Right, I’ve just had a load rejected due to the rear pallets being all over the place, they were placed three across, plastic totes with wheels on. I have mini ratchet straps that I placed from side to side across the back of them from the metal bars on the walls. but it looks like during the journey the wheeled pallets have just rolled back and forth and the ratchet came loose. Resulting in stock sprawled everywhere. How the ■■■■■ do I secure them? They were so tight to the sides that I couldn’t get the hooks down the side
I think the idea is that you stop & tighten the straps every so often. Much as we used to stop & tighten the ropes (and later, the straps) back in the olden days of platform vehicles. I think that sometimes , if the load’s inside a box or curtainsider, we tend to subscribe to the “Out of sight, out of mind” theory.
I load a lot of flightcases and other stuff on wheels on a boxvan and used to have the same problem. I now use Load bars in front of the cases to give me something solid to secure the them against when I strap them in.
http://www.stepsandstillages.co.uk/sprung_load_bars_load_control.asp
Try to get the ratchet & strap hooks further forward than the totes, there’s usually a bit of play, do 'em up as tight as possible or use spring loaded bars & put the brakes on (if they have any) Also slow it down, don’t accelerate like a Porsche Turbo or stop with your back wheels in the air & don’t power slide around roundabouts & bends.
Usually works for me, after I had a stack of Tomatoes go over, years ago, covering a 45ft fridge floor. Lol.
Imagine you’ve got a horse freely standing in the back, and your driving style will change dramatically. Problem solved.
You may find it useful to stop close by a Channel Port and ensure your trailer doors are not locked. If you wait for ten minutes you will see that there will be some helpful folks will have climbed in the back and will provide assistance to keep your load from moving about too much. When your run is complete they will happily disembark wherever you are. Unfortunately their spoken English may be poor so thanking them could be a problem. If this is the case just smile, point to a nearby official looking building and say “benefits”.
I know this is true coz I heard it in an RDC…
C10HOO:
Right, I’ve just had a load rejected due to the rear pallets being all over the place, they were placed three across, plastic totes with wheels on. I have mini ratchet straps that I placed from side to side across the back of them from the metal bars on the walls. but it looks like during the journey the wheeled pallets have just rolled back and forth and the ratchet came loose. Resulting in stock sprawled everywhere. How the [zb] do I secure them? They were so tight to the sides that I couldn’t get the hooks down the side
Before securing them move the totes on left put you hooks down about as far as you can replace totes and move to other side do same then tighting p.s dont do it facing up hill or totes stampead and use real straps not mini ones they are crap 
using two spring bars could help too ecenly spaced between half way to top and bottom
load totes / cages on wheels… if tight to walls place 2 or 4 pallets on end against the Totes / cages with room to apply straps this will enable you to get pressure onto the totes / cages preventing roll.
if you have 2 tiers of restraining holes use 2 straps min tightening 1 then the other checking that neither has allowed the other to become slack…
5 pallets,
four of which have two of these little wheeled totes on each.
Loaded tight against each wall four abreast with one on its own. No banding or secured to pallet in any way.
No spring bars and full size ratchets don’t fit in the little holes in the three rows each side.
No extra pallets available as dunnage,
C10HOO:
5 pallets,
four of which have two of these little wheeled totes on each.
Loaded tight against each wall four abreast with one on its own. No banding or secured to pallet in any way.No spring bars and full size ratchets don’t fit in the little holes in the three rows each side.
No extra pallets available as dunnage,
should have refused it then …
Secure the strap hooks to the sides before you put the totes in and move the loose strap out of the way as you put the last ones in, then tension up strap with ratchet, job done.
If the totes have fixed wheels at one end, do some maths and see if they’ll fit in sideways as this will stop them moving about backwards. I used to have this problem doing 2 lite bottles of water for supermarkets which were on bogies instead of pallets. They were loaded 4 across but there was too much play down the sides so for each line I turned 2 of them sideways and alternated them down the trailer as well as using 2 cups and a bar every 4 lines. That packed them in line sardines and they had nowhere to move to.
If your stuff isn’t that heavy they it should be easy enough to do it with ratchet straps but if it is then you need cups and bars - don’t use those spring loaded ones as they’re ■■■■. Don’t just secure the last line either, for best results you need to be dividing it into sections and securing each section with its own ratchet/bar, plus as mentioned already, you’re completely wasting your time with any of this if the truck/trailer isn’t pointing downhill slightly.
Left hand down!:
Secure the strap hooks to the sides before you put the totes in and move the loose strap out of the way as you put the last ones in, then tension up strap with ratchet, job done.If the totes have fixed wheels at one end, do some maths and see if they’ll fit in sideways as this will stop them moving about backwards. I used to have this problem doing 2 lite bottles of water for supermarkets which were on bogies instead of pallets. They were loaded 4 across but there was too much play down the sides so for each line I turned 2 of them sideways and alternated them down the trailer as well as using 2 cups and a bar every 4 lines. That packed them in line sardines and they had nowhere to move to.
If your stuff isn’t that heavy they it should be easy enough to do it with ratchet straps but if it is then you need cups and bars - don’t use those spring loaded ones as they’re [zb]. Don’t just secure the last line either, for best results you need to be dividing it into sections and securing each section with its own ratchet/bar, plus as mentioned already, you’re completely wasting your time with any of this if the truck/trailer isn’t pointing downhill slightly.
by what the OP has said it was loaded on pallets insecure to start with so what ever we suggest will be pointless a bit like having a glass of water on a pallet
With roll cages or pallets likely to topple if you haven’t got a complete row across the back it is usually better to stap the odd one/s against the side wall and strap across a perfect complete row.
Also if you don’t get the straps far enough forward, with a 5 ton strap you risk pulling the metal cargo strip off the wall.
Bars are preferable to straps and won’t move. Asl you boss for a few and a combination of bars and straps will solve the problem. You need bars with rubber feet and ratchet system not crappy load lock bars that just fit into slots too
Bars with a telescopic spring that go into the holes are no good, and have always just popped out, but the ones that slot into cups each side are fine. Never really used the ratchet acro-prop type with rubber feet but would suspect they push the walls out which might give the load more opportunity to move sideways.
nick2008:
Left hand down!:
Secure the strap hooks to the sides before you put the totes in and move the loose strap out of the way as you put the last ones in, then tension up strap with ratchet, job done.If the totes have fixed wheels at one end, do some maths and see if they’ll fit in sideways as this will stop them moving about backwards. I used to have this problem doing 2 lite bottles of water for supermarkets which were on bogies instead of pallets. They were loaded 4 across but there was too much play down the sides so for each line I turned 2 of them sideways and alternated them down the trailer as well as using 2 cups and a bar every 4 lines. That packed them in line sardines and they had nowhere to move to.
If your stuff isn’t that heavy they it should be easy enough to do it with ratchet straps but if it is then you need cups and bars - don’t use those spring loaded ones as they’re [zb]. Don’t just secure the last line either, for best results you need to be dividing it into sections and securing each section with its own ratchet/bar, plus as mentioned already, you’re completely wasting your time with any of this if the truck/trailer isn’t pointing downhill slightly.
by what the OP has said it was loaded on pallets insecure to start with so what ever we suggest will be pointless a bit like having a glass of water on a pallet
I got the impression that it’s not as bad as he’s making it out to be - probably more a lack of knowledge on how to secure them properly, which is fair enough as we’ve all been there at some point. Some pics of a typical load pre-securing would help us help him more accurately with what best to do.
I got back a week or two ago with a back haul of bread,opened back door too check and it was everywhere,just reversed on bay,chucked in notes,and ■■■■■■ off sharpish 
,never did hear anyrthing more about it,and I had a file full of excuses ready 
Most trailers, rigids, flats and curtainsiders have a few sheets of plywood laying about on the floor. Don’t take up much room and are good for partitioning off parts of the load to make it easier to secure. I’ve used it on all sorts of things and it works really well.
I forgot to say that I was talking about Australia. There’s so much plywood in / on trailers, flats, etc, that no one seems to bother nicking it.
very true, especially when carrying pallets of foil reels ,they are as slippy as a box o frogs . if they aren’t wrapped with enough cling film they end up all over the place then you have the problem of re-stacking them before the customer sees them. a piece of ply strapped on top will “clamp” them down. the problem is the next driver will dump it ,so you need to go ratching about for some more . 
You’re not allowed in the trl while loading. I’ve got pics of the aftermath where I had tidied up the mess, you’ll maybe get the idea.
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The five pallets on the left are the ones that fell. I managed to get them upright again and clamped them to the side wall, as for the remaining four, as you can see they’re unmovable, if I roll them towards me to get a strap through they’ll roll off the pallets. Utter crap.](http://s.photobucket.com/user/kingcrak/media/51A49BE8-E417-4C13-8B2A-609EFC94982B_zpsv9tr5z4p.jpg.html)
