A tip when picking up a drawbar trailer, ensure unit handbrake is applyed before releasing trailer brake 
marky:
A friend of mine once tipped a loaded flour tank over sideways after pushing it up too far. Instead of waiting for some vans to get out of the way so he could get straightened up on the pad next to the silo, he parked ever so slightly across it (it had a very slight incline).He started blowing into the silo, but when he pushed the tank up it fell over sideways, buckling the ram halfway up before landing across the yard - just missing the silo and another wagon on the other side. There were twenty one and a half tons still in it. I had a look at it in the yard the day after HSE released it from the bakery and it had been brought back and it was a complete write-off. The barrel was split in two places, the chassis was cracked and twisted all to hell and the running gear was totally wrecked. Surprisingly, the tractor was virtually unscathed apart from the pipework for the blower.
I was at Pura Foods in Poplar a few years ago and a powder tanker was tipping into a silo. that went over and crushed a builders van with 2 blokes in it. The H & S had a field day with that one. I have had some dodgy tips with them and had to place jacks underneath or run onto timbers before tipping.
Silver_Surfer:
Truckyboy (āIām a professionalā), youāve never made a mistake, once, ever?
yes he has!!
Truckyboy:
i said see ya later
nowt like help people you work with huh? if it was the other way round you would have called him not fit to burn because he left you stranded?
Driveroneuk:
It can also be quite useful to disconnect the lines before pulling out from under & driving away. (So iāve heard)
Here in the US, our federal laws mandate the usage of āgladhandā connectors. As a result, they will usually disconnect without breaking the line, and often the electrical connector will do likewise. Of course, they will be under quite a bit of tension when they do let go, and then they will fly forward at considerable velocity, banging loudly on the sleeper wall. You can often tell who is a careless driver just by noting how many dents are on the backside of the cabā¦
On a similar topic, I found that winding the legs up after picking up a trailer can also be quite handy. The noise they make scraping on the road is very distracting 
(Nearly did it the other day - I have a routine, and if someone interrupts me in the middle, I start again to be sure. Good job I did as I thought I was ready to roll!)
Another tip, is if you always attach a number plate to the trailer,of course making sure it corresponds with the one on the unit. Doing this makes a saving of about Thirty Quid Iād say. 
Dan.
Even hooking up trailers I am amazed at how some people wont follow simple proceedure.
One company had an unwritten rule,I found out about it after witnessing their hook ups,of backing 3/4 way under the trailer,winding legs up, then back all the way and then do a tug test!?!But they knew more about transport than I did.
Where I am now there have been a few incidents of dropped trailers,no tug test-in too much of a hurry,suzi coils going āTwangā when they break in half,etc etc
Also not inspecting the turntable to visually check that the pin is in and not sitting 5 cm over the plate,only takes a few seconds.
On Thursday delivering a box to a cold store noticed two heavy haulage towies winching a trailer up,hate to see what the bill was for that.
Saw a classic one yesterday, shunter leaves trailer in spot as driver comes to pick it up. Guy backs under it but is going to close couple as itās a bit tight, no fridge though. Shunter decides to be helpfull and winds legs up and takes park break off to be āhelpfullā to driver without him seeing as he is about to couple up suzies. If heād have put that red one on before thinking, hmm whatās shunter man doing then trailer would have fallen off back or rolled into him squashing him. Luckily he getās down and asks shunter what heās doing and could he please re-apply park break before he chins him. My hand was hovering over the horn as I was watching this unfold but still, you donāt like to interfere, espec as they kept me waiting for 7 hours, still double time and all that.