I pulled into the southbound side to take my 45 and the truck park was swarming with coppers. There was an artic with a 18 tonner hard up against it’s left side and sticking out from under the right side of the trailer was a dead bloke. It seems the artic was parked up and the rigid pulled in next to it, the driver jumped out and walked between the two vehicles when his Mercedes started to roll forward, crushing him in the process. Another driver saw what happened and went under the trailer to pull him out but it was too late and he was dead. Always remember the park brake folks otherwise it could be you.
The guy who pulled him out was in no fit state to continue driving and his company sent a couple of drivers out to him, one to drive his truck home and one, who happened to be his dad, to take him home when he had finished dealing with the police.
condolances to his family. I have parked up twice and forgot to put on the brake. thankfully its part of my cockpit routine to give everything a quick glance over, so i noticed.
I’m sure if we’re honest, lot’s of us have done it. I did, once, while coupling to a trailer - only a few weeks after getting my licence, and it was a lesson learned. I was very lucky - nobody hurt and no damage done.
I really think it’s about time every manufacturer followed Volvo and Mercedes-Benz and fitted an audible warning as standard that sounds when you open the door if the park brake is not applied.
That is so sad. Such an easy, simple mistake to make with such tragic consequences. His family must be devastated, and probably going through all the “if only” scenarios.
There were a couple of things concerning us as we stood around watching the goings on.
Would the parking Nazis be round to clamp the vehicles for not paying the parking as they had been there for more than 2 hours? “C’mon, you can’t clamp me, I can’t go anywhere because there is a dead bloke under my trailer.” Yeah mate, we’ve heard all the excuses."
What mode should his tacho be on? You can’t really call lying on the tarmac Other Work. By the same token he aint really available for much so POA seems a no no. Break implies it will end at some point and we couldn’t really see that happening so we settled on Rest. We hoped his tacho was on Rest as he was having a bad day as it was so an infringement on top would be a bit harsh.
parking nazis would probly faint from not hearing no speak engleeshh as a valid excuse (sorry folks gallows humor) but then theres been to many stupid ones like this i can think of 2 in the last 18 months where a driver has been killed in scotland all because they never applyed a handbrake
One of our lads had the misfortune to actually see this happen to a very good friend after he (the mate) had parked alongside. One minute they were having a conversation, the next his mate was so much mincemeat up the side of our lad’s unit. Not nice.
I think i was kinda lucky after i passed my class 1, first job was doing two man trunks, the guy i worked with he had seen this happen as well.
We changed trailers a few times a night, and he would drum it into me make sure the parking brake was on, make sure the trailer break was on etc… so its always kinda stuck in my head.
one bit of advice he told me was when changing trailers just get it done in a methodical way, don’t stop half way through, don’t chat with someone when your doing it. to easy to forget about somthing because you have been distracted.
Coffeeholic:
There were a couple of things concerning us as we stood around watching the goings on.
Would the parking Nazis be round to clamp the vehicles for not paying the parking as they had been there for more than 2 hours? “C’mon, you can’t clamp me, I can’t go anywhere because there is a dead bloke under my trailer.” Yeah mate, we’ve heard all the excuses."
What mode should his tacho be on? You can’t really call lying on the tarmac Other Work. By the same token he aint really available for much so POA seems a no no. Break implies it will end at some point and we couldn’t really see that happening so we settled on Rest. We hoped his tacho was on Rest as he was having a bad day as it was so an infringement on top would be a bit harsh.
Coffeeholic:
There were a couple of things concerning us as we stood around watching the goings on.
Would the parking Nazis be round to clamp the vehicles for not paying the parking as they had been there for more than 2 hours? “C’mon, you can’t clamp me, I can’t go anywhere because there is a dead bloke under my trailer.” Yeah mate, we’ve heard all the excuses."
What mode should his tacho be on? You can’t really call lying on the tarmac Other Work. By the same token he aint really available for much so POA seems a no no. Break implies it will end at some point and we couldn’t really see that happening so we settled on Rest. We hoped his tacho was on Rest as he was having a bad day as it was so an infringement on top would be a bit harsh.
Presumably it depends on his religious beliefs? If he believed in any sort of a God then it would be POA until someone decided whether he was going up or down…If, however, he was a rabid aetheist like me, the only sensible thing to do would be to remove his card and chuck it away…'cos once you’re gone you’re just worm food.
jimboy124:
And Mr Hobbs … got any crime scene tape??
No, as i told you I stopped him tying it to my trailer otherwise I would have been dragging it down the M1. Would have been a good souvenir of the occasion though.
Me too. Even when you have a rigid system, and I have, for some inexplicable reason there is always the risk that one day, you’ll miss one element.
I was on the back of the unit after coupling fixing the last susie, when, looking down, I could see the ground moving underneath. A split second to realise that it wasn’t the earth moving, but the wagon
Should have just pulled the red line but I didn’t. I leapt to the side, ran along with it, opened the door and reached in to put my hand on the footbrake. Then cautiously and contordedly (?), climbed in transferred my foot to relieve the hand, and applied the handbrake. Phew!
Then looked round to see who was watching. No-one was.
Good job. I was the transport manager and in charge of safety.
I’ve not done it, but many a time I’ve had to check because I can’t be certain. Easy mistake with monumental consequences. My condolences to all concerned.
I am always forgetting to put the handbrake on, most of the time its just a case of checking again, to find that I have put it on, or quickly pulling the lever and counting my lucky stars, but oin several occasions I have spent a very uncomfortable hour on the chunnel train wondering if I have left the brake off!
(Oh and the night heater as well! )
