What's the closest you've come to hitting a bridge?

[daf95xf]

Took an 11ft 11in coach through an 11ft 9in bridge once
Also had a close call with a bridge near Iceland Livingston, had to blindside reverse into the station carpark

[dew]

At least all your judgements weren’t as far out as this guys…

[cattle_wagon_man]

dew:

cattle wagon man:

dew:
I think the nearest I’ve come to a bridge (I’m in a 3.5T van) is one in Natland. The van will go under but if you hit it too fast the suspension bounces and part does touch.

Better one though was delivering to Dairy Crest in Aspatria. For some reason the gate was out and all there was, was a garage door 3/4 of the way open. I had to guys watching me both saying it was clear, but I could feel the back suspension compressing as I went under so I knew it was touching slightly. Was only doing walking pace and after repeatidly saying it was touching, I just simply asked if I was going to be held responsible for any damage. When they agreed no I pulled it out and the rubber strip off the door hit the floor. Did my next delivery and as I went back past they were just on ladders re-attaching it

I know that bridge in Natland fairly well, as I live less than a mile away.

Maybe there was a loaded freight train going over the bridge as you went under it .

Cheers, cattle wagon man.

I don’t mean the 8" 6 one on the road out towards the Punch bowl, I’ve never dared that in the Luton, I mean the one in the centre that’s at 9" something I think.

Currently my vans got a small part of the box sticking up and that touches, so I’m very close!

If you mean the Aquaduct bridge , then keep your head down, and get your brolly ready. :laughing: Many times Ive had to go the long way round to reach farms at the other side.
The low railway bridge from the A 65 has bl**dy little clearance. I even duck going under there when I`m on my pushbike .

Cheers, cattle wagon man.

[dew]

cattle wagon man:
If you mean the Aquaduct bridge , then keep your head down, and get your brolly ready. :laughing: Many times Ive had to go the long way round to reach farms at the other side.
The low railway bridge from the A 65 has bl**dy little clearance. I even duck going under there when I`m on my pushbike .

Cheers, cattle wagon man.

Lol not sure which one it is, but like I said its very very close. A sign in one of our vans says it’s 10" 10’ but it’s a touch optimistic as I get under that bridge (Just checked Google Maps, 9" 6’) and my vans a little taller than his. I’m bloody sure I touched it once though as the van’s supension flexed, I was gunning it a little bit

I meant Sedgewick not Natland, assuming you live round there somewhere?

[kemaro]

I had a running debate with a previous manager about why I would go 8miles out of the way to a drop instead of right there , I said there is a bridge that is 12"9’ and as the lorry was 12"9’ high to the top of the hiab it would not fit , he would always argue that they mark the bridges lower than they actually are incase a lorry went that way by mistake, I still wouldn’t go , this went on for a while until one day he came with me & insisted that I go under the bridge so I did , guess what happened?

I didn’t hit the bridge!

Only because I approached it slowly & looked to see that it would not go under , had a very quiet passenger for the rest of the day …

[twoninety88]

Well I did hit one, in Rouen in 1984, foggy as hell and had one of the French customs lads from Morays office in the cab of the 88 showing me the way to a drop that was supposedly ‘very hard to find’.

I actually passed through the underpass before hitting the steel and glass walkway at the other end of the underpass. My excuse was that I was tired and not paying attention, he had no excuse for taking me that way, and payed the consequences. He was actually arrested by the Gendarmes, I or my firm never heard anymore about it from the French authorities…unlike me when I dragged the stripped down tilt with the 45 degree headboard back into the yard two days later!

Always been wary of bridges ever since

[hitch]

a triangle states the height of a bridge
a circular sign tells you the safe clearance

[rikki-uk]

hitch:
a triangle states the height of a bridge
a circular sign tells you the safe clearance

Not quite
A triangular sign is warning not a prohibition
a round sign is a prohibtion which means if you go past and get caught, expect a discussion without tea and biscuits, with a magistrate and the traffic commissioner

Triangular is advisory
Round is mandatory

[cieranc]

dew:
At least all your judgements weren’t as far out as this guys…

We’ve had a few jobs like that: " Please send a wrecker for the bus and a commercial flatbed for the roof"

[madbaz]

hitch:
a triangle states the height of a bridge
a circular sign tells you the safe clearance

No It doesn’t.

Closest I’ve come is putting my indicator on whilst following the prat-nav a few years ago, somehow I don’t think lowering the suspension would have got me under.

I have slowed though when going under a ‘new to me’ bridge at the same height as the bridge is marked.

[trucker-lass22]

Ive taken my 9ft 10 van under a 9ft 9 bridge, just took it slowly and was fine.

There are a couple of bridges in the area that dont have warning signs leading up to them from one direction. Not long after i started the job was following thesat nav cutting through and then i came up to this bridge that cant have been much higher that 6ft, was no way i was going to fit so ended up reversing the best part of a mile until i could turn around, didnt help that this road is a rat run for cars so had to negotiate traffic aswell
Talking to a new driver that just started with us he did the same thing the other week but also recieved abuse from other road users (if you dont know the road and there is no sign stating there is a low bridge were not bloody mind readers!!)

[the_maoster]

Hit one on the A19 near Hartlepool back in the 80’s. It was when Nissan were building their plant at Sunderland and we used to run the big packing crates full of assorted parts from either Portbury or Teesport up to them.

This particular day me and three others had loaded at Teesport and set off up the A19. I was leading when there was an almighty crash and debris all over the carriageway. Now I knew that I had the lowest load out of the four, so once I’d stopped I got out to watch the other three under the bridge. As they too knew they were higher than me you can imagine the concern etched into their faces as they crept under!

The strange thing was that they cleared easily. Turn out that the leading edge of one of the crates had lifted, and with it containing only plastic wheeltrims the box lifted out of the stack, snapping the rope and hit the bridge!

I did phone my then boss (the usually very understanding Brian Rosier) from the services and informed him of the mishap and told him it would’ve been worse had it been gearboxes I’d shed. He asked me how that would’ve been worse, to which I replied “well it would’ve been raining Datsun cogs!”

He wasn’t amused.

[n14erf]

This one! Took a 13’ 10" through here, had to shunt a few times to get it through with the air down as you can’t get straight enough, even mounting the bank before it as high as possible. It’s ok the other way as you can get straight at it.

[grabster]

Hows about this one then ?

I have passed under this many many time’s in a 13.6 DAF but i still slow to a crawl although i’ve still room to spare.
The local concrete lorries dont even lift off going under but two double decker buses have been lowered in the last ten years on it.