alix776:
sorry TWINGO LOVER but the truck only does 56 flat out as its my old motor so yours must be doing around 52 -53 or less dispite what the tacho tells you
I’ve got some news for you, you’re wrong! When I say it’s doing in excess of 60mph on the flat that’s exactly what I mean! If it only did 56mph when you had it then clearly someone’s been tinkering with it since you upgraded to the Topliner 
another good read and excellent pictures 
V8KARLV8:
Good read Rob, nice pic of Richards wee scanny
Eh 
Richard who 
“richard King” 
Bones:
“richard King”
Well Karl must have good eyes then coz I can’t see it, only the arse end of the trailer 
.
Oh, forgot to mention in the diary for last week that enroute Shrewsbury to Stone Market at Cov I headed along the A5 and stopped at The Hollies just the other side of the M6 for my (cooked) breakfast. I can honestly say that it was the most disgusting breakfast I’ve had in my entire life.
I really cannot understand why some many truckers stop for food here because it is nasty. The toilets upstairs were disgusting. Definitely a place to avoid at all costs if you haven’t been here before. 
Totally agree with you Rob, i don’t stop at Hollies anymore, there is a much better one just a little further up on the right (east bound from M6) clean, tidy and good grub
Great read matey keep em coming
Rob K:
Bones:
“richard King”
you need to turn your screen round and look at the other side 
rob give me the times ill look into to it
alix776:
rob give me the times ill look into to it
Don’t want to get into trouble for grassing up drivers 
Rob K:
Bones:
“richard King”
Im sure you will notice “Richard King” written on the back of the trailer
bit late for that rob as you have already publicly accused the company of over riding speed limiters i will look into it although i am just a driver the damage has already been done by you earlier statement unless you want to publicly with draw it
so by not wanting get the driver in trouble are saying you could wrong about the speed
alix776:
bit late for that rob as you have already publicly accused the company of over riding speed limiters i will look into it although i am just a driver the damage has already been done by you earlier statement unless you want to publicly with draw itso by not wanting get the driver in trouble are saying you could wrong about the speed
Not at all. I merely made an observation that that vehicle was travelling in excess of 60mph on the flat on that particular day. Fact. Can’t see what the fuss is about If the company is operating within the law then surely there is nothing to worry about
Whether you choose to ‘look into it’ or take it up with your gaffer is entirely your own doing.
I stand by what I said and if the tachograph suggests that it was only doing 56mph like you say that I will stake my life on it that it’s been tampered with in some form or another.
End of, as far as I’m concerned.
good read rob ive seen the richard kings with the vapour trails as well… ( only joking )
Can you two take this to either e-mail or PM, please? I think more than enough has been said in public, and this is best sorted out in private before it completely drags this thread off-topic.
Btw, I’m not asking, I’m telling.
Lucy:
Can you two take this to either e-mail or PM, please? I think more than enough has been said in public, and this is best sorted out in private before it completely drags this thread off-topic.Btw, I’m not asking, I’m telling.
Rob K:
End of, as far as I’m concerned.
Very Good read and photos too
cheers Ben
White premium man circling the streets, had me laughing. Decades ago, i lived in a red light district for two years (which was brilliant. Apart from the men asking that question. I’m sure even the grannies got asked. ) But strangely enough, i never saw owt bigger then a van stopping. And a lot of the punters there still tried to look discrete. So it’s still very amusing to me!. Maybe he was looking for his special 'un. How romantic.
yes a good read…and some great pictures…
I was meant to be running south on Sunday 15 May but I couldn’t be arsed with it as I had some problems with my tumble dryer which meant that my clothes weren’t dry.
So, Monday 16 May saw the once-in-a-life-time event of me being up and actually working before 0600, but this wasn’t the so-called ‘okay’ hour of 0500 like some of you don’t mind, in fact not even 0400, it was 0330 . In to work and away for 0430 straight down the M1, M42 and M5 to Quedgeley on the south side of Gloucester for a delivery of cardboard packing to a company called Online Packaging Ltd for 0830. Arrived there at 0755 and after a short wait, had the lot off.
Of course, after being up for 5 hours and now nearing 0900 it was time for breakfast and a nice cooked one was calling me from somewhere. Being on the A38 I imagined I wouldn’t have far to go before I found a snack-van and true enough it wasn’t. Heading south along the A38 towards C M Downton’s yard there’s a big set back lay-by on the right hand side and in it is (iirc) The Winning Post Grill snack-van just here. A fantastic large breakfast was had (for £3.50 incl a pot of tea/coffee) with all the usual goodies, but on a proper plate and tea in a proper mug with the option of either eating at the table and chairs provided or having it in your cab and returning the crocks when you’ve finished.
The food was very nice indeed and once again, like Pearl’s, gets the Rob K stamp of approval
I spent far too long nattering to the owner of the van as he used to be a driver himself before seeing the light and it was after 1000 . A call to chaos-control wanted me up to Daventry for a high value load for Tesco’s at Middlewich so I bid my farewell’s to the snack-van owner and got back on the M5.
Interesting axle combination on the Scania rigid. I wonder if that’s a steer axle as well as a lift
I decided to come off at J9 and route along the A46 round Evesham and Stratford-upon-Avon, then across the Warwick and out along the A425 through Southam and into Daventry the ‘back’ way but I was day-dreaming and thought I was going to Stone Market at Coventry instead. This resulted in me going straight across the M40 at J15 and heading up the west side of Warwick. I realised my mistake soon after and came off at the first ramp intending to head across Warwick and out the other side.
Sadly the ‘we don’t want trucks in our town’ pretend ‘weight’ limit brigade and one of Railtrack’s finest ‘we couldn’t be arsed building the bridge a couple of feet higher’ low bridges soon stopped me in my tracks so it was time for U-ey in the end of a junction and do some back-peddling back to the M40, down to J14 off there.
Somehow I forgot to turn left at the doughnut and found myself going along the B4100 after J13 
. No sweat though as a quick left turn at the next doughnut puts me on Fosse Way which will take me straight to the A425 too, albeit via a slightly different route.
The old Roman road, Fosse Way (B4455). Did you know that this road starts in Axminster in Devon and runs for some 200 miles all the way to Leicester .
Arrived Daventry around lunch time and had to do a ‘drop and swap’ to another trailer. Despite hearing the pin engage and two good tugs to check, it’s just as well I allus double check as I discovered this - the fifth wheel arm hasn’t engaged properly and consequently the locking clip hasn’t dropped down :
Should look like this :
Soon got going on the M6 for Middlewich and just as soon came to a halt before the split for the M6 Toll with warnings on the boards above saying that animals were in the road .
I didn’t see any animals, but I did see this :
End of a Focus :
Got up to Tesco’s for about 1500 and no problems with security or the goods-in folks here - seemed pretty well humoured which was a nice surprise.
Tesco’s at Middlewich
In and out of here within an hour after dropping off my 8 pallets and chaos-control says go round the corner to Britten Taco at Winsford for a load of shrink-wrap for Richmond in North Yorks.
After a bit of a wait to get loaded I found out that I had 41 pallets to go with a total weight of around 23 tonnes. Because of the shape of the pallets and the fact they’ll need double-stacking for part of the top row the FLT driver kindly supplied me with sheets of chipboard to lay on the top so that the pallets sit nice.
I found out that my mate Keith was heading down the M6 from Scotland so we provisionally arranged to meet somewhere near the bottom of the M61 and then park up somewhere and go for some food and beers. It didn’t happen as he was too short of spread-over and so was I, just having an hour left as I left Winsford.
After a (too) brief consultation with the map looking for the alternative routes to Richmond I decided on the A59 from Preston so we both headed for Preston for the night although it was going to be very tight time-wise for me. No messing about then, straight up onto the A556 on the limiter and onto the M6 (after slowing down for the camera 
). I just made it into Halford’s car park in Preston’s red light district (where else ? ) with seconds to spare. 9hrs 15mins driving and 702 kms today .
The local Wetherspoon’s soon had us gracing them with our presence and a mixed grill was had for £6 along with several beers (cheap beer night is Monday) and a couple more at the social club next to Halford’s on the walk back.
Tuesday 17 May saw me away about 0700 and I had a vague recollection of reading somewhere that there was now a 7.5 tonne weight on the A59 between Skipton and Harrogate now due to some local nimby’s. I wasn’t sure if I’d read correct (can someone enlighten me?) but if that’s a no-go then that rules out using the A59.
Not to be beaten though, I found another route which I’d never been on and that’s the A684 off M6 J37 through Sedbergh, Garsland, Aysgarth and Leyburn, along Garsdale and Wensleydale (where the cheese is made see ).
My mate Keith warned that he had a sneaky suspicion there was a weight limit on that too but I dismissed his suspicions as it was a major A-road across the tops most likely frequented by tippers and that kind of ilk so carried on regardless. Up the ramp at J37 and turned right. Guess what ? 7.5 tonne weight limit but except for access. Well, I need to access Richmond so that makes it okay then, see. 
Now for once there was a weight limit on this road for a reason rather than just put up to shut up the local anti-truck nimby’s (well probably that as well). The route to Sedbergh was an absolute nightmare with tight blind bends and a road far too narrow for an 8ft wide wagon, never mind 60ft long . This road certainly pushed my driving skills to the limit and is definitely a road to avoid in a wagon without a doubt .
Looks rather innocent here
Hmm, yep, can cope with that; nothing too challenging :
Bottom of a long descent with the brakes and zorst brake taking a hammering, then a sharp left into single-track status and another chicane round the corner
How I got the wagon over that I’ll never know. There was about 2 inches on either side as I was going over complete with a narrow 90 degree left turn on the other side
Once through Sedbergh the road opened up somewhat and turned into a fairly decent and quiet drive
Have to say I like roads like this - you can see over the wall tops for oncoming traffic and just take up all the road taking all the corners and bends at the apexes.
Stopped in Bainbridge just the other side of Hawes for a quick bite to eat.
After Leyburn I turned north for Richmond where my drop was supposed to me. This is another very twisty road as it follows the line of the River Swale but again, most of the time you can see over the tops of the walls and hedges so much to astonishment of the cars behind, can drive along taking up both side of the roads on the bends .
I soon learned that the drop wasn’t in Richmond at all, it was in Dalton-on-Tees, which, in my opinion is nowhere bloody near it . This is where Dalton-on-Tees is, just south of ‘Darlo’.
Another half hour or so’s drive found me at Dalton Gates which is the address I’ve got but I can’t find the place - STC Converters - anywhere. I call chaos-control to get me a number for them or sort some directions out and a few minutes later the phone goes and it’s the reception lass from STC.
‘Hi is that the Archbold’s driver?’
‘Yes. Can you tell me where you are exactly please as I can’t find you’.
‘Whereabouts are you now?’
‘I’m at the south side of Dalton Gates, at the main junction where the road heads to North Cowton’. Dalton Gates is here and I was here, right on the junction.
‘Ooh, I don’t know where that is’.
‘Well, I’ve come down the A167 from Darlington, through Croft-on-Tees and then turned right a couple of miles after following the signs for Dalton Gates Ind Est, gone over the railway bridge, through the bends and now at the far end of that road, at a T-junction’.
‘Oh I don’t know’.
‘Is there someone there that could direct me in?’.
‘They’re all down the yard and there’s only me here in the office’.
‘Well where do you come from to get to work, you tell me the way you come and I’ll follow it on the map and work out where you are with a bit of luck’.
‘Well it depends whether I stay at my fiances’ house or with my house mate’.
‘Are you anywhere near a HUGE nursery with massive glass green-houses because I’m near to that’.
‘Erm. Ooh, I don’t know. I don’t think there’s one of those near here’.
‘IS THERE ANYONE THERE that can guide me in? Is it possible to call someone from the yard?’
‘No, there’s only me in the office. I’m not very good with directions sorry’.
‘Okay. Well when you find someone who can direct me in ask them to give me a ring please and I’ll stay where I am until the phone rings’.
So I alerted chaos-control of the situation and they said they couldn’t get any sense of them either and just to sit there and wait for a while. The reason being that the company were ‘desperate’ (where have I heard that before?) for this stuff and it would only be a matter of time before they rung up again screaming for the load.
Nearly an hour and a half later the cab phone rang and woke me up and it was (seemingly) the gaffer of the place asking how far away I was.
‘I’ve been at the junction with North Cowton since 1130 awaiting someone to guide me in as I can’t find the place’.
‘You what? You’re joking aren’t you? Why didn’t you phone up and my receptionist would have directed you in’.
So after explaining the tale it turned out that I was about 150 yards away from the place but the reason I couldn’t find it was because the sign was completely covered by the now overgrown hedge and just as a point of interest, the glass green-houses and nursery she claimed she knew nothing about did in fact back on to their yard
STC Converters, down a lane which you’d never look twice at from the ‘main’ road
Still in one piece after the hair-raising trip across the tops
From here it was over to United Biscuits at Billingham for a load for Thursday for Morrisons Wakefield and Somerfield at Sherburn-in-Elmet.
Centre of Yarm (I think), if not then Eaglescliffe
United Biscuits at Billingham
On Cowpen Lane Ind Est
After loading here and a couple of hours on the bunk I pulled off the bay and was walking alongside the trailer to close the back doors and noticed a 1ft long cut had suddenly appeared in the curtain.
Upon closer investigation it turned out that most of the pallets had been rammed on in a rough fashion and consequently one of them had been rammed straight through the curtain with the pallet overhanging the edge of the trailer by a good 6-8 inches .
Straight into the office and asked for the manager to come out as I’d like a word.
‘Nowt to do with me’ he says as he looks at it.
‘It flaming well is, because it wasn’t there before it was loaded’.
‘Nope, that been done ages’.
'Don’t talk 
(with a capital S) at me. Are you blind or can you not see the obvious evidence of a pallet sticking through the hole, overhanging the trailer by a good 6 inch '.
‘What do you want me to do about it?’
‘Well for a start admit liability as it’s clear to even a dummy that your loaders have done it and secondly the least you can do is find some gaffer tape of something to seal the hole temporarily in case it starts raining again as I don’t think neither Somerfield’s nor Morrison’s will appreciate soggy biscuits’.
‘Not my problem. In case you weren’t aware, my warehouse staff do 8 to 10 hour shifts every day and the combination of loading the trailers with a self pump pallet truck with the long, tiring hours they work, mistakes are bound to happen once in a while’.
[Laughing] 'Are you for real . I work 15 hour shifts mate and I’m perfectly capable of loading two chep’s side by side without ripping holes in my curtains ’
Anyway he just walked off which just infuriated me even more so I belled chaos-control and told them the story. The warehouse manager wasn’t remotely impressed with I wrote in huge capital letters across both of the delivery to the effect that they had damaged the trailer whilst loading and neither the driver nor the haulier was responsible for weather damage, load refusal/rejection or otherwise.
Back to the yard after getting a snap of this balloon over the A1 near Boroughbridge :
Once back in the yard I dropped and swapped and picked up a trailer loaded with empty beer bottle crates which was to go to a packaging place in Goldthorpe, South Yorks (between Barnsley and Doncaster) for first thing Wednesday morning.
It was whilst in the yard and getting tidied up and paperwork sorted that a driver came knocking on my door. In a thick but distinctly continental accent albeit very good English I was politely greeted and asked if I was interested in a couple of outer’s of Stella 440’s (cans). Turns out the guy was a driver for Swains of Stretton who do Italy for us and he’s a Czech driver but been working over here for 18 months or so now. I had a very good and long chat with him - over a few cans of Stella of course - (sold to me for a tenner for the outer of 24 by the way - £16 in Morrison’s for the same) and it was interesting to hear his views of the English ways of doing things and also the kind of treatment he gets by the Brit drivers which, in all honesty, was disgusting.
Wednesday 18 May saw me arriving at Goldthorpe around 0745 and after some messing about turned out that the load had been cancelled a long time ago because Britvic has supplied their own crates when they supplied the glass so the crates I had on were no longer needed as they didn’t have any glass to put in them. Back the yard with those and then grab an empty to load at Tinsley Bridge in Sheffield with trailer axle components for Arvin Meritor HVS over at Llay near Wrexham again.
Up over The Snake once again and as it was lunch time ish I stopped at the last lay-by on the right before the top and grabbed some food. I wasn’t impressed and won’t be stopping there again.
I nearly gave the owner of this car a slice of my mind when I saw him stand there and watch this artic driver try to get round his car without demolishing the snack-van. The ERF driver beat me to it though…
Tipped at Wrexham and reloaded from the same place with completed axles and hubs for Montracon Trailers at Carr Ind Est at Doncaster for 0700 Thursday morning.
Made it over to Doncaster that night and met up with my mate Keith once again but I missed out on all the fun as I’d fallen asleep not long after parking up and didn’t wake up until the morning .
Thursday 19 May soon had me across Donny and unloading at Montracon which is a pretty interesting place I think . It’s good to see where and how your trailer gets made.
Montracon Trailer Manufacturer’s at Doncaster
One of the shunter’s, I kid you not! It is powered by what appeared to be a petrol engine.
Chassis awaiting a body and finishing, pulled by a FLT with a fifth wheel coupling situated across the end of the forks.
Tipping my load of axles
Shed full of trailers in varying stages of completion. The first two from the right were just having their marker lights wired up. The 3rd (red) one was ready to be pulled out once the protection box round the couplings had been fitted. The 4th (yellow) one was complete and was pulled out a few minutes later (see below for more). The white and red ones were having their curtains put on - an interesting process of seeing how it’s done too - and the furthest white one was ready to go, just having a bit of paintwork touching up round the couplings and also undergoing a high pressure air test through the lines to check for leakage.
Smart sleeper-pod equipped Sprinter
These were the couplings on the front of the yellow trailer I mentioned above - rather strange? I was interested to learn more so I went and asked some questions and eventually found the guy who knew. The trailer is destined for the Swedish Post Office apparently and these are the standard couplings they use. The top one is a normal multi-pin ABS socket. The socket underneath it to the left is a double one when opened and has connections for the equivalent of our red and yellow air lines. The other socket is for the electrics. Very interesting.
After tipping here it was back over to Tinsley Bridge once again and The Snake for Arvin Meritor’s again at Llay. Once tipped there, there was no reload for me this time so over to Linpac at Winsford for a Birmingham first thing Friday morning.
Arrived Linpac at 1605 to be told that the stuff was ready but the office staff had gone home and they (FLT/warehouse staff) couldn’t print off the notes so I’d have to come back at 0730 tomorrow morning. As my unit was in for service Friday afternoon then this completely stuffed up my plans and so a dummy spitting session began to gather speed. My gaffer had words with them and they wouldn’t budge but offered me a Birmingham out of the Birch yard. That’s no good for me either as Birch is a long way from Winsford and I wouldn’t be gaining anything. I had to back down in the end and park up for the night but not after a lot of grumbling and running out of dummies.
Friday 20 May saw me in the gate at Linpac yet again bang on 0730 as instructed. After pulling in and watching me reverse blind-side under the canopy where we normally get loaded the arse in the office informed me that it was loading at the front. As I didn’t have enough room to swing round to the right and drive out I had to turn left, follow the road to the end and turn round there… apart from there was a German wagon loading down there. . So I reversed allllllllll the way back out again and asked security to lift the barrier, so what does he do? Just sits there and won’t lift the barrier despite a couple of toots to ‘remind’ him. I went and ‘asked’ why and he started quoting H&S babble at me. Now in a raging mood I told him exactly where to shove his H&S and lifted the barrier myself (no electrics here). Of course he came storming out because I’d touched his precious barrier and promptly put it back down again and told me to turn round at the end .
1 … 2 … 3 … 4 … 5 …
‘Well turn round under the canopy then’.
‘I can’t, fool, as there are too many pallets there and there isn’t enough space to reverse back’.
‘Well we’ve had bigger wagons than yours in here before and they’ve managed okay’.[/b]
How I didn’t slot him I’ll never know. Must be this ‘anger-management’ course people keep going on about …
Finally they shifted some pallets out of the way and I turned it round under the canopy, drove out and reversed on to the pad to get loaded. Fortunately the FLT driver wasn’t aware of any of the past 20 minutes and was sympathic with me to an extent and we had a good chat whilst loading which calmed me down before getting on the road .
Uneventful drive down to Brum - Vauxhall area to be specific, to tip off my 17 pallets (3000 crates) to Rentacrate then a quick drive down the road to Chep at West Bromwich for a full load for Scunthorpe which were going back to the yard. Nice brunette lass in here by the way; the one with the glasses - well I think so anyway .
Unloading at Rentacrate, Birmingham
Back in the yard for 1430 and after unloading my gear into my motor I was off up to Chatfield’s at Pudsey in Leeds to drop the unit off then got a company ordered taxi back to the yard and off home.