Priest:
so which ones would you recommend?
None. As an agency driver turning up to do a job, you don’t need a big bag full of very heavy ratchet straps! Are you going to carry an emergency jerry can of diesel too? Just incase they have left the unit too empty to get to the pump… 
You are trying to solve problems that have got nothing to do with. If a load needs strapping, then the company provide the straps, and if they don’t, the load does not move!
well that’s how it should be in an ideal world. i am sure you know better how the reality looks like. I know i can just say i am not taking it and going home, which means losing a days pay. Id better strap it with my own straps rather than that me thinks. Appreciate many won’t agree with this
i know what you mean with the can of diesel though.
apologies if i am talking rubbish, just trying to find the best balance spot / solution
shep532:
OK - point taken - lets ignore 365 days worth of road closures and the other incidents that undoubtedly went unreported even though they exist and do count. I do think that statistic is pertinent though because it shows ‘part’ of the problem. But it probably does include all the little bits you mentioned - although most of the roll overs you mention are caused by shifting loadsIt isn’t just about loads coming through curtains - that is some of it and that does happen. What about loads that shift and cause vehicles to turn over. These may be where the driver had to swerve because of some other idiot but had their load been secure they may have remained upright.
What about those larger loads that come straight through the headboard - don’t mock me - it happens and once is too many if it is a fatality.
I was involved in running a fleet of about 70 - mainly general haulage and I know first hand how much we forked out on damage to loads and vehicles. I know first hand how much we forked out on paying drivers by the hour to restack or handball loads and I know first hand how much our insurers paid out on liability claims when incidents happened regarding loads and drivers got injured.
I also know how much labour was wasted in our warehouse with lads struggling to off load shifted loads and how often curtains arrived bulging as though waiting to give birth and we had to struggle with back door tips by hand.
I think the problem is we only know it has gone wrong AFTER it goes wrong so if it hasn’t happened to the driver ‘yet’ he believes it won’t. Most drivers who have had a lost/shifted/damaged load will have been surprised when it happened. Anyone carrying a load that isn’t actually secured/restrained to the vehicle is potentially taking a large risk. The heavier the load the worse it’ll be.
I’ve been up and down the M62 everyday this week and laugh out loud at some of the pathetic attempts at securing a load I have seen - couldn’t see inside the curtains but I’d hazard a guess what was in some of them. But maybe I don’t know what I am on about.
I suppose we could look at this along the lines of the Health & Safety at Work Act. The idea is to stop it happening before it happens - risk assess.
Either way - when I look how a large number of loads are carried in the UK and compare this with mainland Europe (I lived in Germany for years) there appears to be a big difference in standards and also enforcement. Yes there are idiotic/cowboy European drivers by the hundreds but the majority secure their loads, use friction enhancing materials (something you rarely see in UK) and have ‘XL’ rated vehicles (which are also about the strength of the headboard/sides/doors and not just curtains).
But yep - you caught me out. I’m one of those DCPC bods who’s never driven a truck, doesn’t have a clue and preaches nonsense
I just can’t help myself
I think I took your comments the wrong way didn’t I?
You did! Allow me to do the same a paragraph at a time
Unreported road closures? Maybe, again I ask how many are the result of unsecured loads coming through curtains? Because that is what the OP’s situation is about!
As for most rollovers being caused by a load shifting, I’m going to call ■■■■■■■■ on that, I would say that all rollovers are a result of a number of different factors. If I had to pick one to generalise, I would say excess speed. But it might not be any more accurate than your statement 
If I’m way off please forgive me and punish me suitably.
Loads coming through head boards - I would not mock you. This is bloody scary stuff, and very dangerous I agree. But if a XL trailer is loaded right, it’s not coming through the headboard. If you are carrying steels etc then that is a different game, but you aren’t going to be relying on a XL headboard alone are you?? If you are you don’t deserve to hold a license.
I’m not going to attempt to win in a game experience top trumps, I’d lose I agree plenty of lost hours due to things you mention. That’s why I’m the fussiest driver on our firm (5 drivers) but I work with the forklift driver to get my load how I’m happy with it. But again I ask, how many of your lost man hours and health and safety risks were the result of a poorly loaded XL??
I agree we only know AFTER there is a problem, but if that is the case, then the DVSA needs to grow some ■■■■■■■ balls, and lay it out there hard and fast, no exceptions for trailer types, everything needs to be strapped by so many straps per tonne of the load, and antislip mats mandatory. But they won’t do that because it would cost hauliers too much. Instead they hide behind “guidelines” and wishy washy ideas of what “looks unsecure”. Put a 5t rock in a container unrestrained and that’s just fine and dandy. Even though you and I know it’s coming straight through the front of that container if you hit the brakes too hard.
I too laugh my ■■■ off at things I see on the road everyday, but these guys just aren’t being caught, because the DVSA can only do so much I guess. I assess the risk of everyone of my loads, but I know I’m in a minority of drivers who is given the time, and the trust to see my load! If something were to fall off that’s on me.
I make you right on the enforcement issue, and standards. But let’s make it universal, and let’s make it black and white simple, because let’s be fair, some of our lorry driving brethren could not transport a cup of coffee from kettle to sofa without spilling it.
As for you being a two bit dCPC trainer, whose given up lorry driving because you clearly could hack it, I agree with that too… (this is a poor attempt at humour btw)
Priest:
well that’s how it should be in an ideal world. i am sure you know better how the reality looks like. I know i can just say i am not taking it and going home, which means losing a days pay. Id better strap it with my own straps rather than that me thinks. Appreciate many won’t agree with thisi know what you mean with the can of diesel though.
apologies if i am talking rubbish, just trying to find the best balance spot / solution
Mate seriously I get it, I really do. You are a bit green, and keen to earn back that money you have invested in yourself.
If the trailer you are given, has a label saying it’s XL, and the curtains have a label saying load bearing, and it’s been loaded with positive fit, then chances are it is good to go. But if these conditions aren’t met, they should give you straps. If they don’t, ask for a letter saying it’s ok to travel like that. You won’t get one, you’ll get some straps, or you’ll be going home with a minimum 8 hours in your pocket.
For a standard 26 pallet trailer you’ll need at least 13 straps, and for that you would want a bloody good size and very strong holdall to lug that lot about. No point in having a couple, or 5, or 10, if the load needs strapping then the whole load needs strapping!
Priest:
i am now thinking about investing in my own ratchet straps. saw a set of 10x 5m 1500kg 25mm straps for around £40
Just be careful before you go about throwing ratchets over palletised loads on curtainsiders, in most instances you will damage the load so you’ll need corner protectors as well. Your not going to want to carry all that round with you everyday.
Plus, I guarantee one day you’ll be asked at the eleventh hour to drop & swap loads with someone and you’ll then have to ■■■■ about retrieving all your kit from the load, which could be sealed. 
Take the advice others have given you on here & get the operators to provide the equipment.
rob22888:
Plus, I guarantee one day you’ll be asked at the eleventh hour to drop & swap loads with someone and you’ll then have to ■■■■ about retrieving all your kit from the load, which could be sealed.
good point, makes me reconsider
F-reds - thanks 
Strange how a chipliner with 20 odd tonnes of recycled wood on it, bulging at the seams is a nice secure load but a pallet of orange juice needs to be strapped down in the same trailer.
Same as everything to do with haulage and transport, the regulations are a pile of contradicting grey area turd that do not work in the real world.
Strap the back and drive sensibly and nothing is coming out the sides with a ‘normal’ load. If you swerve hard and fast enough to tip the thing its going to tip whether it hits the internals, the curtains or is strapped down.
A.
Adonis.:
Strap the back and drive sensibly and nothing is coming out the sides with a ‘normal’ load. If you swerve hard and fast enough to tip the thing its going to tip whether it hits the internals, the curtains or is strapped down.
True(ish), but if it’s bricks, full beer kegs, or wooden boards (all ‘normal’ loads IMO), a lot less of them will come through the roof or a split curtain and whizz towards cars doing 70mph.
A driver at a company I worked for had an incident on the M25 where he was rear ended by an artic, and the back end of his trailer was obliterated. Because his kegs were strapped down fully using those internal sliding bungee ratchet tarpaulin things, he only lost 4 kegs from a load of 456.
I really do believe it’s worth securing a lot more loads than we do simply to account for others’ not so steady driving - i.e. crashing into you at full pelt!
Own Account Driver:
The posts on here have a fair bit of detachment from reality. It’s the same at our place it’s a backdoor tip job on to bays and I’ve yet to see a driver arrive with pallets, in a curtainsider, have to undo any straps.
This is right, I deliver to a lot of RDCs and can count on one hand the amount of people you see removing straps. You should strap pallets but a lot of people dont.
so what are the unstrapped pallets in a regular (non XL) curtainsider from vosa perspective: illigal / legal?
Priest:
so what are the unstrapped pallets in a regular (non XL) curtainsider from vosa perspective: illigal / legal?
In the eyes of the DVSA that would be a no no, and a fine worthy event.
