d4c24a:
i have on many occasions seen people riding in the caravan being towed ,mainly people from the travelling fraternity , this could well be the case ,and ended up in a fatality ,which would then result in a long closure
If it involved the travelling fraternity, then they probably siphoned the diesel out of the HATOs vehicles…
Muckaway:
d4c24a:
i have on many occasions seen people riding in the caravan being towed ,mainly people from the travelling fraternity , this could well be the case ,and ended up in a fatality ,which would then result in a long closureIf it involved the travelling fraternity, then they probably siphoned the diesel out of the HATOs vehicles…
And if they damaged the road surface, then of course, they would easily be able to repair it!
Yep! that looks about all that it should need (not!) i’d like to see you and “a few blokes” right a caravan even the smaller ones weigh in at ¾ ton.
seen it done on M1 near Woolly Edge services… from van falling over to being back on its way , no more than 15 mins.
Gone before any plod or anyone else turned up.
Biffo, most of your posts tell us why HA cannot do something.
Perhaps this is symptomatic of the HA altogether
In the HA we must follow procedures 100% or management will ’ have a chat’ with us. With jobs cuts on the horizon, they are looking at ways to get rid of people and going outside of procedure is a quick way of starting the disciplinary route. My priority is now no longer safety, but covering my ae. If I get run over, then Im ok if I have followed procedure but if I have gone outside of procedure, then Im shafted. It is all b***s but thats the way it is. I have had a crew put a sprinter back on its wheels because it was blocking the M1 at 7am and recovery was 30-40 mins away but that wont happen now. I now follow procedures rigidly because I know that if I dont, management are waiting for me, and others, to step out of line then I will save them making me redundant in 2013.
del949:
seen it done on M1 near Woolly Edge services… from van falling over to being back on its way , no more than 15 mins.
Gone before any plod or anyone else turned up.Biffo, most of your posts tell us why HA cannot do something.
Perhaps this is symptomatic of the HA altogether
Not quite, what I’ve told you are the reasons why things are done in a particular way, who is in charge of the incident & when, and what each service is responsible for.
As extrucker has said, there are procedures that have to be followed or you’re on your own!, and it doesn’t matter what job you’re in, we are ALL governed by procedures & rules.
Gone before any plod or anyone else turned up sums it up! because as soon as anyone had turned up, then they would have been seen to condone it, then if anything happens, it’s their fault.
Lets say the van rocked back and squashed one of the people who were assisting to right it. If it was just a group of people like you say, who took it upon them selves to do this, it would just be tough luck, sorry for him but move on.
Now if ANY service was on scene, then they could be easily be up for gross negligent manslaughter if goes pear shaped and they’d condoned it.
both Biffo and ex trucker seem to give weight to the argument that no real purpose is served at all by this organisation.
seems to be all “can’t do”, "won’t do " and not “allowed to do”
by the time you have narrowed the above out of the equation all that seems to be left is “standing around in brightly coloured clothes”.
The employees of the organisation can defend their service as much as they like but I guess that the majority (certainly myself) see them as very poor value for money.
Perhaps not the workers fault and maybe down to the powers that be, but the result is the same
del949:
both Biffo and ex trucker seem to give weight to the argument that no real purpose is served at all by this organisation.seems to be all “can’t do”, "won’t do " and not “allowed to do”
by the time you have narrowed the above out of the equation all that seems to be left is “standing around in brightly coloured clothes”.
The employees of the organisation can defend their service as much as they like but I guess that the majority (certainly myself) see them as very poor value for money.
Perhaps not the workers fault and maybe down to the powers that be, but the result is the same
^ +1
swansea jack:
Any one got stuck in the hold up early this morning i passed the overturned caravan at 6am south bound yet after coming back up the 42 7hrs later the road was still blocked taking the ■■■■ how long does it take to drag a caravan of the motoway these highways agency guys need sacking 2 people could have easily just pulled the thing on to the hard shoulder it drives me MAD MAD MAD
So you went past it twice 
and hours apart .
You didnt stop on both occasions
You didnt stop to assist and give them your varied knowledge and understanding of how to clear the road …
And the reason for this was 
trux:
swansea jack:
Any one got stuck in the hold up early this morning i passed the overturned caravan at 6am south bound yet after coming back up the 42 7hrs later the road was still blocked taking the ■■■■ how long does it take to drag a caravan of the motoway these highways agency guys need sacking 2 people could have easily just pulled the thing on to the hard shoulder it drives me MAD MAD MADSo you went past it twice
You didnt stop on both occasions
You didnt stop to assist and give them your varied knowledge and understanding of how to clear the road …
You didnt use your nice big vehicle to tow it out of the way !And the reason for this was
del949:
both Biffo and ex trucker seem to give weight to the argument that no real purpose is served at all by this organisation.seems to be all “can’t do”, "won’t do " and not “allowed to do”
by the time you have narrowed the above out of the equation all that seems to be left is “standing around in brightly coloured clothes”.
The employees of the organisation can defend their service as much as they like but I guess that the majority (certainly myself) see them as very poor value for money.
Perhaps not the workers fault and maybe down to the powers that be, but the result is the same
That pretty much sums it up. 
.
There’s a fair few who pull their tripe out or try and make things better but just get bollocked for it.
Much better to work in a cushy office job rather than outside in all weather with silly farkers who can’t drive trying to run you over or shout a load of bollox as they pass 
del949:
I guess that the majority (certainly myself) see them as very poor value for money.
Perhaps not the workers fault and maybe down to the powers that be, but the result is the same
That’s purely because you don’t understand their role and why they’re there. Please read from the start, I’ve tried to explain.
del949:
both Biffo and ex trucker seem to give weight to the argument that no real purpose is served at all by this organisation.seems to be all “can’t do”, "won’t do " and not “allowed to do”
by the time you have narrowed the above out of the equation all that seems to be left is “standing around in brightly coloured clothes”.
The employees of the organisation can defend their service as much as they like but I guess that the majority (certainly myself) see them as very poor value for money.
Perhaps not the workers fault and maybe down to the powers that be, but the result is the same
Agree with you there del.
Alot of the time i think the powers that be come up with certain practises that in reailty are rubbish and dont work in the real world. Recovering a caravan after a turn over, where no parties are injured, should be a simple procedure but no doubt there are regulations dictating what can be done and what cant.
I think closing lanes off for recovery and clear up is correct as highway worker and the publics safety should be paramount but i think that certains times the clear up takes too long.
del949 is basically spot on. The powers to be dont want to know what reality is and that we are usually first on scene and we are carrying out tasks that we were not set up for. At my base, a crew were heavily criticised for blocking the c/flow lane to attend a crash, first on scene, m/way blocked and gave first aid prior to medics being escorted the wrong way to scene. Managment considered keeping the c/flow lane running more important than stopping a driver bleeding to death. We are under utilised and under valued. We could be doing so much more. But if and when, and I personally think it is when, we get more powers, or become British Tansport police, don’t moan because we are giving you tickets for parking on hard shoulders and slip roads for your 45 min break, not wearing a seatbelt, smoking in cabs, tailgating etc that some truck drivers do. This will happen once the Gov realise we can create revenue and become self funding.
extrucker:
don’t moan because we are giving you tickets for parking on hard shoulders and slip roads for your 45 min break, not wearing a seatbelt, smoking in cabs, tailgating etc that some truck drivers do. This will happen once the Gov realise we can create revenue and become self funding.
At least a Lot of the Hato’s will be well aware of the scams as they probably use them on their rest days
what i would like to know is why are the hato’s supplied with disco’s that will pull a broken down truck onto the hard shoulder or drag a wobbly box onto the shoulder but reading all the b s they cant do jack ■■■■■ so why spend our money on bloody big engined 4x4’s 
Buf, we can drag cars/vans minus wheels onto the hard shoulder, or pull broken down vans out of live lane. ( crews have cleared 40t hgv’s but long way out of procedures) For what HA pay for the basic 4x4s, the running costs of a, say Vectra estate, are only a little bit more but with a fleet of 4x4s we have more fleet resiliance. With adverse weather more and more frequent, we would have crews sitting in the base instead of out patrolling. One saturday at midnight in last winter’s snow, we had five crews out working, which if only half the fleet was 4x4s, we would have had only two or three out on patrol. I think possibly, managers vehicles may become cars, but our discoverys average nearly 40mpg, not much less than my car.
a disco doing nearly 40 mpg bloody hell 
buf:
a disco doing nearly 40 mpg bloody hell
Only because it was probably on the back of a recovery truck 
del949:
both Biffo and ex trucker seem to give weight to the argument that no real purpose is served at all by this organisation.seems to be all “can’t do”, "won’t do " and not “allowed to do”
by the time you have narrowed the above out of the equation all that seems to be left is “standing around in brightly coloured clothes”.
The employees of the organisation can defend their service as much as they like but I guess that the majority (certainly myself) see them as very poor value for money.
Perhaps not the workers fault and maybe down to the powers that be, but the result is the same
+1. Just a bunch of hopeless do-gooders that have brought the entire UK road network to a halt ever since they were introduced. The whole outfit should be scrapped and fingers crossed that it happens in 2013, or sooner. 
[zb] [zb]s.
Rob K:
del949:
both Biffo and ex trucker seem to give weight to the argument that no real purpose is served at all by this organisation.seems to be all “can’t do”, "won’t do " and not “allowed to do”
by the time you have narrowed the above out of the equation all that seems to be left is “standing around in brightly coloured clothes”.
The employees of the organisation can defend their service as much as they like but I guess that the majority (certainly myself) see them as very poor value for money.
Perhaps not the workers fault and maybe down to the powers that be, but the result is the same+1. Just a bunch of hopeless do-gooders that have brought the entire UK road network to a halt ever since they were introduced. The whole outfit should be scrapped and fingers crossed that it happens in 2013, or sooner.
These H A guys should be sat at all the uk ports weighting for foreign vehicles coming in and collecting road toll money off them id be much more happy to see them put to use doing this think of the money that could be made they could by much better 4x4s then