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Why are there so many lorrys still driving without cargo on our roads?
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There was something on the telly about this the other night - Nestle's trucks delivering to York, filling up at a rival's factory (Jammie Dodgers I think) for the return trip and how the industry should do more of this.
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I'm impressed:)
I struggle to tell whether a lorry is loaded or empty unless the curtains are open, and I know what to look for!
Pat
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Perhaps Dutchie is complaining because when he was going through the lorry park slashing curtains in his quest for cheap consumer goods all the trailers were empty? ;-)
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There'ss a lot of flat trailer work in his part of the country though, but sadly so much else has to be carried in a curtainsider these days.
Pat
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Many manufacturers, or more accurately, importers and distributors, for a variey of reasons have gone from carrying their own goods to appointing a logistics company to do the transport running for them...the reasons why are a whole discussion apart.
I'm generalising here, and some operations are well run, usually but not always smaller ones.
But it's very easy to spend someone else's money...ask a politician or other spending money that isn't thiers...and some of the waste i've seen in recent years since this has been going on has been bordering on the criminally wasteful or negligent.
Earlier this year i drove 175 miles to a RDC with 4 pallets weighing about 250kg's each on a 44 ton artic, waited 4 hours to be unloaded and drove back empty 175 m.
The same company, i drove a tractor unit solo 150 miles to collect an empty trl to return 150m with, passing several company regular changeover RDC's en route both ways....i asked if i should ring when i got the empty ''just in case'', i was met with the staggering reply ''that's a good idea''...i gave up at that point.
There comes a point when operations get too big, and sometimes people doing the front line planning are maybe not the best suited.
It's a blessed relief being back in own account transport.
Last edited by: gordonbennet on Sun 18 Sep 11 at 11:42
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>> I'm impressed:)
>>
>> I struggle to tell whether a lorry is loaded or empty unless the curtains are
>> open, and I know what to look for!
>>
>> Pat
>>
Pat, Maybe you can help... Many trucks are seen parked up, with the rear doors open.
Now, I understand the reasons, ie, knowt worth nicking in here.....
BUT surely this puts loaded vehicles at more risk?
ie, doors shut - loaded with goodies, lets have it!!!
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>> Many trucks are seen parked up, with the rear doors
>> open.
>> Now, I understand the reasons, ie, knowt worth nicking in here.....
>>
>> BUT surely this puts loaded vehicles at more risk?
>> ie, doors shut - loaded with goodies, lets have it!!!
I've also spotted this and would expect vehicles with their doors closed to be more vulnerable than those with their doors open, in a similar way that homes on any suburban development that do not have visible alarm systems installed will probably be more vulnerable than those that do.
But I'm not a lorry driver...
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You're both quite right and it does send a message out to anyone looking for a loaded trailer.
It was one of the reasons I rarely parked in a layby, and preferred lorry parks or industrial estates if possible.
The cost of replacing curtains though that have been cut around 10 times along each side gets prohibitive and I can understand drivers doing this when empty to avoid that.
We collected a brand new trailer one afternoon at a cost of £18,500 and that night the curtains were cut along both sides.
I never undid doors when empty because there are instances of drivers being attacked when they walk down the back in the early (dark) hours to close them before leaving.
I valued my own safety above that of a curtain, rightly or wrongly.
Pat
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The notices often displayed on the back of vans stating that tools are not left in overnight are pretty much a waste of time. An heating engineer who did some work for me a while back had his van broken into several times despite the fact that it was completely empty.
New door locks each time cost him a pretty penny, too.
Last edited by: Clk Sec on Sun 18 Sep 11 at 13:45
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>> The notices often displayed on the back of vans stating that tools are not left in overnight are pretty much
>> a waste of time
Those notices are often a condition of van insurance. I've known several van drivers who display these stickers whilst leaving all their equipment in the vans. The thieves know this often happens which is why they keep breaking in.
Re: Open HGV trailer doors in laybys - most (if not all) high-value loads will not take overnight breaks in such laybys, but will be instructed to use secure lorry parks. Of course the night slashers don't know this, or care - after all, it costs them nothing to slice a curtain open on the off-chance.
A new(ish) trend involves gangs of half a dozen or so youths pressing the button on pelican crossings at night, stopping articulated lorries at the red traffic lights and then slowly and repeatedly crossing the road in front of the lorry so it can't go anywhere - meanwhile another half a dozen of them are in the back doors, helping themselves to anything they can carry.
Last edited by: Dave_TDCi on Sun 18 Sep 11 at 21:58
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>>- most (if not all) high-value loads will not take overnight breaks in such laybys<<
That used to be the case Dave but not anymore, I'm afraid.
tinyurl.com/6fuzrk7
The fee to park a lorry overnight at Clackett Lane has just gone up from £25 to £30 for the night.
Maidstone services is the same, and Thurrock just a little less.
Very few firms will reimburse the driver the cost of parking their lorry (their goods) in a safe place overnight, preferring to take the chance and rely on Goods in Transit insurance. The safety of the lorry driver isn't even a consideration.
As an example take the firm I worked for...
96 lorries, but assume that 60 of them were away from base overnight somewhere in the country = £1800 per night
As we were out 4 or 5 nights a week that amounts to £7200 per week to keep a lorry driver and the load safe.
Now add to that the fact that at places like Clackett Lane there is no overnight security whatsoever and curtains still get cut and diesel gets syphoned out of tanks, you can see why it's not even an option anymore.
On those figures a lorry driver who gets 5 nights out certainly can't afford £150 per week out of his wages to park the bosses lorry and the customers load, can he?
Why should he?
I know the layby so well in the link above and have spent many happy nights there. It has a view to die for, it's a bit off the road and a sunny summers evening spent with the wildlife, watching the new lambs playing in the field beside you, used to be what the job was all about.
Another thing to consider is what a high value load is?
We used to consider it to be tobacco or spirits but now 26 tonnes of luxury chocolate/tinned asparagus/saffron spice will bring a healthy return for the opportunist thief to sell to a back street Cash & Carry.
Dutchie: I didn't carry anything, but I always knew that I would drive off with the curtains opened just enough to see ahead and if anyone was in the way, woe betide them!
If I heard diesel being taken or the curtains cut I would leave them to it and report it after they'd left.
If they want the vehicle and trailer they spray gas through the air vents which makes you sleep before they break into the cab and you can't prevent that.
The most disturbance I used to have was from the local 'ladies of the night' knocking on the cab door looking for business and waking me up. They used to look confused when a female opened the window and told them to *go away* :)
Pat
Last edited by: pda on Mon 19 Sep 11 at 04:37
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This lorry driving is a dangeous lark Pat.Did you carry any pepper spray or did you pack a punch.?>:)
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Carrying freight by road. - R.P.
