BossHogg:
There you go, leave it where it is and get slagged off for doing nothing, or drag it clear and get sued! Damned if you do, damned if you don’t!!!
I’ve never understood why you lads get so much verbal agg from truckers …especially on here.
I realise your hands are tied in many situations, but I for one would be happy, and safe in the knowledge that my wife and/or daughters were being kept safe if things ever went bad for them on the M.way.
So not all of us are critical.
Not a [zb] thing to gain for me from that statement before anybody has a go.
Which is why we’ve received extra training and got extra kit to try and clear lanes. We can now upright overturned vehicles up to 3.5 tonnes, we carry spill kit to deal with small fuel/oil spills, and our cars are fitted with electronic load cells so we can clear larger vehicles. Even with all this extra skills and kit, there will still be times when the vehicle is outside of our training parameters and we have to wait for recovery with bigger kit. If we feel that we may need recovery, we get it rolling before we try to clear anything, that way if we can’t move it, recovery is already rolling to save time.
An there opens another chapter. Won’t be long before the recovery agents are complaining because you’ve taken away their “next on list” all-out.
I totally understand about police officers and highways not changing people’s wheels at the side of the road. First they may not have that “specific vehicle training” 2 ever used a scissor jack? Nah your alright mate, 3 us as a recovery operator only send out people who are trained to do that job (I’m a qualified tech) and also we have specific paperwork for that job as well they have to physically sign to say that accept liability from here then on and they acknowledge that I have given safety advice. I’m also only speaking for our company and not all companies.
U Can get small Hydraulic jacks under all 4 wheels. Lift car up and push it to the hard shoulder.
Fak how much damage can u make, considering how much it cost to slow down a motorway for 1hour. car repair bill few hundred pounds. vs huge delays for transport industry and commute.
discoman:
please enlighten me to how it works in Australia? … here in NSW they have Emergency Traffic Patrol, fitted with blue and red lights … all they do in the nice big shiny merc sprinter LWB is pull up behind put the red and blue lights on raise the right or left indicator board and sit behind awaiting a recovery truck. … I see it daily on the motorways and A roads over here… also, if the police do not have the consent of the owner and cause damage to said car then they cant move it … unless they want to pay for damage to said vehicle … what should of been done was have the area coned and a VMS stating use hard shoulder as they do over here.
This was my point Discoman, down in Australia, you guys have the right idea, use the hard shoulder as a running lane, to at least keep the traffic moving. Over here we have matrix signs all down the motorways and A-Roads that could be used to tell people to use the hard shoulders, but no, the UK police would rather use their extensive cctv network to fine anyone caught on camera using the hard shoulder. Why help the public when you can use them as a revenue stream??!
Sorry, a misunderstanding. Over here they just pull up behind cones out and cause mayhem … the rod network is poor compared to the uk … I have expierences of both … I assure u the Hatos are better than over here.
Have you read any of my posts? We don’t just pull up, put cones out and cause mayhem, if it can be cleared, it will be cleared, we have a set of KPIs we have to abide by, we get pulled by management if we fail them. How many times have you gone past cars on the hard shoulder with us in attendance, you don’t see the car was live lane, as it was cleared by us prior to you driving past.
I don’t understand the abuse the HATOs get. We all see and experience retarded motorists but the HATOs have to converse with them;
Thick pricks who run out of fuel just after passing a service station. Don’t give the faulty fuel gauge excuse.
People who take their clapped out Webuyanycars on long journeys when they’re only fit for banger racing.
Professional Maritime drivers who try and push the truck in front.
Professional drivers who fall down embankments, how can you not drive in a straight line ffs?
Muslims praying on the hard shoulder.
Donkey box owners whos’ rotten Iveco has broken down (again) and want a full road closure because they need a nice tranquil environment to move Dobbin into…another rotten Iveco.
It’s the ■■■■ heads listed above that warrant the abuse not those who have to help them.
Muckaway:
I don’t understand the abuse the HATOs get. We all see and experience retarded motorists but the HATOs have to converse with them;
Thick pricks who run out of fuel just after passing a service station. Don’t give the faulty fuel gauge excuse.
People who take their clapped out Webuyanycars on long journeys when they’re only fit for banger racing.
Professional Maritime drivers who try and push the truck in front.
Professional drivers who fall down embankments, how can you not drive in a straight line ffs?
Muslims praying on the hard shoulder.
Donkey box owners whos’ rotten Iveco has broken down (again) and want a full road closure because they need a nice tranquil environment to move Dobbin into…another rotten Iveco.
It’s the ■■■■ heads listed above that warrant the abuse not those who have to help them.
Juddian:
couldn’t agree more, always thought they and the HA could do just as much with a Pug Expert van, and get more cones in the back so they could reduce the three lane road to a single track, preferably with chicane in it to really bollox things up
i oftenwonder if they’re putting something in the water to turn people into blithering idiots, would explain why tony blair got elected three times
your car is breaking down so do you use the motion to run it up onto the grass verge, so safer for everyone, or do you keep it rolling preferably till its right on the entrance to a roundabout so it can cause utter mayhem, we all know the answer to that one
Sodium Flouride to be precise,re something in the water,good for the teeth you see,as opposed to naturally occuring,Calcium Flouride…the ■■■■’s were keen on this poison to subdue the populace of concentration camps apparently,Birmingham UK has it’s reservoirs full of it more than anywhere else.Lots of convincing evidence online.
On a Friday afternoon I got sent to a car broken down in lane 3 and arrived just behind a Police unit. BMW 7 series stuck in park. We tried locking car and waiting then re-starting, nothing. My 4x4 could easily drag it to hard shoulder, even in park but the owner refused, and so would I if I owned a 7 series BMW. So recovery was called. In the meantime we googled how to release handbrake but it meant dismantling gearstick surround, so that was another no. Then we tried locking and restarting again and it started. But i’m sure all who drove past us thought the same, why not move it?? As Boss has already said, if we can move them, we will.
extrucker:
On a Friday afternoon I got sent to a car broken down in lane 3 and arrived just behind a Police unit. BMW 7 series stuck in park. We tried locking car and waiting then re-starting, nothing. My 4x4 could easily drag it to hard shoulder, even in park but the owner refused, and so would I if I owned a 7 series BMW. So recovery was called. In the meantime we googled how to release handbrake but it meant dismantling gearstick surround, so that was another no. Then we tried locking and restarting again and it started. But i’m sure all who drove past us thought the same, why not move it?? As Boss has already said, if we can move them, we will.
Just for future reference to release the park brake on most bmws just get a screw driver and pop the plastic surround around the gear lever, inside to the left of the gear lever is a little almost like circular switch which you can put the screw driver in pull it backwards and it forces it into neutral. This doesn’t work on cars that have the automatic gear stalk by the indicators though. Might be useful in the future
Thanks for that, its worth remembering, even if I just let the attending recovery who arrive know about it - heaven help we try to do anything like that - our bosses will have us for doing something we haven’t been trained to do!
Surely there is a logical answer. Everyone agrees that the traffic jams cost the economy money, now this is quantifiable and can be easily converted into a by the minute rate. Therefore when a car causes a lane to be shut the first police/hato/friendly 4x4 owner just needs to offer to move it out of the way for them. The car owner would be faced with a simple choice at this point- agree and sign a legally binding damage waiver or disagree and get fined the per minute rate of the congestion that they are causing until their recovery turns up. Simple, the roads are clearer and when they’re not the government makes money- I’m surprised they haven’t thought of it yet themselves!
For a start, running out of fuel should incur a fine if it’s not down to mechanical fault. BMWs must have crap fuel gauges, the amount of drivers walking back to them armed with fuel cans.
shaunandco:
Surely there is a logical answer. Everyone agrees that the traffic jams cost the economy money, now this is quantifiable and can be easily converted into a by the minute rate. Therefore when a car causes a lane to be shut the first police/hato/friendly 4x4 owner just needs to offer to move it out of the way for them. The car owner would be faced with a simple choice at this point- agree and sign a legally binding damage waiver or disagree and get fined the per minute rate of the congestion that they are causing until their recovery turns up. Simple, the roads are clearer and when they’re not the government makes money- I’m surprised they haven’t thought of it yet themselves!
To be fair if the owners recovery has caused injury or blocking the motorway for too long police recovery is called, we are a police recovery operator and we have to be there in a 30 minute eta, this does involve us using the hard shoulder (with permission). When it’s a rtc and the vehicle is damaged usually the good ol j hooks come out and that vehicle is on the back of the truck in under 5 mins, most police officers are pretty good and help move the debris to speed the process up
Muckaway:
For a start, running out of fuel should incur a fine if it’s not down to mechanical fault. BMWs must have crap fuel gauges, the amount of drivers walking back to them armed with fuel cans.
There’s a 65 plate BMW X5 that’s often parked on our road. Black, almost certainly illegally tinted windows (including the windscreen), big exhaust system, chrome trim all over the show, huuuge chrome rims… with GOODYOOR tyres Every time I walk past it I chuckle at how hard the guy has tried to look good* but can’t keep it off kerbs so the rims are knackered or afford proper tyres. Hopefully when he finally bins it, he only hits something solid not a person.
Cheers Arborist, me and the copper did google it but we weren’t keen on starting to take trim apart. The owner wasn’t keen either. But handy to move a wrecked one.
discoman:
please enlighten me to how it works in Australia? … here in NSW they have Emergency Traffic Patrol, fitted with blue and red lights … all they do in the nice big shiny merc sprinter LWB is pull up behind put the red and blue lights on raise the right or left indicator board and sit behind awaiting a recovery truck. … I see it daily on the motorways and A roads over here… also, if the police do not have the consent of the owner and cause damage to said car then they cant move it … unless they want to pay for damage to said vehicle … what should of been done was have the area coned and a VMS stating use hard shoulder as they do over here.
This was my point Discoman, down in Australia, you guys have the right idea, use the hard shoulder as a running lane, to at least keep the traffic moving. Over here we have matrix signs all down the motorways and A-Roads that could be used to tell people to use the hard shoulders, but no, the UK police would rather use their extensive cctv network to fine anyone caught on camera using the hard shoulder. Why help the public when you can use them as a revenue stream??!
Sorry, a misunderstanding. Over here they just pull up behind cones out and cause mayhem … the rod network is poor compared to the uk … I have expierences of both … I assure u the Hatos are better than over here.
FFS! Things must have changed since I was in Oz! Driving RT’s (MANY years ago!), the situation was solved very easily: you’ve got a bloody great 'roo bar on the front so you ‘gave it a push’ to clear the road… and bugg[zb] the damage!
extrucker:
Cheers Arborist, me and the copper did google it but we weren’t keen on starting to take trim apart. The owner wasn’t keen either. But handy to move a wrecked one.
If its already wrecked, I’ll just drag it straight to the hard shoulder providing its not leaking fuel and oil everywhere.
