How do truck drivers who haul bales about not get pulled by traffic for insecure load 
As they lose most of the load all over the road 
, i mean if traffic was having a bad day could they persue it
If a truck drivers sets off with a trailer full bales from lands end and gets to his destination in john o’groats all he’d be delivering is lumps of bailer twine
(had a long boring motorway drive today)
I do not know the legal issues on this but I can only GUESS that it would depend on the amount being lost at any one time and causing a safety problem for others - if a field or grass is cut next to a road and the wind blows it across a road in small bits then that is usually seems acceptable…
Plus is highly flamable think its in class 4.1 flamable solid, (might be in 4.2 though not sure dont deal with it!) but stragly it doesnt come under any ADR rules yet its listed in the big oragne bible of adr.
One hit the underside of the M62 bridge last week at the M1/M62 junction southbound, and there was hay everywhere, so it must have been some height.
I phoned it through to Sally Traffic, but as I was near my destination, I don’t know if it was read out.
Ken.
and what about Sugar Beet wagons?
By law they dont need to have their loads covered “as the beet holds itself into the trailer”. Go near any Sugar Beet factory at this time of year and the road is littered with the stuff so its obviously not holding each other into the trailer.
Bales are strapped on.
Two over the front crossed over to pull it back, two over the rear crossed over to pull it forward and one over the middle for whatever hasn’t been strapped.
That’s if you do it right!
DadsRetired:
and what about Sugar Beet wagons?By law they dont need to have their loads covered “as the beet holds itself into the trailer”. Go near any Sugar Beet factory at this time of year and the road is littered with the stuff so its obviously not holding each other into the trailer.
i’m a tipper driver and i was told told anything below 22mm has to sheeted and that anything above wasnt unless it was very dusty but its better putting the sheet on as you get nearly a 1/2 mpg more than with it off
The worst of it blows off in the first few miles. It’s just the loose stuff, ever opened a bale of hay and spread it all out? It’s amazing how much is in there, the bit that blows off in the wind really is nothing. You have to give a good tug at a bale to remove any of the hay that is making the bound bale structural.
I can’t see a bit of soft grass on the road causing a serious accident (though having said that, stranger things have happened) compared to gravel, diesel, rubbish from skip lorries and whatever else gets chucked off HGV’s.
Strap it all up tight (got some good tips in a thread from here a while back) and its amazing how secure it gets. The bales themselves aren’t going anywhere.
Really fussy customers aren’t going to like wet bales, so if you are going any kind of a distance, it would pay to sheet it up properly as well. Though this takes time, and a lot can’t be bothered clearly, including my boss.
If you load up a barn with damp hay, and the bales spontaneously combust (even good hay can get quite warm) then its highly likely that as a haulier you would be liable for the damages.
Some of my better efforts;
Less good, usually when rushing trying to keep up with a tractor that is throwing them at you;
Early days, pretty ■■■■ awful 
, but it made it, no motorways
Some farmers/baling machines are better than others, so a ropey looking load isn’t always completely my fault. 
I think we should have a STRAW poll on this issue but HAY, what do I know, and no GRASSing on those that do this job
Imp:
Plus is highly flamable think its in class 4.1 flamable solid, (might be in 4.2 though not sure dont deal with it!) but stragly it doesnt come under any ADR rules yet its listed in the big oragne bible of adr.
Hi Imp, nearly right mate. 
Hay and straw (UN 1327) are dangerous goods of UN Class 4.1, but no PG is allocated, so I wouldn’t use the word ‘highly’ flammable.
You’re correct that hay and straw are not regulated on roads by ADR, but since it IS dangerous goods, the Regs for other modes of carriage DO regulate it.
For instance, if you carry hay from say… Birmingham to Paris, you’d have catch a ferry, but you wouldn’t need an ADR licence or be required to fit orange plates on your vehicle whilst you’re on the roads, but hay is regulated by sea under IMDG, so 3 x UN Class 4.1 placards may be required but ONLY WHILST IT’S ON A BOAT.
The Channel Tunnel wouldn’t be an option, because they have banned UN 1327 completely.
Argh thanks Dave that explains my curiousity to it!
I’ve often wondered about the amount of the load on a journey. One morning I followed a Cornish haulier up Danbury hill in Essex and there was stuff blowing all over the shop. It started me thinking about how much would have been lost if he’d come all the way from Cornwall and how long it would take for the load to completely disappear. The way it was going he may have been empty by Maldon
What’s up with sheeting it. It don’t take long when you’re used to it, and if you’re going a long way and it pee’s down, it don’t end up weighing 100 ton. 
One sheet would do it, like the jumbo’s we used to have on eight leggers… oh hang on I’ve just remembered, 'elf n safety wouldn’t allow you to climb on the load to put a sheet on would they ?
A few years ago we were shipping hay out to france, through dover too calais and killingholme too zeebrugge, the ferry companies insisted it was sheeted to the chock rail and none of the load could be showing, but it didn’t have adr boards or any warnings on it.
8wheels:
I’ve often wondered about the amount of the load on a journey. One morning I followed a Cornish haulier up Danbury hill in Essex and there was stuff blowing all over the shop. It started me thinking about how much would have been lost if he’d come all the way from Cornwall and how long it would take for the load to completely disappear. The way it was going he may have been empty by Maldon
He was laying a trail so he could find his way home
Living here in rural west Dorset, there’s broken hay bales everywhere. Couple of weeks back I came across one of those big round bales wrapped in black polythene, was around 2 metres diameter and I would guess around a tonne. Might not be so soft if you drove into it 
.
Tiger.
They should all be sheeted, anything that falls off a lorry as it goes down a road is insecure surely? How can somethings be ok & others not?
I followed one down from somewhere in the middle of nowhere towards the A11 at Thetford & there was stuff coming off it the whole way down, at one point it brushed some trees, it was like an explosion & I couldn’t see a thing, that could easily have caused an accident, by the time I got to the A11 my lorry was getting hot, I was in a Stralis & the hay/straw had filled all the holes in the front up so no air was getting to the engine, I had to pull over to clear it all 
There is one reason its generally not sheeted as sort of said in wildgooses post. If the hay/straw is sheeted it it creates a heat spot and it can spontaniously combust and then you is in deep doo doo!
Same reason 99% of farmers store it outdoors and not in a barn.
steadymabo:
A few years ago we were shipping hay out to france, through dover too calais and killingholme too zeebrugge, the ferry companies insisted it was sheeted to the chock rail and none of the load could be showing, but it didn’t have adr boards or any warnings on it.
Diesel Dave will give a better answer to this but as he said it doesnt come under ADR rules in the UK even though its in class 4.1 but has no packing group so its totally exempt. Different story though on ferrys as it DOES come under dangerous goods under the IMDG. A different minefield of rules and regs only beaten by the Air freight ones LOL
WildGoose:
Some of my better efforts;
Less good, usually when rushing trying to keep up with a tractor that is throwing them at you;
Early days, pretty ■■■■ awful
Some farmers/baling machines are better than others, so a ropey looking load isn’t always completely my fault.
what’s with all the wasted space at the back you’d get an extra ton or two on there with a decent overhang
( and you’re right about the bales - it’s hard to make it look right with soft bales )