travelling home this morning from fradley, gets to bramham A1 and outa no where comes the severe,est gales ive come across for a long while, nothing until i get to bramham, great i think to myself, me with a 16ft double decker, with 9 pallets totalling 1.1 tonne. so its off the gass and a steady 40/45 mph, through the new stretch of road to where the old wetherby bends end beginning of 3 lane stretch, and there it was, an artic on its side coned off to 1 lane as it was lying in lane 2 and 3. could only make out that it was a dark blue volvo (old shape).then just passed that a lorry with drag on s/bound side with the back end up the verge only the bankside keeping it upright.so i pull over for ten minutes and its obvious it aint dying down, so i plodded on at 40/50 mph back to base.
it had to be the hairy est drive ive had in a long time. by the time i got back 0400, a bird had commited harry carry on my n/s door
i hit a cone in middle of road and a strap of some kind was wrapped round trl air bag o/s.(i remembered going over one aswell.
what i couldnt decide on --(should i get blown over)-- was wether to hang on tight in driving position, hands firmly gripping steering wheel (which i was taught to do driving tractors on the farm). or-- (what i was inclined to do)dive into the bunk and pray…as i would have landed on driver side. hitting tarmac.a thought that doesnt fill me with joy let me tell you.
i hope the driver of the two blown over wagons are okay. if any one has heard anything.
the A1 n/bound just as the three lanes start will be closed at some point today to recover one of them…
the incident on the A1 / A63 fork north bound this morning just happened 50 ft in front of me, one of B+Q`s (empty) demountable boxes on a rigid decided to part company with the chassis, flying across onto the central resevation, partially blocking lane 2.
I myself have had a few hair raising moments today on the way up to safeway stockton, mainly crossing flyovers, including the viaduct on the A19 south of boro, the tees flyover at stockton, and worst of all the wentbridge viaduct coming back down the A1 tonight, the guy in front got severly hit by crosswinds which tipped me off, I luckily managed to dip the brakes just before driving onto the bridge, but still got shovede over onto the next lane
I think I`ll be needing clean trousers for tomorrow
Being knocked about passing Brum on the M6 this afternoon, at a steady 45 (on the exposed bit near J6. Feeling like I’m going to go over and clenching my ■■■■ cheeks every time a gust hit me ith a 14’5 curtain sider on, got my doors blown off by a [zb] with a curtain sided step trailer who was being knocked from lane to lane. I wonder how far he got .
It was certainly a bit blowy today a nice trip over the pennines to Stoke and back today. Oh and today was one of those ‘tell you what take an artic’ days Great Just glad it wasnt a curtainsider!
There was an Ar lunn in a ditch on m62 Wes tthis morning. Gone a long way down embankment before it looks like it had come to rest against a tree!
The cranes on the sites we work will stop work when the wind speed goes over a certain level, it’s health and safety. However us truck drivers keep going even when people are killed. We have laws telling us how long we can work, but not when we must stop because of high winds. Thats left to us to argue with our bosses, knowing that if we don’t go then some other sucker will.
I,ve just got back from a run Grantham to Gretna Services luckily they decided to double man it so we went the M62 instead of the A66 which was not closed to my amazement.
Going over the top of the 62 was a bit hairy considering we only had 15 pallets on and as usual a loose curtain ( ■■■■■■■ shunters!!!) took us nearly 6 hours to get there and just 4.15 to get back, we were fully laden on return so decided to use the 66 but fortunately i was asleep in the bunk as it was my mates turn to drive, i woke up just near the A1/M62 turn and about 10 miles south of there there was a truck on its side it looked like the guy had been parked in the layby and it had been blown over, i just hope he was ok.
Thats me finished until tuesday night i just hope any of you going that way today will be ok.
This last two days have made me so glad i do bulk work. Low trailers with 44t pinning me down certainly makes for less stress. And of course if its too windy to raise the body i just dont tip
Glad to say I didn’t do the Fradely run yesterday, would not have fancied taking the double decker out in that wind. Just running from Sheffield to the north of Barnsley with an empty trailer was bad enough. No straps to tie curtains back.
Frightened the crapout of me a couple of times.
The M1 was blocked yesterdat at 29 - 30, got to 28 & decided to go an the a38, about 20 minutes down the road sally decided to tell me the m1 was now open again
I must have run that section of the Northbound A1 at around the same time as you…I too passed the artic on it’s side (a Comet wagon?) and the wagon and drag…and was very thankful my 40ft “sail” was loaded, if still getting blown about…
…I was even more glad to find that my next box out was also loaded, since the trek across the tops on the A59 was seriously hairy - nearly got very intimate with the ditches over Blubberhouses a few times!
Teesport dock excelled itself as ever though…even in that gale they were shifting boxes off the quay by crane between gusts… …they had more sense than to try and load them on wagons that way mind - 28 tonnes of freight swinging manically in a gale is scary - so they just put them on the deck well away from the truck and brought a stacker in to do the last bit. Time Felixstowe learnt a lesson or two from these guys…or maybe it takes a North Eastern man to have nerves (and underpants) of steel…
Ps. Wonder who the Lunny’s lad was and whether he’s ok? I’ve a couple of friends on there from my TEPS days…will make enquiries after the holiday…
Lucy:
I must have run that section of the Northbound A1 at around the same time as you…I too passed the artic on it’s side (a Comet wagon?) and the wagon and drag…and was very thankful my 40ft “sail” was loaded, if still getting blown about…
…I was even more glad to find that my next box out was also loaded, since the trek across the tops on the A59 was seriously hairy - nearly got very intimate with the ditches over Blubberhouses a few times!
Teesport dock excelled itself as ever though…even in that gale they were shifting boxes off the quay by crane between gusts… …they had more sense than to try and load them on wagons that way mind - 28 tonnes of freight swinging manically in a gale is scary - so they just put them on the deck well away from the truck and brought a stacker in to do the last bit. Time Felixstowe learnt a lesson or two from these guys…or maybe it takes a North Eastern man to have nerves (and underpants) of steel…
teesport have always excelled lucy. best docks bar none for me.
muckles:
The cranes on the sites we work will stop work when the wind speed goes over a certain level, it’s health and safety. However us truck drivers keep going even when people are killed. We have laws telling us how long we can work, but not when we must stop because of high winds. Thats left to us to argue with our bosses, knowing that if we don’t go then some other sucker will.
Not sure about cranes, but work platforms have limits of 28mph…
ohterry:
what i couldnt decide on --(should i get blown over)-- was wether to hang on tight in driving position, hands firmly gripping steering wheel (which i was taught to do driving tractors on the farm). or-- (what i was inclined to do)dive into the bunk and pray…
Terry,
Firmly grip the steering wheel, brace body against seat, door and floor and then clench teeth and hold chin on chest. Hopefully the combination of this and the seatbelt should improve your chances considerably. The thought of ‘diving on the bunk’ sends shivers…
I am a cross-country driving instructor for both class B & C vehicles so (hopefully) I know what i’m on about!!
Luckily, strapping the curtains back & the doors open is something I’ve never had to do.
Could one of you more experienced drivers (Vince?) explain (in detail) how to do it please?
(I’ve a fair idea, but never hurts to get a 2nd opinion)
.
