Have you lost anything sir?

UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUMS THE UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUM (INTERACTIVE)
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Page last updated at 14:00 GMT+01:00, Tuesday, 3 July 2012
Trucker drove miles without wheel

VOSA officers said the truck was “shockingly defective”
A chemical lorry could have caused a catastrophic accident after the driver carried on when he failed to realise he had lost a wheel, say officials.

It is not known how far the truck went without one of its six rear wheels.

The driver’s journey took him over 110 miles (177km) on the A55 from Anglesey to Cheshire before being stopped.

He told officers he had felt a vibration during his journey. He received a fixed penalty, and officials are still trying to find the wheel.

The lorry had left Holyhead carrying a concentrate widely used in the drinks industry, which can be highly corrosive in the concentrated form in which it was being transported.

The truck was stopped travelling south on the M6 at Sandbach on 27 June.

The Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) prevented the driver continuing his journey to his homeland of Romania.

VOSA officers said the wheel and other solid metal parts such as nuts and brake disc could have caused serious damage to other road users.

“The vehicle came in via Holyhead and we know the wheel detached somewhere between Holyhead and Sandbach,” said VOSA area manager David Collings.

The truck was stopped on the M6 during rush hour
VOSA is working with Traffic Wales and the Highways Agency to try to locate the missing wheel.

“This shockingly defective vehicle could have caused a catastrophic accident,” said Mr Collings.

“It could have resulted in serious injury and loss of life, and also major disruption on the road network.”

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Do our traveling friends use Holyhead as a crossing point? If so maybe they can help VOSA locate the missing wheel. :smiley:

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Just a thought… he didn’t go via Liverpool and pull up there for a 45 break did he? :wink:

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gnasty gnome:
Just a thought… he didn’t go via Liverpool and pull up there for a 45 break did he? :wink:

in 45 minutes he would have lost all his wheels, anything in the cab, the contents of his load, and the road tax disc.

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i saw very similar the other day on the M1 and i know you can still see the marks, i followed these heavy black skid marks for about 8 miles weaving on and off the hard shoulder. in places they were much wider like the marks left by a car fire. (tyres blowing maybe) i then saw services 1 mile! ahhh his trying to limp it to services, NOPE the marks carried on past the services to the next junction were i saw a vehicle transporter. (like the ones that carry another vehicle transporter on the back when tipped) pulled over by motorway patrol. and i mean PULLED OVER they were in front of him in a blocking angle, from what i saw at least 2 tyres had completely gone and the rim had contacted the road. surely you would notice this?

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I lost the nearside tyre on the rear most axle of a tri axle trailer once, lightly loaded and never felt a thing, was another driver who alerted me to the fact.

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I have had the inner tyre flat on 7.5tonner. I never knew!

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I had a drive wheel come of a unit in France, I know I lost it because it rolled past me while I was stopping :blush:
Tax disc on a romanian truck ?

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gnasty gnome:
Just a thought… he didn’t go via Liverpool and pull up there for a 45 break did he? :wink:

young snotter - " a fiva ta luk afta ya truck ahh khid "

me replies - " it`s ok thanks , I have a big dog in the cab with me "

snotter — " yeah mate, but can it put fires out ? "

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Phantom Mark:
I lost the nearside tyre on the rear most axle of a tri axle trailer once, lightly loaded and never felt a thing, was another driver who alerted me to the fact.

Exactly same thing happened to me, i never felt a thing :frowning:

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rockape2620:

Phantom Mark:
I lost the nearside tyre on the rear most axle of a tri axle trailer once, lightly loaded and never felt a thing, was another driver who alerted me to the fact.

Exactly same thing happened to me, i never felt a thing :frowning:

Exactly. It can easily happen to any one, wether Irish, British or Romanian.

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TokenYank:

gnasty gnome:
Just a thought… he didn’t go via Liverpool and pull up there for a 45 break did he? :wink:

in 45 minutes he would have lost all his wheels, anything in the cab, the contents of his load, and the road tax disc.

Not the road tax discs. They don’t have them in Romania :wink:

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orys:

TokenYank:

gnasty gnome:
Just a thought… he didn’t go via Liverpool and pull up there for a 45 break did he? :wink:

in 45 minutes he would have lost all his wheels, anything in the cab, the contents of his load, and the road tax disc.

Not the road tax discs. They don’t have them in Romania :wink:

They don’t have them in Liverpool either Orys :stuck_out_tongue:

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I know of a fella that years ago lost a wheel off a Ford Cortina and didn’t notice - until he tried to go around a corner…and no it wasn’t me…I was but a nipper in the days of the old Cortina!!! :wink:

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I lost the nearside front wheel on a Mk1 Capri whilst hammering round a right hand inner city type junction (young and brash at the time), I certainly felt that lol, snapped the studs clean off the hub, my mate lost the front wheel off a Mk1 Sierra at 60mph…so yer, it certainly is not limited to trucks.

The worst thing I lost was brake pads !!

One night driving some passengers to Newark on the A46 from Lincoln in a Montego Taxi (back before it was all dual) and I was braking from 60mph and suddenly lost 90% of my brakes, one twitchy arse moment was that, handbrake and gears only saved us, JUST. The car earlier that day had been into Motosave in Lincoln for new brake pads, and they never secured the calliper holding bolts correctly, so basically the bloody pads just flew out !!! I went into Motosave the next morning to give them some of my mind and was totally fobbed off :imp: :unamused:

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Aha, lost wheels :smiley: Reminds me of the time I lost two wheels on the middle axle nearside, on a step frame trailer, on my way to Stranraer. Only found one of them. Boss sent out a tyre man who jacked up the drooping axle, we took a chain across the bed of the trailer to the other side, through a loop and back again, under the axle and tightened it up. Big lump of machinery on the back so it didn’t take up the whole of the trailer. I drove to the ferry, got on, and drove an hour across Ireland to the delivery point. Then my mate double decked it and brought it back to Leicester. Everyone was singing Three Wheels on my Wagon, whenever they saw me after that. :smiley:
Ilona

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Truckulent:
I know of a fella that years ago lost a wheel off a Ford Cortina and didn’t notice - until he tried to go around a corner…and no it wasn’t me…I was but a nipper in the days of the old Cortina!!! :wink:

That happened to a mate too on a Capri, he lost the wheel, brake drum, shoes and even half shaft. The car must have been bloody wide just before it dropped to its wheel arch.