cliffton 27:
strap everything pretty much and i dont trust loaders either went into coke the other week to get a load it was cans which are not wrapped i checks the load out the posts had not been put back and no straps left at the back they were not happy when i took it around put it on a bay and asked for a loader to take pallets of so i could get the straps out but i aint taking a trailer full of unwrapped pallets with no straps anywere
Cans out of CCE aren’t going to move in a million years.
WADR you are wrong, I’m sure loads have been shot by poor driving technique, but cans from CCE have moved due to poor loading at CCE of both the pallets and the cans on the pallets themselves.
Used to drive for RCS and Irlam’s loading out of there every night and never once had a problem. Cans are rock solid and always loaded tight up against each other so if they’re moving then as per usual the person behind the wheel is driving like a [zb].
i had to return a load of coke back to the plant near lisburn because the load had shifted. not all the cans were right to the edge of the pallet so although the pallets were tight the cans were not. the driver was getting the blame but it was more than likely the shunters putting it on and off the boat that had helped it happen.
I saw JTFs thread about this but rather than hijack his thread with my questions I thought I’d start a fresh thread.
Having been out of the driving ‘loop’ for some time I’m not sure what the ‘done thing’ is these days re strapping loads. I will openly admit to rarely strapping stuff down in curtain-sider trailers unless it looks like it will move under normal driving from being badly shrink wrapped/tall/unstable/expensive equipment etc. Your normal run-of-the-mill produce type stuff (bottles of drink, cans, tins, boxex etc) I’ve always found to be usually well shrink wrapped by a proper machine and there’s next to 0 chance of it going anywhere. Certainly I’ve never had any shift sideways, and 2 straps criss-crossed behind the last 2 will stop them from falling over backwards when pulling away.
I see under RTA 1988 S.42 R100(2) that there is a £60 FPN for insecure loads and there have been some posts about this on here over the past 12-18 months, so are you all now strapping your loads like proper professional truckers or are you all just carrying on as before and hoping that the Battenburg Boys don’t stop you to participate in one of their £60 a pop BBQs? I got speaking to quite a few of the drivers at the place I’m driving for at the moment and they all said they were just carrying on as before without any straps. Judging by the number of different loaded non-strapped trailers I’ve had this week it would seem that nothing has changed.
I strap mine. Takes five minutes to do 'em up, five minutes to undo them, and all that time I’m getting paid for it. No brainer really, and if I do get stopped for a spot check I’m not risking that £60.
Then again I do a fair few miles on back roads and farm tracks, my loads probably get shaken about more than some; but even then they can go over. At least if it does that and the farmer sees you’ve strapped it, there’s no come-back on the driver.
gnasty gnome:
I strap mine. Takes five minutes to do 'em up, five minutes to undo them, and all that time I’m getting paid for it. No brainer really, and if I do get stopped for a spot check I’m not risking that £60.
Then again I do a fair few miles on back roads and farm tracks, my loads probably get shaken about more than some; but even then they can go over. At least if it does that and the farmer sees you’ve strapped it, there’s no come-back on the driver.
I’m finding with the trailers at this place that the straps are either
a. â– â– â– â– â– â– â– in the air in the middle in a huge knot
b. have all the clasps and hooks bent and unusable from crappy FLT drivers putting pallets on top of them
c. cut out altogether
Rob K:
I’m finding with the trailers at this place that the straps are either
a. â– â– â– â– â– â– â– in the air in the middle in a huge knot
b. have all the clasps and hooks bent and unusable from crappy FLT drivers putting pallets on top of them
c. cut out altogether
And Merc447 you raise a good point.
So when you do your checks on the trailer do you report the straps as faulty, unusable or missing? If not, why not?
Admittedly it’s more difficult for artic drivers, my straps stay with me all the time. But if you’re in the situation you describe (and I’ve seen a fair bit of it) how do you go on if you pick up a load that needs strapping and you get turned away because the customer won’t load you due to the condition of the straps? Back when I was working for Meachers in Derby, we used to do loads of glass out of a place in Barnsley; if you didn’t have the right number of straps in good order, AND put them on according to the set procedure, you didn’t pick up the load, simple as that.
As to the seal; even if VOSA did make you break it, if you were unable to access the load then it certainly couldn’t be held against you if the load was found to be unstrapped, though I suspect that they might have something to say to the sending company.
Rob K:
I’m finding with the trailers at this place that the straps are either
a. â– â– â– â– â– â– â– in the air in the middle in a huge knot
b. have all the clasps and hooks bent and unusable from crappy FLT drivers putting pallets on top of them
c. cut out altogether
And Merc447 you raise a good point.
So when you do your checks on the trailer do you report the straps as faulty, unusable or missing? If not, why not?
Well, I know from past experience of doing agency work that it can be a bit of a delicate topic to raise if you aren’t a regular. There are often reasons for them having been cut out, possibly because the trailer is used for shallow loads that can be strapped better with normal ratchet straps, for example. As I say, I’ve learnt from past experience that it’s generally best to keep one’s mouth shut on this unless you know for definite that your first load will definitely need strapping and then you have a valid reason to raise the issue with the TO before leaving. I know there are a myriad of counter arguments to that, but my personal opinion on it is that it’s one of those things you have to make a call/judgement on at the time depending on the situation rather than applying rant mode at every place you go to drive for that has them missing/broken etc.
Well to answer question i dont strap â– â– â– â– all and there is some loads we carry in my opinion could do with at least rear strapping like double stacked packaging and raw mat bags. Company dont issue straps and put a memo up saying there is no need. Im not going to buy straps out my own pocket either. .
Ive been stopped a few times by vosa only on one occasion have i been asked what im carrying and they didn’t ask to see inside either.
Rob K:
As I say, I’ve learnt from past experience that it’s generally best to keep one’s mouth shut on this unless you know for definite that your first load will definitely need strapping and then you have a valid reason to raise the issue with the TO before leaving. I know there are a myriad of counter arguments to that, but my personal opinion on it is that it’s one of those things you have to make a call/judgement on at the time depending on the situation rather than applying rant mode at every place you go to drive for that has them missing/broken etc.
That seems fair enough to me. I’d concede that it’s more difficult on agency.
When I was doing a bit of General Haulage work last year I was strapping stuff in Curtainsiders, but then in most places they insisted that the loads were strapped. EG. British Gypsum or Norwich Corrugated Board.
And at CEVA at Mendlsham they not only insisted that loads were strapped, they supplied the straps, corner protectors and a bloke to help you.
I always broke the seals to inspect the load…There is no way that I am trusting my freedom to a loader who probably couldnt even speak English :imp: I no longer drive cutainsiders, but when I did, I was the bloke responsible for the load....It is my freedom on the line if something goes through the curtains and kills somebody else, seal or no seal.....They didnt like it, but they never stopped me from doing it either.
i always open the back doors and check the load security when there is no seal and judge whether or not it requires strapping or further strapping. double stacked pallets always got at least 2 straps (criss crossed) which was standard policy if i wanted off site (security checked and took photo) but i preferred 4 straps (is there such a thing as too many?).
the biggest problem i face is deckers as there is no way of checking the top deck. we are all aware that loaders are not always putting the heavy stuff on the bottom
at the end of the day it is drivers discretion on how much load security is in place. you are driving it so its up to you how much load restraint makes you comfortable. weights, shapes etc are all variable so there is no single answer on what is and is not a secure load
Assuming that I am loading it, I look at a curtain-sider as if it were a flat trailer.
So, if the load would stay on with very little/without restraint, no straps required.
If it would fall easily off the side of a flat,ropes/straps/chains required.
If it doesn’t reach the headboard or back doors, whatever it is, it gets ropes or straps at the front or back.
Not only are you in trouble if the load or part of it falls off, you won’t be popular with the customer if it’s spread all down the trailer and/or smashed to bits.
Luckily, I don’t do unaccompanied ferry trailers but I there have been far too many at the roundabout outside North Sea Ferries with the load laid on a passing motorist or cyclist or if lucky, just the road.
The curtains won’t even slow down a load of timber or chipboard, or anything else heavy for that matter.
maybe this should be in the newbie section, but ive seen on curtainsiders, the straps that hand down. you’ll probably laugh at me for asking, but how do these work since they hand from the roof? excuse my ignorance but ive never seen them close up, and im 100% certain that given a proper look at them i would work it out. but i cant see why a rope from the ceiling can hold a load secure, unless its to hold the load tight to the headboard.
mickyblue:
Saying that, you can easily tell if the load is insecure as it will lean on the curtains which sort of gives it away really.
That will be me then, always getting bulges in curtains. But loads still secure within the trailer, just a badly wrapped or stacked pallet. I use straps if somethings delicate or finely balanced.
i checks the load out the posts had not been put back and no straps left at the back they were not happy when i took it around put it on a bay and asked for a loader to take pallets of so i could get the straps out
but i aint taking a trailer full of unwrapped pallets with no straps anywere
or are you all just carrying on as before and hoping that the Battenburg Boys don’t stop you to participate in one of their £60 a pop BBQs? I got speaking to quite a few of the drivers at the place I’m driving for at the moment and they all said they were just carrying on as before without any straps. Judging by the number of different loaded non-strapped trailers I’ve had this week it would seem that nothing has changed. 
