Look like poofs to me… the type you put yer feet on when watching the tele.
Whether you agree with it or not, it is what it is.
The rules are, on a standard curtain sider, everything must be secured, up to 400kg can be secured with internals, over that and you’re gonna need straps, nets, chains etc.100% to the forward and 50% to the rear and sides of the weight.
On an XL rated trailer - reinforced body plus curtains, a load with a positive fit requires no restraint, a positive fit is no gaps front and rear and a max of 80mm to the sides. Non positive fit treat as a standard curtain sider or fill the gaps to make it positive fit or just the direction that isn’t positive fit, ie, 20 pallets on a 26 pallet trailer would require 50% of the total load pulling forward.
If you don’t do that chances are you’re gonna get fined if stopped, that load should have been put in an XL rated trailer.
To be fair to them if it was on discretion people ■■■■■ that so and so always do it and don’t get busted, or got pulled this morning and that fella was happy with it, but when there’s a rigid system in place so everyone knows where they stand, people ■■■■■ there’s no discretion!
My guess is the trailer manufacturers will say the curtains have no strength for containment, so you’re gonna be goosed using that as a defence, we all know light stuff is fine, but where do you draw the line?
Once enough have been fined attitudes will change, we have a choice if you want to be part of that changing process
I used to do a job, couple of times a week backloading double stacked empty plastic bottles, weighed next to nowt, I could never ever see them breaking out of the standard curtain sider I had, but if I went back to that job now, I’d want an XL rated trailer
trevHCS:
Conor:
Wouldn’t have taken 5 minutes to pop the internals on to show willing though.That assumes the loaders hadn’t jammed the internals to the back. Plus if they opened the curtains the whole lot would fall out.
That is one of the reasons that DVSA are having the clampdown, the risk of stuff falling off the vehicle when the curtains are opened, not just when it is driving down the road.
Rowley010:
Right so how do you then attache the internals without unbuckling the curtain? Unbuckling the curtain means the load falls out.
If you need to ask then you shouldn’t be driving a lorry. You do it as it is being loaded or you get those loading it to do it as it is being loaded…
stevieboy308:
My guess is the trailer manufacturers will say the curtains have no strength for containment
It isn’t just the curtains, it is capacity of the rails the runners on the top of the curtains run in and the strength of the roof to be able to take the force being applied by the curtains on them due to the load pushing out against them especially as the weight shifts as you drive down the road.
They will be fining chipliners next… [emoji849]
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Conor:
Rowley010:
Right so how do you then attache the internals without unbuckling the curtain? Unbuckling the curtain means the load falls out.If you need to ask then you shouldn’t be driving a lorry. You do it as it is being loaded or you get those loading it to do it as it is being loaded…
Really.
As I mentioned in a previous post the other day.
Vosa are our in force along the m62 for the next 5 weeks or so.
I sympathise with the fella here as not a lot you can do really.
But be warned be more stories like.this and a lot worse over the coming weeks
edd1974:
As I mentioned in a previous post the other day.
Vosa are our in force along the m62 for the next 5 weeks or so.I sympathise with the fella here as not a lot you can do really.
But be warned be more stories like.this and a lot worse over the coming weeks
Not according to Conor. According to Conor it can be strapped. I’d like to see him do it as an instructional video for the industry. I agree you could pull the internals down as it’s being loaded but that’s all you could do. You couldn’t actually attach the straps.
Rowley010:
edd1974:
As I mentioned in a previous post the other day.
Vosa are our in force along the m62 for the next 5 weeks or so.I sympathise with the fella here as not a lot you can do really.
But be warned be more stories like.this and a lot worse over the coming weeks
Not according to Conor. According to Conor it can be strapped. I’d like to see him do it as an instructional video for the industry. I agree you could pull the internals down as it’s being loaded but that’s all you could do. You couldn’t actually attach the straps.
If it needs or wants to be on a curtain sider, then they need to use an XL rated one, they’ve used the wrong trailer for the load, you wouldn’t send a curtain sider to pic up a bulk load of oil, you’d use a tanker, same applies here, use an XL rated curtain sider or pay the fine if stopped, they are the choices!
you could always do what i do and work for companies that pay all fines except for speeding.
that way,you wont give a toss,the company wont give a toss as its only once in a blue moon that you get grief to that extent anyway.
plenty of loads get lifted and dropped without mishap and the one now and again that gets pish penalties like this are just instantly forgotten about and life goes on with good earnings for all concerned.
vosa now need to extract as much revenue to try and self fund,hence the beancounters use a rule book with no grey area to dream up mince like this.
i used to carry loads of loft insulation in curtainsiders… loaded and tipped through the back…bulged out a bit and there was no way it could be strapped … god help me if a roll of that stuff had escaped and hit a cyclist…
Trukkertone:
i used to carry loads of loft insulation in curtainsiders… loaded and tipped through the back…bulged out a bit and there was no way it could be strapped … god help me if a roll of that stuff had escaped and hit a cyclist…
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
how on earth could it possibly escape to hit a poor cyclist unless you loaded it on top of a hand grenade??
I wonder how many drivers the gmp officer and vosa drove past that day that were texting, no seatbelt, on drugs/Alcohol, lane hogging, speeding, no mot, etc etc and did nothing.
The thing is they are currently doing an operation to target insecure loads and incorrectly loaded vehicles, so whilst they will have missed some of stuff you listed it’s because those things weren’t what they were looking for.
Bit like the good old chestnut of saying to a traffic cop shouldn’t you be out looking for burglars and rapists, well no as the whole point of a roads policing unit is to concentrate on the roads.
I’m not saying I agree with the police/dvsa on this one. I think the haulier and the people who load it should be held more accountable and asked why have you sent a driver with an unsuitable trailer for the job.
If a driver could have strapped something and they just couldn’t be arsed that’s a different matter.
Conor:
stevieboy308:
My guess is the trailer manufacturers will say the curtains have no strength for containmentIt isn’t just the curtains, it is capacity of the rails the runners on the top of the curtains run in and the strength of the roof to be able to take the force being applied by the curtains on them due to the load pushing out against them especially as the weight shifts as you drive down the road.
Well the internal strap rail is much less substantial than the curtain rail often just tack welded on or held on with a few bolts yet they’re happy for that to restrain up to 10.4 tonnes of load presumably without the curtains on at all if it’s a sunny day and according to them they only provide weather protection.
Simple answer … use load bearing curtains
Own Account Driver:
Well the internal strap rail is much less substantial than the curtain rail often just tack welded on or held on with a few bolts yet they’re happy for that to restrain up to 10.4 tonnes of load presumably without the curtains on at all if it’s a sunny day and according to them they only provide weather protection.
Quite frightening if you get up and have a look. About eight 6mm bolts without any washers underneath holding up a length of 2mm galvanised channel. In reality just about sufficient to hold up the rail on its own, given that everything hanging off the structure is supposed to be held secured by fixings to withstand 4G. Quite often all the bolts are loose anyway. With the rails being only about 18" to 2’ in from the edge, the straps do virtually nothing to start with… unless the strap is led across to the opposite side of the trailer - but who does that?
cav551:
unless the strap is led across to the opposite side of the trailer - but who does that?
I collect from somewhere in Sunderland which will remain nameless. Bottled drinks. They wont let the load go unless you crossover strap the pallets with internals.
The first time I went there I had the argument that it wasn’t sufficient but was told I couldnt use ratchets as they’d crush the goods (which even with corner boards they would).
So you end up in a situation where you cant win because goods often aren’t presented as fit enough to transport securely. The driver, often without enough equipment to cover every type of load, is forced to make the best of a scenario because its him/her who gets the full hit from the authorities.
We should adopt rules like some other countries in Europe where the consignor is also responsible for load security. The likes of Coca Cola (for example) would have to change the way they send stuff out instead of just gluing a ton of cases together 