Now i don’t expect to see many hands in the air but in the last month i seen this happen twice , i was at amazon when a truck pulled off the bay turned left and BANG … the trailer slides off the back of the unit and hits the floor, it had a full load on and took them ages to wind the legs down so the unit could get back under …
then last week the same , the truck next to me backs on to the trailer winds the legs up ect pulls off turns right and BANG trailer hits the floor , this time it was empty so they lifted it with a fork lift then wound the legs down , so my question is have you done this …
Usually the other way round, handle when empty or lightly loaded forklift/wrecker/bottle jacks when it’s heavy or sunk into the ground.
The only way to really check the pin and jaws are where they should be is to set the parking brake and get under, in front of the trailer legs, with a torch and visually check the jaws have locked on the pin.
Distraction is our enemy, turn the radio down & concentrate on the job
Check trailer brake is on & all tyres are inflated, wheel nuts all accounted for, reverse under said trailer SLOWLEY, hear the click then give 2 Tugs (in 1st gear), handbrake on, next put the dog clip on the 5th wheel,(if you can’t ‘get it on’ T Rex, there’s something wrong) suzies, number plate, trailer brake off, wind legs up, pull away for a few yards to make sure it’s rolling ok, now do another walk round to check lights & air leaks (it’s amazing how many drivers just leave it with a defect the night before ! )
As Saaamon said, it should take around 15 minutes to do it properly. I’ve known drivers who clock in, collect their keys & they’re out of the gate in 5 minutes-Durrrrrrrr !
Happened to me once, Night man took my rig, brought back to yard in the morning, generously dropped his trailer. hooked up to my one and left, left keys on tyre.
I arrived 5.30am in the dark, checked all OK, clip was on legs wound up, etc etc. got in, started, done what I had to do, came down the slope it had been parked on. turned left and BANG, off it came.
seems like he had backed under the trailer, it had clicked and slammed the bar shut, but only caught the lip, he got out put on the dog clip etc. etc.
Own Account Driver:
Usually the other way round, handle when empty or lightly loaded forklift/wrecker/bottle jacks when it’s heavy or sunk into the ground.
The only way to really check the pin and jaws are where they should be is to set the parking brake and get under, in front of the trailer legs, with a torch and visually check the jaws have locked on the pin.
Was once driving for a German outfit out of Darmstadt, the local drivers hated us. We soon learned to double check every possible thing which could be loosened or undone. I learnt a lot about how someone could be friendly towards you but lethal when your backs turned on that job. Never leave anything safety wise to anyone else, ever!
Why do people seem to think the DCPC covers this? Your initial one defitnately doesn’t, instead of concentrating on the everyday things you’ll do as a wagon driver ie hooking up etc, they would rather you show them the centre of gravity or where drugs could be hidden, in my eyes the cpc should be a hands on course where you show your competent in the skills needed for the job, yes you might hook up and stuff in your test, but when your doing your test in a wag an drag then your going out on a job in a unit it’s a whole different kettle of fish
I’ve seen it done a few times. Genuine mistakes distracted by other people etc. I didn’t post a picture of their misfortune on the Internet for their boss etc to see lol
Seany:
I’ve seen it done a few times. Genuine mistakes distracted by other people etc. I didn’t post a picture of their misfortune on the Internet for their boss etc to see lol
Mixed freight rent alot of there units and trailors out , plus the fact it was dropped right out side the building he was running from I don’t think he was able to hide it …
martinviking:
Distraction is our enemy, turn the radio down & concentrate on the job
Check trailer brake is on & all tyres are inflated, wheel nuts all accounted for, reverse under said trailer SLOWLEY, hear the click then give 2 Tugs (in 1st gear), handbrake on, next put the dog clip on the 5th wheel,(if you can’t ‘get it on’ T Rex, there’s something wrong) suzies, number plate, trailer brake off, wind legs up, pull away for a few yards to make sure it’s rolling ok, now do another walk round to check lights & air leaks (it’s amazing how many drivers just leave it with a defect the night before ! )
As Saaamon said, it should take around 15 minutes to do it properly. I’ve known drivers who clock in, collect their keys & they’re out of the gate in 5 minutes-Durrrrrrrr !
+1
sometimes i get a nights work of shunting and loading trailers, normally 4 or 5.
i reckon doing my checks adds an hour to an hour and a half over a nights work, but i’d rather have that than lose a trailer.
Yup ive put a trailer on its knees on Gatwick runway We were resurfacing the runway earlier this year and I was the shunter bringing loaded asphalt trailers onto runway for others to tip. I had to bring on about 8 trailers and this was a time critical job because the work needs to be finished in time for the first flight of the day so everything was rush rush rush. One night I was sweating my nuts off dropping loaded and taking emptys off the runway that I was distracted by a plane being tugged to a hanger which meant that the taxiway I was using to get landside was closed…so I was working out how I was going to get off the runway whilst winding the legs down. i jumped into unit and pulled forward and heard an almighty BANG!!! I had only turned the handle the wrong way so was raising the legs instead of lowering and being in a rush and distracted and being in the dark hadnt noticed the mistake
But let me tell you this…I NOW CHECK AND DOUBLE CHECK THE LEGS AND SUSIES BEFORE PULLING AWAY!!!
Talk about learning the hard way!
(in 1st gear), handbrake on, next put the dog clip on the 5th wheel,(if you can’t ‘get it on’ T Rex, there’s something wrong) suzies, number plate, trailer brake off, wind legs up, pull away for a few yards to make sure it’s rolling ok, now do another walk round to check lights & air leaks (it’s amazing how many drivers just leave it with a defect the night before ! 
)
We were resurfacing the runway earlier this year and I was the shunter bringing loaded asphalt trailers onto runway for others to tip. I had to bring on about 8 trailers and this was a time critical job because the work needs to be finished in time for the first flight of the day so everything was rush rush rush. One night I was sweating my nuts off dropping loaded and taking emptys off the runway that I was distracted by a plane being tugged to a hanger which meant that the taxiway I was using to get landside was closed…so I was working out how I was going to get off the runway whilst winding the legs down. i jumped into unit and pulled forward and heard an almighty BANG!!! I had only turned the handle the wrong way so was raising the legs instead of lowering and being in a rush and distracted and being in the dark hadnt noticed the mistake 