Question from a non-lorry driver

UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUMS THE UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUM (INTERACTIVE)
21

James the cat:

Gembo:
Ask “Dozy” about curtain siders, he’s the dogs gonads with em.[emoji1]

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Good thoughts. Yeah, the character could pick a Lorry to escape on. He notices there’s some damage to the rear of the trailer, possibly from a collision with a van. But he decides to go for it anyway.

Mid way through, comes face to face with the driver. A confused looking man. Mexican stand off, and your character grabs the shiny new fire extinguisher from behind the cab and bonks the driver on the head with it

The driver rolling around the floor [zb] and such about that ■■■■ fire extinguisher.

Coffee and keyboard interface issue!!!

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22

I think people have tied themselves on to trucks axles, so they are hanging on the bottom rather than inside, buts its really dangerous.

does the channel tunnel exist in your alternate universe? people have walked through it

23

I once pulled a box trailer which had internal ramps for carrying race cars. On the nearside was a caravan type door which was unlocked, and could be opened from both the outside and the inside. These types of doors can often be seen on horse box lorries too, although I’m not sure anybody would take a horse box as far as Poland.

I think an accomplice who shuts and locks the back doors after him, or a sympathetic driver (who might not be that sympathetic after all) would work well as a sub plot and offer lots of potential for some exciting twists.

24

if its sort of early 80’ technology, it’d be climb onto the roof of the roughest old tilt trailer you could find , small slit in the roof, knock out a roof board and drop in, replace roof board once inside. tilt would probably last a couple days of travel before it became noticeable, can you not build into your story him actually finding a company that exports to Poland , then he could hang about like a bad smell and smuggle himself inside when the driver was away sorting out the interminable amount of paperwork he’d need for cross borders and before he actually closed and sealed it. loading end of the day- in a snow storm - they all want to go home once the stuff is on the trailer and leave driver muggins to close and seal his truck. they all seemed to bugger off once I was loaded, could have stuffed anybody in.

25

Eighties standard - under a loosely sheeted flat bed. I know that the drivers of old would NEVER have been seen running in such a cavalier way but this is a work of fiction is it not? See what I did there? :open_mouth: :smiley: :smiley:

26

Firstly, thank you all SO much for all the help!!

All these suggestions are great ideas, but due to events leading up to the “Lorry scene”, some are more applicable than others (for instance, he has no hope of getting an accomplice!).

The first applicable idea that really appeals to me is Freight Dog and Wiretwister’s roped and sheeted flat bed trailer. I really, really like that idea, because it seems so retro, but I have a further question about it, if anyone could be so kind: Do foreign lorries ever pick up goods in another country and bring them back to their own country?
The thing is, in the story, my lad chose the lorry he got into because it had a Polish registration plate, as he thought, logically, that it would have to go back to Poland sooner or later. But the thing is, if this Polish lorry is in England, I assume the driver would have to deliver his load before he leaves England to go home? So he would either deliver his load in England and find my lad inside (putting my lad back to square one), or the driver would already have delivered his load when my lad finds the lorry, so it would be empty (with no cargo for my lad to camouflage in)?

I also really like Cavey’s car transporter idea – but again, I have the same question. If a foreign lorry is transporting cars, wouldn’t it drop them off in England and then go home empty?

Or, is there another way to tell where a lorry is going without looking at the registration plate? One way, as tonyj105 suggested, is that I build into my story my lad finding a company that exports to Poland, but he really doesn’t have time. He came up with this idea on the fly, and he’s clearly wearing prison clothes. He has to get out of sight ASAP. So, if there is a way to tell where a lorry is headed, it needs to be a quick way!

Thanks again to everyone for the help, I don’t know what I’d do otherwise!!

27

Lorries from Europe delivering goods from a European company would be looking to get a “backload”, that is a load that is going back to the country where the lorry started out from. This is because running lorries empty is not profitable. One possible exception could be those carrying own account goods, the company carries goods made by itself as opposed to carrying goods made by separate manufacturer, these are manufacturers rather than hauliers.

28

Wiretwister:
Lorries from Europe delivering goods from a European company would be looking to get a “backload”, that is a load that is going back to the country where the lorry started out from. This is because running lorries empty is not profitable.

Thank you so, so, so much.

29

If I could just have a final clarification, if it’s not too much trouble – Freight Dog originally said, “He could loosen a rope just enough to climb up and the canvas sheeting and squeeze his way in between the load.” As a writer, is there anything I need to know about loosening a rope? Is it as straight-forward as it sounds – can I just write something along the lines of, “He loosened the rope a little and slipped under the canvas” – or is there a trick to it?

Thank you all so much – you guys have been the absolute best set of people I’ve ever asked for help from. Honestly, I do research on the internet all the time, and I have never been able to ask such long and complex questions and get such excellent answers. Usually I have to condense it to one line or no one carries on reading!

30

Cavalier:
If I could just have a final clarification, if it’s not too much trouble – Freight Dog originally said, “He could loosen a rope just enough to climb up and the canvas sheeting and squeeze his way in between the load.” As a writer, is there anything I need to know about loosening a rope? Is it as straight-forward as it sounds – can I just write something along the lines of, “He loosened the rope a little and slipped under the canvas” – or is there a trick to it?

If you said “he unpicked the dolly knot”, it would be much more authentic and specific, because this type of knot was very popular in the days of roping and sheeting.

youtube.com/watch?v=hLb1oP45esU

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=44472

31

ezydriver:
If you said “he unpicked the dolly knot”, it would be much more authentic and specific, because this type of knot was very popular in the days of roping and sheeting.

Thank you very, very, very much – and is it okay for him just to leave it untied once he’s got in under the canvas?

32

Cavalier:

ezydriver:
If you said “he unpicked the dolly knot”, it would be much more authentic and specific, because this type of knot was very popular in the days of roping and sheeting.

Thank you very, very, very much – and is it okay for him just to leave it untied once he’s got in under the canvas?

I’d write in that the character noticed the rope dangling down to the floor and hearing footsteps of the driver, quickly reached a hand down and pulled the rope up under the canvas. Dollies are quite long when undone. I don’t think I can do it on my device, but maybe someone can upload an example pic of a dolly knot on a sheeted trailer to show you. Be good to visualise it

33

Cavalier:

ezydriver:
If you said “he unpicked the dolly knot”, it would be much more authentic and specific, because this type of knot was very popular in the days of roping and sheeting.

Thank you very, very, very much – and is it okay for him just to leave it untied once he’s got in under the canvas?

That’s the problem, there’d be a length of rope dangling. I suppose your lad could bring that length under the sheet with him so it doesn’t dangle, and so not look so out of place, but unless he was a dab hand at performing knots with one hand I doubt he’d be doing it back up again on the outside.

34

Freight Dog:
I’d write in that the character noticed the rope dangling down to the floor and hearing footsteps of the driver, quickly reached a hand down and pulled the rope up under the canvas.

ezydriver:
I suppose your lad could bring that length under the sheet with him so it doesn’t dangle, and so not look so out of place

Thank you all so much. I can’t tell you how much you’ve helped me!

35

Cavalier:

Freight Dog:
I’d write in that the character noticed the rope dangling down to the floor and hearing footsteps of the driver, quickly reached a hand down and pulled the rope up under the canvas.

ezydriver:
I suppose your lad could bring that length under the sheet with him so it doesn’t dangle, and so not look so out of place

Thank you all so much. I can’t tell you how much you’ve helped me!

No problem at all, it’s quite good fun thinking about it to be honest :smiley: . A nice little challenge.

36

Some one who knew what a dolly knot looks like would see a loose one quite easily. On the other hand if you didn’t know what “right” looked like could you recognise “wrong”. An officer in pursuit might see a hanging rope easier than a tight but not knotted rope. How much knowledge/expertise do you want to give to the chaser?

37

Freight Dog:
No problem at all, it’s quite good fun thinking about it to be honest :smiley: . A nice little challenge.

Thank you very much for your kindness! :slight_smile:

Wiretwister:
An officer in pursuit might see a hanging rope easier than a tight but not knotted rope. How much knowledge/expertise do you want to give to the chaser?

Thankfully, he’s got a very good start on the chaser; as long as the actual driver doesn’t notice, my lad’s home and dry.

38

I’m just thinking, back in the 80s I can’t recall seeing any European lorries with flat bed trailers that were roped and sheeted. They were mostly [u]tilts[/u] and [u]fridges[/u]. So I’m not sure it’s accurate to have a Polish lorry collecting a backload from the UK, and then roping and sheeting it. Somebody may correct me, but I really can’t recall seeing it. Then and again, 99.99999% of your non-lorry driving readers would never know this pedantic detail, so perhaps you could see this as writers’ licence.

39

ezydriver:
I’m just thinking, back in the 80s I can’t recall seeing any European lorries with flat bed trailers that were roped and sheeted. They were mostly [u]tilts[/u] and [u]fridges[/u]. So I’m not sure it’s accurate to have a Polish lorry collecting a backload from the UK, and then roping and sheeting it. Somebody may correct me, but I really can’t recall seeing it. Then and again, 99.99999% of your non-lorry driving readers would never know this pedantic detail, so perhaps you could see this as writers’ licence.

The idea of changing the story line to managing to hide in a tilt between it being loaded and then closed up is going to be much more realistic than the idea of hiding under a roped and sheeted flat doing TIR work.To which we’ve then got the added suspense of will he be found by the driver or loading staff or a possible routine check of the load when the trailer is sealed. :bulb: :wink:

40

Carryfast:

ezydriver:
I’m just thinking, back in the 80s I can’t recall seeing any European lorries with flat bed trailers that were roped and sheeted. They were mostly [u]tilts[/u] and [u]fridges[/u]. So I’m not sure it’s accurate to have a Polish lorry collecting a backload from the UK, and then roping and sheeting it. Somebody may correct me, but I really can’t recall seeing it. Then and again, 99.99999% of your non-lorry driving readers would never know this pedantic detail, so perhaps you could see this as writers’ licence.

The idea of changing the story line to managing to hide in a tilt between it being loaded and then closed up is going to be much more realistic than the idea of hiding under a roped and sheeted flat doing TIR work.To which we’ve then got the added suspense of will he be found by the driver or loading staff or a possible routine check of the load when the trailer is sealed. :bulb: :wink:

Yeah, the lad knows (or at least assumes) it’s a Polish truck being reloaded for Poland because of its Polish plates. So if he hides in sight of the truck being loaded, the driver could be snoozing in his cab, the loaders could go for a tea break, and the lad could choose that moment to creep in the back of the tilt, hide behind some pallets, and then go through his journey. Then, as you say, it creates a will he/won’t he be found? suspense. The problem for Cavalier is that tilts can’t be opened from the inside, unless the lad has a knife so he can cut his way through the side.