Losing one's cool

UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUMS THE UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUM (INTERACTIVE)
1

Not proud of myself today, went to do a delivery, yard is tight as there are parking bays in it :open_mouth: . It was tight but not impossible, but unbeknown to me as I was tipping it was shift change, 2 women parked their cars outside parking bays and right in the way of my exit, I asked them to park elsewhere but was blatantly ignored (must be the hiviz). So I went into reception after tipping with a list of reg numbers, and was promised itā€™d be sorted promptly. In the meantime another worker is ā– ā– ā– ā– ā– ā–  and blinding at me because she has to get home and relieve the childminder :wink: and canā€™t get her car out, so I disconnects lines and shunts out of her way, she apologises and off she goes. Half an hour went by, so I go back into reception to find no-one, so I go into the canteen and loudly proclaim that if the cars are not moved in 15 minutes then Iā€™ll move them by force, I was met by some busybody who didnā€™t like my attitude (oh ā– ā– ā– ā– ā– ā– ā–  diddums), she didnā€™t like more when I said I need to talk to the organ grinder not his monkey :stuck_out_tongue: . Another half hour goes by (and with a growing audience at the smoke shelter) I drop the trailer and position the unit in front of the first car (with out of date tax :imp: ), attaches the towing eye and as Iā€™m looking for a suitable place to attach a strap to the car out come the drivers and swiftly move them, not a word of apology, nothing :imp: . The commotion has attracted the attention of the owner, who kind of apologises then asks me how to lay out the LOADING area car park, I offers advice and off I go, next time if they canā€™t offload in the street (which I know wonā€™t happen), their pallets go back to sender.

Rant over ta for listening :laughing: .

2

LMAO, canā€™t actually believe you done that, top man. Made my day :laughing:

3

not proud?
iā€™m proud of you. :smiley:

4

Oh, you let me down, I thought you were going to say that you had rammed them out of the way. -1.

(Not that this would of been big or clever of course). :laughing:

5

Here here! Well done that man! :laughing:

6

Good on ya, although iā€™d have stayed put and blocked that women in, she wouldnt of known you could drop the trailer. I was told the best way to get everyones attention is to block up the whole yard until no one can move instead of kicking off.

7

But you will have to now turn up late there next time if they say anything just relay this story to them :laughing: :laughing:

Or asked who house you were sleeping at as you were not out of time & would have to park in there yard with pink chalk round you etc :laughing: :laughing:

Has to be done sometimes

8

I had a situation like that at a supermarket once.
You have to go through the car park to get to the loading bay.
Some woman was sitting in the bay that i needed to get on, so i asked her to move. she said she would when her daughter comes back from getting her cigs.
After a heated debate i got in the cab and blocked her exit out and put the tacho on break.

Within minutes her daughter came out and asked me to move.

I said i would in 42mins as i was now on a break and i was not able to move.
She said she was in a hurry, i said so was i when i got here as i needed a break.

There faces were a picture everytime i look up over my paper.

9

Saaamon:
Good on ya, although iā€™d have stayed put and blocked that women in, she wouldnt of known you could drop the trailer. I was told the best way to get everyones attention is to block up the whole yard until no one can move instead of kicking off.

^this^

A few prolonged blasts on the horn to remind them of your presence also helps, well it doesnā€™t help, but it sure gets on peopleā€™s ā– ā– ā– ā–  :laughing:

Good man Baz, remaining calm was the key to all this, if youā€™d gone in there hollering and hooting the outcome wouldā€™ve been very different and you wouldā€™ve ended up looking like the bad guy, even though you were treated with the upmost contempt by these people, the minute you react, in what should be the accepted way, by punching someone in the face, you end up in trouble. Itā€™s a topsy turvy world in which we live :laughing:

10

I always found that the best way of getting cars moved was to go to reception etc and ask the owners to come and inspect the damage I had just done to their cars.
Usually worked quickly. :slight_smile:

11

Was out in Leicester last year on HIAB, got to the drop and Iā€™d have to reverse up to the area and then use the crane off the rear, so I pulled away from where I was and had to do a turn then reverse up to it from the main road.

Having got back to that position found someone had dumped their car just where I needed to put the lorry and said they would be ā€˜two ticksā€™. 5 minutes later Iā€™ve had the boss on the phone asking where I was, got a timed delivery next and Iā€™m already late. However, this one had to be done too and so was told to improvise.

Being an agency driver, I did. I carefully reversed back so the drivers side was close to this guys car, and the near side cleared the other car with about an inch either side. It also meant the other guy couldnā€™t get back in his car either. Stopped just before the lampost, PTO in, cab locked and went back and pulled the legs out. Just cleared the front of the car, pads down and started to crane the concrete blocks and slabs off.

Careful to move the loaded grab to the base of the crane before spinning and reaching out to drop this in this guys garden.

Bloke comes out after another 10 minutes and starts screaming abuse at me, canā€™t get in his car, got to get somewhere. I was halfway through. I stopped what I was doing, listened to him scream abuse at me for a minute or so and pointed out that actually I was only an agency driver and if he wanted me to drop a one ton grab of bricks on his blinged out car then just carry on abusing me, otherwise [zb] off. He seemed to back off a bit then but got on his phone to someone, and I carried on going.

Got most off when the Plod turned up. The car owner swore at them too, and then eventually after calming down I gave my side and the copper was relatively positive. He did point out to the chap that actually I hadnā€™t actually harmed his car yet, I hadnā€™t craned over it and he had parked illegally, and whilst he was there they wanted to have a word about those all round dark tints on the window, and his language in an area where kids are clearly around.

I got my paperwork signed and just before pulling away, carefully, one of the copper said to me, quietly, that it was not wise to wind people up around here as this was a high crime area and I was likely to get my head bashed in for such tactics.

The boss had a go at me, the guy complained. Which was fine by me because I was getting to the end of my tether with the company and their trucks. The day before the boom had locked up with an ā€˜unknown faultā€™ on the computer screen leaving a 1t pallet of red bricks dangling over the side of the lorry :frowning: 3 hours later and the only way to clear the fault was release the load. Still dangling 2m up in the air.

I was not amused, because I had to handball the bricks back onto the lorry from where they had fallen after releasing the grab, and it was a hot day and the locals were laughing and, well, time to move on I guess.

I have had a few other times in my driving career where my temper has got the better of me, and the one thing I have learnt is when pulled over the carpet by the bosses, say nothing without legal rep present as the company doesnā€™t care two hoots about you and your reasons only their image youā€™ve damaged or dentedā€¦

With the original poster, I would have called into the company and if that failed and it was a sleeper cab take a break there and then. If it was a day cab then Iā€™d have to come up with something. Being able to drop the trailer helpsā€¦ :wink:

12

Saaamon:
Good on ya, although iā€™d have stayed put and blocked that women in, she wouldnt of known you could drop the trailer. I was told the best way to get everyones attention is to block up the whole yard until no one can move instead of kicking off.

This works a treat on building sites when nobody knows where youā€™re meant to tip. Reach for the tailgate lever and watch the labourers say ā€œdonā€™t tip there, tip (wherever)ā€¦ā€ :laughing:
If a site holds me up because some ignorant plasterer/chippy/landscape gardener wont move his van, I sit there and then say ā€œhavenā€™t got time to do last load as I was sat here for so longā€ā€¦" :smiling_imp:

Have to admit to deliberately knocking off labourers wing mirrors, burying workmensā€™ tools etc when workmen have ā– ā– ā– ā– ā– ā–  me off aswell.

13

TBH I knew that ranting and raving wouldnā€™t get me anywhere, Iā€™d already had a bellyful of Miss Kids and Mrs Monkey the one thing that pushes my button though is being blatantly ignored (maybe trucking is the wrong career choice :laughing: ) Iā€™m glad that the women eventually came out because I think I wouldā€™ve gone through with it :confused: :blush: :open_mouth: :frowning: .

I did try and smooth relations over with the owner, by suggesting that car park and loading should be kept separate, and told him that if not possible which bays to remove in order to make access comfortable. He seemed to take on board what was said, weā€™ll see.

14

del949:
I always found that the best way of getting cars moved was to go to reception etc and ask the owners to come and inspect the damage I had just done to their cars.
Usually worked quickly. :slight_smile:

Bit O Class!

I can just imagine their faces when they come running out!

I shall have to remember that one.

15

del949:
I always found that the best way of getting cars moved was to go to reception etc and ask the owners to come and inspect the damage I had just done to their cars.
Usually worked quickly. :slight_smile:

Class, thatā€™s tucked in my tool box for future use :grimacing:

16

Since being in the quarry, what really annoys me are Bob the Builders with stupid little trailers behind 4x4s who think they need to stand and give hand signals/instructions how to load it. One did this yesterday; Wanted half a ton of sand and waved about like they were marshalling a 747, after theyā€™d seen me load a bulk tipper. If I can load a tipper with 29t at full reach and load it evenly despite not seeing where it lands Iā€™m sure I can cope with a tin trailer from Halfords.

Tip: Itā€™s not wise to wind up the shovel driver if youā€™re about to pour a cup of tea (unless you like wearing it) :smiling_imp: :smiling_imp:

17

Sort of happened to me once dropped my drag on an industrial estate in leicester on a really long straight piece of road, came back 2 hours later to find a car had not just parked in front of but had reversed right up to it, so attached strap to car and lorry and proceeded forward, the car ended up half on the pavement I hooked up and carried on. I would have loved to have seen there face when they returned.

18

Delivering London tottenham area builders merchant narrow street car blocking my path sounded horn waited a while in the end took Moffat off and moved car by myself job done

19

I admire you for your cool approach.
I lost it big time, on Tariff road Tottenham a couple of years back.
Trashed a transit, but had a massive feeling of well being whilst doing so!
Even the Police couldn`t give a toss :sunglasses:

20

Dafman:
Sort of happened to me once dropped my drag on an industrial estate in leicester on a really long straight piece of road, came back 2 hours later to find a car had not just parked in front of but had reversed right up to it, so attached strap to car and lorry and proceeded forward, the car ended up half on the pavement I hooked up and carried on. I would have loved to have seen there face when they returned.

They knew exactly what they were doing, bet they wernt laughing after that.