switchlogic:
Funnily enough I’m carrying reels right now. There held on with bailer twine and duct tape.
To be sure, to be sure 
I used to carry a lot of big[3ton]reels,never really comfortable with them in a t/liner bit more work involved i know but you couldant beat having them on a flat stood up or laid down with 2 sheets on them,roped between the reels and a flysheet on,old way i know but safer imo.
regards dave.
Hodgy67:
Dogmatix:
No need to strap them unless they are laying down and chocked. Just take it easy and allow lots of braking room.I used to carry reels of paper everyday for over 5 years on a tautliner for Smith Stone & Knight, Satley Birmingham, never strapped and all important never moved!!well only a little bit but never a problem
Although I don’t carry them personally, I go into a place where they do, and I never see straps on the reels, they’re stood on end and by the weight of them you’d really have to be into some serious muppetry to get into any trouble with them 
switchlogic:
Funnily enough I’m carrying reels right now. There held on with bailer twine and duct tape.
in your fridge luke??
we used to load reels in a fridge when i worked in ireland and they rolled them in and just chocked the last one then to tip take chocks out and lower the suspension, job done
newmercman:
it’s undoubtably safer now, but reels falling off of lorries has never been an everyday occurence and they’ve been carried unstrapped in curtainsiders since the invention of the curtainsider
24 dead thanks to unstrapped reels rolling through the bus from a fridge, not a curtainsider. they didn’t care much about strapping reels in finland before that either.
I also carry paper reels regularly, and don’t really have anything to add to kyrbo’s excellent post, except to say that adequate corner protectors should be available if you ask at the place you pick up the reels from. The places that I load from always have cardboard ones available, and sometimes nicer plastic ones, which I keep and re-use.
milodon:
newmercman:
it’s undoubtably safer now, but reels falling off of lorries has never been an everyday occurence and they’ve been carried unstrapped in curtainsiders since the invention of the curtainsiderBBC NEWS | Europe | Finnish bus crash leaves 24 dead
24 dead thanks to unstrapped reels rolling through the bus from a fridge, not a curtainsider. they didn’t care much about strapping reels in finland before that either.
And that was only five reels, weighing around 800 kg with trailer headboard which crushed into the coach…
IIRC the report released after accident investigation stated reels securing mostly met the criteria of the law. Bottom reels, side by side, were close the fridge walls so no straps required for those and there were some load securing on the top reels laid roughly in the center line of the trailer. That load securing had worked few seconds earlier when trailer had been traveling in a roadside ditch just before raising back to the road and hitting bus right after that.
Zetorpilot:
… adequate corner protectors should be available if you ask at the place you pick up the reels from. The places that I load from always have cardboard ones available, and sometimes nicer plastic ones, which I keep and re-use.
Well, this is Finland and not the UK 
Yes, they should be available, and I’d guess paper mills all around have those available, but you do find pretty inadequate ones even from mills (one mill in southern Finland comes to my mind immediately). For what I wouldn’t trust is you’d find corner protectors in places which doesn’t produce paper reels but which load you with those (like ports or various freight forwarders for example)…
bagpuss:
i went past an accident on the m1 southbound a couple of years ago( i was northbound) . the reels had come through the head board and it looked like it had took the cab off the chassis . I think it was one of Malcoms of Brookfield ( could be wrong as i only glanced over as the rubberneckers were doing my head in. i think it could have been the accident where one of the guys coming from one of the pallet places in fradley lost his life
I drove for Malcoms of Brookfield out of Crick taking reels. We never strapped them. Used to take them over to Corby/Rockingham way, and we unloaded them on a bay using the steep incline of the loading ramp, and we inserted aluminium blocks in the runners on the trailer floor and tipped them with a long handle.Anyway, they where never strapped. I don;t think they where going to go anywhere, i know in the event of an accident that they may come off the trailer. But what stops a trailer going over and killing someone in the event of an accident?
I used to work for a haulier that only moved paper reels from docks to printers, nothing else, every day, same job, same customers, same work. We always ran with them stood up, big, small, whatever, no straps, no nothing, always in curtainsiders tightly packed from headboard to back doors.
I did think that in an emergency stop/very heavy braking situation that I would be in trouble, or if a very sudden swerve was needed but thankfully neither ever happened. Customers and bosses would not allow strapping at all in case of damaged reels which was worrying…but it made you drive all the more carefully. I still found it of concern though although the longest haul was 175 miles, more usually 25 or 30 miles to the print presses. Still not convinced to this day it was the way to go safely though.
For info, only incident I remember from 13 artics running daily was one subby who overcooked it on a roundabout and tipped the outfit over onto an armco barrier where it came to rest. The load was retained by the curtain and a forklift took it all off and the truck was righted with no/very little damage.
My back load is usually 25ish ton of paper reels from the kemsley paper mill, I sweep then line the floor with 5 layers of paper, they get loaded while im picking my nose and scratching my arse, I get the all clear then check they arnt damaged then use the internal straps to stop sideways movement, they are all butted up to each other so they shouldnt go anywhere, then 2 internals criss crossed at the back incase they want to go back, but to be honest they arnt going anywhere even if they werent straped, but it looks like I have made a effort to secure them if vosa stop me.
Alcpone:
My back load is usually 25ish ton of paper reels from the kemsley paper mill, I sweep then line the floor with 5 layers of paper, they get loaded while im picking my nose and scratching my arse, I get the all clear then check they arnt damaged then use the internal straps to stop sideways movement, they are all butted up to each other so they shouldnt go anywhere, then 2 internals criss crossed at the back incase they want to go back, but to be honest they arnt going anywhere even if they werent straped, but it looks like I have made a effort to secure them if vosa stop me.
Well I loaded in there friday and was told every load has got to have a ratchet strap over every reel soon new EU ruling:shock:
Oh great, I just drop the trailer at our yard for another driver to deliver, so to have to take all my straps off will be a pain in the arse.
More EU crap.
You didnt have to go round to door 6 for some of your rolls then back round for the rest did you, that ■■■■■ me right off when im tired out or they havent got my load ready so I have to go park up then go back in after my 9 off then head back up the road, the bay at the end is a pain in the arse to blind side it into aswel lol