I suppose it is a little careless. One thing lorry drivers must know is their height. I know a power line won’t be marked up height wise but the stuff in the roro seems to be a little higher than you’d normally see/get away with, surely the driver must of looked at it an assessed the skip before picking it up. Probably though “ah it’ll be 'reet”.
Edit- Saying that though the lines do appear to droop somewhat.
I remember once pulling some telephone lines down in W.S.M with a double decker whilst looking for a cafe in a residential street, so I got out of there quick and skipped dinner, never did here anything about it happened about 24 yrs ago so should be allright now but I pass the road every now and then and wouldn’t dream of going up there now with an artic.
I used to love loads like that, refused them every time & told 'em to level it before it would be collected.
I wish I had a pound for the number of times I got asked Why ? By the Numpty’s who loaded it, I could have retired by now. Lol.
Dieseldoforme:
A LORRY driver who collided with power lines in Witham may be prosecuted for careless driving.
“We are considering a prosecution of careless driving against the driver."
The lorry driver needs to measure the height of the cables. If they’re not at least 16’ 6" then as they’re not signposted as being low height then he’s done nothing wrong.
By law ALL objects crossing a road which are 16’6" or below MUST be signposted with their minimum height, even power and phone cables.
I’d have got the tape measure out whilst the coppers were there, measured the lowest cable I’d actually made it under and if it were below that height make a point of informing him of the law.
Conor:
I’d have got the tape measure out whilst the coppers were there, measured the lowest cable I’d actually made it under and if it were below that height make a point of informing him of the law.
Make sure that you invest in either (a) the thickest pair of Marigolds you can buy, or (b) a non metallic tape measure.
Conor:
I’d have got the tape measure out whilst the coppers were there, measured the lowest cable I’d actually made it under and if it were below that height make a point of informing him of the law.
Make sure that you invest in either (a) the thickest pair of Marigolds you can buy, or (b) a non metallic tape measure.
Those overhead lines, where the truck is stopped, look like telephone lines not power. The pole to the left of the picture is power, maybe cables down the road have been pulled down but with poles still upright I suspect not (consider the breaking strain of the cables and the pole) the pole to the right of the span below the truck has metal steps above working steps about 18" below the ring at the top.
Telephone lines have 50v going through them. Even the modern TV cables have a lower voltage (37v?), so you could still describe them as “power lines” in that they are capable of fusing electric gear, and getting a shock from them.
You don’t want to be running a short circuit anywhere near your eyes either.
Conor:
The lorry driver needs to measure the height of the cables. If they’re not at least 16’ 6" then as they’re not signposted as being low height then he’s done nothing wrong.
By law ALL objects crossing a road which are 16’6" or below MUST be signposted with their minimum height, even power and phone cables.
It doesn’t matter that something shouldn’t have been there, or that it should have been marked - If you collide with a stationary object then it is pretty much your responsibility. It’s not as if the cables suddenly jumped out into his path!
many years ago i was doing home deliveries for fitted kitchens all our the uk, the trucks were like furniture removals type i think they were 14,3 in height. certainly no bigger
we went down a street and parked up outside the drop all of a sudden people were coming out of there houses headed for us, we had taken all the phone lines down and people were hopping mad and this was the time were mobiles were quite new so most people were stuck with using home phones
anyway i contacted the office thinking i had done something stupid and i was facing people who were really angry. the office told me not to worry its not our fault as the phones had to be higher than a certain point and our trucks were well below the height. so its the phone company’s fault.
the company contacted the phone company and got it sorted i never heard anything again over it but i know i was shocked to bring so many lines down as we were going all over the uk down all sorts of streets and never hit phone lines
so unless this drivers load was higher than the legal height the lines are supposed to be at then he will have done nothing wrong. but if his load was higher then he is going to be held accountable
At one time if you pulled phone lines down then you were billed about a fiver for each, we had a few down when resurfacing roads as sometimes you got fed up tipping up and down between them and the surfacing gangs couldn’t have cared less anyway! I once pulled the computer cables down at Longbridge Works, about ten minutes after a manager came and warned me about them and I told him that I would be careful. I shot out of the yard with them still wrapped around the tipper ram but never heard anything about it. Had a couple who got arced with high voltage cables across the ram, blew every tyre and brake chamber off the trucks and didn’t do the electrics a world of good either! Driver’s stayed in cab so were OK.
A good few years back I pulled a power line down plunging a whole village in South Lanarkshire into darkness.
I was carrying a forklift and measured exactly 16 ft, the local plod was a right arrogant cheeky ■■■■■■■ and was lining up a whole list of charges, even the electric engineers were giving me grief telling me we would be getting a rather large repair bill but what saved me was the traffic cops turning up.
Once the cable was clear of the truck one of the cops jumped up and checked the hight of the load , he confirmed the hight was what i said it was and the told me that when a power cable crosses a road it must be a minimum of 19ft from the ground, as I was only 16 ft I was free to go and that the power company were the ones at fault.
The look on the local plods face was priceless
Conor is right about the 5m requirement for stuff over the roads. I think that cables have to be about 20ft high to allow for drooping when there’s snow on them and stuff. I can’t see that wagon pictured being higher than a double deck pallet trailer even with the load sticking out and doubt he’s higher than 5m overall. If he measures his load and is under 5m then he can quite rightly tell the plod to go ■■■■ themselves.
about 10 years ago, i got diverted off the a1 and through oakham, with a double decker on its first outing, i went through oakham village (before the bypass) removing all the christmas lights , local plod tryed to do me for it , but i wasnt overhight
I once pulled the computer cables down at Longbridge Works, about ten minutes after a manager came and warned me about them and I told him that I would be careful. 