i’ve argued it many times.
PC Young used to give me tickets for failing to have my lorry illuminated, it was parked under a street lamp.
he just loved wasting my time, the courts time, and his own time.
in the end i got sick of going to court, so i bought a light to hang off my mirror.
i came home from a club at about 2am, and there was a man in a police uniform dismantling the light with his baton. i got the impression he didn’t like me. he got quite upset by the fact that i wasn’t too ■■■■■■ to record him. but i didn’t get another ticket. 
he was the sort of copper that other coppers didn’t like.
coreysboys:
Acknowledging the silly/illegal parking of the trailer, there has to be a large element of careless driving here??There was a street light illuminating the front of the trailer so surely anybody paying attention and taking the bend at an appropriate speed would have seen it and stopped?
Obviously I dont know all of the factors but its food for thought.
Can’t see how you have come to the conclusion that it is illegally and silly parking??
I would have dropped it in the same place.
If it was dropped on the other side of the road it would have impeded drivers coming out of the junction where the camera is and force drivers to drive on the wrong side of the road on a blind bend onto on coming traffic. He has dropped it under a street light so is clearly illuminated. If it is that much of a hazardous bend then there would be double yellows down.
Driver should be done for driving without due care as you say. Nothing wrong with that trailer at all.
Not long after the “no win no fee” junk became widespread one of our trailers was dropped overnight on a dead end road near a steel supplier, young romeo and his girlfriend went down there in the car for a bit of fun and he smacked the back end of the trailer, wrote the car off and bust both his legs in the process, big claim went through as the trailer was unlit during the hours of darkness. Only time I’ve ever known someone to get well and truly ■■■■■■ while still having his trousers on.
Granted the trailer was unlit but you really feel the adverts should say “run into something 40 foot long and 8 foot wide? Well look where the hell you are going!”
FarnboroughBoy11:
coreysboys:
Acknowledging the silly/illegal parking of the trailer, there has to be a large element of careless driving here??There was a street light illuminating the front of the trailer so surely anybody paying attention and taking the bend at an appropriate speed would have seen it and stopped?
Obviously I dont know all of the factors but its food for thought.
Can’t see how you have come to the conclusion that it is illegally and silly parking??
I would have dropped it in the same place.
If it was dropped on the other side of the road it would have impeded drivers coming out of the junction where the camera is and force drivers to drive on the wrong side of the road on a blind bend onto on coming traffic. He has dropped it under a street light so is clearly illuminated. If it is that much of a hazardous bend then there would be double yellows down.
Driver should be done for driving without due care as you say. Nothing wrong with that trailer at all.
I think someone has already posted the regs that state it was illegal.
As for silly, it was on the wrong side of the road at night time rather close to the exit of a bend.
At night I will always drop on the correct side of the road so the red reflectors will be hit by the lights of an approaching vehicle.
There was nothing stopping the driver at least turning around before unhitching even if he parked in the same spot.
Nontheless, what a muppet for hitting a stationary object so large!!
EDIT Looking at the activity of the investigators it seems the car may have cut the corner at speed and locked up prior to hitting the trailer as they seem to be measuring skid marks.
this is NOTHING to do with Middlegate, it’s not their trailer and it’s not even outside their yard. this is a misleading headline. Brookes recovery are resposible for leaving trailers, wreckers, etc on the verges/roads up and down the streets in that area, opposite other peoples gates, usually all day long.
I always see the rules about parking with lights/refelctors and not near bends/unctions etc as a belt and braces thing, drivers should always be able to stop in time to prevent a collision wtih a stationary object, the only diffrence that lights etc makes it they allow drivers to spot the hazzard earlier and plan there driving better eg avoiding hevey and last minuite braking. There is no excuse for running into a stationary trailer light or unlit, bend or no bend. the driver should be done for driving with out due care and attention after all trees near roads arnt lit up at night
Even if the trailer was facing the “right” way,can anyone tell me how you keep the lights operating on a trailer when the unit has been disconnected from it? 
It’s not even on Haller St, it’s Grindell St, the bend isn’t even 90 degrees it’s at worst 30 degrees, even with the rights or wrongs of a dropped trailer where it is, the pillock in the car must’ve been toeing it.
obsessivecompulsive2:
Even if the trailer was facing the “right” way,can anyone tell me how you keep the lights operating on a trailer when the unit has been disconnected from it?
It would have some reflectors and the strange marker boards pointing towards the dingbat in the Mitsubushi 
Wheel Nut:
obsessivecompulsive2:
Even if the trailer was facing the “right” way,can anyone tell me how you keep the lights operating on a trailer when the unit has been disconnected from it?It would have some reflectors and the strange marker boards pointing towards the dingbat in the Mitsubushi
Yes it would,but the law states the trailer must be displaying it’s lights! How exactly do you do that when the unit is no longer there to provide that very facility?
It was a Suzuki by the way,Grand Vitara looking at the pic!
If you can’t do it safely then don’t leave it there.
obsessivecompulsive2:
Yes it would,but the law states the trailer must be displaying it’s lights! How exactly do you do that when the unit is no longer there to provide that very facility?
Best ask Truckpol, they seem to manage it with that trailer they leave parked in laybys advertising the area as a high truck crime location.
Driveroneuk:
obsessivecompulsive2:
Yes it would,but the law states the trailer must be displaying it’s lights! How exactly do you do that when the unit is no longer there to provide that very facility?Best ask Truckpol, they seem to manage it with that trailer they leave parked in laybys advertising the area as a high truck crime location.
I believe that the trailer once had lights but someone pinched the batteries
Driveroneuk:
obsessivecompulsive2:
Yes it would,but the law states the trailer must be displaying it’s lights! How exactly do you do that when the unit is no longer there to provide that very facility?Best ask Truckpol, they seem to manage it with that trailer they leave parked in laybys advertising the area as a high truck crime location.
I thought that was just VERY reflective writing they’d stuck to them! 
Highway Code:
Drive at a speed that will allow you to stop well within the distance you can see to be clear.
That trailer could of been a pedestrian, car driver needs their licence taking off them for their own good.
Mike-C:
Highway Code:Drive at a speed that will allow you to stop well within the distance you can see to be clear.
That trailer could of been a pedestrian, car driver needs their licence taking off them for their own good.
Firstly i’d suggest an eyesight test for the car driver,if they fail this basic test at the roadside,then arrest and prosecution should follow for “Driving with uncorrected/defective vision”
92
Vision. You MUST be able to read a vehicle number plate, in good daylight, from a distance of 20 metres (or 20.5 metres where the old style number plate is used). If you need to wear glasses (or contact lenses) to do this, you MUST wear them at all times while driving. The police have the power to require a driver to undertake an eyesight test.
Laws RTA 1988 sect 96 & MV(DL)R reg 40 & sch 8
Nobodys actually thought something could have been driving the other way and not checked his/her mirror and see the accident happen!Chances are drivers been looking and talking to his passenger and seen it to late or not at all.
Easy answer is to park semi-trailer’s at their operating centre or pay for a truckstop or services. Luckly no -one was killed this time.
Wouldn’t want to be a driver who caused someone death through illegally parking. Let it be a lesson to us all.
Quite often the dutch guy delivering flowers to here leaves his drawbar trailer on a motorway bridge with the corner markers left on, I guess it has a small battery in it to provide the power.
Aside from that though, imo full fault should lie with the ■■■■■■ driving the Suzuki. I ain’t the brightest or most observant driver on the roads yet I’m pretty sure I’d notice an artic’s trailer left at the roadside, whether during the day or via my cars lights at night.
C