DUFFMAN:
optidrive:
even now, BP trailers don’t have legs, it’s a weight thing.
I have been driving for them the last 13 years and every tank tanker has always had its own legs ! Before that i worked for Total and they had plenty of tanks resting on trestles,a bit desperate i always thought considering the bloody profits they made !!
6 new Lakeland tanks went in BP grangmouth in March, not a leg amongst them! Up til about the mid 90’s most of the tanks still had legs tho.
miss claire:
If you unhook a fully loaded tanker there is the risk of the legs going thru the bottom of the trailer.Remember most modern tankers have no chassis,the legs are mounted to the barrel.
Given that most, if not all, modern fuel tankers are alloy, where are the axles & kingpin attached■■?
I’d expect the thing to fold in the middle once loaded, any pictures of one of these?
This Trailer had no legs and you had to use a Fitter with a tressle to drop the trailer.
This trailer has got legs, although they are not seperated too often.
Shell used Scammell Highwayman tractors with super single tyres on the drive just to get those extra few gallons. the legs were just eating into the payload too.
fodentanker:
1This Trailer had no legs and you had to use a Fitter with a tressle to drop the trailer.
0
This trailer has got legs, although they are not seperated too often.
Hang on though, behind the rear light cluster of the unit in the second picture, seems to be a set of legs! I drove past a tanker in a BP garage today that had legs.
Edit; ignore, I didn’t see your last comment 
Would that Shell tanker come in at 44t fully loaded or lighter?
bazza123:
fodentanker:
1This Trailer had no legs and you had to use a Fitter with a tressle to drop the trailer.
0
This trailer has got legs, although they are not seperated too often.
Hang on though, behind the rear light cluster of the unit in the second picture, seems to be a set of legs! I drove past a tanker in a BP garage today that had legs.
Edit; ignore, I didn’t see your last comment
Would that Shell tanker come in at 44t fully loaded or lighter?
Yes 44t. They are either around the 44t or empty. Full loads to each Forecourt.
busteredwards:
DUFFMAN:
optidrive:
I have been driving for them the last 13 years and every tank tanker has always had its own legs ! Before that i worked for Total and they had plenty of tanks resting on trestles,a bit desperate i always thought considering the bloody profits they made !!
6 new Lakeland tanks went in BP grangmouth in March, not a leg amongst them! Up til about the mid 90’s most of the tanks still had legs tho.
The newest trailers operated by Bp in house fleet are 2007/8 and all have legs , the 6 in GRT are possibly on the AirBp contract now exclusively operated by DHL.
This thread has me looking at every tanker I see on the road. I never realised so many didn’t have legs.
Check out the Hoyer (Esso) outfits, they have had the legs removed which is all about reducing weight & maximising payload.As is using daycabbed units with 250litre fuel tanks & alloy wheels. A lot of their trailers don’t have pumps either so they can only do gravity work.
A lot of tank trailers are constructed as a chassis-less design, yes there are rails at the rear where the bogie is mounted but at the front, just a reinforced plate to mount the kingpin.
Even when a trailer had legs, it cannot be dropped with product in pots 1 & 2 as this would make the trailer imbalanced. There would be a huge amount of stress on the tank( causing it to bend or crack) & the most likely result is that the trailer would topple leaving the rear wheels in the air?
I thought they all had day cabs. Who’d want to sleep with that much fuel behind you.
m1cks:
This thread has me looking at every tanker I see on the road. I never realised so many didn’t have legs.
Ditto!! All the ones I’ve seen over the last few nights in the M42/6 area have legs, tucked away behind the stack of cones but the feet are clearly visible
m1cks:
I thought they all had day cabs. Who’d want to sleep with that much fuel behind you.
In the company I work for I know there is a lad who over nights in the truck, was talking to him today when I was loading and he said he left home on Monday morning. No bloody way would I overnight with a truck that has a fuel tank behind it. Don’t even know if it would be legal to do this.
pump:
m1cks:
I thought they all had day cabs. Who’d want to sleep with that much fuel behind you.In the company I work for I know there is a lad who over nights in the truck, was talking to him today when I was loading and he said he left home on Monday morning. No bloody way would I overnight with a truck that has a fuel tank behind it. Don’t even know if it would be legal to do this.
There is no legal reason as to why you can’t night out with a loaded fuel tanker, ok it may not be everybody’s cup of char, but there isn’t a law stopping it. Petrol isn’t the only flammable liquid carried in tankers, what about those guys? Or the fella with the dual fuel motor, 200 ltrs of gas at the end of his bunk?
alamcculloch:
If the tank and unit are always kept together the driver doesnt need a C+E to driver the thing, or does he?On the buses the driver of a bendy bus doesnt need D+E because it doesnt come apart in normal service.Surely the same rule should apply in this case.
Was not going to bother with this one till I read this…Even if the unit and trailer were never unhooked you would still require a C+E.
Applied for a job driving a bendy bus when driving petrol tankers in London.At the time they wanted someone with a class one license.No cat D required then!
It was driving disabled people over to europe on holiday.Sounded good but never got it.Anyway all you require now is a cat D.
Back to tankers.Ours had legs but we never unhooked them.It was always done in the workshop by the fitter.
We had occasional nights out but never slept in vehicle.Always locked in a secure yard over night.
miss claire:
If you unhook a fully loaded tanker there is the risk of the legs going thru the bottom of the trailer.Remember most modern tankers have no chassis,the legs are mounted to the barrel.
The reason you do not uncouple a loaded tanker is because tank 1 at front has no support so could in theory rupture under the load, the load is supported by the 5th wheel in that area( 5th of weight) .
I have driven a road train ,that is a thing that looks a bit like a steam locomotive with 2 passenger carrying coaches (trailers) behind it.There are lots of them on the Costas etc.Once its been put together there is no need to seperate it all.There is only one of them in Scotland ,Arbroath to be exact.Like a bendy bus you dont need an E on your bus licence for it.I see no reason for the same rule coming into play for tankers.
Took this photo in the 1980’s when at work with my dad who drove for BP at Shell Haven.
Shows the front of a fuel oil trailer on the tressle.
God so much ■■■■■■■■■ in this thread.
How do I know this, because I do it!!
What happens if the tractor unit breaks down on the road? Someone has to come out with a huge trestle and somehow remove the tractor and prop up the trailer at the same time?
Every tanker I’ve come across has had legs. I used to load directly onto them parked up with the legs down. Always start at the leg end otherwise you end up with the legs 6 foot in the air and the arse end on the ground.
m1cks:
I thought they all had day cabs. Who’d want to sleep with that much fuel behind you.
You might be better off sleeping with it loaded rather than empty, ask the experts…
Jamiemufu:
God so much ■■■■■■■■■ in this thread.How do I know this, because I do it!!
I just wonder why they make such a big deal about operating fuel tankers, seems to me like there’s a load of bs in your industry…
