Says boss of haulage firm Gregorys
goo.gl/lvv8hx
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There's nothing like biting the hand that feeds you!
The greater part of Gregory's haulage is food.
The depot at Lostwithiel is because of the demand for food in the six weeks of the summer holidays.
Most food deliveries are 24/7 now so how long before he wants them banned from M5/A38/A30 too?
He's done a Boris, I'm afraid;)
Pat
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What an AH.
He may as well have said ban every other vehicle on the roads except his precious trucks.
I dislike Tupperware Towers as much as anyone when I want to be somewhere but they at least travel faster than 40mph, 50mph or whatever speed trucks are limited too.
And besides, trucks have crashes too or burst into flames causing massive tailbacks for all.
A bit of give and take is needed.
Why not ban trucks during those times and only allow them to drive at night?
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>>Most food deliveries are 24/7 <<
That's why!
Pat
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>> Why not ban trucks during those times and only allow them to drive at night?
>>
>>
Fine if you only want to shop at supermarkets. Smaller shops get deliveries by lorry as well and the cost of accepting deliveries outside normal hours would put most out of business. just because it sort of worked in London during the Olympics doesn't make it a model for the whole of the UK.
Would your ban include dustcarts, other municipal vehicles, and lorries delivering your heating oil, furniture or coal; farm deliveries, builders' merchants, etc etc? They're all lorries.
And before you slide off into that other predictable tosh, by all means deliver more stuff by rail. But first build your railway by which you deliver it. There ain't room on the existing one.
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The trouble with banning any vehicles on a time of day basis is surely parking them as dusk falls?
Do all the lorries/caravans just park up on the hard shoulder at lighting up time, or do they jam the exits all making for special overnight parks?
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Lorries are banned (with a few exceptions) from the roads of continental countries at weekends, they seem to manage OK.
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Have a particular dislike for that company after one of their trucks drove in the side of me while I was stationary in traffic.
Driver was quite arrogant about it, and then claimed I had caused the incident by being in a small car which was difficult for him to see, and yes, he really did put that on the insurance claim form....
I replied to his insurance co stating that I didn't think being in a small car immediately made me liable for being hit when stationary. They paid out with no further discussion.
I accept its the nature of the job when you do that many miles, but I would be interested to know what Pat thinks is the average number of "incidents" a truck driver might have?
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Being in a small car.>:) He must be the joker driver in the company.
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That's a difficult one Mikey!
Lorry drivers are much the same as car drivers and there are bad ones, careless ones, Gung Ho ones (probably the worst type!) and a lot of good ones.
I don't know if HM will agree but 'incidents' tend to fall into types.
There are those who seem to have a fair few moving, expensive claim accidents and it's never their fault, those who are always at fault, and then there are those who seem to fall out with inanimate objects eg: Parked cars, gate posts, railings and lamp posts are most common.
Somehow the line between these groups never blurs, and often the ones who have moving accidents are the absolute best at squeezing a quart into a pint pot, when the trailer has to be wiggled between walls and fences to get where they want to unload you.
So, as with car drivers, we get better and more aware with experience.
In 30 years on the road daily I had one accident, and that was my fault, on the M25 slow speeds and no injuries but I scuffed a few bumpers, lost a few mirrors and had a blue and red marker pen handy in the cab for the inevitable tight spot scratch:)
One thing we need to remember, it is drummed into us by our insurance companies and bosses, never to admit it was your fault and we must not say the words 'I'm sorry' even if you know it is your fault.
When I preach this one in my sessions we all agree it is the hardest thing to do not to say 'I'm sorry' when you know it is your fault.
Pat
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>>
>> I don't know if HM will agree
>> Pat
I had no idea The Queen was a subscriber to C4P?
Well, that's going to be the end of me posting whilst just wearing a dressing gown!
What do you think would be appropriate? Lounge suit until after tea, and then black tie for the evening?
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>> Well, that's going to be the end of me posting whilst just wearing a dressing
>> gown!
OM ffing G
Mind Bleach - quickly - Just as I was tucking into my crumpet and marmite,
Last edited by: Zero on Wed 24 Sep 14 at 08:38
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>> I don't know if HM will agree but 'incidents' tend to fall into types.
>>
>> There are those who seem to have a fair few moving, expensive claim accidents and
>> it's never their fault, those who are always at fault, and then there are those
>> who seem to fall out with inanimate objects eg: Parked cars, gate posts, railings and
>> lamp posts are most common.
>>
>> Somehow the line between these groups never blurs, and often the ones who have moving
>> accidents are the absolute best at squeezing a quart into a pint pot, when the
>> trailer has to be wiggled between walls and fences to get where they want to
>> unload you.
I think that is a fair assessment Pat. Most of the damage in my sector tends to be from cars driving too fast down narrow lanes and hitting head-on, low-hanging tree branches concealed by foliage and concrete milk stands which over the years since churn collections have ceased, have cunningly concealed themselves in hedges and are only found by probing Volvo front bumpers. All our vehicles have reversing cameras and it's generally agreed that these do make a huge difference.
I had a minor bump a few weeks ago on the A48 island at Pensarn, just as you approach Carmarthen from the M4. Basically I was doing everything right (island is laned and controlled by traffic lights) and a car decided it wanted to be in the same lane as me, cut in before I could see it even with six mirrors(thus proving the point in cycling thread about lorries not always being at fault) result lorry 1 car 0. A few weeks later my colleague, driving the same vehicle on the same route at about the same time, had exactly the same thing happen to him.
I'm sure that Pat will agree with me that one does get a hint of vicarious satisfaction when one of the "Mr. Perfect" contingent (there's one in every company) rolls in with his front bumper tied on by baling twine.
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I know that roundabout well HM, and yes, we have a couple of Mr Perfect's too but they usually come to grief on farm deliveries;)
Bromp.
We get hit by late delivery fees as well, not the driver but the company.
It's common now among all the big supermarkets and you are supposed to be able to supply the staff with enough time to do the job. We all need a crystal ball these days to see into the future and anticipate traffic problems.
The annoying thing about this is if we arrive an hour or two early you will be sent away until your allotted booking time, when you will then be held in a queue for a bay for anything up to 3 hours.
They won't pay demurrage for that either!
Pat
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>> Lorries are banned (with a few exceptions) from the roads of continental countries at weekends,
>> they seem to manage OK.
>>
Well some countries on Sundays actually.
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Weekends would be different though, it is surely easier to plan routes, overnight stops, etc.
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Perhaps Mr Gregory and his fellow operators should refuse to deliver to outfits ( I assume he means the big supermarkets) that charge him £60 for a late drop when he is in no way at fault.
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Of course if caravan and trailer licencing and testing come in there would have to be all-night MOT testers.
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Ban caravans during the day - Pat
