Hi Guys
Just wanted opinion on the best route from South Wales to Northampton 13’ 11 " trailer.
Traffic gave me a preferred company route that differed from my preferred route 
Also do YOU always stick rigidly to preferred routes when you know you can get there quicker or avoid traffic etc.■■?
I’d check the map to confirm the height of the bridge on the A420 east of Swindon, and if it fitted, I’d go M4-A417-A420-A34-M40-A43-M1. Or, if I’m feeling a bit lazy, miss out the A420 and do M4-A34 - possibly a little more fuel efficient due to (hopefully) constant cruising speed rather than slowing down for junctions/corners.
Depending on where the departure point is in South Wales, the A40-M50-M5-M42-M6-M1 might be a better rouge, although it’s a bit round-the-houses.
As for which route to take, given I’d be paid hourly, I’d follow the route I’d been asked. After all, it’s their truck, and their diesel you’re burning. Your route might be quicker on most days, but if you do happen to get stuck in a bad traffic jam off-route, there’s only one person they’re going to blame. If you stick to their proposed route and they’ve got nothing to complain about
Do it their way, they’re paying the bill …
If they tell you to take that route, jsut take it that route. Even if your preffered route is twenty minutes quicker, would save diesel or whatever, who cares? They must have a reason for it and if it costs them money, its theirs to burn.
Plus that, if you take it a different route and something happens, you’ll end up having to face a spanish inquisition for why you were not on their route
Where in south wales r u ?
Wot route have they given u ?
Wot route do you prefer ?
If u are near M4 the A420 route is best .
If you more north M50 would probs go across country : evesham , warwick , lemmy spar , daventry type way .
Generally i just go where i want and if they dont like it tough . have followed a route given to hovis in london recently and it went into lorry ban . the only reason i followed it was i thought route would avoid the ban .
The people who do these routes are often computer weirdo kiddy fiddler types so just ignore .
boredwivdrivin:
Where in south wales r u ?Wot route have they given u ?
Wot route do you prefer ?
If u are near M4 the A420 route is best .
If you more north M50 would probs go across country : evesham , warwick , lemmy spar , daventry type way .
Generally i just go where i want and if they dont like it tough . have followed a route given to hovis in london recently and it went into lorry ban . the only reason i followed it was i thought route would avoid the ban .
The people who do these routes are often computer weirdo kiddy fiddler types so just ignore .
As a Newbie welcoming the wisdom of experienced drivers, I think I’ll ignore your stupid advice!
So what happens when you deviate from the designated route and something happens? Do you say, I’m the driver, so I know better than the alleged kiddy fiddler? As I don’t think the boss (the person who pays your wages) is going to be very impressed with your attitude. I suspect they will think, this guy’s a prick, we have prescribed routes for a reason you numpty…
I’d follow the route I was given pretty much without question, as that way, if anything goes wrong and I’m stuck (for any reason), I have the fallback of following orders. Whereas your advice is to ignore orders and place yourself in a vulnerable position. Words escape me with you…
Oh i see newbie .
Maybe the kiddy fiddler will pay your £600 lorry ban fine will they ?
When u r out of nappies you may realise that only you are held responsible for your actions by the courts .
I appreciate u r a bit clueless , still suckling at the teat and everything .
But one day you will realise that only perk of job is …
Going the scenic route . and my route above is well scenic and chock full of coffee stops .
Wind yr neck in , fire the brain cell up , hoick the crud out your ears …
And listen to the voice of wisdom and experience .
boredwivdrivin:
Oh i see newbie .
Maybe the kiddy fiddler will pay your £600 lorry ban fine will they ?
When u r out of nappies you may realise that only you are held responsible for your actions by the courts .
I appreciate u r a bit clueless , still suckling at the teat and everything .
But one day you will realise that only perk of job is …
Going the scenic route . and my route above is well scenic and chock full of coffee stops .
Wind yr neck in , fire the brain cell up , hoick the crud out your ears …
And listen to the voice of wisdom and experience .
I do listen to words of wisdom, people like Juddian are very helpful! 
Who said I would drive into the lorry ban you numpty? I have eyes in my head and brain (unlike you) So if I came up against such an obstacle I’d stop and call the office, as delegating it up the management chain removes the responsibility from me! 
Most people go to work to earn money as easily as possible, and for me that’s with as little stress as possible.
As for looking at the scenery, do you really think the route they would send you/me on has 12ft walls on either side of the road? 
Plus if I get stuck in traffic I can look at the totty in the cars! 
P.S. Can you stop the double line spacing, you’re not at primary school now dear…
Chill out sister .
Im only offering my opinion , which is what the OP asked for !
Any employer who doesnt like my methods can find a square to replace me .
Never happened yet . ive only ever been ‘removed’ for telling a pole to stop bladdering on in russian and learn english , and for fighting with other drivers .
I was phoned up by a plonker 2 weeks ago who said i went the long way round to a farm in chipping camden . presumably he was watchng tracker thingi . explained his route involved coming down weight limit in high st and mine did not . but really my route passed a snack wagon for coffee but i didnt mention this . he moaned about fuel costs , so i offered a solution , ill come straight back and go home . not heard anything from them since . so im guessing i won !!
Grow a spine darling !!
boredwivdrivin:
I was phoned up by a plonker 2 weeks ago who said i went the long way round to a farm in chipping camden . presumably he was watchng tracker thingi . explained his route involved coming down weight limit in high st and mine did not . but really my route passed a snack wagon for coffee but i didnt mention this.
Off the A44 near Broadway Tower and the old Smiths Quarry? That’s the way I always went to Campden, that weight limit is there for a pretty good reason, very narrow on that hill coming from Shipston on Stour direction.
Anyhow, back to the OP. The A420 might seem quicker but what time of day are you going to be travelling? It can queue at peak times onto the Northbound A34. Although you can queue jump by taking the right lane off the A420 and go right around the roundabout if the traffic’s bad. If you get up the A34 and it’s busy upto the M40 then take the B430 out and over the M40 to the A43.
MrFlibble:
I’d check the map to confirm the height of the bridge on the A420 east of Swindon
It’s about 16ft and as he’s said he’s running at 13 11 then it’ll fit easy
We have maps to our shops always follow them,paid by the hour and if you get stuck off route it’s “you have a map,your stuck there why exactly?”
If work want us to go a certain way that’s fine keeps them happy and me earning.
Daytrunker:
We have maps to our shops always follow them,paid by the hour and if you get stuck off route it’s “you have a map,your stuck there why exactly?”
If work want us to go a certain way that’s fine keeps them happy and me earning.
The same as us then, unless of course i hear on the radio of long delays etc then i’ll go off route but basically they are paying so i’ll do it there way. Doing Weymouth with a double decker we have to return via Exeter because of the low bridge (15ft 9 in) at Stratton it sounds mad as there is a high vehicle diversion route via the A352 but they don’t like us going that way.
I don’t think I could hack a job where they tell you what way you need to go. That’s half the fun trying different routes, building your road knowledge so if a road is closed you aren’t panicking if you can go that way or this way.
I know some parcel firms have set routes for security reasons like DPD if you go off route it sends a warning back to the depot. I know tesco have set routes within a certain distance of store because of store planning consent etc.
bald bloke:
The same as us then, unless of course i hear on the radio of long delays etc then i’ll go off route but basically they are paying so i’ll do it there way. Doing Weymouth with a double decker we have to return via Exeter because of the low bridge (15ft 9 in) at Stratton it sounds mad as there is a high vehicle diversion route via the A352 but they don’t like us going that way.
The bridge at stratton is unmarked south bound and 16 ft north bound, We do it in our double deckers if we’re driving a Volvo, the Mercs are a Inch higher, so then we come back via Exeter
boredwivdrivin:
Chill out sister .
Im only offering my opinion , which is what the OP asked for !
Any employer who doesnt like my methods can find a square to replace me .
Never happened yet . ive only ever been ‘removed’ for telling a pole to stop bladdering on in russian and learn english , and for fighting with other drivers .I was phoned up by a plonker 2 weeks ago who said i went the long way round to a farm in chipping camden . presumably he was watchng tracker thingi . explained his route involved coming down weight limit in high st and mine did not . but really my route passed a snack wagon for coffee but i didnt mention this . he moaned about fuel costs , so i offered a solution , ill come straight back and go home . not heard anything from them since . so im guessing i won !!
Grow a spine darling !!
I’ve plenty of spine, but choose only to fight the battles that are worth fighting…
Now we are drilling down to the bedrock of you, you have been sacked for being a loose cannon. You say that you have only been sacked for being rude/aggressive and for fighting, but do you really believe those were the only reasons, or just the straw that broke the camels back?
You are basically admitting that you are not popular in the office, and probably considered a problem driver… This is the advice the basically giving the OP, who probably doesn’t wants advice on how to be like that! As for your little trip to the snack wagon, do you really think the office don’t know this? They probably do as I suspect you have a tracker, they just arn’t bothering to take it any further… But your card is probably marked and its another straw added to the camel! 
Anyway, the main reason I objected to your post was because of a post on the Newbie forum where someone was failing the Tesco questionnaire, and didn’t understand why. I was inquisitive and did it my self, it was clear that following the company procedures was the key to passing it, and not to be a free thinking helpful driver that got on with the job. Annoying yes, but we have to accept that as paid employee’s, we are at the company’s bidding. So whatever they want, they should get within reason… I posted these tips and since then others have done the test for a bit of fun/education and passed. The main objective of this forum in my eyes, is to help our fellow sisters and have a bit of a laugh doing it. I don’t think it’s about you giving bad maverick advice to someone who is probably a bit of a Newbie like me, that’s likely to get them in trouble and be sacked numerous times like yourself
P.S. You have won nothing… 
Muckaway:
Off the A44 near Broadway Tower and the old Smiths Quarry? That’s the way I always went to Campden, that weight limit is there for a pretty good reason, very narrow on that hill coming from Shipston on Stour direction.
.
The way from shipston(A429) is fine , particularly as castle farm is that side of town . only other way i go is coming from south or west which is the broadway thing u mention from top of fish hill (?) .
Poop brain seemed to want me to come in from sub edge direction which is awful , especially as coming from warwick .
Any new foreign driver would be thinking they had been set up for a laff .
Which is why i do my own thing and to hell with the consequences !!
Henk:
bald bloke:
The same as us then, unless of course i hear on the radio of long delays etc then i’ll go off route but basically they are paying so i’ll do it there way. Doing Weymouth with a double decker we have to return via Exeter because of the low bridge (15ft 9 in) at Stratton it sounds mad as there is a high vehicle diversion route via the A352 but they don’t like us going that way.The bridge at stratton is unmarked south bound and 16 ft north bound, We do it in our double deckers if we’re driving a Volvo, the Mercs are a Inch higher, so then we come back via Exeter
Yeah you’re right it’s 16 ft, i’m sure ours will fit under but i don’t think i’ll ever chance it !!
boredwivdrivin:
only you are held responsible for your actions by the courts .
Unless your a cyclist obviously. In which case, its clearly everyone elses fault the second anything happens to you and can hammer about safe in the knowledge you dont need to worry about responsibilty for anything you do
boredwivdrivin:
listen to the voice of wisdom
Ok. Give us a shout when they arrive then will you? Thanks
DAF95XF:
MrFlibble:
I’d check the map to confirm the height of the bridge on the A420 east of SwindonIt’s about 16ft and as he’s said he’s running at 13 11 then it’ll fit easy
15’9, just checked the Phillips Atlas!
A.