Dan Punchard:
Can’t this problem be avoided by putting a padlock on the doors or wire ,just tell them you don’t have the keys ,surely they won’t try to cut a lock or even have choppers ? .
see above comment.
Sorry didn’t see that ,so the problem remains .
nick2008:
I can just see it now on the News . Felixstowe closed .not due to high wind but drivers stopping at the vosa check point askin if their loads conform to vosa’s rules…
I wonder though what vosa would do if every driver got vosa to check each load before leaving any port …
Drivers should, even just to do it to disrupt there enforcment activities, as in as soon as they open up for business drivers pull in and demand they check there load and weight before leaving the docks, they enjoy harrasing truck drivers, perhaps its time we started harrasing them before we go out on the road!!
Rhythm Thief:
Nothing has ever fallen off, or even leaned on the curtain, and most of our trailers have load bearing curtains fitted
If they are load bearing, and marked accordingly to the payload on the vehicle then they will consider that to be one of a number of load restraint systems available to you and will note that accordingly.
Own Account Driver:
Any driver with any real competency is perfectly capable of assessing what is and isn’t adequately secured. The vast majority of well wrapped palletised goods, loaded sensibly, in curtainsiders require no additional securing and in my view the process of drivers standing in busy yards doing so presents more risk to personal injury than it prevents.
Again, wrong. Unless the curtains are load bearing, and are labelled accordingly then the load is unsecured and the curtainsider should be treated as it was a flatbed trailer.
Own Account Driver:
Much like DCPC, none of them have any coherent arguments to support why it’s needed and simply resort to smearing anyone that disagrees with it as not taking road safety seriously.
Here’s a good argument then…consider what would happen if you kill someone. Try dismissing the argument that you failed to secure your load properly to a judge, a jury (mostly of comprising of car drivers) and the family of the deceased.
weeto:
… perhaps its time we started harrasing them before we go out on the road!!
You want to start harassing people with warrant cards who have the power to impound your vehicle, issues court summons and put your TM in front of the TC who has the power over your boss’s operating licence ?!?
Meistre:
Rhythm Thief:
Nothing has ever fallen off, or even leaned on the curtain, and most of our trailers have load bearing curtains fittedIf they are load bearing, and marked accordingly to the payload on the vehicle then they will consider that to be one of a number of load restraint systems available to you and will note that accordingly.
Own Account Driver:
Any driver with any real competency is perfectly capable of assessing what is and isn’t adequately secured. The vast majority of well wrapped palletised goods, loaded sensibly, in curtainsiders require no additional securing and in my view the process of drivers standing in busy yards doing so presents more risk to personal injury than it prevents.Again, wrong. Unless the curtains are load bearing, and are labelled accordingly then the load is unsecured and the curtainsider should be treated as it was a flatbed trailer.
Own Account Driver:
Much like DCPC, none of them have any coherent arguments to support why it’s needed and simply resort to smearing anyone that disagrees with it as not taking road safety seriously.Here’s a good argument then…consider what would happen if you kill someone. Try dismissing the argument that you failed to secure your load properly to a judge, a jury (mostly of comprising of car drivers) and the family of the deceased.
weeto:
… perhaps its time we started harrasing them before we go out on the road!!You want to start harassing people with warrant cards who have the power to impound your vehicle, issues court summons and put your TM in front of the TC who has the power over your boss’s operating licence ?!?
As I was saying…
Find me one example where a wrapped chep pallet of goods has broken through a secured lorry curtain and killed anyone.
I’m quite sure you could drive all your life and never lose a load but what VOSA are trying to do is to prevent a load falling out through the side of a curtainsider and killing someone.
Once a heavy load starts to move, curtains will not stop it.
All a curtainsider is,is a flat trailer with weather protection.
You have to think,would you take the load on a flat unsecured ■■?
TTX boy:
I’m quite sure you could drive all your life and never lose a load but what VOSA are trying to do is to prevent a load falling out through the side of a curtainsider and killing someone.
Once a heavy load starts to move, curtains will not stop it.
All a curtainsider is,is a flat trailer with weather protection.
You have to think,would you take the load on a flat unsecured ■■?
What about some trailers that have reinforced curtains and timbers, VOSA won’t recognise them and say the load still needs strapping, although you wouldn’t need to in euroland, VOSA are power freaks, mainly because drivers and operators bend over and take it off them!
Meistre:
Rhythm Thief:
Nothing has ever fallen off, or even leaned on the curtain, and most of our trailers have load bearing curtains fittedIf they are load bearing, and marked accordingly to the payload on the vehicle then they will consider that to be one of a number of load restraint systems available to you and will note that accordingly.
Own Account Driver:
Any driver with any real competency is perfectly capable of assessing what is and isn’t adequately secured. The vast majority of well wrapped palletised goods, loaded sensibly, in curtainsiders require no additional securing and in my view the process of drivers standing in busy yards doing so presents more risk to personal injury than it prevents.Again, wrong. Unless the curtains are load bearing, and are labelled accordingly then the load is unsecured and the curtainsider should be treated as it was a flatbed trailer.
Own Account Driver:
Much like DCPC, none of them have any coherent arguments to support why it’s needed and simply resort to smearing anyone that disagrees with it as not taking road safety seriously.Here’s a good argument then…consider what would happen if you kill someone. Try dismissing the argument that you failed to secure your load properly to a judge, a jury (mostly of comprising of car drivers) and the family of the deceased.
weeto:
… perhaps its time we started harrasing them before we go out on the road!!You want to start harassing people with warrant cards who have the power to impound your vehicle, issues court summons and put your TM in front of the TC who has the power over your boss’s operating licence ?!?
An orderly Q into the check point and asking them to weigh and check your load would no way be seen as anything illegal, it’s what they are there for!
In 26 years, I have never had a load of palletised goods fall off of a curtainsided trailer.
No, quite. That’s what I was trying to get at. I - like we all did - moved stuff for years on curtainsiders with no straps, and I even did palletised freight on a flatbed with only a sheet and a length of blue rope holding it on. Nothing ever fell off, and the one time a couple of pumps (a quarter of a ton each) shifted within the trailer and leaned on the curtain, they didn’t come through. (Although they should have been strapped, and were once I’d had them reloaded.) These were not load bearing curtains, just ordinary curtainsiders. Given that I and most of the rest of us have had a vanishingly tiny number of incidents with freight falling off curtaisider trailers, how is it that it’s suddenly dangerous? It obviously isn’t.
This is interesting!!
The Road Haulage Association has advised its members to instruct drivers that they don’t have to allow inspectors to open their load spaces for examination unless the official can point to clear evidence of a problem within.
I would guess that would mean that, if the load isn’t visible on the curtains, VOSA have no legal right to have that trailer opened, sealed or not.
That follows what the police have to work on, they have to have reasonable grounds to search inside a vehicle!
weeto:
This is interesting!!The Road Haulage Association has advised its members to instruct drivers that they don’t have to allow inspectors to open their load spaces for examination unless the official can point to clear evidence of a problem within.
I would guess that would mean that, if the load isn’t visible on the curtains, VOSA have no legal right to have that trailer opened, sealed or not.
That follows what the police have to work on, they have to have reasonable grounds to search inside a vehicle!
That’ll just get their backs up. They’ll just start looking for something else.
It’s like when the police say “You don’t have to say anything”.So you don’t. They then think you’re trying to hide something.
Then again, If you’re too helpful, They get suspicious. 
limeyphil:
weeto:
This is interesting!!The Road Haulage Association has advised its members to instruct drivers that they don’t have to allow inspectors to open their load spaces for examination unless the official can point to clear evidence of a problem within.
I would guess that would mean that, if the load isn’t visible on the curtains, VOSA have no legal right to have that trailer opened, sealed or not.
That follows what the police have to work on, they have to have reasonable grounds to search inside a vehicle!That’ll just get their backs up. They’ll just start looking for something else.
It’s like when the police say “You don’t have to say anything”.So you don’t. They then think you’re trying to hide something.
Then again, If you’re too helpful, They get suspicious.
If you have dealt with them politely and they have been polite back, I can’t really see it being a problem if you refuse there request.
Their best practice doesn’t include random checks on load security!
i,m not knocking the op or anyone else, but why should the driver worry about the rates for the job ect? surely the company in question should have taken into consideration any delays for the driver to secure load ect when pricing the job originally, amd if they didnt they should maybe now be either charging seperately for the delays or putting the rate up?
too many companies are putting the emphasis on the driver as such as its the drivers fault, ect which yes drivers responsible for load but not giving enough time to do the job and not maybe attacking the problem at source…
Has anyone lost a pallet through a curtain?
Meistre:
You want to start harassing people with warrant cards who have the power to impound your vehicle, issues court summons and put your TM in front of the TC who has the power over your boss’s operating licence ?!?
This is the problem! All Vosa can do is threaten people with action. This is why many operators will not bring the M25 to a halt, because they could face action and lose their o licence, threats ,threats and more threats that is all we are offered.
As above, I’ve been doing the job for many years now and think I have sussed out how to identify a secure load. I think I am qualified, sorry, experienced enough to know if my load will shift under forces of braking harshly although I do not drive in such a fashion as to bring about harsh braking and rarely have to do so. I give no consideration as to the load moving if the vehicle rolls over because my vehicle is not going to roll over, end of.
British courts deal with facts and a load can not be considered insecure if it has not left the vehicle, dangerous perhaps but not insecure so dealing with the point that the load is not causing the curtains to bulge then I’m afraid Vosa would have a pretty hard time “proving” that the load is insecure. What we are dealing with here is my first comment, threats! drivers are afraid of Vosa and will not argue with them hence their inflated sense of self importance and all around knowledge of my job regardless of the fact they know nothing about it.
I hereby request that a member of Vosa come with me for a full shift and I will demonstrate that my unstrapped load is perfectly safe, I will also request that you show me how to secure a load in person up to such a standard that Vosa would be happy with it and I will prove that all you have done is slow the job down.
Drivers should start asking Vosa to prove that their load is insecure, start challenging these idiots even if it means a day in court. Start making them look stupid and let them all know that a high vis jacket and warrant card does not make you and expert in road haulage.
Dave55:
Has anyone lost a pallet through a curtain?
Yes. many.
Dave55:
Has anyone lost a pallet through a curtain?
May be not a pallet, but there has been a few photos posted on here from news items were part of a load has gone through the curtains and ended up on the carriage way.
I don’t think it is just aimed at loads leaving the vehicle on the road, but also when drivers are at loading and unloading points!
Figures for 2006/7 recorded 5 deaths and 216 major injuries of drivers/staff from stuff falling from vehicles.
Who hasn’t experienced that when you open the curtains or the back doors?
Harry Monk:
In 26 years, I have never had a load of palletised goods fall off of a curtainsided trailer.
Whilst that may be true I suspect that the wagon and trailer went over complete with the load 
You seemed quite proud of the fact and posted pictures on here but can’t be arsed looking for them
Dave55:
Has anyone lost a pallet through a curtain?
Yep
A few months back I Avonmouth , a big machine on a propper big solid pallet … machine wrapped and strapped to the pallet and it came straight through the curtain. They had to get a hi-ab out to pick it up…