My truck fell over!

ground subsidence while tipping on a landfill site resulted in my wagon toppling. I enjoyed a brief period of weightlessness but am now struggling with the consequences,
Does anyone out there have experience of a wagon falling on its side?
What injuries did you sustain?

Euro:
ground subsidence while tipping on a landfill site resulted in my wagon toppling. I enjoyed a brief period of weightlessness but am now struggling with the consequences,
Does anyone out there have experience of a wagon falling on its side?
What injuries did you sustain?

as long as your o.k thats the main thing, you still got a job??

IIRC someone on here a while back posted pics of a bulk tipper trailer going over as he unloaded on soft ground and wrote off a JCB in the proccess as he toppled over!!!

My FIL had his lorry go over a while back the injuries he sustained were he took all the skin off his right arm ( lower ) his pride although not his fault some bruising

Yes he did keep his job it did go to court but was eventually thrown out

An old friend of mine was killed when his tipper went over and crushed him, he was cab happy and a nice bloke. Apparently he didn’t have a chance to run. His tipper controls were on the side of the trailer

My only experience was of tipping over a DAF 2300 with a very high tandem tipper. I was tipping shredded rubber from tyres on a stockpile in Courtaulds in Grimsby. They used them for fueling the boilers. Luckily my PTO and spool valve controls were in the cab and they opened the tailgate too.

As I tipped the body it started to lean and the whole thing went over in slow motion. I had seen warning stickers in farm tractors about keeping hold of the steering wheel. That is what I did until I landed on the door.

The only damage, a broken mirror, bruised ego and sore ears from the transport manager shouting at me, the bulldozer driver emptied the trailer from the top and pulled me back onto my wheels. :blush:

On my one-and-only experience of working with tippers I was heavily warned by the Boss that his insurance didn’t cover him if the thing fell over on the tip. He threatened dire consequences if it happened.

I got the impression that this exclusion is pretty normal.

That’s why I never carry tools chains jacks etc on the passenger footwell as I know people who had one over and be ok only to end up with a jack round the head which can be quite serious.
With tipping it can happen to the best and most experienced drivers so don’t beat yourself up over it.

Did you switch the engine off straight away as that can be the difference between a blocking and the sack

kr79:
Did you switch the engine off straight away as that can be the difference between a blocking and the sack

I probably did, because I was back in the same truck the following shift, plus clean mirror and dust free cab. The trailer was sent for inspection and they had to straighten the neck so the body sat level!

At the time we had two units and three trailers running round the clock.

Santa:
I got the impression that this exclusion is pretty normal.

I’m covered when tipping but with a much bigger excess than normal.

Paul

Wheel Nut:

kr79:
Did you switch the engine off straight away as that can be the difference between a blocking and the sack

I probably did, because I was back in the same truck the following shift, plus clean mirror and dust free cab. The trailer was sent for inspection and they had to straighten the neck so the body sat level!

At the time we had two units and three trailers running round the clock.

It’s strange sometimes they flop over with little damage but I’ve seen just the trailer go and twist the tractor chasis but the cab stays upright but the motor is then a write up.
Tony mc govern from north London used to run a big fleet of scisor trailers where it goes up on the back axle on landfill work and his fitters designed them so if the trailer went it snapped off at the pin.

Loaded a 360 excavator onto the back of a stepframe,downhill,icey -12 last year was on the bed,not tracking,when it started to move sideways!ended up dropping it off the side with a bit of a bang!Had a pricey drill boom on instead of bucket but managed to avoid any major damage,not a good feeling as it was going over!Blocked road into St Austel for an hour at 5pm,had to get telehandler to remove drill boom,cops turned up,had a laugh and ‘left us with it’!

lol … up …side … up…side…upside down again …

A regular customer of ours with small tipper fleet will regularly and weekly make a phone call ,
it goes like this :

" Hello , treveor here(pseudonym :wink: ) , Ive got some good news and some bad news "
“the good news is, I`d like to order a new mirror lens "
" the bad news is, the trucks laying on top of the old one !”
" Oh , and can you send out the wrecker with the new mirror glass please " :laughing: :laughing:

A few years ago one of my old firms was tipping type one and the pin holding the ram in the top of the body snapped whilst in the air, that ended up on its side. Luckily the cab sat against another pile of gravel and it just twisted the chassis so bad on the trailer i think it was scrapped…

Was on landfill today tipping muck and the rubbish/ground under my offside rear wheels decided the truck was to heavy and choose to go all soft. Well my heart skipped a beat my arse ate the seat as the thing started to lean over. God knows how but I managed to get the body down and save it. If I’m honest I don’t think I’ve been so scared in my life!!! Was wee bit shaken afterwards as it would’ve been p45 time!!! And the good news is I’m back there tomorrow. Still like falling of a bike I guess best to get up and crack on!!!