Driver at our place got a pull with a full load of 52 pallets of kitchen roll and toilet roll on pallets.
It was a load bearing curtain, and he had cross strapped every 4th pallet from the front to the back, and then double crossed the back (top and bottom pallets).
Got a pull from DVSA and was told the load was highly likely to move and posed a danger to the public and therefore could not leave until sorted. They did say they would accept it if he put an internal on the side of every pallet, but as he’d crossed the straps already periodically down the load he was not able able to pull the internals down the side. When he asked how they could go forward from here because he could not put on internals on, they said you will have to ratchet strap them.
He had to then ratchet strap half the load, every pallet that didn’t have an internal on, crushing the load with the pressure of the strap and possible damaging that load now meaning it will likely be refused.
Ratchet straps coming loose and dropping in the road pose even more of a threat than loo roll in an XL rated trailer.
I thought if a positive fit and XL rated trailer/load bearing curtains and providing the pallets where below a certain weight (is it 400kg, I’ve lost track) only cross strapping the back was needed.
This may come down to the individual DVSA officers interpretation or he spotted the trailer wasn’t fully XL compliant.
Perhaps he thought why bother cross strapping each fourth pallet when it would have been simpler to just drop a strap down the middle of each row, jobs a good un.
Did your mate fail the attitude test early doors…
Dipper_Dave:
Ratchet straps coming loose and dropping in the road pose even more of a threat than loo roll in an XL rated trailer.
I thought if a positive fit and XL rated trailer/load bearing curtains and providing the pallets where below a certain weight (is it 400kg, I’ve lost track) only cross strapping the back was needed.
This may come down to the individual DVSA officers interpretation or he spotted the trailer wasn’t fully XL compliant.
Perhaps he thought why bother cross strapping each fourth pallet when it would have been simpler to just drop a strap down the middle of each row, jobs a good un.
Did your mate fail the attitude test early doors…
Is an appeal possible.
No definitely not. This lad is spot on, polite etc. No chance he would have failed on attitude. They found nothing wrong on the vehicle or his tacho.
Problem is there’s no hard and fast rules covering everything, only for some things which then leaves the rest down to interpretation from all parties.
Like to me using internals on this load seems fine. No individual pallet would weigh over 400kg and pallets like that are likely going to fill the bed making it a positive fit.
When I pulled double stacked toilet rolls for KC we had to cross strap every second stack and double strap the back one. Never had one move. This was a method opproved by vosa in none xl trailers so I don’t know why they told him that they would be happy with straps down the front of the pallets. Making him put ratchets on them is pointless
Night-and-day:
When I pulled double stacked toilet rolls for KC we had to cross strap every second stack and double strap the back one. Never had one move. This was a method opproved by vosa in none xl trailers so I don’t know why they told him that they would be happy with straps down the front of the pallets. Making him put ratchets on them is pointless
With a load bearing curtain, there is no requirement to strap every fourth pallet, I would have only put internals on the last two pallets at the rear of the load .
With a load bearing curtain, no need to put internals on the side of the load .
We had exactly the same problem, the “wrong type” of load bearing curtains. Despite originally being told they were ok (a good few years back mind), we were subsequently told they weren’t. We had to replace them with complete en12642 trailers. This means bulkhead reinforcement, chassis strengthening and double locked back doors (easy dipper).
My guess is, in this case it’s the wrong type of load bearing.
Dipper_Dave:
Ratchet straps coming loose and dropping in the road pose even more of a threat than loo roll in an XL rated trailer.
I thought if a positive fit and XL rated trailer/load bearing curtains and providing the pallets where below a certain weight (is it 400kg, I’ve lost track) only cross strapping the back was needed.
This may come down to the individual DVSA officers interpretation or he spotted the trailer wasn’t fully XL compliant.
Perhaps he thought why bother cross strapping each fourth pallet when it would have been simpler to just drop a strap down the middle of each row, jobs a good un.
Did your mate fail the attitude test early doors…
Is an appeal possible.
No definitely not. This lad is spot on, polite etc. No chance he would have failed on attitude. They found nothing wrong on the vehicle or his tacho.
Na something not right .
So half the load is ratchet strapped and the other half not which DVSA then deamed ok ? So there’s only half the chance of it being a danger . Either in this case it’s all or nothing I’d like to see the stop check advisory report from the controlling officer along with his photographic evidence.
nick2008:
No definitely not. This lad is spot on, polite etc. No chance he would have failed on attitude. They found nothing wrong on the vehicle or his tacho.
Na something not right .
So half the load is ratchet strapped and the other half not which DVSA then deamed ok ? So there’s only half the chance of it being a danger . Either in this case it’s all or nothing I’d like to see the stop check advisory report from the controlling officer along with his photographic evidence.
“He had to then ratchet strap half the load, every pallet that didn’t have an internal on”
What the DV$A guy seems to be saying is, every pallet must have a ■■■■■■■■. Either ratchet OR internal.
A double stacked load of bog roll would be under 400 kgs per double stacked pallet.
Dvsa are talking Betty Bollax to force the driver to put ratchets on.
Ratchet straps only required for a pallet over400 kgs.
nick2008:
No definitely not. This lad is spot on, polite etc. No chance he would have failed on attitude. They found nothing wrong on the vehicle or his tacho.
Na something not right .
So half the load is ratchet strapped and the other half not which DVSA then deamed ok ? So there’s only half the chance of it being a danger . Either in this case it’s all or nothing I’d like to see the stop check advisory report from the controlling officer along with his photographic evidence.
“He had to then ratchet strap half the load, every pallet that didn’t have an internal on”
What the DV$A guy seems to be saying is, every pallet must have a ■■■■■■■■. Either ratchet OR internal.
I’d still like a copy of his report though because he’d have to write one out stating the advice/ direction of inforcement .
Dipper_Dave:
Ratchet straps coming loose and dropping in the road pose even more of a threat than loo roll in an XL rated trailer.
I thought if a positive fit and XL rated trailer/load bearing curtains and providing the pallets where below a certain weight (is it 400kg, I’ve lost track) only cross strapping the back was needed.
This may come down to the individual DVSA officers interpretation or he spotted the trailer wasn’t fully XL compliant.
Perhaps he thought why bother cross strapping each fourth pallet when it would have been simpler to just drop a strap down the middle of each row, jobs a good un.
Did your mate fail the attitude test early doors…
Is an appeal possible.
No definitely not. This lad is spot on, polite etc. No chance he would have failed on attitude. They found nothing wrong on the vehicle or his tacho.
Na something not right .
So half the load is ratchet strapped and the other half not which DVSA then deamed ok ? So there’s only half the chance of it being a danger . Either in this case it’s all or nothing I’d like to see the stop check advisory report from the controlling officer along with his photographic evidence.
I think the point is that the officer was happy with the internals but on every single pallet. As the driver had crossed strapped every other one all the way down he was not able to pull the other internals down the side, therefore leaving half the load with no straps. So the officer said you will have to ratchet strap all the ones you haven’t crossed strapped. He said they were loose when he did them and the officer didn’t even check if they’d been put on in a way that would hold the pallets. Shows how ridiculous it is.
Most drivers ONLY cross the back pallets and not any more. The ironic thing is that if this driver had only done that then he would have been able to pull the internals down the sides and not have had to ratchet strap them. On the other hand he was also told he was not getting fined because he had crossed them all the way down so the officer could see he’d at least made an attempt. He said if you’d only done the back I would have fined you. Swings and roundabouts eh haha
toby1234abc:
A double stacked load of bog roll would be under 400 kgs per double stacked pallet.
Dvsa are talking Betty Bollax to force the driver to put ratchets on.
Ratchet straps only required for a pallet over400 kgs.
Double stack don’t leave much room to get a ratchet through ? And as it’s against H&S to be above ground working over a mt requiring fall arrest equipment.
Rowley010:
I think the point is that the officer was happy with the internals but on every single pallet. As the driver had crossed strapped every other one all the way down he was not able to pull the other internals down the side, therefore leaving half the load with no straps. So the officer said you will have to ratchet strap all the ones you haven’t crossed strapped. He said they were loose when he did them and the officer didn’t even check if they’d been put on in a way that would hold the pallets. Shows how ridiculous it is.
Most drivers ONLY cross the back pallets and not any more. The ironic thing is that if this driver had only done that then he would have been able to pull the internals down the sides and not have had to ratchet strap them. On the other hand he was also told he was not getting fined because he had crossed them all the way down so the officer could see he’d at least made an attempt. He said if you’d only done the back I would have fined you. Swings and roundabouts eh haha
That’s the bit I don’t get. Cross strapping intervals won’t stop sideways movement. According to their own (DVSA) guidelines, 100% of forward and rear movement and 50% of sideways movement must be restricted.
As Nick said above, you’d need a copy of the report to know exactly what was going on.
