not have both imperial and metric on it.
All 8,000 of our UK trailers are only marked in metric 
Zac_A:
[Had you accurately measured the overall traveling height when connected to the tractor unit to get the 16 foot figure? If so, no problem, it would be incorrect signage if you’d hit it.
If you were reading the height from the trailer front end and trusting to that without measuring, then hit the bridge, you’d get a Driver Conduct Hearing with the TC and a suspension of HGV entitlement (typical starting point six weeks). Your operator would also be facing a Public Inquiry (big Ouch! for them)
How could you prove that you had manually measured every single trailer that you pick up?
stu675:
Zac_A:
[Had you accurately measured the overall traveling height when connected to the tractor unit to get the 16 foot figure? If so, no problem, it would be incorrect signage if you’d hit it.
If you were reading the height from the trailer front end and trusting to that without measuring, then hit the bridge, you’d get a Driver Conduct Hearing with the TC and a suspension of HGV entitlement (typical starting point six weeks). Your operator would also be facing a Public Inquiry (big Ouch! for them)
How could you prove that you had manually measured every single trailer that you pick up?
i guess carrying a measturing stick would give room for reasonable doubt or at least enough for a request of cctv…
I know of someone that used to deliver to a place underground. used to drive down there all the time. They decided they weree going to refurbish the place so he spent 3 months haveing to do the delivery with a pump truck. one night he turned up and was pleased to find the works finished so drove down. all of a sudden he heared pink pink pink and when he looked in the mirrors he had knocked all the sprinkler heads off the celing. he got susspended for months why it was investigated turns out that they had relayed the floor ontop of the old one and no one had altered the sign. so they do thoroughly investigate