Had to drop a trailer into our Luton depot this week, have been there before but fortunately had the end bay, this time it was smack in the middle… A few people had told me that Luton is the worst depot we have, but didn’t really appreciate that on the first visit ::::::
After about 1/2 an hour of trying to get it in I was generally ending up with the rear of the trailer about 2’ into the slot with the nearside 1" off and the offside about 3", with 6" at the front of the unit and still needing to straighten. Wasn’t happening at all… …
… … finally the shunter turned up - “Don’t worry about it - you have to run it down the side of the other trailers” !!! Not how I was taught to reverse… … … I had heard this mentioned about in the canteen - so since all three trailers were old and wrecked anyway I did it.
When I got back to Atherstone I spoke to one of the employed drivers about it, and that is the only way they can get them in as well… Some drivers refuse and make the shunter put it on the bay. The TM’s know - but STILL send brand new trailers down there.
Any other depot and you would have to fill in an accident form and get assessed again !!!
Did you have to wind your legs down before reversing onto the bay? Looks like you wouldn’t even be able to squeeze down the side of the trailer, yet alone wind your legs down.
If thats TNT then the tightest depot I went to was Ramsbottom. A bit tight but nothing like your picture.
Once it was in you had about a foot either side - which is better than a lot of the other depots. You’re right it is TNT - although Ramsbottom is one of the better ones I have been to !! If you are really “lucky” you can get to try Slough, Manchester or Barking…
The only one I have been to where you are spoilt for space (other than the DC’s) is Basildon. Problem is most were built when they only had 40’ trailers…
Bibby Distribution next to Leeds/Bradford airport. You reverse into a large hangar which is just a black hole. W hen the sun shines, you can’t see a thing.
Once inside,if you have a box trailer you have to reverse into a trailer length bay with about six inches clearance either side. It’s also ever so slightly ofset,just to make it interesting. Either that or any of the ones I have 40 shunts at on an off day
After seeing your pic, I feel a whole lot better about Marks & Spencer in Oxford. Anyone who has been there
will know what a rascal it is (it’s in the basement, off a single track street in the city centre) and, when I went, part
of the minimal manoeuvring area was blocked by some shelving. Also, I’d been sent with a 13.6m fridge, only
to discover when I opened it that it had just 6 pallets nestling in the front, whilst there were several empty 40’s standing
empty in the yard. Great thinking in the traffic office.
zuluwarrior:
Bibby Distribution next to Leeds/Bradford airport. You reverse into a large hangar which is just a black hole. W hen the sun shines, you can’t see a thing.
Once inside,if you have a box trailer you have to reverse into a trailer length bay with about six inches clearance either side. It’s also ever so slightly ofset,just to make it interesting. Either that or any of the ones I have 40 shunts at on an off day
Yeah I’ve done that one too, it seemed like it had less than 6 inches each side though. But, its a good tester.
You’ve not even had any remote experience of a tight loading bay until you’d done the United Carriers hub at Smethwick.
6 inches either side? I wish.
Ever wondered why United Carriers trailers always looked like they’d been through World War 3 with dints and gouges all down the side?
At the hub in Smethwick, it was just one long bay. THey had to get as many trailers on it as possible. 9/10 of the time, you ended up dropping the legs and then ramming it into a space between two trailers. Yes, that’s right, ramming it in. There’d be a space that was an inch narrower than the trailer and the yard foreman would tell you to push it in.
Wasn’t good and a couple of loading bay staff got crushed.
I nominate Lynx’s yard at Loanhead. there you had half inch between the trailers and you did have to wind the legs down and it was that tight you had to use the trailer next to you push the trailer round.
Gazzareth:
Once it was in you had about a foot either side - which is better than a lot of the other depots. You’re right it is TNT - although Ramsbottom is one of the better ones I have been to !! If you are really “lucky” you can get to try Slough, Manchester or Barking…
The only one I have been to where you are spoilt for space (other than the DC’s) is Basildon. Problem is most were built when they only had 40’ trailers…
… it’s a real baptism of fire for the newbies !!
G
When you say Manchester, do you mean Bredbury? That depot isn’t all that ideal either. The amount of other lorries I had to get moved just to jack knife the thing round was unreal at times.
Thats the one - wouldn’t be so bad if they didn’t insist on parking trailers right at the end of the bays. If you run for the corner between the trailers and the wall there is not enough space, so like you say you have to jacknife it round…
Must be ■■■■ tight getting out of the gate from the end bay as well !!
Woolworths at Rochdale was a bad 'un, not just because of how tight it was, but because the yard was too narrow and you had to back-in from an angle.
Probably worse (I reckon Jammymut will know this one as well) is TDG at Grantham (was B&Q until recently but used to be Irlams when I worked out of there). The floor of the warehouse was raised and only just wide enough to get in so that (in theory at least) a forklift could drive across your trailer. Would’ve been bearable if you could go in with curtains closed but then the buckles and ratches would be ‘below ground level’
marcustandy:
Woolworths at Rochdale was a bad 'un, not just because of how tight it was, but because the yard was too narrow and you had to back-in from an angle.
Wasn’t it also the first bay just inside the gate, on the left, that was the tricky one? I remember the times slots used to be every 2 minutes, or something like that, so you’d have a 10.34 booking!
marcustandy:
Woolworths at Rochdale was a bad 'un, not just because of how tight it was, but because the yard was too narrow and you had to back-in from an angle.
Wasn’t it also the first bay just inside the gate, on the left, that was the tricky one? I remember the times slots used to be every 2 minutes, or something like that, so you’d have a 10.34 booking!
IIRC, I used to struggle with all of them!!
I saw ‘older & wiser’ drivers than me knock a door off the back of their trailer. I know the first time I went there, I was sweating and struggling but got it on eventually. The chap next to me said ‘don’t worry mate, at least you’ve still got your doors which is more than him!’ which made me feel a whole lot better!!
It wasn’t so bad for Woolies own drivers; they all had box trailers with roller-shutter doors and not having a ‘barn door’ sticking out of each side at the back seemed to make quite adifference.
marcustandy:
Probably worse (I reckon Jammymut will know this one as well) is TDG at Grantham (was B&Q until recently but used to be Irlams when I worked out of there). The floor of the warehouse was raised and only just wide enough to get in so that (in theory at least) a forklift could drive across your trailer. Would’ve been bearable if you could go in with curtains closed but then the buckles and ratches would be ‘below ground level’
Done it meself . The trick is to undo your buckles before you go in so all you have to do is flick them out (easy-peasy) and as for the ratchets, put the trailer and unit suspension to max before you reverse in and you won’t have any problems. That’s how I did it anyway .
Gazzareth:
Thats the one - wouldn’t be so bad if they didn’t insist on parking trailers right at the end of the bays. If you run for the corner between the trailers and the wall there is not enough space, so like you say you have to jacknife it round…
Must be ■■■■ tight getting out of the gate from the end bay as well !!
G
It was. You’d have to turn away from the gates, go down the yard and jack knife it round (sometimes having to get several lorries moved) just to have a strainght run at the gates.
Another crap yard, Howard Smith paper on Brackmills ind est, Northampton. Especially in the evening.
Either that or any of the ones I have 40 shunts at on an off day 
Yeah I’ve done that one too, it seemed like it had less than 6 inches each side though. But, its a good tester. 
