Simple accidents make me want to throw in the towel!

UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUMS THE UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUM (INTERACTIVE)
1

Not exactly a rant more of a sob story :slight_smile:

I drive a DAF XF for a theatre tour pulling a 13.6 metre trailer and this weekend we had two shows, one in Creepy Crawley on the Friday and Saturday was in the Majestic Theatre Retford. It’s quite a small theatre down a side street with a dead end and I had two option of reverse to get to the loading dock.

Option A was to reverse round the block so to speak. A simple reverse into Coronation Street, then straight back for 150 yards and round another corner and into the loading bay. That option wasn’t available as there were cars parked on the nearside preventing me backing into Corrie St

Option B was to drive into Corrie St, then right into a Police car park and reverse straight back. That was also unavailable as a police car was parked right on the edge of the entrance so that prevented me from getting into the car park. So I backed out of the car park and plonked the handbrake on and had a think. At this point the disabled parking bays on my nearside were empty. So I jump out of the cab, spark up a ciggie and chat with the crew, who turn up before me to reccy the get in and act as banksmen for me.

After a couple of minutes I walk round to the police station to see if one of the officers can move the car but no joy, stations locked. Picked up the emergency phone and got through to switchboard and the lady on the phone couldn’t get hold of anyone so she put me through to control… again no joy, but with the promise of a phone call in the hope that somebody will be on their way to move the car.

So I’m away from the truck for about 10-15 minutes and as I walk round the corner I spy a traffic warden talking to the crew. And now I have a new option. Two of the parked cars infront of me but on the opposite side of the street have gone and now I can drive forward, turn left, a bit of a zig zag reverse back into the police car park, pull out of car park turning left then a simple reverse round corner and onto the loading dock. Tidy! Not…!

With my mind being focused on gettin the stupid â– â– â– â– â– â– â–  oversized trailer round side streets and having to pull my card in less than 15 minutes I jumped in the cab, turned key and started her up, foot on clutch, in gear, handbrake off pulled forward and CRUNCH!!! It all took less than ten seconds and just a smidge over a foot in movement and I wipe out the back end of a Mondeo that had parked on my nearside while I was on the phone. Absolutley gutted. My heart sank as I looked at the damage to the car of one of the theatre staff. Damage to the truck is minimal, mostly on the tyre, a few scratches on the passenger footstep, wheel arch/mudguard slightly out of shape and the marker light bracket just behind that has moved but for hardly any speed and distance the Mondeo is scary to look at.

Simple things like oooo I dunno,how about checking your mirrors before you pull forward you cupid stunt?! but with my mind on trying to get where i wanted to go I didnt. Just jumpd in and pulled forward.
I passed my test two years ago this month. I’ve overshot the pin once, popped a headlight in a rigid on a metal post and learning everyday on my roadcraft in the lorry. Im not a mad driver, I’m in no rush so long as i get to the theatre by 14:00 every day but little things like this make me think about my choice of career. The consequences of taking my eye of the ball for a split second peed me off so much that I think maybe driving isn’t for me. A perfectly simple and avoidable accident makes me want to give up and maybe get a paper round, or stack shelves or have a gay hairstyle and work in a call centre.

Anyhoo, moan over, crack on and consider my limited options :frowning:

2

I know what you mean. I’ve had 2 minor accidents in the space of about 7 month. The first was at a solar panel farm in Worksop, got into the site and saw the turning circle area where the trucks used after delivering to get back out had a small road sweeper parked on the right hand side but no danger. Did the drop drove to the turning circle and got what I thought was enough over and past the road sweeper so I could make the manoeuvre without hitting it only to here a little bang, I got out to see that one of the rear door hinges on my trailer had caught the access panel on the sweeper body and broke one of its hinges slightly causing the door to hang off :blush:
I may add that the road sweeper was left there by the subbie contractor and the driver was not on site that day who had the keys so it couldn’t be shifted :unamused: another inch and I’d have missed it :confused:
Last Thursday doing a drop at JDP builders merchants in Havant I caught the plastic cover that goes over the control panel for the hi-hab on their rigid again with the rearof the trailer n/s this time as I was leaving the yard.
All I can think off was that there were a pack of 6 metre pipes on that side for a drop in Southampton which were bulging out a little bit and the wooden barers stuck out and as I turned to exit out of the gate they have caught the panel. Damage was minimal just cracked cover and a metal light bar that shows which mode is being used had come off but no damage to that.
Also no damage to the hi-Hab controls or body on the truck or its lights and bumpers :neutral_face: Ive been driving 10 year so it happens to everyone it just ■■■■■■ me off and I feel even though they’re minor it’s like a black mark against my name even though there’s drivers at our place who have had accidents where the damage runs into thousands of pounds in one accident and my 2 amount to about 700 quid.

3

Yep know EXACTLY where that is in retford done stuff with bat out ego and vamps â– â– â– â–  (if you know who i mean) ok you should have checked but also that car really should have not parked there as it was one of the theatre crew/staff they do/should know the difficulty shows have with accsess. and the cops dont help with abandon it anywhere type of parking

By the way which show is it…?

4

Blackmark against my name… that’s a good way of putting it.

The guy who’s car it was was perfectly ok about it. He was even stood to my right with the crew when it happened. Even made me a strong coffee with plenty of sugar because he could see how peed off I was. Nice old boy :slight_smile:

I’m driving for Let’s Hang On! It’s a Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons show but the theatres they go to are mostly small and sometimes awkward to get into.

5

There but for the grace of God. We’ve all been there mate; nobody died.

It’s annoying, it’s embarrassing, it’s frustrating. You’re under pressure from a complicated-ish manoeuvre, obstacles in the way and the clock’s ticking.

Simple mistake to make; if you boss drives himself he might be a bit ■■■■■■ off but he’ll understand.

Be honest with him; it helps.

And move on; small bumps when you’re doing this job are part and parcel. You’re good enough to avoid making that mistake again.

6

If I cant reverse into it I wont go into it, that way you wont get stuck 99% of the time, Far easy’er to drive out and reverse in.

Always save the best till last.

Also just a quick note I have given up my driving job due to all these silly, minor points that make our work life’s hard.

Tight roads (barely an inch ether side of truck)
â– â– â– â– â– â–  attitudes from customers
Lack of backup from office
Wrong trucks for the type of work /sites
Constant pressure of needing to do more drops
Yard men trying to load badly loaded loads onto truck

Im not â– â– â– â– â– â–  off about it, just im jumping off this ever sinking ship.

7

To be fair mondeo bumpers are made of flimsy cheese, you only have to look at one for it to crack and fall off.

Look at any mondeo on the road, and I bet the bumper has gaffa tape on it.

Don’t worry about it, it happens, no one died… Crack on.

8

Doing any kind of city centre work in an artic is a recipe for disaster but it has to be done. Small bumps are inevitable as there is too much to watch all at the same time.
Experience will make you better and the bumps will be less frequent because you learn what to look for and when to look for it.

Put it down to experience and crack on.

9

matt4500:
Not exactly a rant more of a sob story :slight_smile:

I drive a DAF XF for a theatre tour pulling a 13.6 metre trailer and this weekend we had two shows, one in Creepy Crawley on the Friday and Saturday was in the Majestic Theatre Retford. It’s quite a small theatre down a side street with a dead end and I had two option of reverse to get to the loading dock.

Option A was to reverse round the block so to speak. A simple reverse into Coronation Street, then straight back for 150 yards and round another corner and into the loading bay. That option wasn’t available as there were cars parked on the nearside preventing me backing into Corrie St

Option B was to drive into Corrie St, then right into a Police car park and reverse straight back. That was also unavailable as a police car was parked right on the edge of the entrance so that prevented me from getting into the car park. So I backed out of the car park and plonked the handbrake on and had a think. At this point the disabled parking bays on my nearside were empty. So I jump out of the cab, spark up a ciggie and chat with the crew, who turn up before me to reccy the get in and act as banksmen for me.

After a couple of minutes I walk round to the police station to see if one of the officers can move the car but no joy, stations locked. Picked up the emergency phone and got through to switchboard and the lady on the phone couldn’t get hold of anyone so she put me through to control… again no joy, but with the promise of a phone call in the hope that somebody will be on their way to move the car.

So I’m away from the truck for about 10-15 minutes and as I walk round the corner I spy a traffic warden talking to the crew. And now I have a new option. Two of the parked cars infront of me but on the opposite side of the street have gone and now I can drive forward, turn left, a bit of a zig zag reverse back into the police car park, pull out of car park turning left then a simple reverse round corner and onto the loading dock. Tidy! Not…!

With my mind being focused on gettin the stupid [zb] oversized trailer round side streets and having to pull my card in less than 15 minutes I jumped in the cab, turned key and started her up, foot on clutch, in gear, handbrake off pulled forward and CRUNCH!!! It all took less than ten seconds and just a smidge over a foot in movement and I wipe out the back end of a Mondeo that had parked on my nearside while I was on the phone. Absolutley gutted. My heart sank as I looked at the damage to the car of one of the theatre staff. Damage to the truck is minimal, mostly on the tyre, a few scratches on the passenger footstep, wheel arch/mudguard slightly out of shape and the marker light bracket just behind that has moved but for hardly any speed and distance the Mondeo is scary to look at.

Simple things like oooo I dunno,how about checking your mirrors before you pull forward you cupid stunt?! but with my mind on trying to get where i wanted to go I didnt. Just jumpd in and pulled forward.
I passed my test two years ago this month. I’ve overshot the pin once, popped a headlight in a rigid on a metal post and learning everyday on my roadcraft in the lorry. Im not a mad driver, I’m in no rush so long as i get to the theatre by 14:00 every day but little things like this make me think about my choice of career. The consequences of taking my eye of the ball for a split second peed me off so much that I think maybe driving isn’t for me. A perfectly simple and avoidable accident makes me want to give up and maybe get a paper round, or stack shelves or have a gay hairstyle and work in a call centre.

Anyhoo, moan over, crack on and consider my limited options :frowning:

Stick with it mate, it happens to someone every day…

10

Crap happens mate, doesn’t matter how good you are or how careful once in a while circumstances come together to trap you and it’s suddenly happened, no one was hurt that’s the biggie.

Picking up from Hedge70’s post, agreed poorly specified lorries make the job harder than it needs to be.

My lorry is one of several with ZF’s arsetronic box, our job entails some seriously tight manoeuvers always at or near 44t when loaded, the gearbox isn’t fit for purpose for this type of work and has contributed in no small way to damage which happens in close confines (i’ve been lucky so far, and saying that’s no doubt buggered it) with the idiot system on/off switch engagement/lurching into drive…the standard 440’s we have simply aint up to lugging that sort of weight anyway and when empty especially its all or nothing…to be fair some of the drivers can’t seem to grasp the snail mode of the box which isn’t helping…yes we have trainers and at that point i rest my case.
Similarly it would make a massive difference if we had rear and or nearside rear windows specified for the tractor units, our tanks aint exactly cheap and any contact at all is going to be expensive.

Such is life…what did it used to say on those plaques people would pin up
‘‘we the willing, led by the unknowing, are doing the impossible for the ungrateful, we have done so much with so little for so long, we can now qualified to do anything with nothing’’

11

Juddian:
…‘‘we the willing, led by the unknowing, are doing the impossible for the ungrateful, we have done so much with so little for so long, we can now qualified to do anything with nothing’’

Change we to they and it sounds like the strap line for the Tory party conference.

12

Don’t worry about, even those heros from Stobarts have knocks and bumps!

13

I had one once, years ago,
delivering turf to Baldock, pulled up just beyond some zig zags on a pelican crossing, checked the address & realised that the road I needed was on my right, so I checked my mirrors & reversed about 5ft to make the turn, only to find that some Numpty had parked directly behind me (in the 30 odd seconds that I’d been stopped) in the Zig Zag Zone, made a right mess is his motor with my Moffet Forklift [emoji1]

14

Smelly stuff happens pal.

Nobody got hurt - crack on ! :wink:

15

Not damage to a truck but damage all the same and very expensive it was to fix, my fault entirely 'cos I was drivin :frowning:

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Troon drydock cost £12000 plus for the three days she was in there, plus the cost of refurbing the props, plus wages, plus loss of any potential earnings. :frowning: (no pay rise for me this year !)

ps. seems I was more annoyed about it than the owner.

16

SteveBarnsleytrucker:
Ive been driving 10 year so it happens to everyone it just ■■■■■■ me off and I feel even though they’re minor it’s like a black mark against my name even though there’s drivers at our place who have had accidents where the damage runs into thousands of pounds in one accident and my 2 amount to about 700 quid.

Your so right Steve its the minor ones that really stick in your memory.
I worked with one of the drivers you refer to at Eee by gum transport, he cost the company thousands and thousands.

From memory-
He rolled a truck over on a roundabout near Sheffield nipping for a McDonald’s.
Didn’t put the unit brake on at Methil while coupling up leading to the truck rolling in to a wall smashing the front in, the best bit was he blamed the shunter for not putting the trailer brake on.
At Brighton tried screwing the trailer round and in the process ended up with a concrete post under the trailer damaging running rail, air bags valves and pushing the axle back.
Turned around near a low bridge in Leeds and took a supermarket sign out with him.

The company were really good about it, so good in fact that they only deducted £50 a week from his wages to help pay for the damages…
The running joke in the yard was they couldn’t afford to sack you because you owed them that much money…

Like you say Steve you only remember the minor ones…