Claretmac:
Bare with me on this!!!I am a relatively new driver and I got sent into London last week, twice, first time, I had catford and wimbledon. No problems whatsoever, the truckers sat nav took me straight to the drops, happy days, gave a “phew” when I got out of london though, carnage!!
Couple of days later, another London job (tottenham). Due to success the previous occasion, I thought will be ok, sat nav will take me straight to the drop again!! But, just to be on the safe side I consulted the map for best way into tottenham, had my route planned, happy days!
Trundled down the M25 towards J25, couple of miles short of J26, Tacho starts flashing, bugger, need a 30 min break!! Come off at 26, no layby’s!! Big Do’s Little do’s got my break in (2 Mins late) and continued to tottenham, albeit via a different way.
Got to the road I needed (According to Postcode) and c**p!! ■■■■ width restriction, continued on main road (no roundabouts to turn round!!) Sat nav didn’t pick up another route in, got on the phone to a collegaue and he “talked me in” however, miss communication and I turned too soon, straight down a tight residential road, got to crossroads, turned right and reversed ready to swing it right back the way I came, attempted the right turn, got stuck, not enough room due to all the street furniture!!
Ended up having to unbolt one of the thin hi vis plastic direction boards off the springy rubber mount in centre of road to get round the corner back the way I came, (after about 3 attempts to get round without pulling up street furniture)!!
Anyway managed to get to the drop and subsequently back out of London!!
Needless to say I have now purchased a London A-Z and will definately be planning my route prior to ever entering London again!!! First time I was fortunate but the 2nd time, was a classic example of how it can all go horribly wrong in this game and will not be making the same errors again!! Anything to make your job easier is well worth doing!!
Suppose the main points on this are:-
- Do NOT rely on Sat Navs whatsoever!!
- If a possibility of going into London, BUY an A-Z of London.
- If possible get in touch with the customer and confirm where they are located!! As the postcodes the office give you may just be a general area rather than an exact pin point of the location!
I use truckers sat nav (TomTom 5150) + my Smart phone map zoom into routes near the destination so I know what I can expect and I usually look for a backup route in case Highways England decide to spoil my day 
I also have a truckers atlas but the smart phone google maos is quicker and you can zoom into the street etc.