Hi guys
Newbie here passed test about 3 1/2 months ago tomorrow night I’m doing trunk run for first time going to PW Gates in Welwyn Garden City.
First time taking a double decker any pointers or things to watch out for? Also any one been to DC that can give advice when I get there.
Any input greatly received
Haters of newbies needn’t reply
Cheers guys
Andy
Everyday is a learning day
Andy1969:
First time taking a double decker any pointers or things to watch out for?
Height markings would be my first guess 
Andy1969:
Hi guys
Newbie here passed test about 3 1/2 months ago tomorrow night I’m doing trunk run for first time going to PW Gates in Welwyn Garden City.
First time taking a double decker any pointers or things to watch out for? Also any one been to DC that can give advice when I get there.
Any input greatly receivedHaters of newbies needn’t reply
Cheers guys
Andy
Everyday is a learning day
Find out what you need to do with the DD once there.
We have 2 types of DD… one is put on a bay normally; the other needs the lift dropping first and sliding under the bay.
Some places will want you to plug in your Andersen cable so they have power to drop the deck.
Watch your speeds on roundabouts and corners. If loaded between 15 and 20 mph on a roundabout till you get the feel
Oh and make sure you stress its a DD; some places only have designated bays.
Sent from my SM-G981B using Tapatalk
I do DD a lot and as the last reply says careful on bends and roundabouts. Chances are you won’t have loaded it and it could be top heavy.
Check your suspension in the correct height. If like the trailers I pull, they are up to 16’4 and if it’s jacked up at the back it’s possible to hit a motorway bridge.
If you work for a RDC most will give you a route map. Try to stick to it because chances are you will meet a low bridge if you go off route. A bridge height map will be useful just in case you meet a road closure. If you are on a motorway and it’s closed, most diversions will be for velicles up to 16’6 but not always.
Then things like thick branches, do they look low? Once for me I ripped some phone wires down. A branch was holding them down, just enough to wrap round the top corner of trailer.
If you use a sat nav, use only a truck one and make sure it’s set at the correct height. A lad on his 2nd day forgot and had a good go at putting 16.4 trailer under a 15’ bridge. End result, no job, single deck trailer 
Anyway best of luck and be careful.
Forgot to say, when you at your depot ask the other drivers for advice for your delivery point. I find wherever i work most will try and help.
Andy1969:
Hi guys
Newbie here passed test about 3 1/2 months ago tomorrow night I’m doing trunk run for first time going to PW Gates in Welwyn Garden City.
First time taking a double decker any pointers or things to watch out for? Also any one been to DC that can give advice when I get there.
Any input greatly receivedHaters of newbies needn’t reply
Cheers guys
Andy
Everyday is a learning day
Don’t worry is my advice. People think they are something special and require some special skill to pilot, but for the most part they are just as stable as a normal single decker and drive just the same. You don’t even notice the difference when you’re driving them, unless some spacktard has loaded the top deck with IBCs (which does happen at the pallet hubs if you don’t watch them like a hawk). Curtain deckers are a piece of ■■■■ and nothing on them is different from a single really. Box deckers with a moving deck will need your Anderson lead plugging in as mentioned already. Make sure you remember to unplug it again before you leave! If you don’t, the first tight turn you make will rip the wires out of the plug/socket and ruin your day. It’s easily done - I’ve done it myself. Until you get used to it, leave yourself a note or some item in front of your dash display so you remember before you set off.
Again, as mentioned, double and triple check your trailer and unit ride height is levelled off before heading out on the road. Some trailers will auto-reset to ride height once you get above a certain speed but plenty don’t and you’ll need to manually set the lever which is usually found near the rear of trailer on the nearside. Push the lever centre inwards to ‘unlock’ it, then you’ll be able to swing the lever left and right to rise or lower the suspension. To reset it, move the lever to the centre and pull it out. The plastic lever ones you can feel a slight click as you pull it out but the metal lever ones tend to be less obvious. You can test the self-levelling by either dumping the air out or raising it up, then pull the lever out and watch to see self-level (you’ll probably hear the air as well).
Make sure you adjsut your in-cab height marker with your running height. If you get stopped by the Ministry it’s one of the first things they look at.
Don’t worry about strong winds. Even when empty the tri-axle deckers are quite heavy beasts and don’t get affected by the winds anything like you’d think. The flimsy single deckers seem to get buffeted around a lot more than deckers.
elsa Lad:
I do DD a lot and as the last reply says careful on bends and roundabouts. Chances are you won’t have loaded it and it could be top heavy.Check your suspension in the correct height. If like the trailers I pull, they are up to 16’4 and if it’s jacked up at the back it’s possible to hit a motorway bridge.
If you work for a RDC most will give you a route map. Try to stick to it because chances are you will meet a low bridge if you go off route. A bridge height map will be useful just in case you meet a road closure. If you are on a motorway and it’s closed, most diversions will be for velicles up to 16’6 but not always.
Then things like thick branches, do they look low? Once for me I ripped some phone wires down. A branch was holding them down, just enough to wrap round the top corner of trailer.
If you use a sat nav, use only a truck one and make sure it’s set at the correct height. A lad on his 2nd day forgot and had a good go at putting 16.4 trailer under a 15’ bridge. End result, no job, single deck trailer
Anyway best of luck and be careful.
No no no no no…
Dont blame the sat nav…
Dont rely on the sat nav.
Know your trailer height…
And check your route, and bloody well look where you’re going… you can always,… always… every time, see the low Bridge before you hit it… no excuse.
Make sure height is in feet and inches! I have pulled some double deckers that were only marked up in metric, god knows why this was as not all bridges have metric on the signs.
Familiarise yourself…
With which pipe you should be in at Dartford, particularly if you deliver to sites near J 1a. (if you get a run that way)
With any higher vehicle keep an eye open for arched bridges, where you’ll usually need to drive down the centre line to clear height, and the nowadays thankfully rare instances where one lane of the road has a lower height clearance than the other.
edit, the humourous chap above helpfully notes the perfect example, Dartford tunnel.
Note the type of tractor unit you are driving and how it behaves, some Scanias with lift axles the worst offenders the suspension raises about 3" with the lift axle up, with a streamlined shaped front end decker it won’t make much difference because it doesn’t reach full height till about 6 ft back from the front edge but a square trailer the leading edge could well be 3 or more inches higher than with the axle down behind a Scania mid lift, if the decker travels lower at the back end as some do then this will exacerbate the height increase at the leading edge.
Stand back from your combination, loaded and empty, and judge where its highest and if there’s anything you could do…it’s better to run with the mid lifter raised when empty or lightly loaded for handling/grip issues, but if you are aware you could potentially knock 3" from the height if say you have to pass under dodgy looking trees then by all means (assuming the driver has control over mid lift) drop that mid lifter till you are past the hazard.
Its this sort of thing why its so important to know your vehicle intimately so all these things become second nature…i have never understood the mentality of issuing a different vehicle, often a different make and design, every day, especially in the dark you won’t have a clue where the switches are or what you can do with the vehicle, poor management where this happens, the agency lads are at a disadvantage for this reason alone, all equipment usually fresh to them sometimes every day.
If you have access to a proper height stick, do some measuring for yourself with the tractor unit you will be using, difficult with a tape measure unless (you are Mr Tickle 
) you can park alongside something you can climb up safely to reach the top, then wedge the tape end under something on the ground and check that way.
Thanks for all the input gratefully received
You pull the handle to level the suspension.
A little tip I was taught with regards to using, then forgetting to unplug the Anderson lead.
When you plug it in to the trailer, also apply your trailer brake! When you invariably forget to unplug it when you leave, having the trailer braked will suddenly remind you! Thus saving a damaged lead
DAF_Daily:
forgetting to unplug the Anderson lead.
I remember the old bell connectors Halford’s used. If you forgot and drove off, you would hear that ‘clang, tinkle tinkle’ and think “Oh no.”
PW Gates is a pallet delivering company afaik, therefore you won’t be bay loading or using a moving deck. You’ll be pulling the curtains and being side loaded. Try to ensure no pallet over 400kg is loaded on your top deck and strap anything your uncomfortable with. Especially brick pallets. Most palletised deckers havecload bearing internal curtains so the whole load doesn’t need strapping. The sites will be well versed in dealing with newbies to take instruction on site.
DCPCFML:
Anderson lead plugging in as mentioned already. Make sure you remember to unplug it again before you leave! If you don’t, the first tight turn you make will rip the wires out of the plug/socket and ruin your day. It’s easily done - I’ve done it myself. Until you get used to it, leave yourself a note or some item in front of your dash display so you remember before you set off.
Royal mail teach you to pull your trailer brake (which isn’t a bad habit to adopt at all times) to act as a reminder to pull your anderson lead. It plugs in next to the brake on their trailers.
Pleased to say all went well and wasn’t as bad as I thought it might of been 
Thanks again for the advice
Andy