Who sets the diverstion routes and who is responcible for implimenting them with the signs.
friday and saturday i had the divertion on the a16 as discussed in another post. however on friday night due to the lack of signage going towards spalding on the a16 i ended up a fair way along before i got to the actual road closure. yes there were signs along the route saying it was shut from a certain place but the instruction was to follow the diverstion. didnt have a diverstion sign untill the road was closed despite the 4 or 5 rounderbouts along the way. as a result of thisdiverstion i have ended up with 3 infringements 2 for going over my 4.5 hours one of which i knew about on the way up. and the third for going over my 6 hours wtd the second 4.5 and 6 hour infringements were my fault i forgot to put it on break when i got to my tipping place on the way back down.
I 100% hold my hand up to the last 2 infringments however the first one was caused by the lack of diverstion signs and no place to stop on the diverstion route
That sat night shift i knew of the diverstion on the a16 and took appropriate action to make sure i had enough drivetime etc. However there was another diverstion on my way to the second tipping point at erith. They decided to shut bog dunn way no warnings. followed the diverstionthat took you back onto the m25 clockwise towards gatwick off at the next junction for a2 london bound round the rounderbout and back on to the m25 towards the tunnel then off again at erith back to where i started. As a result i finoished my shift on 9h 58 min driving time haveing had to bring the trailer back tothe yard rather than dropping it off on route back to the yard once tipped
Welcome to the world of class 1 driving… The excessive road closures are a nightmare that nobody seems willing to do anything about so we just have to go with the flow you can’t really plan much because highways have no idea themselves what they are doing & when!
If you’re doing same routes everyday you will get to know where you can stop for a break, or sometimes take a 15 before leaving if possible.
Either way the stuff gets there when it gets there so get in the habit now of making sure you take breaks in plenty of time so you’re not adding unnecessary stress to the situation.
Google traffic (others praise Waze but buggered if i can make head or tail of it) to check for closures and heavy red lines for slow traffic in combination with a proper truckers bridge height atlas.
I almost never follow a signed diversion, nor would i any that a satnav would suggest if i used one, because almost everyone in true Brit fashion will follow their instructions/orders sheep/lemming like and the diversion will either be miles long or rammed with traffic or both.
Think laterally, find your own alternative, try and make sure when you rejoin the main route that you are likely to have priority at the junction.
Stop trying to run your driving time to the limit before deciding to take a break, if you’re new to the game start looking once you get to 4hrs, not when the tacho is telling you you’ve 15 minutes left.
As you gain experience you’ll start to know at certain points along your journey how long it will take to get to where you’re going. For example I know coming back from Erith to Howden whichever route I take if end up going up the A1 it’s 2hrs back from Stibbington Truckstop, 1hr 15m back from Newark, 55 minutes from Markham Moor services, 25 minutes from Doncaster services and if going up the M1 it’s 1hr 35m from Donnington services, 1hr 05m from Tibshelf. Going north I use Reed Boardall’s yard on the A1M as it’s an hour back to base from there. M62 I use Hartshead Moor services, it’s just under an hour back from there. But notice what I do though, I’m using points where it’s not 15 minutes away from the destination, I’m using ones where it’s an hour or more and where I’m going to have multiple opportunities to find somewhere to stop before the 4hr 30m comes up.
When you get to be able to do that you then know that if you get to say Tibshelf and you’ve only an hour’s driving left you may as well pull into that services or any of the next ones along the way or get to Newark with less than 1hr 15m you need to start looking for laybys because you’re not making it back to base.
Start taking notes of where certain prominent points are on your journeys and how long it takes to get there without delays. It doesn’t need to be a services, it could be a particular motorway junction you pass a lot, say for example on the M25 the junction for the A13, M11, A1 etc or say Fort Dunlop at the side of the M6 in Birmingham. Once you start to know those you can start to work out how far behind you are if you’ve been delayed or diverted.
cooper1203:
Who sets the diverstion routes and who is responcible for implimenting them with the signs.
friday and saturday i had the divertion on the a16 as discussed in another post. however on friday night due to the lack of signage going towards spalding on the a16 i ended up a fair way along before i got to the actual road closure. yes there were signs along the route saying it was shut from a certain place but the instruction was to follow the diverstion. didnt have a diverstion sign untill the road was closed despite the 4 or 5 rounderbouts along the way. as a result of thisdiverstion i have ended up with 3 infringements 2 for going over my 4.5 hours one of which i knew about on the way up. and the third for going over my 6 hours wtd the second 4.5 and 6 hour infringements were my fault i forgot to put it on break when i got to my tipping place on the way back down.
I 100% hold my hand up to the last 2 infringments however the first one was caused by the lack of diverstion signs and no place to stop on the diverstion route
That sat night shift i knew of the diverstion on the a16 and took appropriate action to make sure i had enough drivetime etc. However there was another diverstion on my way to the second tipping point at erith. They decided to shut bog dunn way no warnings. followed the diverstionthat took you back onto the m25 clockwise towards gatwick off at the next junction for a2 london bound round the rounderbout and back on to the m25 towards the tunnel then off again at erith back to where i started. As a result i finoished my shift on58 min driving time haveing had to bring the trailer back tothe yard rather than dropping it off on route back to the yard once tipped
I’d be suicidal working on a Saturday night , never mind all that carry on
Juddian:
I almost never follow a signed diversion, nor would i any that a satnav would suggest if i used one, because almost everyone in true Brit fashion will follow their instructions/orders sheep/lemming like and the diversion will either be miles long or rammed with traffic or both.
Think laterally, find your own alternative, try and make sure when you rejoin the main route that you are likely to have priority at the junction.
Earlier on this year they had major roadworks on the A1 at Darrington just south of Ferrybridge which caused absolute carnage. I noticed when travelling north my sat nav was suggesting that I come off the A1 at South Elmsall and go through Pontefract. Obviously I ignored that because every other bloody sat nav would be giving the same instruction. I simply came off at the M18 and travelled towards Hull and then picked up the M62 west and rejoined the A1 north of Ferrybridge. No brainer; one major stop and all the rest in top gear on cruise, puts less than ten minutes on a free flowing A1.
Conor:
Stop trying to run your driving time to the limit before deciding to take a break, if you’re new to the game start looking once you get to 4hrs, not when the tacho is telling you you’ve 15 minutes left.
As you gain experience you’ll start to know at certain points along your journey how long it will take to get to where you’re going. For example I know coming back from Erith to Howden whichever route I take if end up going up the A1 it’s 2hrs back from Stibbington Truckstop, 1hr 15m back from Newark, 55 minutes from Markham Moor services, 25 minutes from Doncaster services and if going up the M1 it’s 1hr 35m from Donnington services, 1hr 05m from Tibshelf. Going north I use Reed Boardall’s yard on the A1M as it’s an hour back to base from there. M62 I use Hartshead Moor services, it’s just under an hour back from there. But notice what I do though, I’m using points where it’s not 15 minutes away from the destination, I’m using ones where it’s an hour or more and where I’m going to have multiple opportunities to find somewhere to stop before the 4hr 30m comes up.
When you get to be able to do that you then know that if you get to say Tibshelf and you’ve only an hour’s driving left you may as well pull into that services or any of the next ones along the way or get to Newark with less than 1hr 15m you need to start looking for laybys because you’re not making it back to base.
Start taking notes of where certain prominent points are on your journeys and how long it takes to get there without delays. It doesn’t need to be a services, it could be a particular motorway junction you pass a lot, say for example on the M25 the junction for the A13, M11, A1 etc or say Fort Dunlop at the side of the M6 in Birmingham. Once you start to know those you can start to work out how far behind you are if you’ve been delayed or diverted.
i have done the run from my yard to spalding at least 3 or four times a week and it takes between 3h20 and 3h45 the longer time because i had to divert through cambridge when the m11 was shut between j12 and j13. I have a 15min at peterbrough services and the remainder at spalding.
Where i came unstuck was the poor signage for the diverstion untill the road was actually closed. Putting a sign saying the road is closed at such and such a point and tofollow the diverstion signs to me means that further up the roadi will be diverted off the a16 and around the closure not taken all the way to the point of the closure and then diverted 20 miles back to the a1. I also knew that there was aroute through market deeping and deeping st nicholas that apparently was “10 minuettes longer” so at this point i still had time to make it with in 4 hours with 30 mins grace. Unbeknown to me that route was also shut which ment i had to go all the way up to bourne and along the a151 and through spalding as i chose not to turn left at west pinchbeck and go through pinchbeck. You disagreed with my tight turns in spalding comment on my previous post but at that point once in spalding i had commited to following the diverstion signs.
By the time i was on the a151 i was looking to stop as i was going to be tight on timehowever the few laybys there are on the a151 were already ocupied by other wagons. The first place i could stop was outside the gate of my delivery point and i was already over my 4h30 by 8 minuettes.
coming back i went the pinchbeck west pinchbeck route and managed to get back to my tipping point with in my time. the issue was as i said above i forgot to put it on break or rather i thought i had but was rushing to get into the traffic office as it was 4:29 am and if your not on a bay by 5 am they dont get you on a bay untill gone 6.30. Hence i went over my 4.5 hours a second time due to being a dunkoff that cant reverse to save my life and took me a while to get on the bay.
on your last point,on running out of time while trying to reverse on to a bay…couldn’t you inform a shunter and drop the trailer in the yard for him/her to do it for you? it’s a regular occurrence at our depot.
carryfast-yeti:
on your last point,on running out of time while trying to reverse on to a bay…couldn’t you inform a shunter and drop the trailer in the yard for him/her to do it for you? it’s a regular occurrence at our depot.
Yeah don’t get an infringement trying to reverse onto a bay, dump it where you can & get the happy shunter to do their job! Good luck
carryfast-yeti:
on your last point,on running out of time while trying to reverse on to a bay…couldn’t you inform a shunter and drop the trailer in the yard for him/her to do it for you? it’s a regular occurrence at our depot.
I dont drop the trailer however i normaly ask for help and normaly people are only to pleased to help me. however this perticuler site people seem to rather watch you struggle even to the point i have had someone come out of the goods in office and tell me to hurry up.
I hate going therebecause of this which prob makes my reversing worse
cooper1203:
By the time i was on the a151 i was looking to stop as i was going to be tight on timehowever the few laybys there are on the a151 were already ocupied by other wagons. The first place i could stop was outside the gate of my delivery point
You would have known you were too tight for time in Bourne so you could have parked on the road where the industrial estate is, the same road Tesco is on and your Satnav and diversion would have sent you down as that’s the start of the A151. You could have parked at the side of the road just like cars do when you got into Spalding, there are a few places that instantly come to mind you could have pulled into on a night time between Bourne and Spalding such as the front of that storage place just after the Pinchbeck turn off. Hell if it came to it there was Sainsbury’s car park. You decided to chance it instead because you wanted to take your break on the bay and said sod it, you’d only be a couple of minutes over.
Keep doing that and getting enough infringements for doing it and it’ll be explaining why you shouldn’t be getting a fine and 28 day ban to the traffic commissioner.
cooper1203:
By the time i was on the a151 i was looking to stop as i was going to be tight on timehowever the few laybys there are on the a151 were already ocupied by other wagons. The first place i could stop was outside the gate of my delivery point
not quite sure why im doing this but lets break this down a little
You would have known you were too tight for time in Bourne Yes i agree and said so in my responce to you so you could have parked on the road where the industrial estate is, the same road Tesco is at do you mean on the nice straight wide bit oppersite tesco on the double yellow lines or on the bendy bit where travis perkins is where i would be blocking half the road and run the risk of somone comeing hairing round the corner and into the back of me?the side of the road just like cars do when you got into Spalding,not quite sure where you mean but i am assuming as there are cars parked there if there was a space big enough for me to get in there are also houses great for upsetting the residents that prob had thier windows open as it was a warm night with my fridge box going 19 to the dozen at midnight thats of course assuming i wouldnt be blocking half the road there are a few places that instantly come to mind you could have pulled into on a night time between Bourne and Spalding such as the front of that storage place just after the Pinchbeck turn offAgain i agree that concreate apron would of been ideal the other 2 trucks that were already there thought so too if its the same place im thinking of. Hell if it came to it there was Sainsbury’s car parkyep i can see ithe headlines now car park distroyed by ■■■■■■■■ lorry driver. You decided to chance it instead because you wanted to take your break on the bay and said sod it, you’d only be a couple of minutes over.
no as said tried to find somewhere to stop and would of been quite happy todo so had i of found somewhere i felt appropriate and not knowing the area intimatly i didnt feel confident going off the beaten path as i am potentialy unable to get myself out of the sticky stuff
Keep doing that and getting enough infringements for doing it and it’ll be explaining why you shouldn’t be getting a fine and 28 day ban to the traffic commissioner.
Conor:
Give up driving. It ain’t for you. Zero common sense and ability to solve problems wll make this job miserable AF for you.
I’m not so sure someone who only has the capability of doing night trunks up and down the M6 or A1 is in a position to tell someone else that driving is not for them!
You need to plan for all eventualaities, especially when it comes to breaks and finding somewhere to park overnight. You can do all this research well before hand, taking into account any major delays. Some delays will mean delivering to places a day late, and maybe instead of arriving back in the yard on say a Friday afternoon, you need to always be prepared to night out somewhere and roll back into the yard on a Saturday (or whatever day you are due to finish + 1 day). In some cases you may need to be relieved if due your 45 hours off, and yes it can happen and has happened.
Google maps or google earth are brilliant tools for scoping out places to stop for your planned routes and “Your own” planned diversion routes rather than relying on signs, and always leave yourself 30 mins wiggle room. Didn’t we discuss diverting via Wisbeach the other day if you didn’t fancy the A151? You knew the options before giving it a go. So if you are close on hours and require daily rest, then you scope out an overnight spot on that route from your last drop, park up at that spot (or the spot before or after, plan for a few), and deliver a day late, or if not accepted, call the gaffer and take the load back to the yard. The only time you should be going over is if there has been a major accident and tailbacks etc, where a printout can be done and reasons writted on the back. Oh an DVSA may (and have in the past) check the dates and will know if there was a delay or if you are fibbing.
richiem1987:
You need to plan for all eventualaities, especially when it comes to breaks and finding somewhere to park overnight. You can do all this research well before hand, taking into account any major delays. Some delays will mean delivering to places a day late, and maybe instead of arriving back in the yard on say a Friday afternoon, you need to always be prepared to night out somewhere and roll back into the yard on a Saturday (or whatever day you are due to finish + 1 day). In some cases you may need to be relieved if due your 45 hours off, and yes it can happen and has happened.
Google maps or google earth are brilliant tools for scoping out places to stop for your planned routes and “Your own” planned diversion routes rather than relying on signs, and always leave yourself 30 mins wiggle room. Didn’t we discuss diverting via Wisbeach the other day if you didn’t fancy the A151? You knew the options before giving it a go. So if you are close on hours and require daily rest, then you scope out an overnight spot on that route from your last drop, park up at that spot (or the spot before or after, plan for a few), and deliver a day late, or if not accepted, call the gaffer and take the load back to the yard. The only time you should be going over is if there has been a major accident and tailbacks etc, where a printout can be done and reasons writted on the back. Oh an DVSA may (and have in the past) check the dates and will know if there was a delay or if you are fibbing.
I like the signs on the a47 telling drivers with loads over 3.2m 10’6 to use alternative route to avoid A11
All well and good, but being constrained by movement orders means you can’t.
And Norfolk are pretty lax with their permits. We had one bounced back today that we submitted at least two weeks ago and moved last Monday. We have to give them 2 clear days notification of the movement so they can reject it or advise against sections…
Conor:
Give up driving. It ain’t for you. Zero common sense and ability to solve problems wll make this job miserable AF for you.
I’m not so sure someone who only has the capability of doing night trunks up and down the M6 or A1 is in a position to tell someone else that driving is not for them!
