Somebody needs to get off their arse and implement a simple tech fix to stop this.
Instead of dreaming up crap designed to catch drivers out or make them superfluous. This is where you need a gadget to apply the bloody brakes. I mean seriously, how hard would it be? Of course it would kill off the sport of laughing at the poor sods, but no pain no gain and all that.
Moved back into general haulage mate, working at Downton’s now. As for Iceland, pay is good £12.04 per hour, but you will have varying start times and also work weekends too. Can be hard graft with pallets of pop and frozen chips etc on the tail lift. Some of the store managers are a bit ’ power crazed ’ so some social skills and a degree of patience are beneficial.
I do not possess these skills and therefore they can kiss my arse.
Like the bridge at Hinckley on the A5, whatever device it is that makes the big sign flash up telling you you’re too high, should be implemented at frequently hit bridges.
Shouldn’t be expensive tech and much cheaper than dinging the bridge 5 times a year.
Or a wire with bells on it before the bridge. Or a wire that when hit makes a portcullis fall in front of the bridge along with jets of fire and a big red stop sign.
Bells might cheaper.
A.
I must say I’d usually have no sympathy for this sort of thing but not long after if passed my class 1 I started working for a subby taking a double decker upto Scotland every night. I’d only done tipper and tank work before and never imagined the suspension might have been dumped for loading. If i hadn’t have had to ask a bloke how to use the red diesel pump for the fridge he’d have never noticed my suspension dropped which jacks the trailer to 16 foot 6 and on my first day id have done the same thing I’m the motorway. Company should have not just sent me off completely oblivious but I do think this lad at 15 foot has no excuse
Romanian agency driver, there are photo posters in the drivers office at Tesco Widnes of this bridge with a warning not to use this route under any circumstance in several European languages. The run sheet that all drivers must complete before leaving the yard has a section for trailer height and all cabs have a height indicator which must be set correctly. You’re looking at thirty thousand pounds worth of damage to the trailer that Stobart’s are not liable for
Maybe the DD trailers should be gone. Although some drivers seem to have made a start already. 
Adonis.:
Like the bridge at Hinckley on the A5, whatever device it is that makes the big sign flash up telling you you’re too high, should be implemented at frequently hit bridges.Shouldn’t be expensive tech and much cheaper than dinging the bridge 5 times a year.
Or a wire with bells on it before the bridge. Or a wire that when hit makes a portcullis fall in front of the bridge along with jets of fire and a big red stop sign.
Bells might cheaper.
A.
11foot8.com/hungry-canopener-bri … ng-system/
Meanwhile they are just starting to get their heads around the old fashioned simple idea of hanging heavy chains from a gantry,which if I’ve remembered right I’ve at least seen used in France and similar to the Blackwall Tunnel,to wake drivers up before they hit the bridge. 
bigdave789:
Romanian agency driver, there are photo posters in the drivers office at Tesco Widnes of this bridge with a warning not to use this route under any circumstance in several European languages. The run sheet that all drivers must complete before leaving the yard has a section for trailer height and all cabs have a height indicator which must be set correctly. You’re looking at thirty thousand pounds worth of damage to the trailer that Stobart’s are not liable for
Yet paying a wage that rewards good drivers that will stick the job is beyond them and all the rest! 
Not every bridge strike can be blamed on the driver although some examples are without doubt the drivers fault but did anyone know that a recent study by TFL identified 1 in 4 bridges had signage that over stated the height of the bridge? Do you know that despite this study nothing is being done to undertake a national review of bridge heights? This in my view is risking the lives and livelihoods of drivers. I have set up a petition, it ain’t the most dynamic petition and so far it hasn’t really taken off so I am really hoping that by joining this forum I can raise its profile… To review all UK bridge height signs to avoid bridge strikes and protect drivers can be found at petition.parliament.uk/petitions/154823 please help me
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Carryfast:
11foot8.com/hungry-canopener-bri … ng-system/
Meanwhile they are just starting to get their heads around the old fashioned simple idea of hanging heavy chains from a gantry,which if I’ve remembered right I’ve at least seen used in France and similar to the Blackwall Tunnel,to wake drivers up before they hit the bridge.
Now that removals driver needs an eye test!!
Something like the chains is so simple and cheap it amazes me why it isn’t done, even if it’s only 31st bridges that regularly get hit.
Probably because ■■■■■■ would nick them.
A.
I go under that bridge most days on the way home.
One of ours hit a petrol station canopy once,a bout 2k of damage so not too bad. In the following ten years he’s not hit another one 
Thats the second bridge strike by a eastern european agency driver.There was one near newhouse and he wrote off 26 pallets of coke and the trailer he said he did not know how high the trailer was even though it was on the headboard.
Kerragy:
Somebody needs to get off their arse and implement a simple tech fix to stop this.Instead of dreaming up crap designed to catch drivers out or make them superfluous. This is where you need a gadget to apply the bloody brakes. I mean seriously, how hard would it be? Of course it would kill off the sport of laughing at the poor sods, but no pain no gain and all that.
Like this??
Evil8Beezle:
Yet paying a wage that rewards good drivers that will stick the job is beyond them and all the rest!
Agreed. That is the nub of the issue really - if you’re familiar with the locality and your equipment, you’re less likely to slip up like this - but firms like Stobarts have made their choice.
I personally don’t think it should be instantly sackable. It should depend on your record. Or if you’ve got 2 or 3 other smaller incidents to your name and then you go and hit a bridge, then yeah, there’s the door. But if it’s your first ever thing. Like the other poster said. What’s 4.3m in feet and inches? There’s a multitude of factors which can cause a bridge strike. Not always just being either a total bell end or foreign! Personally I check and check double check heights and routes and touch wood I hope I never do it. But we’re all human and mistakes happen.
i did see a system on you tube that on approching a low bridge 1st stage was flashing lights then second stage was a smoke curtain with the word STOP projected on it that looked effective
failing that know your route know your height
Nah, let it carry on.
Sooner or later someone with some clout in these companies is going to start asking questions, especially when it starts to affect their O Licence.
It might take a few hundred thousand £££ being spent on consultants over a few years via a study, or they could ask some of their competent drivers for an instant answer, free…what is the cause of these incidents?..basically if you pay peanuts you get monkeys, conversely if you offer class leading terms and conditions and as it used to be, a job for life so long as you do your job proper like, in other words jobs that people look after because they are the bogs ■■■■■■■■ of jobs, then magically things like this will cease because those who can do will be beating a path to your door.
‘What’s 4.3m in feet and inches?’…
There are several free apps out there that will do conversions or, you can write down the equivalent conversions on a piece of paper and keep it your bag.
Height indicators clearly don’t work be they digital or the old fashioned card ones. Witness the driver that drove for a good friend of mine, who stated (after flatpacking a 16 4" under a 14 9") that the height indicator is supposed to be set by the previous driver!!! I kid you not peeps, that was his defence.
Common sense does work, however you can’t really buy that online or in a shop.
The haulage industry has bought this stupidity on itself by using inexperienced, inconsiderate and possibly unlicenced drivers to save money. Sadly, this will just keep happening.
This bridge is just around the corner from there depot, and it gets hit by there drivers fairly often.
I drive car transporters and carry a height stick.
Could that not be made a compulsory piece of equipment for tractor unit drivers? They are relatively inexpensive and don’t take up much room. Could be made compulsory for foreign lorries entering the country as well, just as France and others have rules of what you must carry.
No excuses then, a driving ban would be a good way forward.