On the bin run tommorrow, just the one run so far, anything I should know ?
Should be a laugh so any of you parked in St Philips Bristol in the early hours get your cars off the road…
Most new bin waggons are fully auto, and very easy to drive, remember that it is often much easier to reverse into some places than reverse out of them!
let us know how it goes!
Also remember that it seems to be compulsory to leave a trail of rubbish behind you and if you can return the wrong bins to each house I think you may get a bonus for that, judging by our bin men. 
I always enjoy the bins, I don’t mind getting out & helping & find this makes a big difference.
Best bit of advice would be never reverse using the rear camera as they are often off centre & can give a false impression of whats where.
Also always check rear camera before engaging gear & never engage gear until the guys are all clear.
When loading remember things can get spat out. Also don’t forget, as the cause of the hold up YOU become the target, & I mean that literally, take care as car drivers can & do use their vehicles to intimidate, (drive very close to you at speed.)
Steve
i did a day driving bin wagons the other week and i can honestly say i totally enjoyed it and i give full credit to the regular drivers it certainly teach’s you how to drive in tight places
And as said above most of the motors are fully auto and easy to move about i had a 6 legger seddon atkinson which was a joy to drive
The only thing i will say is watch yourself on the landfill as its very easy to get bogged down but if you’ve got a good set of lads with you they will show you where to go
simon
Take a rather large peg for your nose.
Sorry.Couldn’t resist.
Ken.
Don’t be getting it stuck on a scaffolding pole. They have to send a welding crew out to cut you out 
. Their can be some very tight spaces and people are complete ■■■■■■■■■■ Get one of the binmen to watch you back down the tight spaces. As TC says, their’s no tacho and it should be all auto box. Enjoy .
I’ve done bin trucks in my younger days. My best bit of advice would be to watch out for rear swing. There’s usually the same kind of rear swing on a bin truck as there is on a 40ft trailer when turning tightly and as you’ll be turning tightly a lot you must take it into account or else a lot of parked vehicles are going to wind up with big dents and scratches down the sides of them.
More often that not it’s an excellent laugh as the guys you’re working with are usually superb. I used to get out and help the two guys I had with me but I got told off as I was holding them up too much; they wanted me to be able to drive quickly between the bins and I wasn’t able to do that with getting out all the time.
Don’t forget you need to be in the cab to operate the PTO so only if there’s a real large area of bins to bring to the truck where it will be standing still for a while it’s worth getting out. Otherwise stay in the cab and do the driving!
Isn’t it standard procedure to fly round all pickups at 70■■? 
It was when I did a run round Bristol… the usual driver who showed me the route had that old FL10 hammering round corners at speed… when I took over, he whined that i wasn’t going fast enough 
Be careful when you go to the tip and dont reverse over the hill as you usually have to tip at the end of the tip on top ( if you know what i mean), also make sure you stick to the tyre marks made by other trucks as there can be BIG pot holes if you go off course, AND stay away from them big flattening machines as the metal wheels look pretty scarey with the big spikes on them.
Try and stick it out until christmas and get a share of the guys tips if they dont give you any make sure you go and do the BIg houses on your own ;);)…
Did a couple of weeks on the bins myself (agency job), it was great fun suprisingly and if the pay had of been better I’d of considered staying full time on their books.
Used to be on the black bag route, so I’d get out and help load with one guy with me whilst the other 2 would go on ahead pulling out the houses to the kerbside. Only wheelie bins where from commercial premises, which have there perks as the owners normally give you freebies, bakeries you’ll get cakes and bread, pubs and shops you’ll get bottles of soft drink.
All bin wagons of today should be automatic so nice and easy there even if they are a bit slow of the mark - if they have performance buttons then use them they do make a difference. All modern bin wagons have central mounted reversing camera’s as it is now a legal requirement (correct me if I’m wrong), they do help a lot so use them along with your mirrors, car drivers have a tendancy to drive up behind even when your reversing think you’ll pull forwards again to allow them past.
There are many different combo’s out there for bin wagons, I used to drive a 6 wheeler made up to an 8 wheeler with lift axle just in front of front drive axle. Lift axle would come down on reaching a certain weight, only problem was when you turn with it down it turns the wagon into a sled and you go straight on, it’s not nice. Split compartments on the back as well for recycling, right pain. Had to make sure the larger side was tipped first else you couldn’t close the hopper back down in order to swap sides and tip in recycling centre.
Bodies won’t tip so being on fully level ground whilst tipping is not as crucial as it is for a tipper, only the loading hopper raises in the air then the load is ejected by hydrualic ram. It’s not to vital to get too close to the tip edge whilst discharging load as the dozers will do that job.
Oh well that’s enough rambling from a newbie to the forum on this subject, just a small insight into the world of refuse.
Drive Safe.
Steering can be a problem as the weight builds up on the back axil before it transfers to the front.
check everyone is clear before you move off.
Remember you have a job to do, so dont feel guilty if you block a road or cause traffic problems.
Tachograph rules dont apply if its for the council.
If it’s an early start don’t forget to use your reversing beeper, get your mates to bang the bins as much as possible and rev the engine loudly at every chance you get 
Thanks for all the insight folks, certainly help elevate any apprehensions I may have had and that’s much appreciated… Particular thanks to the first posters, and welcome.
Didn’t quite work out as envisaged unfortunately. This was a commercial outfit, so Tacho regs applied, running many 6 legger Seddon’s, double manned so we know what that means.
Arrived at 4:30 to much hanging around, eventually told my truck was in repair but shouldn’t be more than 10 minutes, was to pick up my mate en-route to Bath and take it from there — depot now near deserted. Went over to workshop to find this death trap of an old Dennis parked up, left to pick up mate circa 6:30, he’d been waiting in the pouring rain since 5 am and not a happy chappy when I got to him, 7:30 ?
By the time we’d done the first few bins traffic was building up so more to moan about. Bit further and the bin lift gave up, more moaning and a return to depot on the cards, but it started working again so we carried on. Eventually, surprise surprise, it packed up again, mate now loosing it and fitter called out. 2—3 hours later back on road, hour later no bin lift. Mate fuming, me in stitches, depot says might be a good idea to return. I’m nodding in agreement and mate is on the radio claiming driver is adamant he’s not going further on the rounds with this truck ■■ don’t bother me…
Could write a whole chapter and verse re this “mate”. I’m the 4th driver he’d had this week, wonder why ? but I liked him, my sort of bloke, been at it since the Council days so knew where he was coming from and if it wasn’t for the break downs I recon we could have had a good day, alas not to be. In the death he directed me to what turned out to be where he lived in Bath, complained that I’d have to fill out the defect sheet as he’d been moaned at for doing it, none in cab so he storms off arms waving and muttering under his breath and that’s the last I saw of him…
On the return to depot it dawned on me that I could be killed driving this truck above 30 mph. Brakes pulling to one side then the next, hardly working at all down hill, stearing all over the place. Drivers door had flew open a few times, front panel had fallen off more than once, etc, etc.
So that was my one, and only !! run on the bins. Got back to depot 2 pm, told them wagon shouldn’t be on road, turns out other drives refuse to go out in it, jumped in my car and left… Didn’t even get to tip which was something I was looking forward to.
Oh the joys of being an Agency driver…
Tipical bin truck then.
Personally Id complain to the agency about it.
Ive done the job myself. Unfoutunately where I live there are some very steep hills where you struggle empty at 20mph up them and 8/10 loaded. Its also the only time Ive experienced brake fade in a lorry by cooking them coming down hill.
I really wouldn’t worry too much about a job like this as i’m sure;
“you’ll pick it up as you go along!”
steveo999:
I really wouldn’t worry too much about a job like this as i’m sure;
“you’ll pick it up as you go along!”
When I did my ADR there was a load of bin men on my course I thought that
because of the variety of the load so to speak that you need your ADR.
I remember doing bin trucks the two worst things were 1) the age and therefore draftiness of the cab, I was freezing ALL day. 2) hopping clear of that nasty liquid that is spurted out of the side when the compresser activates. Bleach.
When you get to your pickup points, beware of “monbacks”. You know them, don’t you? The guys who are always trying to help you reverse by calling out " …'Monback!!..'Monback!!.. That’s good!!"
tips on a bin truck.
well i guess around this time of year some binmen will get plenty of tips