Our local grade 1 listed bridge over the Thames is closed for the foreseeable future after a
lorry driver managed to ignore about half a dozen signs, two flippin great bollards etc and tried to take his artic into the high street of our little town at 10pm on Saturday night
He sorta noticed the bollards when they took out his tyres
Words fail me..
tinyurl.com/z9atlaa - links to www.bucksfreepress.co.uk/news/
link edited to restore correct page width
Last edited by: VxFan on Tue 27 Sep 16 at 11:22
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I actually enjoy the Bridge being closed. Frees up the High Street.
Who's going to pay for the repairs though? His vehicle insurance? His company insurance? Us?
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>> I actually enjoy the Bridge being closed. Frees up the High Street.
>>
Presumably his insurance will pay.
Can't imagine the Complete Angler will be pleased and certainly my wife & daughter were pretty annoyed about it. They bothe help with Brownies and Rainbows. Their Guide HQ where the meetings are, is just the south side of the bridge but the girls all cone from the north side.
While they can still get there by parking in the town and walking that's not a great option during rush hour which coincides with start and finish times.
Anyway my point was mainly what prompted the driver to think it was a good idea to take an articulated lorry over a bridge which clearly wasn't made for that?
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'Anyway my point was mainly what prompted the driver to think it was a good idea to take an articulated lorry over a bridge which clearly wasn't made for that?'
Pure laziness, stupidity and a gung ho Lithuanian approach. I guess they don't have too many listed bridges there. There have been many other trucks causing havoc by having to turn around near The Compleat Angler/Quarry Wood Road. I guess they must be using non HGV Sat Navs or something.
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>>I guess they don't have too many listed bridge
You'd be surprised. Lithuanian architecture is quite the thing. I don't know how they approach protection/listing, but I'd guess they have something.
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>>There have been many other trucks causing havoc by having to turn around near.......
>> I guess they must be using non HGV Sat Navs or something.
>>
A similar problem with lorries delivering to a builders yard hidden behind shops in the Esher area.
Access is via a small very short road that was not named also no name indicating it even exists
Result is that big lorries ( UK companies) overshoot, ask " Where is it?" and then have to attempt a u turn in an urban street.
After decades of the business getting bigger and bigger lorries someone has put their brain in gear.
The access has been named, Crouch Lane ( after a 1930s developer) , in the hope that its name will migrate to Sat Navs.
www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.3752534,-0.3381408,147m/data=!3m1!1e3
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>>
>> Anyway my point was mainly what prompted the driver to think it was a good
>> idea to take an articulated lorry over a bridge which clearly wasn't made for that?
>>
>>
...obviously confused by the bridge and thought he was in Budapest.....
;-)
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This was a big lorry he caused plenty of damage.
Shouldn't there be more checks on foreign drivers if they know the rules of the road and weight limits when arriving here.Maybe the highway code wouldn't go amiss if they can read English.
I was talking to a young Polish chap driving a lorry in this country.He could speak little English how does he get by driving here? He is working for a British Company.
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Certain aspects of life are certainly difficult if you dpn't speak the language but driving doesn't present much of a problem surely? Most of us have done it with no issues.
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Most of us would think nothing of going on holiday anywhere in Europe and driving without being able to speak the language.
Pat
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Tried Turkey? Does that count as Europe? I've driven in most European countries, but my personal guided tour of the peninsular around Bodrum a few days ago was an eye opener. Apparently traffic on the roundabout has to give way to certain traffic joining the roundabout. It's a quaint local custom, and the hard part is knowing which vehicles will join the roundabout without stopping. Turning right and the lights on red. Just drive on the pavement. Pedestrians have to move into shop doorways.
It's interesting to say the least, and I won't be hiring a car here. Old scooters three up chugging along uphill at 15 mph. Perfectly acceptable to overtake on blind bends.
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>> Tried Turkey? Does that count as Europe? I've driven in most European countries, but my
>> personal guided tour of the peninsular around Bodrum a few days ago was an eye
>> opener. Apparently traffic on the roundabout has to give way to certain traffic joining the
>> roundabout. It's a quaint local custom, and the hard part is knowing which vehicles will
>> join the roundabout without stopping. Turning right and the lights on red. Just drive on
>> the pavement. Pedestrians have to move into shop doorways.
I've spent a bit of time in Konya, that sounds like a very familar style of driving to what I remember. Once I'd learnt the local custom of traffic lights and roundabout it was fine.
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Have hired a car in Turkey - Dalyan. Roads a bit rough and you have to look out for the unexpected, like goats in the road but nothing I couldn't cope with. Certainly easier than London driving You certainly didn't need to speak Turkish
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Driving on some Greek islands can be a lot easier, especially if there aren't even the equivalents of a motorway to deal with.
First time I drove in Greece was in 2000. It was handy knowing the Greek alphabet (from A level maths and Physics) to read some road signs.
The driver of the lorry that went over the bridge mentioned way back in the original post though... surely regardless of language they could see that was not engineered for a 40+ tonne lorry!
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Well this is his view. Regardless of language the signs showing 2m width and 3T should be international. Maybe they measure weight in kg there but the width is still obvious.
goo.gl/maps/hT455WXQjEk
Incidentally, The Chief Comms guy from the trucks company in Lithuania has been quite proactive on Facebook and the MyMarlow website apologising and saying their insurance should cover the damage. Quite a top chap, I doubt a UK company would be so proactive other than a standard apology.
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Like I said the visuals tell you an HGV is not permitted. The signs are there of course but noway should you go across in such a vehicle.
The haulier is being optimistic about insurance covering the costs. What if the bridge is beyond repair. Nobody knows what such a large and heavy lorry has done.
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Third party damages caused while driving on business, why on earth would the insurance not cover it?
I agree on both the bloke and his company. Seemingly thoroughly decent. Diffocult to see how they could be more open or apologetic.
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The damage to the bridge could exceed the TP limit - typically £5M
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It'll be less than 5m. We're not pricing it 0:-)
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Typically more like £20m.
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Most "standard" off the peg CV policies have a TP limit of £5M
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But nobody knows if the bridge is repairable. It might end up for light vehicles only due to the stresses on it from the HGV.
So nobody knows the cost. So how can anyone say it would be covered.
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True and that was the point of my original response . The insurance might not pay out in full be us the limit of liability could possibly be exceeded. Policies contain limit for Third Party property damage unlike Personal Injury which is unlimited.
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>> But nobody knows if the bridge is repairable. It might end up for light vehicles
>> only due to the stresses on it from the HGV.
It was already for light vehicles only, before he took the lorry on it.
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>> It was already for light vehicles only, before he took the lorry on it.
>>
I have no idea how long the weight/width restriction has been in force, but I'm willing to bet that it's not the first time a seriously overweight load has gone over that bridge.
Whilst I will say that in this case it's clearly the driver's fault for ignoring the road signs, all too often alternative routes avoiding weight-restricted roads are very poorly signposted, in fact in many cases the alternative isn't signposted at all. Combine this with a large HGV and a driver who isn't familiar with the area and it's a recipe for trouble. Even the best sat-navs are not totally reliable; the one in my lorry is set up for the vehicle's parameters with a slight tolerance, but even that isn't foolproof. It sent me over this little beauty yesterday;
tinyurl.com/hb9pn42
As you can see the tractor clears it fairly easily, but its a foot and a bit narrower than my lorry and furthermore it bends in the middle whereas my lorry doesn't and has a three ton forklift hanging off its back end. Took me six shunts to get lined up, since you approach on a 90 degree bend, and I doubt I could have got a cigarette paper between the parapet and my blindside when crossing. It does, however, give you a nice feeling of achievement when it goes right!
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>> So how can anyone say it would be covered.
Or indeed that it would not be.
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>>Most "standard" off the peg CV policies have a TP limit of £5M
I don't understand what you mean by "standard", suspect that "off the peg" may be tautology and look forward to your confirming reference for "most".
Really, I do appreciate that disagreeing with me is important to you, but do try to put some quality and effort into it.
Last edited by: No FM2R on Fri 30 Sep 16 at 23:13
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I can't work out how he managed to get through the width bollards as he would be 8.2 feet wide at his wheel base level and the trailer wider as it is refrigerated.
Pat
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>> I can't work out how he managed to get through the width bollards as he
>> would be 8.2 feet wide at his wheel base level and the trailer wider as
>> it is refrigerated.
>>
Where there's a will, there's a way!
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>>
>> Where there's a will, there's a way!
>>
Breathing in and closing your eyes makes a car narrower, right? I think speed also reduces the width... ;)
I guess, given that the tyres were damaged, the wheels might have ridden up over the wider base of the bollard... they're generally curved in a sort of bell shape aren't they? That allowed sufficient width for the wheel base, and the actually body of the lorry was higher than the body of the lorry perhaps?
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>>Breathing in and closing your eyes makes a car narrower, right? I think speed also reduces the width... ;) <<
It's not fool proof, you have to select narrow gear too:)
Pat
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>> Most "standard" off the peg CV policies have a TP limit of £5M
>>
FWIW, the "standard" LV polices for our main cars have £20m of TP cover, admittedly probably not enough to rebuild an entire, listed bridge!!
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Professional Drivers? - Enoughalready
