I just saw some honest admissions in another thread and thought it might be useful to post a few of our silly errors and what we learned from them. Everyone makes mistakes, but if we’re clever we learn from them…and if we’re really clever we’ll learn from someone else’s…
Took someone’s mirror off in a depot. I was blinded by the bend and cab position, I didn’t get out to check, I just reversed and hoped.
don’t reverse if you cannot see and don’t know where you actually are (never assume)
get out and look if you’re not sure
Cracked the paintwork on side deflector when manoeuvring too tight in the yard
you can jacknife the cab into the side of the trailer if you turn too tightly, be gentle with tight turns
Missed the pin when coupling
having lowered suspension to get under trailer, don’t forget to raise it again before completing the coupling procedure (easily forgotten when split coupling…I recommend you raise the suspension again before getting out to do the lines)
Anyone else feeling honest, please feel free to chip in some more.
When uncoupling before you jump back in the cab and pull away solo take a quick look and make sure legs are down, lines are all disconnected and brake on, I was once uncoupling and I was on the cat walk when the shunter from a distance was asking me what the trailer number was but I couldn’t hear him as the fridge was running so I jumped off catwalk went over to him and got chatting for several minutes and then proceded to jump back in the cab and drive off.
For some strange reason I only undid 4 lines and inadvertently left the yellow airline connected so if I had that final check I would of noticed my error.
Also because I was distracted I should have gone back to where I was and start again but I didn’t.
Alway check you unit hight to trailer hight when coupling up I have gone under sounded like & felt like I had hit the pin checked looked fine yep clip was in done lines wound legs up pulled away trailer stayed & dropped this was due to 5th wheel not being quite high enough ( has happened to a few people as place I was have about 6 per year ) lucky for me there was no damage done & as had clip in nowt happened apart form me needing a new airline which I got from them np
Alway have your own way of coupling up & dont be distracted dont talk to anyone & if anyone tries to talk to you ask them not to always remove lines before pulling away they do stretch ( someone told me they stretch as long as the trailer )
If in doubt always get out & check
When backing onto a bay with “bananas” on be careful as you can rip your mudguards off
Dont do what 1 of our drivers does after fuelling up remember to replace the fuel cap before moving
Alway check the hight of unit & trailer ( if have one ) dont put a 15ft combination Under a 14ft 6 bridge (
Yep it did go but not easy ( long story )
Or a 15ft combination under a 13ft bridge ( no signs about turned corner to face this made call to police who came out np took me round ( at 1st they were going to take me down next street then realised it had same bridge ) so no didnt hit it
Be careful in the wind going in / out of cab that door dont get caught by wind while you are closing it & pulls it back open again with you still holding onto handle on door
animal:
Be careful in the wind going in / out of cab that door dont get caught by wind while you are closing it & pulls it back open again with you still holding onto handle on door
Yep especially in an Actros as these doors are like sails.
animal:
Be careful in the wind going in / out of cab that door dont get caught by wind while you are closing it & pulls it back open again with you still holding onto handle on door
Yep especially in an Actros as these doors are like sails.
It was an MAN last year up in Livingstone I was hanging there on to door as it was flung open was like out of a cartoon
When I was forkie, I had 30ish decking planks to load on a transit.
I fancied myself as a bit of a hot ■■■■ at the time, so instead of handballing the planks onto the forks then loading the van, I noticed that I could with a bit of accuracy pick up the exact number of planks from the cube of decking, because of the half inch spacers between layers.
This labour saving plan worked wonderfully, I loaded it over the headboard of the transit, and helpfully threw a strap over the lot a tightened that badboy up. Ho Lee Cow, I might as well have put my underpants on the outside of trousers from then on, I had been so helpful and speedy.
I hadn’t cleared the top of the cube of decking, before picking my part of it, still had a loose bearer from the previous pack on top. Which was now precariously perched just above the windscreen.
First time the driver braked going down the yard to the office on his way out gate, the bearer came off and smashed the windscreen
First few weeks of driving a commercial truck.
Moving straw on a wagon and drag.
Started getting a bit over confident and putting my foot down trying to rush about.
Didn’t really relies the consequences of driving with foot down.
Came up to a blind hair pin left hand bend.
I thought I’m going a bit fast for this bend.
Tried slowing fast but pulled me and clipped the kirb.
The truck bounced into the middle of the road.
When I was 10 yards of the bend I got vision and seen a tanker coming on other side.
Tried to correct it and cause it was a top heavy load the trailer flipped and 20 tonne straw landed on top of the tanker.
The load from the trailer squashed a 4x4.
The Gods where with me that day not one person was injured.
That wasn’t a good phone call to office.
Don’t get over confident to quick cause I guarantee you will need make a phone call.
noney82:
Watch out for magic bridges that get lower at the other end. I fitted perfect under one end but it was let’s say a squeeze getting out the other end.
Lower suspension but dont forget to reset at other end
noney82:
Watch out for magic bridges that get lower at the other end. I fitted perfect under one end but it was let’s say a squeeze getting out the other end.
Lower suspension but dont forget to reset at other end
Sadly I wasn’t able to do that, truck isn’t fitted with such feature. So I just had to “smooth” the exhaust stack a bit
When checking trailer heights, pay very careful attention to what the trailer assumes the fifth wheel to be running at, and what your unit is actually running at.
For example, we have trailers which say 4.2 metres on a 1250mm fifth wheel. So the trailer height is 4.2 metres then? No, because our units have stickers on the back saying the fifth wheel travels at 1320mm, that’s an extra 70mm on top of the trailer’s assumption.
The actual trailer running height is therefore 4.2 metres plus 70mm, i.e. 7cms or just under 3 extra inches. That makes all the difference sometimes.
Oh, and don’t forget your unit’s wind deflector. If you calculate your trailer running height to be 13’ 2", don’t just use that - check your unit’s deflector too. Ours run at 13’ 6" so the height indicator should never read less than this.
Always always always make sure the unit park brake is applied before you jump out.
I was coupling up to a trailer which was parked in a long row behind other trailers (you had to parallel park the Unit under it). I did the correct checks before backing under and had made sure the trailer brake was applied. Jumped in the cab, backed under the trailer, quick tug test, switch auto box from Reverse to Neutral and jumped out to couple up. it was only when I had finsished coupling everything up and released the trailer brake that I heard that haunting noise of air releasing and creaking metal as the whole combination started to slowly roll forward into the trailer in front. Didn’t react quick enough to put trailer brake back on (shock / disbelief that I had been so stupid). Thank christ nobody was injured and minimal cosmetic damage to unit as there was only a 4ft gap between front of my cab and back of other trailer.
It was a MAN tractor unit and I think during the action of switching the auto box from R to N in the centre console I had subconsciously convinced myself I had applied the park brake as you just do these things without giving it much thought- no audible buzzer to warn me on this model…and I just hopped out and cracked on…lesson learned, I check, double check and sometimes even triple check if I doubt myself now!!!
I was lucky but this kind of stupid error can and does kill people…I often shudder at what the consequences would of been if another driver had been fitting his number plate to the trailer in front when this happened. I never get complaicent now and I never rush when coupling or uncoupling!!
The advice I got from an old hand was to pause and stay where you are for a few seconds after releasing the trailer brake. That way, if this horror does start to happen, you can simply yank the trailer brake back on again. And if for some reason the trailer brake is defective I think pulling the emergency line will stop the trailer in its tracks too.
smokinbarrels:
Don’t forget to open the trailer doors before backing on a bay…could prove to be a tad embarrassing!
…and often has been for me…
Bad enough when you have to pull forward a few feet, but if the bays are tight and less than half a trailer width between them then it’s all the way out again to get enough room to swing the doors.
Another easy thing to forget if you’re going to be uncoupling the trailer and leaving it on a bay - take the number plate out beforehand. Many is the time I have found myself crawling around on the ground trying to reach round and up to the number plate after I have uncoupled and the trailer is tight against the dock.
Remember to eject your card when you’re finishing with the vehicle. The walk of shame having to go back to retrieve your forgotten card is very embarrassing…
