* * STRALIS * *

[tony_soprano0980]

Had my first go in a Iveco Stralis yesterday and all I can say is WOW .
Got a call to go to a express delivery service in Glasgow so pulled myself out of bed and hauled all the way up there, got there and seen this brand spanking new Stralis in the yard and thought to myself, wish I could get a shot of that… Went to the office and the guy asked me “can you drive a stralis” I had to wipe the stupid grin off my face and simply grunted “s’pose so” Jumped up in the cab (almost needed an oxygen tank to get up there) and turned the ignition key, the dashboard lit up like something I’ve only ever seen in the fast and the furious, nice computer display unit in the dashboard brought up all the vital info and after telling me the vehicle check was ok I turned the key and the big boy sprung to life… It has one of the new Semi gearboxes and having driven the Actros on many occasions didn’t see a problem with it, pulled forward and then the first problem of the day… Where’s reverse. No buttons or indications as to how to get it into reverse, sat for about 5 mins before I finally figured it out. Backed into the warehouse and hooked up to the trailer.

My day was set out, only had 4 local drops but all quite far apart, so I trundled along and have to say I was happy as a pig in muck… CD player, air con and honestly the comfiest driving position I’ve ever been in… The day went well, one of the drops was the tightest place I’ve ever had to reverse but I managed it… bit embarrassed later in the day, motorway at falkirk closed so sent on a diversion, I followed it and suddenly ended up sitting in front of a 15’0 bridge in a 15’1 truck (I checked and from the point I joined the main road from the diversion there was no warning sign so will be lodging a complaint with the local roads department) so, had to back up about half a mile and get turned round… was really red faced but hey, least I didn’t go under it… Sorry to bore you with this but hadn’t posted in a while…

Also ended up sitting in Cairnryan for 5 hours on Sunday as trailer missed ferry but that was just a case of catching some sleep and getting paid… What a life

[alan_1]

Nice arn’t they, I rearly get the oppertunity to drive one with a trailer on, normally driving for a rental group, the gear box is great auto or semi, its good to have a choice.
As for the bridge, just after I had passed my PSV I found myself up against a 13ft bridge in a double decker, (13ft 6 -9 inches depending upon make,) so I stopped & tried to work out how the h##l the other drivers did it, then a passenger gave me a clue.
Seems they had lowerd the road a few years previously & had not changed the sign to stop HGV’s using it.