Can anyone give me some advice, a few days ago as I was driving to work (3am) the snow fell so hard that within 20 mins it was a few inches deep.
As I approched the yard I was already sliding round corners. I got to the office and asked if I would still be taking the load out 44ton and expressed what the road situation was. I then backed this up by showing the controller the local forcast which was snow snow and more snow, and then followed this up by looking on teletext, which again showed the same.
To my surprise he said no you are going out, anyway after four hours and twenty miles later I called the office and they called my back.
I know this is not the norm for weather conditions, but can somone advise what I should have done
I was put in a similar situation once but was supposed to go off bob-tail and collect a trailer.
It was mid-week and as I was tramping anyway, I just made sure my water & food supplies were full (enough) ans set off anyway taking my time and being careful.
I only got about 6 or 7 miles (between Grantham & Melton Mowbray) and the traffic was coming to a standstill. Once i’d stopped (on a hill), getting going again was not an option so with the drive axle nudged up against the kerb and the handbrake on, I brewed-up and watched TV!!!
About 4 hours later the gritters came along and an hour after that the road condition had improved enough for me to turn round and go back to Grantham.
6 wasted hours, 12 pointless miles . . . . . . . and still no trailer collection!!!
what happened in the good ol days when we had snow like this almost from jan till march,and didnt grind the country to a standstill,i was lucky only saw four inches in reading on thu morning,but have been in sth wales in the 80’s with atleast a foot or more and everything kept moving schools stayed open and when i joined this world( march 63) that was what is now called heavy snow,lasted till june according to me old man,may explain why i like the cold.
mark croft:
what happened in the good ol days when we had snow like this almost from jan till march,and didnt grind the country to a standstill,i was lucky only saw four inches in reading on thu morning,but have been in sth wales in the 80’s with atleast a foot or more and everything kept moving schools stayed open and when i joined this world( march 63) that was what is now called heavy snow,lasted till june according to me old man,may explain why i like the cold.
mark
Aye but in them days only a few had cars, we alll walked to school and so there wasn’t as much conjestion. The gritters could then get out and grit and keep the roads open.
Perhaps hte reason they coped so well this time in the midlands was that the schools closed and people didnt bother going to work because of the forcast.
When I woke up on Thurs morning in Wednesbury the roads were clear of both traffic and snow.
I get mileage pay too but if i stop because of bad weather will get paid by
the hour, though not much
But , as Longwayround said, if i keep going and wreck they’ll blame me
for not stopping
I don’t care what the weather’s like as long as I’ve got plenty of food, water, my gas burner and my kettle in the cab and diesel to keep the Webasto heater going!
I can understand why blokes who have a different motor every day (and would therefore be unlikely to have provisions and bedding) would not want to go out though. If the only food and water I had was that in my bag then I think I’d stay in the yard.
A few weeks ago there were about 10 /12 maybe more trucks blown over all across the country i stopped in some services for 2 hours, as the 62 was a bit frightening, getting back to the yard and the police had advised anyone going out in a highsider not to and especially not to go up the A1 as it was blocked, and there were likey to be more incidents so guess what our lot in transport did…
No Go on guess !!!.
Yeh you got it they set all the wagons out on the road and sent a couple straight up the A1 to Barton for a change over…
Luckily none of our guys were hurt but it must have been cheek clenching coming down the A1 with an empty trailer at night.
We are paid on miles, but the weather can be extreme and they will pay an hourly rate if you are forced to stop. They don’t like paying it though.
I was caught in a proper blizzard last week in quebec. Not nice but I got over the hills and it was better then. I heard the road was closed but there was some traffic so I went. It was worse than anything I ever saw in the UK, but the roads are generally quieter here and that makes a big difference.
The trouble over there is that people panic at the first sight of snow. It’s not a big problem as long as you are sensible.
Last Friday i set off for work about 6pm. It was starting to snow and by the time i got to work everywhere was white and the cars where crawling, i got there at 7pm.
I gets to the desk and tells them if it would of been like this when i was ready to set off then i would not of come in. I’d rather go home if thats ok i tell them, the boss pipes up " it doesn’t work like that, the load needs to go". Funny that, it worked like that alright when i was cancelled on Tuesday and Wednesday !!
Anyway i set off to Radlett and funnily enough the roads (once on the motorway) where all clear and i seen no traffic! I had really been worrying about my car getting snowed in on my return, but all was well. I did have a plan when i sett off, and that was if it was bad the load was getting dropped of in Cov or returned to the yard no matter what anyone said !!
Another guy from the Manchester depot made me laugh when i was there, he was new and had come in for a load. Traffic clerk gives him his notes, what do i do the guy says. “Just clip it up and security will sort the seal out when you have weighed off”. “clips? I’ve only used rollers and wires. Do i need a number for the weighbridge?” Off he goes and accosts me round in the trailer area. “where is the switch for the suspension?” he says. Just here down the side of the seat i tells him. Then half an hour wait whilst he tries to operate the weighbridge! “It’s asking me if its right or wrong” he says, i said is it right? Yes he says, i said then type “yes”!! Here he is in action signing out at security:
He reminded me of ‘Wimpey’ the character from Popeye !! Here he is again checking that he has signed the right name !!
God knows how he got on !! Oh, by the way i did check his unit and someone had removed his air suspension control!!! Just wires hanging out !
Good job I wasn’t on mileage pay!! 
