. Not remotely phased by him I headed straight for the flood on the nearside verge just as he was alongside my cab and my timing was perfect - the whole lot went straight in his open window… and he had a white shirt on too.
FPMSL.Well done Rob. 
Ken.
Slept through alarm Wednesday morning and it was only when I noticed the sound of a hell of a lot of traffic that I prised my eyes open and found it to be 0735 
. A very quick wash later I was away at lightning speed down the A66 and up the M6 into Scotland. Got to the River Eden just north of Carlisle (or is it south?) and it was like a flood plain. You couldn’t see any land for miles, it was just water everywhere with just the tree tops visible 
.
I didn’t have the full address for Argos but I knew it was at Moss End off the A8. I thought I might have seen Lucy in one of the convoy of three Containerships motors I passed (TGA & 2 FH12’s) but alas no unless Lucy looks like a bloke 
.
Came off the M74 just after Hamilton services and up the A725 to join on the A8, then off at the next one for Moss End, arriving Argos at 1030. No problems up here and no trailers to swap either. Was on a bay straight away, tipped and away in 20 minutes . You don’t get your paperwork back here, they fax it through later after they’ve checked it. Whether that’s a good thing or not I don’t know, but it free’s the driver up for his next job which means more money in the pot so from a driver point of view it’s a good thing unless you want to get your head down for a hour or two then it isn’t !
No back-load from Scotland so I was to head for Trafford Park. I got back into England and past the Carlisle truck stop junction when I noticed I only had 2 minutes driving left before I needed a 45min rest . Managed to make it to the next junction and got off there and parked up at Tesco’s.
Straight down the M6 past Penrith and started climbing up to Shap brow when a severe thunderstorm erupted from nowhere . Being one of the highest things around on the top of there I was slightly concerned that I’d get zapped . Then I got a hell of a shock when just nearing the motorway junction where the council depot is right on the top, it got struck by lightning and the corrugated metal roof of the place lit up like you’ve never seen before . I hope no-one inside (if anyone) was hurt 
.
Much to my relief the motorway starts dropping down the other side towards the service area from there and the storm passed away to the west although it was still close.
Arrived Trafford Park late afternoon and got to EHF on Lyons Rd where they didn’t actually have the stuff I went there to collect but sent me to Bond 28 (?) just down the road at the World Freight Centre and truck-park. Got loaded down there for Argos Trafford Park and went to get my notes which simply said ‘Argos Trafford Park’ on them.
“Have you got the address of where I’m going please?”
“Yeah it’s there - Argos Trafford Park”.
“Yes I can see that but what road is it on?”
“I dunno, you’re the driver”.
“Yes, the DRIVER, not the transport office man who dishes out the addresses so that drivers can make the deliveries”.
“Well you drive all day so you’ll know where it is”. 
“Er no, I don’t. Do you?”
“No”.
“Well then”.
Then the office gaffer pipes up :
“What’s the problem?”
So I told him.
“Mate, we’re just a storage depot, we don’t deal with the paperwork and addresses”.
Fair comment I guess but it still doesn’t alter the fact that I don’t know where it is. A guy knew where it was and told me to which I was grateful.
The problem I was faced with now was that I only had the storage paperwork which wasn’t the manifest that Argos would require but hey, I’d sort it out when I got there. Keen to get as much overtime in as possible with the money I’m on I said I’d try to make the delivery tonight even though it wasn’t booked in while 0830 next day.
Got down there, saw the security man and gave him my bit of paper.
“What’s this?”
“erm, it’s the so called ‘paperwork’ for what I’ve got on from EHF up the road”.
“Can’t let you in with this mate sorry. Need booking references and that kind of thing”.
“Oh. I’ll phone the office and get you one if that helps”.
“Okay, what time’s it booked in?”
“0830 tomorrow”.
“Right”.
Belled the office up and got the manifest number and gave it to him.
“Right. Hang on, I’ll phone the shift manager up and see what we can do”.
“Okay cheers, appreciate it”.
Anyway the shift manager (Mohammed Najeeb) actually came out himself to see me (this was after security had let me in and I’d parked up near the drivers room). I told him what the craic was and he said that the goods-in went home at 4pm and it was just before 5pm at this time. He said that I could do a drop and swap but would need to give him something in writing with the company header on so that he knew for sure the stuff was for them 
.
The guy was brilliant. He went and got the office fax number for me to tell our office so that they could fax the manifest through. He then went and stood in the office for 15 minutes waiting for the fax and of course it never turned up. Belled the office again :
“Sorry, I’m sending it now”.
So the manager went and traipsed all the way back to the far end of the warehouse to the office to get it. He couldn’t do enough for me and nothing was too much trouble. Even though the site was officially closed to outside hauliers he made an exception just for me and I couldn’t thank him enough nor get over the shock that this was actually happening at Argos . Needless to say, I have written to Argos HQ highly praising the guy which I hope will get back to him and maybe earn him a promotion to a higher management level 
. People like that deserve it for sure .
I left there and belled the office to find out what I’d be doing Thursday.
“0800 collection from Galt & Co., Nelson please”.
No problem, nice lie-in in the morning for a change.
I decided to park up on the quiet dead-end road near EHF on Lyons Rd but en-route I realised I’d need to make a “diversion”… Not having any motorway service areas in the vicinity nor not knowing where the nearest supermarkets were to use their facilities I decided to head for Trafford Park…
Now having never been to TP Centre before I instantly had my doubts as to being able to find somewhere to park the wagon nearby. If I’d used my common sense earlier I would have ditched the trailer and gone solo but it was too late by this point. Eventually I got bored of driving round and dumped the wagon in a bus lay-by (naughty me!). I ran into the centre and found that I’d need the lift to get up a level where the toilets where. A young lass followed me into the lift and I said
“Which floor do you want?”
“2nd please”.
I searched high and low on the lift keypad for a number ‘2’ button but there wasn’t one , only a ‘0’ and a ‘1’.
"Am I blind or is there not a 2nd floor button 
"
[laughing] “There’s only 2 floors in the building - this one and the one above”.
“Oh right, sorry, never been here before. Guess that this floor is zero and the one above is technically the first floor then?”
“Yeah it must be”.
She was well cute too and I can’t believe I went to pieces trying to operate a lift and lost my cool 
Anyway, the lift arrived and I headed into the ‘facilities’. There was a room off the main bit with some sinks and things and thought ‘ah that’s nice of them to have a separate wash room for drivers’ and went into a cubicle. I found that the seat was unusually low to the ground and about 1ft lower than normal which is quite a lot. I just couldn’t figure out why . I came out and went to the sinks to wash my hands and noticed they were only 3ft off the floor . When a bloke came in with a toddler in tow it then dawned on me…
Left there shortly after and parked up for the night.
Thursday got off to a good start and I was away from TP at 0700 on the nose for Reedyford Mill at Nelson, Lancs. Nelson is on the western edge of the Pennines and the scenery is very nice round here.
When I got to the end of the M66 where it becomes the A56 I decided to cut the corner off and go over the top direct to Burnley (A682?). This road has more patches than you can shake a stick at and when I finally got to the top I felt like I’d just been on a roller-coaster. It drops down the other side into Burnley and then without warning suddenly becomes a 7.5t limit except for access. Yeah well, I need to ‘access’ Nelson via Burnley so I’ll be immune to the restriction then 
.
I couldn’t be arsed going all the way round back to the M65 and as there wasn’t a weight restriction for a bridge or anything silly like that I continued towards the centre of Burnley following my map. Somehow it said there was a right turn where there wasn’t in reality and I was forced left right into the central precinct . The junction said all traffic to turn left but it was only wide enough for a car and a ninety degree junction with kerb edge bollards so no chance of turning there. The right turn was buses only and as there was traffic behind I could hardly reverse. There was nothing for it but to go down the buses only bits; at least they’re a fair size themselves so I should be able to get through okay. Much to the disgust of the bus drivers by the look on their faces I made it through and go back the other side of Burnley and back on to the M65.
Special note to self : East Lancs towns are not the place for artics…
Found the address of where I wanted in Nelson, it was the first right off the M65 at J13. Even so, I managed to miss it as it was that close to the motorway and then had a hell of a job trying to get turned round to come back that I ended up circuiting the whole of the town to get back. Eventually I got to the place, reversed into the mill and got loaded with 22 pallets for various Argos’s.
Out of there and down the road to Colne to JMB Sports for 4 pallets for Costco, completing the load. I missed the turning 3 times for this place and found myself down a dead end street with nowhere to turn round and had to reverse out into the main road blind, in the torrential down-pour which rendered the mirrors useless so I had to stick my head out of the window which promptly resulted in me getting a drowning 
.
As there was an ASDA opposite I couldn’t resist getting myself a breakfast there and decided on a ‘full monty’ for £2.95. Unfortunately, it was disgusting to the point where I nearly complained. The bacon tasted cheap and was dry, the sausages were definitely cheap and the hash browns had been cooked a week ago and kept warm as they were like rubber and chewy, yuck. The slice of toast was like a stick of rock, but flat . Shalln’t be going there again.
Got away from there and debated the best way back to Dewsbury. The road to Keighley and down through Bradford is long-winded and the road through Todmorden to Elland has a low bridge which I can’t get under. I could go back on the M65 and M66 but seems a long way round so I decided on the road out of Burnley to Bacup, then to Milnrow and join the M62 at the bottom of Windy Hill. The road to Bacup is fantastic and must be one of the highest points of the Pennines as it peaks out. Not amazingly steep but a long drag and having never been along it before, it’s certainly one of my favourites now .
Got on to the M62 and climbing up Windy Hill on the limiter the aforementioned MTL Topliner came steaming past me doing 60mph at least . I had enough weight on to roll down the Yorkshire side at a rate of knots and soon caught him up and went past him down Ainley brow to J25. Started climbing up the other side on the limiter and the MTL wagon caught me up as I was overtaking slower wagons and following an artic in front of me. Nearing the services I could see the offside of his wagon and was no more than 10-15ft from the back of my trailer at 56mph . I saw a car fast approaching a slow wagon in the nearside lane and start indicating and then he just pulled out in front of the artic in front of me. I checked my mirrors again and the MTL wagon was nowhere to be seen . Next thing, the artic in front of me slammed on, presumably due to the car driver cutting him up which caused me to brake hard too.
A second later the wagon is jolted forward and I see that the MTL which had ‘vanished’ had just rear-ended me. We both got onto the hard shoulder at the side of the services and not wanting to get involved in any discussion about it with the driver behind, I called the cops. I was okay and the driver behind was clearly okay as he was walking up the side of my wagon to talk to me but the door was locked.
The cops arrived in two T5’s within ten minutes and after finishing a call with our office about it, I jumped out and talked to one of them.
“I want him done with dangerous driving”.
[Shaking head] “That isn’t going to happen as there are no witnesses, it’s your word against his but I’ll tell you now that he’s at fault because he’s rear-ended you. I see this type of smash all the time; driving too close. If you’re alright all you need to do is exchange insurance details and that’s us done. All I need from you is a breath test to make sure you haven’t been driving under the influence of alcohol. He’s clear as I’ve just done him”.
“So even though he was driving that close to me that I couldn’t even see his wagon in my mirrors you’re not doing him?”.
“We can’t do anything without any witnesses - it’s your word against his”.
“I think you might be interested if you have a look at his tacho to find that the vehicle has a defective speed limiter”.
“I’m not qualified in those matters, but I’ll have a look”.
“Well can we get someone here that is qualified as he’s running bent”.
“Sorry no, we don’t have the resources. I’ll go and have a look and see if there’s anything untoward”.
Came back :
“It looks fine to me so if that’s all sir, we’ll be on our way”.
Typical . When the evidence is there in front of them they don’t want to know but when you’re running legal and minding your own business they’re there like a swarm of bees. ZEBIDEEING ZEBIDEE’S. I understood that the traffic police drive around in T5’s and other high-powered motorway style cruisers so why wasn’t this plod qualified in driver law and tachographs ? I thought normal non-traffic plod drove around in panda’s .
Not much damage to the back of the trailer anyway.
Dropped the trailer off at Dewsbury and picked up an Argos Magna Park. Straight down there, in, dropped and swapped and out. Round to Costco for a Costco Oldham for 0600 friday morning. The weighbridge read out said 39820 but the wagon is only a 4-legger . A quick call to the office resulted in
"Well you’ll have to tell them and tell them to take some off 
"
I printed out a ticket to show them as they are bound to not believe it and the ticket said 34820 . I’ve never seen a digital ‘4’ with a curly tail on it before so I’ve concluded that the display is wrong.
Made it up to Dewsbury to park ‘securely’ overnight with minutes to spare and came home for the night.
Rob, I love reading your antics and admire your honesty etc but jesus mate, you can be so bloody two faced!!!
You are trying to get this MTL driver nicked for a defective speed limiter… isn’t the rule that as long as you have reported it, then it must be fixed AT THE NEXT AVAILABLE OPPURTUNITY!!!
At the same time, you are trying to get him nicked for speeding yet you admitted to running down the Yorkshire side of Windy AT A RATE OF KNOTS!!!
WHY THE BLINKING HELL IS IT OK FOR YOU TO SPEED YET NOT ANOTHER DRIVER■■?
Sorry, mate, but you are rank out of order here!!!
TheBear:
Rob, I love reading your antics and admire your honesty etc but jesus mate, you can be so bloody two faced!!!You are trying to get this MTL driver nicked for a defective speed limiter… isn’t the rule that as long as you have reported it, then it must be fixed AT THE NEXT AVAILABLE OPPURTUNITY!!!
At the same time, you are trying to get him nicked for speeding yet you admitted to running down the Yorkshire side of Windy AT A RATE OF KNOTS!!!
WHY THE BLINKING HELL IS IT OK FOR YOU TO SPEED YET NOT ANOTHER DRIVER■■?
Sorry, mate, but you are rank out of order here!!!
Hang on a minute.
The guy was driving dangerously without a doubt so if the cops weren’t going to do anything because of there being no witnesses then it’s time to play the joker and try to nail him in other ways. Annoyingly that didn’t work either.
Thinking back, he must have slowed down at some point because I never exceeded 97kmh according to my tachograph which is 60mph near as ■■■■ it and wouldn’t do anyway - if I was loaded even more so. So I haven’t broken any speed limits and my vehicle is road legal with a fully functioning speed limiter. His isn’t and wagons that have defective speed limiter usually have an uncanny connection with running bent.
I don’t see what’s two-faced about it nor in any of my other posts.
[zb] it. Write your own diaries. I’ve had enough.
if a speed limiter breaks then you have to have fix at the next availble oporunity or within seven days. now this does mean he was running bent ok so he was driving to close im sure weve all done it at sometime or other
people in glass houses shouldnt throw stones remember youve admited to speed on a roads on this forum
Rob K:
Thinking back, he must have slowed down at some point because I never exceeded 97kmh according to my tachograph which is 60mph near as ■■■■ it and wouldn’t do anyway - if I was loaded even more so. So I haven’t broken any speed limits
quote]My speed limiter was broke the other week yet that had bugger all to do with running bent!!! and it was fixed asap
alix776:
if a speed limiter breaks then you have to have fix at the next availble oporunity or within seven days. now this does mean he was running bent ok so he was driving to close im sure weve all done it at sometime or other
Why does this mean he was running bent, alix■■?
ime a man of few words but ime a avid reader and i must say m8, this is one of the best reads ive had in ages, i take me hat off to ya sir
oops typo should read doesnt mean hes running bent sorry
what a shame that a very good thread is ruined once again by the ‘‘you did this you said that brigade’’
phhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
Am I a member of the ‘you did this, you did that’ brigade■■?
LOLOLOLOLOL
I like Rob and his stories but just occassionly , he lapses into double standards so I just like to remind him he isn’t so squeaky clean … this clown was obviously driving far too close and got his just desserts!! Luckily no one was seriously injured
What I damned well object to though is Rob trying to get this guy nicked for having an iffy speed limiter ( and WAS it iffy??) when in the same story he admitted to speeding himself!!
If I am a member of any brigade at all, it is as a member of the “real truck drivers” brigade. I am one of those guys that gets on with the job… sit at an RDC for 4 hours■■? not a problem with me… I can sleep anywhere … I work like a dog at my company and am not brilliantly paid but I do ok. I don’t wear a company uniform with pride like so many you see nowadays. I don’t need a truckstop every night else I start crying. How many ‘trampers’ carry water containers and wash by the side of the truck these days?? How many of you guys carry your own cooking facilities?? I park up anywhere my time runs out … if it is in the middle of nowhere, thats fine by me… the doors are locked, the trailer is padlocked. If they are that desperate for the load, there is nothing I can do. I read these threads and I can spot the “real truckers” straight away.
What I get bored with is when you see these guys that wear their uniform with pride sprouting off in RDC’s about what they told this guy and what they said to the TM. If they have something interesting to chat about, I am more than happy to converse with them … footie, women… anything as long as it ain’t bloody diesel!!! These are the same guys that are crying about the Eastern Europeans coming over here.
Some of the remarks made on here made me chuckle and others touch a nerve … when they touch a nerve, I reserve the right to reply and if the poster doesn’t like it… tough (zb)!!!
if it needs stars to get past the censor it means it’s not allowed mrs mix
Good story again Rob!!
No matter what others think or say, your stories are a good read!
Newbies will learn from them, old guys will remember their days!
I have drove for years, and I still couldn’t write as much as you do for driving a few days!!
Keep it comming mate!
were enjoying it! 
I have never said Robs stories aren’t good, TC… I enjoy reading how much this guy can get up to in just one day … they are amusing… but you can’t have double standards and not expect to get some stick over it
I go along with the bear, I enjoy Robs tales very much.
TheBear:
I have never said Robs stories aren’t good, TC… I enjoy reading how much this guy can get up to in just one day … they are amusing… but you can’t have double standards and not expect to get some stick over it
I didn’t say you said Robs stories were not good!!!
in fact you said you liked Robs stories in one of your posts mate!
I was not getting at you or anyone else!
just posting my opinion!
Keep it comming Rob!!
bear what do you mean wash by the wagon you mean you dont have a shower on back of cab proper driver really!!!
dogs danglies rob keep it coming
jon
TheBear:
What I damned well object to though is Rob trying to get this guy nicked for having an iffy speed limiter ( and WAS it iffy??) when in the same story he admitted to speeding himself!!
How is not exceeding 60mph on a motorway speeding . It wasn’t his speeding which was the problem, it was the defective speed limiter which in turn means (to me) there’s a good chance he was running bent. A 52-reg Scania shouldn’t be doing in excess of 60mph on the flat and considering that he was driving like a zebidee and the plod weren’t interested in doing him with dangerous driving then I’ll ■■■■ well try to get him nailed in any other way and that was why I told the plod about the speed limiter. I don’t see any ‘double-standarding’ nor see how I’ve done anything wrong. If it had been a genuine accident - you know, accidents[/i]… remember them? - then I wouldn’t have involved the plod and would have simply made sure we were all alright, swapped details and been on our way but driving 10-15ft away from the back of something you can’t see round, at 56mph is just unacceptable and dangerous. Like other drivers recently, he’s got away with it.
> TheBear then:
> How many ‘trampers’ carry water containers and wash by the side of the truck these days??
I do, but the look of the faces of passers-by when they see a big blob of white substance on the ground suggests to me that I should find a sink
Now if we’ve all finished nit-picking then I’ll continue with Friday and Saturday
TheBear:
How many ‘trampers’ carry water containers and wash by the side of the truck these days?? How many of you guys carry your own cooking facilities??
Me!
Don’t use truckstops overnight if I can help it either…I get my parking paid these days, but I guess I spent too long cutting my teeth as a subbie, and old habits die hard…