Well hello,as a new member reading through the board,this seems as good a place to start as any.Our company has a largeish factory where we park up the motors etc.I was inside the factory moving skips,one of the other drivers(nameless to spare blushes etc)was changing skips in the yard.the skips in the yard sit in rows at 90 degrees to the factory-but on a very small incline.On the front of the hooklift skips are locks-so the usual thing to do is drop your full skip then reverse up to empty-then get out and take off the lock.I was moving about inside the factory when i heard a rather large bang,I drove forward so i could see out the big doors-to be met with the sight of an empty 6 wheeler,hook out,embedded in next doors factory-well not quite as a mercedes clc180 was stopping it going all the way in.The thought that–OH MY GOD he’s had a heart attack! was tempered when the driver strolled past me to stare at his truck,prick.There then followed a conversation along the lines of -Did you put the handbrake on?obviously not.Damage to Scania-New number plate .Damage to car–scrapped.Damage to other factory-£12000.Built to last these scannies!!
Hi Skippy welcome to the community. Perhaps some of the other newer members will also share their bad days with us now.
This two stroke Foden ended up in the river Avon at the place I worked. Several of us watched the driver stop on the slope leading to the weighbridge and then run backwards and vanish off the towpath into the river. We ran down there and the lorry was out of site under the water. The driver then broke the surface and clung onto a metal jetty from where he was pulled out. As can be seen in the photo the lorry had tipped over sideways and hit the metal jetty ripping the cab open allowing the driver to escape. The driver was Bill Pope working for Amalgamated Roadstone Chipping Sodbury. He was near retirement and I dont think he drove again.
This is an experimental fibreglass spirit trailer that was working out of Avonmouth. I was nearly back to Avonmouth myself one day when I could see a ■■■■■■■■■ smoke cloud over the docks. When I got there the dock gates were closed this experimental tank had burst into flames on the loading bay. I think it was only loading gas oil so it could have been caused by fibreglass not earthing static electricity. Sadly the driver died from his injuries later.
The Shell depot was rebuilt but it was not long before it was closed and Shell moved in with Esso.
Phil.
As a cocky 21 year old who thought he knew everything picked up notes at Grimsby and saw Bootle,
stuffed said notes into pocket with a “I know where that is” Tried finding ■■■■■■■■■■ farmers
in Bootle Liverpool to no avail, God it’s a long way to Bootle in ■■■■■■■■ regards Big Al
Big Al:
As a cocky 21 year old who thought he knew everything picked up notes at Grimsby and saw Bootle,
stuffed said notes into pocket with a “I know where that is” Tried finding ■■■■■■■■■■ farmers
in Bootle Liverpool to no avail, God it’s a long way to Bootle in ■■■■■■■■ regards Big Al
And so is Blyth Northumberland a long way from Blyth Notts Al
No,it weren’t me either,not guilty.
Getting Married.
How about this one, the driver was sent to pick up a skip that had been dropped right on the dock side to be loaded with scrap. When he picked it up the landing leg gave way. The bad news didn’t end there as there was a fishing boat ■■■■■■■ below. When the skip wagon tipped over all the scrap came out of the skip, over the dock side and straight through the boat and sank it. Definitely a Laurel and Hardy moment.
Not really a blunder but back in about 1975 (I was 11) I went with my cousin to Birkenhead docks to pick up Irish cattle in a 1968 ERF 6-wheeler & drawbar trailer (steering front axle). In those days you queued up in a line and when you reached the pen, turned round and backed into a tight gate. Well there were about 20 wagons in a line including 5 or 6 from our firm (Haydons of Biddulph) and my cousin (bless him) who was about 25 and unfamiliar with the PIG took his turn.
Could he reverse that bugger in? Could he 'eck! He must have had 15 goes at it with a big Scouser getting impatient and any number of drivers watching and giving advice - left hand down mate, right hand down, backwards, forwards, ooh you don’t wanna do it like that etc …
Needless to say he got it in eventually and I learned a lot of new words for school 
Another time, years later in a B-Series artic, waiting to come out of Shrewsbury market, he spotted a gap in the traffic and pulled out sharp on full lock dropping sheep off the top deck all over the main road …
This was someones blunder it happened in the old Southampton Docks (43 berth I think) a few years ago! Don’t know who was to blame either the delivery driver or a docker!!!
OOP’S
An ‘Italian Job’ moment …
haha some brilliant reads in this topic
hopefully if i post any blunders when I start it wont be too bad lol
I was working on Flatrack containers for Bevan’s Newport, hauling pipes out of Portsmouth Dock to Purfleet terminal. Hadn’t done a great deal with the flats, but was picking the job up well. The pipes were loaded 3 on the bottom, 2 in the middle stack and 1 on the top, with two stakeposts either side of the flatrack container. I had strapped the pipes as per Basil (a good teacher) instructions, and made my way to Purfleet. About a mile from the terminal, there was railway tracks, and as I crossed them, there was a BANG, and the stakes’ buckled, resulting in the pipes hanging in a worrying angle, just about held by the buckled stakeposts.
Jumping out, I threw my emergency ratched straps over the load, and crawled in to the tipping point. There, some very helpful guys assisted me, and we managed to right the load, and get the raqck lifted off.
Week later, a memo from Seawheel instructed all further loads from Portsmouth Dock, must have a minimum of five posts per side. As they say, you live and learn!