Noticed this morning at Charnock n/bound they have actually had to put concrete slabs across the car fuel pumps to deter trucks from attempting to get under the low canopy
Not one, but BOTH sides at either end are damaged.
Wtf is wrong with some drivers today ?
I donāt know about you lot but I am so brainwashed that I even notice bridge heights and low canopies when driving my car never mind when I am working.
Is the glare off their hi vizs they wear when driving interfering with their eyesight, or is their earpiece sending signals to interfere with their brains (not casting agency driver based aspersions btw ) or are they simply just a bit retarded.
We all make, and have made mistakes, but ffs! ā¦professionals?
raymundo:
not casting agency driver based aspersions btw
Oh no of course not
Just my little joke mate honestly , (you missed my smiley off when quotingā¦the clue) I was carrying on a theme as I know it winds one or two up on here.
It could just as easily been full timers,ā¦ who ever it was it was ā ā ā ā driving and lack of any concentration.
Iāve been saying it for bloody years, if you dumb the job and lorries down so far that a chimp can (i would say drive, but that doesnāt apply any more) aim a lorry up the road, donāt be surprised when chimps/dummies are attracted to it, chimps do what chimps do they always have and they always will.
Itās happening in every yard, there are a majority (still, but declining) of decent drivers who still take a pride in their work, and most of them hate much of the so called progress where the skills required, and the exclusivity/exclusion of the nature of the job as it was, kept the idiots out.
Dumbing the job down to lowest common denominator isnāt benefitting anyone at all, except for those companies paying peanuts and working their staff excessive hoursā¦and the race to the bottom continues.
The irony being that very close (especially manoeuvering) control of the vehicle is no longer possible with some (most) makes fitted with certain automated gearboxes, so itās actually got more difficult for those who donāt find tight spots easy.
However its a new world and one size fits all now, so even specialised jobs that require properly specced vehicles still end up with parcel/fleet spec (so any idiot can point them up the road) which often arnāt suitable at all for the job or for close control and max weights so more damage occurs, win win , but never fear it will get worse with the next generations of vehicles and the job itself dumbed further down.
Juddian:
Iāve been saying it for bloody years, if you dumb the job and lorries down so far that a chimp can (i would say drive, but that doesnāt apply any more) aim a lorry up the road, donāt be surprised when chimps/dummies are attracted to it, chimps do what chimps do they always have and they always will.
Itās happening in every yard, there are a majority (still, but declining) of decent drivers who still take a pride in their work, and most of them hate much of the so called progress where the skills required, and the exclusivity/exclusion of the nature of the job as it was, kept the idiots out.
Dumbing the job down to lowest common denominator isnāt benefitting anyone at all, except for those companies paying peanuts and working their staff excessive hoursā¦and the race to the bottom continues.
The irony being that very close (especially manoeuvering) control of the vehicle is no longer possible with some (most) makes fitted with certain automated gearboxes, so itās actually got more difficult for those who donāt find tight spots easy.
However its a new world and one size fits all now, so even specialised jobs that require properly specced vehicles still end up with parcel/fleet spec (so any idiot can point them up the road) which often arnāt suitable at all for the job or for close control and max weights so more damage occurs, win win , but never fear it will get worse with the next generations of vehicles and the job itself dumbed further down.
Plus One here.
We have had the pathetic āeco switchā lifted off the latest addition to our fleet from Daf. On that system even selecting āmanualā can be overridden by the trucks computer. It was lifted after said vehicle changed switched itself from manual to auto, changed up on a slope, couldnt handle the higher gear, tried changing down, and then rolled back. That vehicle has now been taken into Daf for an investigation into vibration from the engine. The demo given to replace it while its off the road has the dreaded āecoā gearbox settings. The driver is (understandably) spitting feathers. Quote "I dont care if its got a ####ing leather seat if its ####ing undrivable." Daf are saying they cant lift said āecoā setting off a demo. Hope he doesnt end up in some of the tighter places we go. If youre manoeuvring between obstructions you dont need to be looking at a screen fiddling with switches trying to sort out the errors made by a computer programmer in Eindhoven a coupla years ago. Anyways I intend putting a more extensive post on that subject after said vehicle is returned from Daf. The dealers are taking a serious attitude to complaints about this truck, so its only fair to give then a chance to sort things out. If they do sort things out properly they will be getting mine thrown at `em for similar treatment.
If you see new thread from me, (next week maybe?) youll know what its about. Ive had my XF460 Super Space for a few months now, and yes, nice cab, but its bolted on top of the nastiest lorry Ive ever had. Id swop it back for my 2006 Super Space 480 truck tomorrow. At least that did what I told it to do. Ive never felt so frustrated in my work. (Been frustrated in my personal life of course, but I aint gonna bore you with that. Just bore you all about the five(h)one(t) truck I gotta jockey around.)
And apologies to RobRoy for hi-jacking his thread, and flying it to visit, not an ex-wife, but my old hobby horse. No thats not a suicide vest Im wearing, it`s the way an omnipotent God wants my waistline to be.
I was told by the idiot in the office who has never drink a hgv that Iām over revving the engine then slowing down a cording to the telematics which means Iām burning fuel.
I did explain volvo fit a very effective engine brake but he didnāt seem to comprehend how it works and uses no fuel
Franglais:
And apologies to RobRoy for hi-jacking his thread.
Donāt apologise mate, Iām with both you and Juddian on this.
I used to say that I prefer to drive a truck not have a truck driving me, then we get the post about the āāDriverless trucksāā then I realised it was getting worse than even I thought.
Agree with Juddianās chimp analogy, I just wish these ā ā ā ā ā would ā ā ā ā off out of the job, even if only to go some way to the rest of us regaining some respect and credibility with other road users and the general public.
I started a thread on āWhy is it people expect us to be crap at our jobā when we turn up to reverse in tight bays. Juddianās chimps are the answer to that, and also this thread I reckon.
Sounds like a similar solution to what Glasgow council came up with to stop the 12ft 6in bridge on Cook St getting whacked by double decker Busses and trucks on a regular basis. Theyāve built little islands in the road just before the bridge. Only about 6ft wide, so just enough room for cars and vans to fit through. Seems to have worked as Iāve not heard of anyone hitting the bridge since they were installed, nor have I heard of any high siders trying to squeeze through the islands and get stuck yet either.
Our boss, (a non HGV driver, but someone who does listen to us) is understandably rather put out by it all. Hes forking out many tens of thousands of pounds on new trucks (yeh, more economy, reliability and a sound business investment etc)(ā ā ) and were saying we dont want the ā ā ā ā ā ā things. When I started in this industry I dont remember the older more experienced drivers hiding at the back of the queue for a new truck. They wanted them. Its NOT just us being a bunch of Luddites. I look forward to a Lane Departure Warning system that works. I dont want the false alarms, and then flashing lights telling me the fitted one isnt working again. The handbook for my truck lists so many weaknesses they must have used a whole tree on the paper needed to list em all.
I would welcome a good Anti Collision System. I do get hacked off at the fitted system that flashes lights, sounds buzzers and puts on the brakes for road signs, shadows and other non-events. And it cannot be turned off.
Active Cruise Control that actively lets you run over the set speed and earn āoverspeedā marks on your cardā¦and pity any poor sod wanting to overtake when your speed is up n down and all aroundā¦ AAARRGGHHHHH !
With the attitude this truck is generating in me theres gonna be MORE accidents, NOT less ! I know, Ill have a little drinkie to relax myself before starting work in the mornings. That`ll work well.
I canāt believe the damage that you can see at fuel stations by guys that supposedly drive for a bloody living! Just last week I had to stop traffic, and get out and assist a guy hopelessly trying to blindside his way out onto a main road,because he had tried to turn in the āNO HGV Entranceā. To my complete and utter shock, after he had completed his manoeuvre and come in the correct entrance, he said thank you in perfect English! At least if he was a foreigner he would have had some sort of excuseā¦
Shell London Colney Longabout, has a solitary HGV pump to the rear, with a self car wash located way too close to it. This invites car drivers to park in a manner that makes putting an artic on a pump a challenge. But instead of waiting for the car drivers to move, what do our brethren do? Go for it anyway. There is a pair of metal bollards installed after the kerbs had been bashed to bits by the trailer cutting in. Now the bollards are getting smashed on the regular insteadā¦ How do drive not see the damage, and wonder what they can do differently to avoid it?
The absolute prize has to go the plum at the BP garge on the A10 at Buntingford. They somehow managed to take out a whole PUMP, how they managed that Iāll never knowā¦
Franglais:
Our boss, (a non HGV driver, but someone who does listen to us) is understandably rather put out by it all. Hes forking out many tens of thousands of pounds on new trucks (yeh, more economy, reliability and a sound business investment etc)(ā ā ) and were saying we dont want the [zb] things. When I started in this industry I dont remember the older more experienced drivers hiding at the back of the queue for a new truck. They wanted them. Its NOT just us being a bunch of Luddites. I look forward to a Lane Departure Warning system that works. I dont want the false alarms, and then flashing lights telling me the fitted one isnt working again. The handbook for my truck lists so many weaknesses they must have used a whole tree on the paper needed to list em all.
I would welcome a good Anti Collision System. I do get hacked off at the fitted system that flashes lights, sounds buzzers and puts on the brakes for road signs, shadows and other non-events. And it cannot be turned off.
Active Cruise Control that actively lets you run over the set speed and earn āoverspeedā marks on your cardā¦and pity any poor sod wanting to overtake when your speed is up n down and all aroundā¦ AAARRGGHHHHH !
With the attitude this truck is generating in me theres gonna be MORE accidents, NOT less ! I know, Ill have a little drinkie to relax myself before starting work in the mornings. That`ll work well.
Weāve just got a fleet of these things.While I agree the eco thing is utterly pathetic and actually less efficient than a half decent driver the rest of your issues are easily sorted with a very minimal driver input
Whilst we have moved onto these autonomous trucks - has anyone read this weeks Commercial a Motor? Very interesting two page spread about live trials of platooning vehicles in Germany.
It explains how they work and it sounds pretty good.
Billybigrig. āWeāve just got a fleet of these things.While I agree the eco thing is utterly pathetic and actually less efficient than a half decent driver the rest of your issues are easily sorted with a very minimal driver input ā
Yep, Ive found the off switch for Lane Departure. And can not see the "warning light" telling me that Ive turned it off because of a little bit of dirt on the dash above said light.
The off switch for Anti Collision also turns on an amber light (Telling me what Ive just done. Thank you), but doesnt actually turn it off ! Still getting false alerts, and brake applications. Obstructions on the sender (such as snow) lights up the dash like a laser display.
The Eco Coaching also gets turned off. When slowing down I dont need messages flashing up telling me how badly/well Im behaving.
FFS the dash should light up to tell you whats WRONG. Not be a poor imitation of a video game.
And why do Dafs have 7 blue and 1 red warnings lights on to tell you the adblue tank is full?
On NO I`m off again. . . Honest, I used to be happy and well balanced, honestly, ask my psychiatrist, but now??
Juddian when I first started driving trucks, my landlord tried to put me off, he shut his haulage company down in the 70ās, he said selling up was the best thing he ever did. He complained about rate cutting, unreliable drivers and damage to trucks and equipment, and being the 70ās once he sent them up the road he had no idea what they were up to. Then during the late 90ās I spent a bit of time in the office of the haulage company where I was a driver, that was an eye opener, some of the drivers Iād looked up to and considered highly experienced drivers, (probably because they kept telling me how good they were) were the oneās on the phone because they couldnāt follow simple instructions or they were causing damage.
So I donāt think this is a new problem and as you say, there plenty of good drivers who get on with the job and bring the truck back in one piece, but in my experience they donāt theyāre anything special theyāre just doing their job so donāt feel the need to shout about it to everybody.
Not driven the latest trucks with the lane departure etc, the newest truck Iāve driven was a 2012 MAN, the worst thing was the gearbox, but it wasnāt the only thing I didnāt like about it. The only Autoās Iād driven were Volvo Ishift and Renault Optidrive, couldnāt see what the complaints were until I drove the MAN, then I understood why people hated them so much.
I think many large companies truck choice isnāt down to what is the best for the job, but what works best on the balance sheet. And as most no longer buy the truck, but lease them, they get the truck the lease company can sell easier when it comes to the end of the hire period.
Muckles, i agree this isnāt a new thing, but there was a time when you had to have at least some lorry driving nous just to get the thing out the gate.
Ha, are you in for a bloody shock if you thought the MAN was badā¦
Mineās 62 plate and iāve babied it, or rather iāve looked after it from new, driven it in manual all the time kept it oiled (why canāt people just check and top the bloody oil and water up?) and watered and apart from the waterworks problems all the heavily loaded 440ās (way underpowered for dead weight) have had, easily fixed, and the well known unfit for use of arsetronic gearbox i have to say its been a decent lorry and has been more reliable than the sister motors.
So, we get new lorries every 5 years so a constantly changing fleet, having seen the bloody electric parking brakes on Volvos, the Mercs are utterly horrid even the steps are the cheapest plastics they could find slippery as hell, the new CFās are a mere shadow of the 57 plate DF460 manual i had before and would gladly have keptā¦which i see regularly and its still passing everything on the road, the driver allways gives a flash cos ours are an conspicuous colour.
Unless i have the option of a manual box, which is doubtful cos we donāt spec for the weight we carry and i canāt see that changing, iām going to ask for another MAN, cos compared to the rest of the electronic garbage its now one of the better and relatively simpler lorries on the road, didnāt think iād be saying that.
Why do our guvnors listen to the utter cobblers these sales bods talk, ooh this oneās much more economical its got āāecoāā doncha know , well our yard pump puts the daily mpg up on the display when youāve finished filling, guess what, for all this eco this eco roll that ā ā ā ā ā ā ā ā , thereās not a ā ā ā paper between the relative fuel consumptions of the four makes, and (CF excepted which wouldnāt pull you out of bed) thereās not 5 minutes in a 4 hour journey time either,
Be interesting to see how these euro 6 all singing all dancing ell electronic efforts manage in years 4 and 5 before they go back when all this cobblers has had the input of 2/3 salty winters, i suspect weāll be on first name terms at the dealer butty barsā¦
As was in days gone past, itās the driver that drives the truck. I have none of the problems you mention when driving my 65 plate XF SSC.
The lane departure warning can be switched off (do you know why it gives youāfalseā alarms?)
The anti collision system can be adjusted, and switched off.
The eco can be switched off, and when you switch it to manual, it stays in manual until you switch off, or the cruise senses that you are driving on the level again for some time.
And the adaptive CC can be overridden.
) or are they simply just a bit retarded.
, (you missed my smiley off when quotingā¦the clue) I was carrying on a theme as I know it winds one or two up on here. 
