toby1234abc:
Minus 47 in Alaska,how do they cope in Candada,when the UK grinds to a halt
Alaska is not in Candada or even Canada so I don’t see the relevance and Canada copes just fine when the UK grinds to a halt, traffic on the M1 doesn’t have much of a bearing on things across the Atlantic 
I thought the trucker driver started ok but shouting and bawling did his case no good. The woman arguing saying that visiting her granny was just as important as getting bread to the shops shelves was a typical selfish, menopausal, middle-class woman who can’t see beyond the end of her nose. She puts Tarquin and Ginny seeing their granny over someone elses granny getting the bread they need. 
The trucker should have just said “what are you and you’re granny going to eat this Christmas?” She cannot have had any answer to that as all food will have been bought by a lorry.
The programme did throw up a couple of interesting ideas though, including prioritising some trucks over others. My job for example (tipper) is non-essential (unless I was carrying salt maybe) but others such as food delivieries are essential to the economy and wider commnity. Perhaps in extreme weather the vehicles supplying goods that are non-essential in the short-term should be parked up to assist traffic flow?
Davey Driver:
toby1234abc:
Minus 47 in Alaska,how do they cope in Candada,when the UK grinds to a halt,Its quite easy for them as they know they are guaranteed heavy snow and cold winters whereas the UK does not have that guarantee
Would it be wise for ALL Local Authorities to add an extra £20 a year onto the council tax bills to enable them to purchase the appropriate gear to deal with a one off harsh winter and also gambling that next years winter maybe just as harsh? Who knows, but at the end of the day with local services being affected how may folk in the UK would agree to a council tax increase.
On the Other hand you could put it down to the Dept of Transport in which case they would increase your Road Tax by around £80 or £90 per year to buy specialist snow clearing equipment to be used on the roads without the guarantees it will be successful, after all the machine operators would still need to get into work before the wheels could turn.
It’s quite simple for folk to make criticisms about the current weather problems but its something entirely different trying to please everyone
dont think it would be wise for councils to add £20 think it would be far better for goverment to confiscate bankers bonuses and divide it out between councils. its our money that they are rewarding themselves 
the standard of the great brittish car driver is terrible in good weather never mind the ice and snow. still there will be no more jacknife lorries when we,ve all done our driver cpc and become a proffesional driver 
its trouble:
still there will be no more jacknife lorries when we,ve all done our driver cpc and become a proffesional driver
Suppose your 100% right there Even the gritter drivers will be better educated with the drivers CPC
The Truck Driver on Vines Radio show did the humble truck Driver NO favours what so ever!!! I was cringing and getting lower and lower in my seat. I imagine the radio show researchers/Producers were laughing their nuts off, what great radio to make TRUCK DRIVERS ONCE AGAIN LOOK LIKE A COMPLETE BUNCH OF MUPPETs!!
For what its worth I think that it is all down to confidence and experience, if we have this weather for as long as they say, people will get used to driving in snow and become more confident.
How can you expect Mr Joe soap who drives 3 miles to work 5 days a week be as confident and experienced as a Trucker who does 2,000 miles a week!!
So all Truckers please bear this in mind, the car that you are bullying (please note NOT all Truckers are bullys) to go faster might be someones Gran or Daughter who only passed their test yesterday and are not as experienced as you.
Also I have only been really stuck in snow twice once was in France for 2 days and the other was for 5 days at Burgos in Spain!!! Not bad for nearlly 30 years Truck driving.
gritting the roads in anything over -7 is a waste of time. as it has no effect.
dafdave:
Correct me if im wrong but when the first m/way m6 was opened by ernie marples in 1963■■?was it not mentioned that one reason for building m/ways was to help road freight move easier instead of getting held up in towns and cities[or words to that effect]
regards dave.
I think you are wrong; wasn’t the M1 the first motorway? It was opened by Sharples but is was in 1959…
hammer:
The programme did throw up a couple of interesting ideas though, including prioritising some trucks over others. My job for example (tipper) is non-essential (unless I was carrying salt maybe) but others such as food delivieries are essential to the economy and wider commnity. Perhaps in extreme weather the vehicles supplying goods that are non-essential in the short-term should be parked up to assist traffic flow?
Our 4 artics have been parked up partly on safety grounds, partly 'cos the concrete plants are all froze solid…
instead of spending megabucks on top of the range gritters ,i remember our local council roads depot in 79 having 2 mack 6x6 ploughs (1946)
2 atkiS 6X6 (60s e reg) plus i think a 4x4 ex army matador?? the rest of the d series tippers had demount bodys.
the government instead of near giving away ex army surplus to auction needs to refurbish and reuse ie give them to local councils…
thereagain some of the old boys driving them …were real drivers… 
newmercman:
toby1234abc:
Minus 47 in Alaska,how do they cope in Candada,when the UK grinds to a haltAlaska is not in Candada or even Canada so I don’t see the relevance and Canada copes just fine when the UK grinds to a halt, traffic on the M1 doesn’t have much of a bearing on things across the Atlantic
just as a matter of course how do you guys manage in canada
maybe the answer is to make it law that studded tyres have to be fitted to cars for winter months and for trucks to carry snow chains.
JIMBO47:
instead of spending megabucks on top of the range gritters ,i remember our local council roads depot in 79 having 2 mack 6x6 ploughs (1946)
2 atkiS 6X6 (60s e reg) plus i think a 4x4 ex army matador?? the rest of the d series tippers had demount bodys.
the government instead of near giving away ex army surplus to auction needs to refurbish and reuse ie give them to local councils…
thereagain some of the old boys driving them …were real drivers…
I can never understand why gritting wagons are bought brand new? Surely better to buy old chassis and put new spreading gear on them considering they’re going to be parked up for most of the year (unless they’re interchangeable with tarmac bodies,gully suckers etc…) It’s a bit like combine harvesters…why so many newish ones when they’re only used for a few months of the year?
JIMBO47:
instead of spending megabucks on top of the range gritters ,i remember our local council roads depot in 79 having 2 mack 6x6 ploughs (1946)
2 atkiS 6X6 (60s e reg) plus i think a 4x4 ex army matador?? the rest of the d series tippers had demount bodys.
the government instead of near giving away ex army surplus to auction needs to refurbish and reuse ie give them to local councils…
thereagain some of the old boys driving them …were real drivers…
hit the nail on the head there 
council depot near me have got 2 or 3 old v ploughs no fittings for modern trucks seemingly an old p reg snow blower rusting away in there yard. think by the time they got that started it’d be summer time think since they split main routes and local routes its got worse council do local and highways agency for that area does the main routes.they wont share the stock piles of salt so have to driver longer distances giving the snow time to settle then freeze by the time they’ve turned and head back to there depot to refill 
the Preston by pass was the first motorway opened
Non essential journeys - does that mean to drive my car to go to work as a coach driver count as non essiental then
its trouble:
they wont share the stock piles of salt so have to driver longer distances giving the snow time to settle then freeze by the time they’ve turned and head back to there depot to refill
So would your boss be keen to share his diesel with a contractor who says we roughly used ■■■ amount of gallons? Same principle, Highways Dept has to buy their own salt to fulfill their contract to Central Government, Local Councils have to buy and stockpile their salt for their areas, Maybe writing to the council in your area and suggesting that they have a stockpile set aside on each of their designated gritting routes would be a good idea, but dont forget to include that the driver would have to load his gritter by hand otherwise it wouldn’t be cost effective if they had 12 routes and had to have 12 JCB’s to load them once an hour
at one time there was a large salthopper at coatsgate (a74) opposite the old cafe ,was a large salt pile as well that i think tarmac (KINGs)quarry used to fill with a shovel for the local council.think there was one at abbington as well.
You used to see loads of salt stores a few years back…Why were they abandoned, cost or environmental reasons? I’ve heard reasons for both…
i know cleaning them out was a bgr ,if they pulled wrong lever you landed in truck underneath! that goes under been there done that …lol
also if it froze hard you could never get the salt out. 
Muckaway:
JIMBO47:
instead of spending megabucks on top of the range gritters ,i remember our local council roads depot in 79 having 2 mack 6x6 ploughs (1946)
2 atkiS 6X6 (60s e reg) plus i think a 4x4 ex army matador?? the rest of the d series tippers had demount bodys.
the government instead of near giving away ex army surplus to auction needs to refurbish and reuse ie give them to local councils…
thereagain some of the old boys driving them …were real drivers…I can never understand why gritting wagons are bought brand new? Surely better to buy old chassis and put new spreading gear on them considering they’re going to be parked up for most of the year (unless they’re interchangeable with tarmac bodies,gully suckers etc…) It’s a bit like combine harvesters…why so many newish ones when they’re only used for a few months of the year?
yes i can remember driving some complete bags of ■■■■ ,already worn to death and then expected to cope with the the corrosive nature of the job
you need to turn the key and go ,reliability is a must, were they reliable like hell they were , parts avalibility ,etc ,etc ,we have 57 plate dafs that are already succumbing to the salt
many of the new fleets are rented for the season
Ok, well, don’t know about you lot, but I’ve been out in my car shopping and visiting and buying and delivering presents.
I then got in my car oo get to my truck to do the ‘essential’.
I’ve had no probs in car, on bike or in truck.
Nobody has any right or priority, if we all work together, roads are fine.