Forgetting to put the handbrake on

[dreva]

well the stories coming thick and fast

[alcpone]

Never done it and really hope never to. I am good with routine, just always hitch up like I was tought, shouldnt go far wrong

[harry_monk]

Alcpone:
Never done it and really hope never to. I am good with routine, just always hitch up like I was tought, shouldnt go far wrong

Yes, but you have to remember that there are only two types of truck driver- those who have made a stupid mistake, and those that are going to

[newmercman]

I also witnessed a rather amusing episode involving hooking up without the handbrake on, a friend was hooking up & I wound the legs up while he was on the catwalk doing the suzies, he turned on the taps & the whole thing started rolling forward, he started to flap & I shouted for him to pull the red line off, which he did, he’d travelled about 40’ by this time & had a decent bit of momentum, as he pulled the red line the trailer brakes came on & it stopped dead, unfortunately the rain water that had collected on the top of the tilt was still moving & every single drop came down between the back of the cab & the front of the trailer, my mate was soaked through & I was PMSL, I bet he’s never hooked up without double checking the handbrake since

[beattun]

Harry Monk:

woodlands:
*What is a ■■■■?

It is short for Mongoloid, originally a description of a race of people from eastern Asia, of whom Genghis Khan is probably the most well-known member, the term has been more latterly used as a derogatory term for someone with Downs Syndrome, because of the supposed similarity of sufferers’ facial features to those of Mongols.

thanks Harry, I had no idea

[dreva]

you wont know what a joey is either

[mike68]

Did it first time out in an artic, connected all the susies and off we went, then someone suggested I might like to remove the red air line, by this time we had gathered a fair bit of speed,air line removed the truck stopped and I whacked into the back of the cab and became entangled in the remaining susies. It was quite some time before I forgot again

[rob_k]

newmercman:
I also witnessed a rather amusing episode involving hooking up without the handbrake on, a friend was hooking up & I wound the legs up while he was on the catwalk doing the suzies, he turned on the taps & the whole thing started rolling forward, he started to flap & I shouted for him to pull the red line off, which he did, he’d travelled about 40’ by this time & had a decent bit of momentum, as he pulled the red line the trailer brakes came on & it stopped dead, unfortunately the rain water that had collected on the top of the tilt was still moving & every single drop came down between the back of the cab & the front of the trailer, my mate was soaked through & I was PMSL, I bet he’s never hooked up without double checking the handbrake since

That is [zb] hilarious, I wish I’d seen that.

[newmercman]

Rob, it was one of those moments that make you laugh out loud 20 odd years later

When we got to Dover to ship out, all his windows were steamed up from his wet clothes

[actrosman]

newmercman:
I also witnessed a rather amusing episode involving hooking up without the handbrake on, a friend was hooking up & I wound the legs up while he was on the catwalk doing the suzies, he turned on the taps & the whole thing started rolling forward, he started to flap & I shouted for him to pull the red line off, which he did, he’d travelled about 40’ by this time & had a decent bit of momentum, as he pulled the red line the trailer brakes came on & it stopped dead, unfortunately the rain water that had collected on the top of the tilt was still moving & every single drop came down between the back of the cab & the front of the trailer, my mate was soaked through & I was PMSL, I bet he’s never hooked up without double checking the handbrake since

thats as funny as ■■■■ i’d have loved to have been there on the sidelines…i’d have died!! But seriously, shows wot a simple mistake can lead to…think the shower was a wake up call or punishment■■?

[prichardson]

I did it once when hooking up to a drag at Debenhams in Brackmills. It’s a tight yard on a bit of a slope, so not a lot of room for ‘rolling mistakes’

The VBG pin clunked down, so in a rush I jumped out the cab, hooked the suzies up, raised the legs and hit the hand-break on the drag. The whole bloody thing started to role forward so in a panic ran around to the front of the vehicle, decided I’d never hit the hand-break in the cab on time so ran back and hit the trailer break.

Lesson learned… Never again! With drivers & security cameras around it could have got me sacked or worse, got someone else killed. The unit came to a stop just inches away from a parked lorry so the damage would have been quite severe at the least.

We are only human and everyone makes mistakes. I think this is a mistake you never want to make more than once!

Paul.

[dreva]

prichardson:
I did it once when hooking up to a drag at Debenhams in Brackmills. It’s a tight yard on a bit of a slope, so not a lot of room for ‘rolling mistakes’

The VBG pin clunked down, so in a rush I jumped out the cab, hooked the suzies up, raised the legs and hit the hand-break on the drag. The whole bloody thing started to role forward so in a panic ran around to the front of the vehicle, decided I’d never hit the hand-break in the cab on time so ran back and hit the trailer break.

Lesson learned… Never again! With drivers & security cameras around it could have got me sacked or worse, got someone else killed. The unit came to a stop just inches away from a parked lorry so the damage would have been quite severe at the least.

We are only human and everyone makes mistakes. I think this is a mistake you never want to make more than once!

Paul.

true mate but i did do it twice

[rob_k]

newmercman:
Rob, it was one of those moments that make you laugh out loud 20 odd years later

When we got to Dover to ship out, all his windows were steamed up from his wet clothes

I’d have been wetting myself laughing.

[hitch]

the law of sod says

1 you will forgeet the handbrake
2 you will rag the susies
3 you will drop a trailer on its knees

[kw]

I’ve only ever done it once myself.

It was during the 80’s when I worked at Goodways in Felixstowe.I had backed under an empty 40’ skelly in the yard,which at the time all the trailers were backed up towards the fence on a slight downhill slope.Anyway,I’d put the dog-clip on,wound the legs up and was on the catwalk connecting up the susies,then,as I jumped down I was amazed to see the whole lot rolling past me!
I leapt back onto the catwalk and pulled the red-line off.The trailer was literally half an inch from the fence.

One of our Belgian drivers had a narrow escape a couple of weeks ago.He’d loaded in front of me at the auction in St.Truiden and had pulled round the corner of the yard to write a CMR out. Couple of blokes roll in in a 3.5 tonner,jump out and go walking off to the office.
The 3.5 tonner,with no handbrake on,rolled back into the side of his fridge leaving a nasty hole in the side where the top corner of the 3.5 tonner had hit it.Oops!