New to arctic driving with a large curtain sider and may have to go from mcr to Leeds this week with light load one way and empty truck the other on the 62. Listening to the weather it could be windy, would like to know how windy it has to be to not do the journey and when would you tie back the curtains if empty and how do you do this? Thanks in advance for all help.
Pull the side curtains to the rear of the trailer and open the doors on the trailer.
With ratchet straps secure the sheet of the trailer and secure the rear doors.
If you think it is not safe to drive ,phone in and tell the traffic monkeys you are going to be late.
Or they can pay for the crane to lift the truck out of the ditch.
Boris1971:
When does wind become a journey stopper?
When your lorry decides to have a lie down in the middle of the road. 
Never open / tie back your curtains on a modern trailer, the roof blows off. ESPECIALLY if it’s a fixed rear instead of rear doors.
Just fasten curtains TIGHT (don’t bend the bar, use the buckles to get it tight as you can) and you’ll be fine, I’ve done big single decks and double decks loaded and empty in all weathers and still not been blown over yet, but have had a few arse twitching moments though.
What are you calling a ‘large curtain sider’? Anything upto 14’6 is standard these days, so above that is ‘large’.
On airfreight, they’re mostly 14’6 upwards, 15’6-15’9 is very common for any that have ‘rollers’ for the aircraft pallets, I’ve dragged those all over the country on days and nights in all weathers and been fine, so don’t worry, if your tea spills then it’s getting a bit windy and time to pull in.
Don’t be afraid to slow down 
It’s a common misconception that you get blown over, you actually get pulled over by the negative pressure on the lee side.
The best way is as above, get the curtains as tight as a drum. If it’s really bad sit side by side with another truck (normal behaviour for most drivers) that way the negative pressure won’t have the same effect on either of you. Don’t ask me how that works, but it does
Drive to conditions. Simple. If it’s blowing slow down.
It’s 14’11 with rear doors. Thanks for advice guys it’s reassuring ,did not know you don’t tie back curtains and side by side helps.
When the smell in the cab becomes unbearable.
I have actually seen a truck blown over travelling at low speed, whilst turning right across a wide junction across a trunk road. He wasn’t batting it, the wind just caught it full on and over it went.
I have been dragged out of a cab when the wind has opened the door a lot quicker than I had intended to open it myself and once had fence panels overtake the truck… 
Just take it steady when windy as you can find branches in the road, signs bent over into the flow of traffic, airborne objects of every description (including inverted umbrellas) and the contents of skip lorries on the highway…
Boris1971:
It’s 14’11 with rear doors. Thanks for advice guys it’s reassuring ,did not know you don’t tie back curtains and side by side helps.
14.11 pretty normal wait until you get a multi deck at just under 16.00 with rigid sides,then you start twitching abit
Last company I worked for wouldn’t allow us to tie curtains back even if I wanted to, which I wouldn’t. Insurance purposes apparently.
I pulled 15’ 11’ tauts post of the time and never once got blown out of the lane I was in, just slow it down and be prepared to have a lie down if worse comes to worse or just pull over and have a kip 
There’s a bit on the M6 just north of J38 that’s bad for blow overs, thankfully its left to driver’s discretion whether we run or not.
Otherwise follow the instructions on the matrix sign and err on the side of caution, better the stuff gets there late rather than spread over the road with a knackered unit and trailer.
newmercman:
It’s a common misconception that you get blown over, you actually get pulled over by the negative pressure on the lee side.The best way is as above, get the curtains as tight as a drum. If it’s really bad sit side by side with another truck (normal behaviour for most drivers) that way the negative pressure won’t have the same effect on either of you. Don’t ask me how that works, but it does
It’s a combination of positive and negative pressure. If you sit side by side, then one truck is taking the positive and one is taking the negative
its mostly tautliners that get turned over, as said
get the curtains tight even if you have to reseal it
I’ve seen over bodied 7.5 tonner vans on their side
problem lack of cb use makes doubling up hard.
toby1234abc:
Pull the side curtains to the rear of the trailer and open the doors on the trailer.
With ratchet straps secure the sheet of the trailer and secure the rear doors.
Do not do this. If its really windy there’s a chance of ripping the roof off.
Wind becomes a journey stopper when YOU decide it is too strong.
If we all can survive last winters wind then this year’s should be a breeze 
Lost count the amount of times was bricking it on the night shift getting battered about.
Last years winds were awful,remember going down the M56 in a artic with just 4 pallets on so effectively just a big empty box and where it’s exposed by Stanslow I was down to 20mph and no cars or other vehicles would go past me as I was rocking that much…absolutely vile it was and I couldn’t even stop on the hard shoulder as anyone who knows that part will know how exposed it is.
ckm1981:
Last years winds were awful,remember going down the M56 in a artic with just 4 pallets on so effectively just a big empty box and where it’s exposed by Stanslow I was down to 20mph and no cars or other vehicles would go past me as I was rocking that much…absolutely vile it was and I couldn’t even stop on the hard shoulder as anyone who knows that part will know how exposed it is.
I bet the language in the cab was rather colourful.
Radar19:
ckm1981:
Last years winds were awful,remember going down the M56 in a artic with just 4 pallets on so effectively just a big empty box and where it’s exposed by Stanslow I was down to 20mph and no cars or other vehicles would go past me as I was rocking that much…absolutely vile it was and I couldn’t even stop on the hard shoulder as anyone who knows that part will know how exposed it is.I bet the language in the cab was rather colourful.
No kidding,I’ll admit I was genuinely ■■■■■■■■ it!
If the crosswind is hitting the whole of the trailer (top and bottom) it tends to just push it sideways a bit. I used to do quite a bit of double decker work across the Pennines and quite often followed another one. It is quite scary to watch but most of the time they just got pushed sideways. But basically it is a journey stopper if you don’t feel comfortable to carry on.