tortoise:
Trouble is a lot of places are not brand new upto date warehouses. Especially in London. They are old building that have been in use since horse and cart. And it would not be financially viable to carry out major alterations.
they may not be allowed either if the buildings are listed. it is part of the job though. just another hazard that must be dealt with like any other 
Yaldingweir:
In answer to mrpj myself and my colleges at my yard do not expect to keep having blame worthy accidents with out any form of discipline taken against us.
Fair enough although you did state “A lot of drivers are unhappy about this”. Having said that I agree (which I said in my original post) with your statemant about ‘common sense’ and that places should have proper access but it’s common sense needed by both parties.
Yaldingweir:
I know I should have mentioned this in my original posting but this has only come about recently as for every wing mirror that is broken by us drivers the powers that be want us to fill out a accident report and as a result we will be found blame worthy.After you have incurred three blame worthy accidents on your record in a period of a few years you will be up for a driving ban. Allot of my fellow drivers are unhappy about this because as far as we are aware the cost of a wing mirror is in the region of £90. Is this cost really worth the hassle of upsetting good loyal staff and the whole rig moral of taking the staff down a disciplinary procedure ?
Well for a fact, they’re right and you ARE blameworthy. I don’t know of a single driver in the UK who looks at the width written on a label in the cab and uses that as a method of judgement when driving down the road. Most I know USE THEIR EYES.
In fact, your post has done nothing but highlight how incompetent the drivers in your company are. If they actually OBSERVED what was going on around them as they reversed instead of just looking in the drivers mirror, they might notice it getting a bit tight on the passengers side.
Sorry, no excuse. It is bad driving. It is entirely the fault of the driver.
Spardo:
On the other hand you might have a case if you have to pull mirrors in, they are part of the vehicle and if they don’t fit, the premises aren’t suitable, a management failure there.
With that I agree but it still doesn’t excuse breaking mirrors. If you can’t fit in safely without folding the mirrors in, you have two choices:
Conor:
In fact, your post has done nothing but highlight how incompetent the drivers in your company are. If they actually OBSERVED what was going on around them as they reversed instead of just looking in the drivers mirror, they might notice it getting a bit tight on the passengers side.Sorry, no excuse. It is bad driving. It is entirely the fault of the driver.
Yes. I would fully agree with that comment Conor.
Our trucks have bits sticking out in the side (well, the one I drive do 
). Not at head height but at ankle height. Rather more solid lumps of metal. Hit something with that and the other object breaks before the truck 
However, I too have had the whole mirrors things anyway. ALL drivers as they are learning have understood the concept that the company does not want you to trash the truck you take out (well, not any more than it already is 
!!!)
I am not sure where I heard it, it was possibly LGV training.
Basically, not to drive too close to the kerb anyway as if you hit someone with your mirror you will kill them as it would be a head injury. Therefore when driving in urban areas to always check the vehicle edges a bit more.
But then, you’d be checking your mirrors a lot anyway wouldn’t you
I would think that if I trashed 3 mirrors on trucks I would probably end up with a written warning!
Bumpers is my problems 
If you are reversing and find you cannot squeeze into the gap without hitting the mirrors then you need to re-evaluate your need to be in that gap. Like a previous poster said (David?) about pulling the mirrors in and manouvering without using them…
You HGV guys are sooo brave to do that!!! No seriously!! I’d be [zb] scared to do that!!! 7.5t mebbe, bigger? And with a trailer thingy wotsit!! 
Spardo:
Having said that, I come back to professionally coping with your vehicle. In the old days of the Schiaffino Ferries out of Dover we had to reverse our artics on or off the ferry with mirrors pulled in due to the lack of space and tightness of the packing. I never whacked anything.
Happy days. I’ve reversed onto a few ferries like that over the years, Eurolink from Sheerness was one were this was sometimes needed, and you got to have 100% confidence in the guy watching you back. Funny thing was, even knowing the mirrors were folded in and you could see nothing but the inside of your cab, and while watching the guys directions you still ‘looked in the mirrors’ 
Or was that just me?
Coffeeholic:
and while watching the guys directions you still ‘looked in the mirrors’
i do that. i try not to but i cant help it even with my mirrors out. you are being guided so the person guiding is responsible if you hit something but i cant help looking to make sure. especially if he seems to stay at one side and not walk over to check the other side of the wagon. i dont trust anyone so i just have to look for myself
Without actually looking at the vehicles, it may well be just a case of altering the settings on the mirror arms. Often the assembly that provides the ‘indent’ that the cam returns to can be adjusted so that the normal position of the arm is closer to the vehicle (without degrading visibility).
Another method, where the mount from the mirror housing to the arm, is offset from the vertical centre of the mirror, is to tranpose the mirrors, nearside to offside, which then moves the whole assembly(s) inboard relative to their factory fitted position.
It seems to me that Royal Mail should get the lengths of their 7.5 tonners corrected on their in-cab notices when you consider the amount that pull in 3 inches from your front bumper after they have overtaken you doing 75mph.
If Royal Mail drivers use this information rather than what they see around them, it answers several questions I’ve had for years.
I’m sorry Yaldingweir, but I have NEVER driven a vehicle with the width printed in the cab!
As has been said elsewhere, YOU are the driver, and YOU make the assessment before attempting to get in. If it looks too tight, don’t attempt it.
I have’nt read all the post’s on this thread so i may repeat veiws allready expressed. With regard to your overall width, i think you’ll find that the mirrors dont count as they’re retractable, and its quite clear to me that most 7.5 tonner driver dont know their vehicle size, otherwise they would’nt go in 6’6" max width lanes in roadworks, but with regard to the access to premises that are of an inadequat size, then i appreciate this is a problem that does require a solution, this would count as a H & S issue, having to retract your mirrors to gain access to premises is not really playing the game on the part off your managment unless you are provided with someone to watch you in, and as your cheif executive has stated that a 3rd of the managers are’nt up to the job , then maybe there the ones who your working under. You could stop outside premises and make them come to you, this would bring the situation to a head, but you ought to get your union involved.
Do the premises that you go to actually have the widths signposted on their entrances?
I mean if they dont then the width stated in the cab is irrelevent unless you’re going to get a tape measure out at every drop?
Personally i think it’s just down to looking and making a judgement as to whether the vehicle will fit, the same applies to all vehicles, car, van, truck. Once you’ve had a particular vehicle for a while you can drive along with the NS mirror just missing the hedges by milimeters, but until you get to know the width you just have to keep an eye on them. (which you’re doing anyway, right?)
I think in 5 years of driving commercial vehicles i’ve managed to break 4 mirrors, 1 was caused by an iveco daily (painted red, with a crown on the side) which hammered past me down a country lane at 60 plus and smashed mine to a pulp. The other 3 were me clipping mirrors on hedges (it doesnt take much for the glass to fall out of a Tran[zb] mirror!)
I’d never been back to base and complained that the vans didnt have the width marked in them though. At Tesco mirrors and tail lights were considered consumables, like brake pads by my fellow drivers!
Spardo:
Having said that, I come back to professionally coping with your vehicle. In the old days of the Schiaffino Ferries out of Dover we had to reverse our artics on or off the ferry with mirrors pulled in due to the lack of space and tightness of the packing. I never whacked anything.Time for a bit of re-training , I think. That’s the modern way isn’t it?
Salut, David.
I’m with Spardo on this. If the RM drivers are struggling with their motors, how can they call themselves lorry drivers?..God help them if they had had to reverse on to the Catherine Schiaffinos lift…on the ‘blind’ side I may add like we used to do with, as Spardo points out , our mirrors pulled in.
Viking:
[God help them if they had had to reverse on to the Catherine Schiaffinos lift…on the ‘blind’ side I may add like we used to do with, as Spardo points out , our mirrors pulled in.
Yes, blind side in a right ■■■■■■, I seem to remember that there was just a concrete ramp down into the sea on which the ship’s ramp used to drop. Or was that the other end, at Ostend? Maybe both 
.
I have had several chances this year to re-visit those days because that berth at Dover is the one the trimaran from Boulogne now uses. Nowadays it’s just cars, you get to drive on and turn round in the ship, and there is a proper linkspan
I seem to remember Rose Schiaffino and now you’ve reminded me of Catherine, Viking, that was the whole fleet wasn’t it? 
Salut, David.
Spardo:
Yes, blind side in a right ■■■■■■, I seem to remember that there was just a concrete ramp down into the sea on which the ship’s ramp used to drop. Or was that the other end, at Ostend? Maybe bothI seem to remember Rose Schiaffino and now you’ve reminded me of Catherine, Viking, that was the whole fleet wasn’t it?
Salut, David.
What made it worse for me was I had an ERF tri-xle tractor & fridge…talk about Popeye biceps…he had nothing on me.
We never shipped out of Dover on Schiaffino, it was always Ramsgate. You are right about the concrete ramp though…that was at Ostend…a swine when it was windy. There were three flat bottoms… Schiaffino, Rose, and Catherine.
Spardo:
Viking:
[God help them if they had had to reverse on to the Catherine Schiaffinos lift…on the ‘blind’ side I may add like we used to do with, as Spardo points out , our mirrors pulled in.Yes, blind side in a right ■■■■■■, I seem to remember that there was just a concrete ramp down into the sea on which the ship’s ramp used to drop. Or was that the other end, at Ostend? Maybe both
I have had several chances this year to re-visit those days because that berth at Dover is the one the trimaran from Boulogne now uses. Nowadays it’s just cars, you get to drive on and turn round in the ship, and there is a proper linkspan
I seem to remember Rose Schiaffino and now you’ve reminded me of Catherine, Viking, that was the whole fleet wasn’t it?
Salut, David.
Here’s the infamous Catherine Schiaffinos lift on the right with a Ford Cargo sat on it.
…and the backend of her.
I have to agree with Conors comments on this, if you are constantly clumping your mirrors on things you are not driving in a safe manner and should maybe consider more training, that said, narrow access is a problem that the managers need to address, but you all know where these places are so if you are still breaking your mirrors there I would humbly suggest you look for a job driving desks instead of those red racing cars the PO uses now
A tip given to me by another driver years ago was to keep the mirror heater on as the glass is less brittle when warm
There are a lot of places I deliver to, especially in Belgium that were designed for Horses before they were eaten.
Most of them require blind side reverse with mirrors pulled in and relying on a bloke who has never driven a lorry.
This is not an occasional delivery, but they probably have 6 or 8 trucks a day. We havent got time to break mirrors or hit walls because the traffic is stopped while we reverse.
am i missing something here?
The construction and use regs state that the maximum width of a vehicle should not exceed 2.5m with the exception of refridgerated being 2.55m.
mirrors not inc