I thought id give this diary business a bash to show the daily life of the much slated tipper driver so here goes.
6-15am McGrath bros yard Hackney London.
The far to early start to my day is here just as its getting light In to the truck a 61plate volvo fm 8 wheel tipper. The tacho is quickly sorted then its a time for a quick walk round check where we are all ok the wheels are all attached and the lights all work so we are good to go.
I pod connected to the stereo the i shift gearbox in to A and we trundle off to the sound of Gil Scott-Herons hello sunday hello road.
I had loaded and weighed off last night and we are heading for a new golf course in Romford loaded to just under 32 tons with muck. Its a nice easy run up the A12 to The Moby ■■■■ junction at Romford but the early morning commuter traffic heading in to London is quickly building up.
Just after 7am I’m at the weighbridge and there are already half a dozen trucks waiting for them to open at 7-30 am. So its tacho on break time and after a quick bit of in cab dusting i settle down to a quick look at Facebook and Trucknet uk. Bang on 7-30 the barrier goes up and a dozen or so different engines can be heard firing in to life. Paperwork is quickly sorted and i join the procession of trucks down the haul road to the tipping point. Its a big tip face where you can tip about eight trucks alongside each other so theres not much hanging about and this is where the fun and games start.
Within a minute at the tip face I’m backing down to the tipping face and before I’m stopped the driver next to me has already opened my tail door so i can keep clean for a little bit longer. PTO engaged and within ten seconds we have 19 tons of muck tipped. I shift in to manual and we are creeping out across the tip to the haul road. After a quick walk round to check for rocks in the tyres or any damage we are good to go and join the rush hour commute back to London.
Next stop the Olympics site.
After half an hour fighting through the traffic I’m at the gate to the Olympics athletes village. Any driver who has been on the olympics site will know what a headache this place can be but it has brought lots of work at a time when there wasn’t a lot else about.First stop is check in i head off to security with my paper work and driving licence to get a day pass.This done next stop is security where if your lucky the just re check your pass and id and they swab the steering wheel and door handles for explosives or if your unlucky you and your vehicle will get a full sniffing from a spaniel. Next stop athletes village where we have another pass and id check. Now we are on site a quick chat with a traffic marshall where i give him a plot reference he directs me to where i need to be and before long I’m backing under a 360 excavator and been loaded with waste concrete. The big 30 ton machine makes short work of this and in minutes I’m heading out of the site for the short hop on the A12 back to Hackney where i tip the concrete for recycling.
Next job is to reload recycled crushed concrete for a council estate been renovated in near by Stepney.Its a regular job i have been doing and before i leave i quickly call the foreman on site to find out where he wants it dropped. I know where I’m going and this is a great help as access to this 1930s built estate is quite confined with narrow streets parked cars and vans along with the councils fascination with putting posts and bollards all over the place. Im on site easily enough and am met by the foreman who shows me where he wants it. Tipped and paperwork signed I’m ready to roll back to the olympics. its quite awkward getting out due to parked cars either side if the turning and posts directly opposite but after a couple of shunts we are out and motoring.
Back to the Olympics twenty minutes to do security and five minutes to load and we are back to Hackney with more concrete for recycling.
Next job is a load of ballast to a school been built just round the corner in Hackney. I’m there within a couple of minutes leaving the yard and despite two guys from site stopping people walking across the path as you reverse in you always get one on a suicide mission and i spot a middle age man body swerve the banksman and squeeze through the ever diminishing gap. Onsite I’m quickly tipped and am ready to head to my next job which is a load of concrete from Kings Cross. After the jaunt through Shoreditch and old street I’m faced with the never ending traffic jam at kings cross station before heading up Calledonian Road to a High Rise estate where a block of garages are been demolished. As i pull on site the guys are just downing tools as they are off for Breakfast suits me as I’m almost due a break so i put the tacho on break and head off to the cafe. Feeling refreshed its back to site and time to get loaded then back to Hackney to tip.
After tipping i reload with crushed concrete for a site in liverpool st for Londons huge cross rail project. Been a railway job H&S is taken very seriously so i quickly check I’ve got my full cross rail kit orange high viz hard hat and goggles and cross rail id which you need to do a seven hour induction to get but does count towards the driver cpc. When i get to the site i have to do a quick checklist of my pep and the truck is cross rail compliant which means side guards and a audio warning indicating when the vehicle is turning left fire extinguisher etc. This done and I’m tipped in seconds then pull further down the site to reload with muck. This done I’m back out to fight my way through the best traffic London can throw at me and head back to Hackney via a quick caffeine pitstop at Starbucks.
With my caffeine fix sorted we are tipped and reloaded with another couple of loads of ballast for the new school round the corner.
Times moving on and at half three I’m loading sand for a trip down the A2 to Dartford. As i join the A12 at old ford it quickly slows to a crawl as the evening rush for the dreaded Blackwall tunnel builds up once through the tunnel the traffic clears and its a quick run down to Dartford on the limiter all the way with BBC 6 music supplying the tunes. A quick tip and its turn round for a quick blast back to Hackney
Back to the yard and its rather chaotic as everyones rushing around and i get asked could i just nip round the corner to the new school job. Five minutes later I’m there and tipped but 25 minutes to do the one mile journey back through the rush hour traffic.
Im finally back reloaded with muck for romford in the morning diesel up and quickly wash the lorry down and at 6 pm I’m off to sit in the traffic at the Blackwall tunnel again to go home.
