The other night i had to go to a tray wash inside an rdc. Was asked to fill in a form with the usual crap on it booking reference, name, company, phone number etc. Second half of the form asked if i had applied the handbrake or trailer brake and if i was staying in the cab to sit on the passengerside. all standered stuff i guess.
I elected to go for a smoke so i was away from the lorrysame as if i had to sit in a waiting room. when i came back i was handed the keys and toldit was ready to go. Jumped in the cab and the vehicle wouldnt move. got out and looked around to find the problem and heard one of the airlines hissing like mad. Also found the trailer brake had been applied. so someone had messed with the airline and applyed the trailor brake.
Im assuming it wasnt done nastily it was because i wasnt there. But at no point did anyone tell me it had been done or that i should of done it.
cooper1203:
The other night i had to go to a tray wash inside an rdc. Was asked to fill in a form with the usual crap on it booking reference, name, company, phone number etc. Second half of the form asked if i had applied the handbrake or trailer brake and if i was staying in the cab to sit on the passengerside. all standered stuff i guess.
I elected to go for a smoke so i was away from the lorrysame as if i had to sit in a waiting room. when i came back i was handed the keys and toldit was ready to go. Jumped in the cab and the vehicle wouldnt move. got out and looked around to find the problem and heard one of the airlines hissing like mad. Also found the trailer brake had been applied. so someone had messed with the airline and applyed the trailor brake.
Im assuming it wasnt done nastily it was because i wasnt there. But at no point did anyone tell me it had been done or that i should of done it.
If line was attached and leaking , newer trailers will apply the trailer brake when air gets low or air line taken off
cooper1203:
The other night i had to go to a tray wash inside an rdc. Was asked to fill in a form with the usual crap on it booking reference, name, company, phone number etc. Second half of the form asked if i had applied the handbrake or trailer brake and if i was staying in the cab to sit on the passengerside. all standered stuff i guess.
I elected to go for a smoke so i was away from the lorrysame as if i had to sit in a waiting room. when i came back i was handed the keys and toldit was ready to go. Jumped in the cab and the vehicle wouldnt move. got out and looked around to find the problem and heard one of the airlines hissing like mad. Also found the trailer brake had been applied. so someone had messed with the airline and applyed the trailor brake.
Im assuming it wasnt done nastily it was because i wasnt there. But at no point did anyone tell me it had been done or that i should of done it.
If line was attached and leaking , newer trailers will apply the trailer brake when air gets low or air line taken off
ok every day is a learning day The air tanks were very low so that must of been it.
If Im on a run, when I stop for coffee or whatever, I touch each tyre and put back of my hand near hubs to check for a high temp. When I and return to my truck, I habitually look at the 5th wheel dog-clip, quick glance at tyres both sides, and see that suzies arent dangling. It takes all of a few seconds.
As soon as I roll I dab the brakes.
When told to pick up an “empty” trailer I look in the back…guess why!
Yeah always check everything its not only a job saving habit but can be a life saving one also.
As said if picking up said empty trailer make sure it’s empty preferably before wasting time connecting to it.
Don’t fall into the trap that many drivers do, ultimately the buck stops with the driver so don’t trust others with anything at all, & check check & check again.
cooper1203:
The other night i had to go to a tray wash inside an rdc. Was asked to fill in a form with the usual crap on it booking reference, name, company, phone number etc. Second half of the form asked if i had applied the handbrake or trailer brake and if i was staying in the cab to sit on the passengerside. all standered stuff i guess.
I elected to go for a smoke so i was away from the lorrysame as if i had to sit in a waiting room. when i came back i was handed the keys and toldit was ready to go. Jumped in the cab and the vehicle wouldnt move. got out and looked around to find the problem and heard one of the airlines hissing like mad. Also found the trailer brake had been applied. so someone had messed with the airline and applyed the trailor brake.
Im assuming it wasnt done nastily it was because i wasnt there. But at no point did anyone tell me it had been done or that i should of done it.
If line was attached and leaking , newer trailers will apply the trailer brake when air gets low or air line taken off
ok every day is a learning day The air tanks were very low so that must of been it.
It doesn’t even need to be leaky air per se, if someone is rattling in and out of your back doors the movement will be enough to force air out if the system. If they’re particularly violent or forceful when pushing in and pulling out it can create enough movement to dump air bit by bit and by the time you get back most of it has gone which gas activated the trailer brake.
For reference if it was Tesco 99% have low air responding trailer brakes, the ones that don’t will normally have an idiot board reminding people to manually pull trailer brake.
toonsy:
For reference if it was Tesco 99% have low air responding trailer brakes, the ones that don’t will normally have an idiot board reminding people to manually pull trailer brake.
My first shift with them (and first shift after passing my test) was fun when I couldn’t work out why I couldn’t drive off after unloading. Took me a few minutes to work it out! Now I check it every time I finish my unload
I once tipped a pallet place at normanton ( I’m sure it was there ) , when the green light came on I pulled off bay & a very helpfull driver ( well I thought he was ) shouted he’d shut the back doors , I went and got pod , drove back to yard , undid back doors to see 2 pallets of trays still on , now obviously they’d cocked up by giving me pod for a not completely empty tri , some kind of ■■■■ up , company wernt bothered as we had pod , but I was a bit ■■■■■■ off as driver hadn’t told me it still had trays on , though maybe he thought I should have pallets on
I just learnt to always do your own doors up , since then I’ve had empty tris when I told them there should be x amount of palls left on , wrong pall took off , not right amount of palls left on , always pays to do a quick check
Years ago Volvos used to have a button on the dash which popped up in the event of an air loss.When air pressure was built up and all guages show full the truck would still not move until the button was pressed down manually. Cue embarassed driver after calling out mechanic.It can’t have been only me,surely ?
Gidders:
Years ago Volvos used to have a button on the dash which popped up in the event of an air loss.When air pressure was built up and all guages show full the truck would still not move until the button was pressed down manually. Cue embarassed driver after calling out mechanic.It can’t have been only me,surely ?
I found the trailer offside middle tyre off the rim on the inside once. You never know what you could have been running with and if you don’t actually look you won’t know. The middle tyre especially you may not notice too much of a difference in how the combination handles.
Get in the habit of looking down each side and in the dark getting the torch out. After a break, show 1-2 minutes other work to show you have done it too.
carryfast-yeti:
yep i alway’s check mine over…especially the dog-clip!
I accept that airlines will come undone if you do not rotate the collar away from the ■■■■■■. But has a single trailer ever disconnected if the kingpin is properly engaged but not the dog clip attached? Or is the dogclip just to confirm the kingpin is engaged?
cooper1203:
The other night i had to go to a tray wash inside an rdc. Was asked to fill in a form with the usual crap on it booking reference, name, company, phone number etc. Second half of the form asked if i had applied the handbrake or trailer brake and if i was staying in the cab to sit on the passengerside. all standered stuff i guess.
I elected to go for a smoke so i was away from the lorrysame as if i had to sit in a waiting room. when i came back i was handed the keys and toldit was ready to go. Jumped in the cab and the vehicle wouldnt move. got out and looked around to find the problem and heard one of the airlines hissing like mad. Also found the trailer brake had been applied. so someone had messed with the airline and applyed the trailor brake.
Im assuming it wasnt done nastily it was because i wasnt there. But at no point did anyone tell me it had been done or that i should of done it.
If line was attached and leaking , newer trailers will apply the trailer brake when air gets low or air line taken off
ok every day is a learning day The air tanks were very low so that must of been it.
It doesn’t even need to be leaky air per se, if someone is rattling in and out of your back doors the movement will be enough to force air out if the system. If they’re particularly violent or forceful when pushing in and pulling out it can create enough movement to dump air bit by bit and by the time you get back most of it has gone which gas activated the trailer brake.
For reference if it was Tesco 99% have low air responding trailer brakes, the ones that don’t will normally have an idiot board reminding people to manually pull trailer brake.
You still running out of Tesco Snodland?
no left tesco around the time i got my class one among other things i didnt fancy trying to take an artic into some of those stores in london as a new pass
stu675:
But has a single trailer ever disconnected if the kingpin is properly engaged but not the dog clip attached? Or is the dogclip just to confirm the kingpin is engaged?
Yes. Jost had a design which did not have a dog clip at one point, just an L-shaped bracket which dropped down. Enough of those fell off they started to supply them with a dog clip as a “belt and braces” measure. If you search on here, at least one member (Jessica’s Dad?) had first hand experience of this in the early noughties, and I seem to remember it happened to several Tesco outfits. In fact, I believe it was the Tesco incidents that were investigated, at their request, though I could be wrong - it was, after all, 20 years ago now. I had one of those fifth wheels myself at the time, fitted to a Scania tractor.
stu675:
But has a single trailer ever disconnected if the kingpin is properly engaged but not the dog clip attached? Or is the dogclip just to confirm the kingpin is engaged?
Yes. Some years ago a lad got sacked for it at a company I worked for. He lost his trailer on the road outside our yard. I was there and saw the boss run over with a very concerned look on his face.
Another lad at the same company lost an empty trailer he pulled off the bay, but managed to stop before it landed on its knee. It was resting on his mudguards and rear lights, and between him and the forkie he rescued it, and nobody grassed him up.
But yes, it does happen.
I’ve got this weird paranoid thing I do. If I’ve left my truck for any reason (paying for fuel, handing keys in etc) it’s second nature to glance at the clip before getting back in my cab, just in case some [insert 4 letter word] had pulled it for their amusement. I’ve never known that to happen, but it’d be my worst nightmare if it did.
Only drive a rigid so don’t have some of the problems hick ups artic lads or lasses ( phew ) have.
Been in transport all my life from warehouse to operations manager and now back to driving .
Always check and double check everything if I can and never rely on some one else’s say so .
Never presume or assume anything .
Just last week collected a load from customer ( a regular ) we always bring back to yard . When loaded I always text gaffer and say loaded back to yard , his reply always thumbs up.
Last week done the usual no immediate reply from gaffer so just carried on and headed for m/way 5 mins away , got sick sense something was not right so actually stopped and rang him , the load wasn’t coming back to yard going 100 miles in opposite direction . Never assume !
Dont think it’s paranoia, I do it myself and I know many others that do. In fact we get told to spend an extra ten minutes after having a break checking the vehicle over (handy to waste a bit of time )
toonsy:
Coop now you’ve got a bit of experience why not go back to Tesco? Maritime are finished in a couple of weeks and it’s becoming in house with Tesco…
im thinking about it but at the moment im still gaining experience and am enjoying the “long” runs up to spalding or hinckley etc. I did broach the subject loosly with the agency and was told maybe nearer xmas so we will see
the movement will be enough to force air out if the system. If they’re particularly violent or forceful when pushing in and pulling out 
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