In 17 days time I will have held my licence for cat c two years I will no longer have the new driver insurance probs and i have at least 180 days checkable experience driving , but last night had another first that id like to share with new newbies should they get to go to this place and just goes to show your always learning !!! 
I was called by agency yest evening to go over to a company near alton Southern Haulage in Faringdon , driver gone sick and need someone urgent no probs Ill help help thats the kinda girl I am 
so an hour later im arrived at company and shown my lorry tm very nice guy informs me im going up to Fradley Park ind est staffs to the UPN Hub , okay no probs , tm then comments we could have done with a class 1 but no one available , I pipe up I have class 1 , tm looks at me with shocked face they never told me that have a trailer and unit round back ready to go , well I only passed Dec says I 
, he then looks back at me as says you passed the test right , yes I say well thats all we need 
, but I check out the ridgid anyway as already arranged with hub and my pallets that im collecting are arranged
So off I go to Fradley Park , what a baptisim into hub collecting , get there ok driver put your hard hat on site rules no one walking around without hat and high viz saftey shoes etc , okay been given a very attractive white builders hat that is way to big I can turn my head and the hat stays still right go to shed Y and park up they know you are waiting and will call you given a 2 page a4 size sheets of rules and regs whilst on site , so I know gonna be a while waiting so park up pulls curtains back and tie them back secure no bloody straps ok use the barn doors to hold them in place yep that looks fine get into cab and put on brk now arrived around 2330 , so after 45 mins off brk and wait finally get to go in around 1.30am so driver hazzards on lights on beep before you enter hanger and park in middle slot ,lights off , keys out and sit in passenger seat under no circumstances get into drivers seat until we tell you , ok ok I wont , they then load me with an assortment of different size pallets I can only take 10 tonne at the most so looking at some of these pallets and how the lorry was rocking while loading getting a bit worried that overweight but I have a chance to check load once out of hanger so forkie give me a thumbs up and get back in drivers seat pull out of hanger and pull curtains just using poles as have to go into another tunnel where the guy then has to scan all the pallets I have on board so very slow drive across yard to tunnel where I wait in line pull curtains back and go into tunnel off with engine hard hat on and have a look at load whilst he is scanning the pallets , it has a staircase either side of veh so can look into top of lorry so happy days all seems ok , he asks my name and out I go pull up and then start pulling the curtains and locking straps takes a while but the guy who was up there earlier than me and has been loaded helps me out done in no time then back across to booking in office and collect my load sheets , check the tonnage and only 7500 tonnes , happy days 
but was surprised it looked more ! then set off about 2.30 slipping into the back door of the other driver to follow him back to faringdon, I never realised how much goes into one of these hubs and hope this little story helps out a newbie going to somewhere like this wont be quite as much of a shock to them as was to me
now bear with me if you got this far without falling asleep , get back to yard and they are pleased with the job Ive done , tm said he followed me out of the yard when i went and was seriously in two minds about wether to give me a call before I got to far and ask me to take the artic (so near yet so far) 
but I was doing a run that guy had gone sick and if he is sick again tonight he is gonna ask for me and looks like he wants me to take artic so all I ask is whilst I now go to bed for a well earned rest is hope that the guy is still to ill to work tonight (not too ill just enough not to work Im not that cruel !) and they call me I may have that very first artic run under me belt heeeerrrres hopin
n nite all
Jen x
Ps I big thank q to Dave the other driver in a double decker that really held my hand going through all the rigmarol at hub im sure i would have got lost without him
Nice hope he is still a little under weather not to go but then if he does turn in to work they may still need you to drive artic so fingers crossed you get the run tonight
And if you donāt then it seems that you are in the TMās head anyway which is good eh! (Whilst you are in there,have a rummage and see how they work).
Good luck Jennie in getting some artic driving done there too 
Cracking good post, Jennie. Loads of stuff in it I didnāt know about, thanks for the heads-up.
Must admit, the hub sounds a bit scary though.
Great news - sounds like you are on your way .
Alan
OnlyAlan:
Cracking good post, Jennie. Loads of stuff in it I didnāt know about, thanks for the heads-up.
Must admit, the hub sounds a bit scary though.
I was glad the other driver was there
Great news - sounds like you are on your way .
Alan
have a look on google earth the place is massive god knows how many lorries those forkies load every day n night they are like ants in the warehouse scuttling everywhere quite interesting to watch them
just look for Fradley Park ind est should be able to have a look 
Hi Jennie and thanks for the interesting read. Looks like things maybe on the āupā for you at last. Fingers crossed for you and all the best.
ā¦ and if ever youāre near my place Iāve got the kettle on if youāve got the home-made biscuits!
All the best, Pete
Well done Jen. Looks like you made a lasting impression
Iām pretty sure that your visit will be remembered and next time they need a class 1 you will be mentioned. the fact that he was watching your progress and contemplated calling you is confirmation of that! Iām willing to put a digestive biscuit on it that you get called back there in the not to distant future
dar1976:
Well done Jen. Looks like you made a lasting impression
I dont think people forget me in a hurry once they`ve met me but its normally coz theyre ears are ringing as I dont shut up
talk and donkeys hind legs come to mind
but I do hope so
jx
animal:
Nice hope he is still a little under weather not to go but then if he does turn in to work they may still need you to drive artic so fingers crossed you get the run tonight
not to be angie as still at home tonight no phone call but am contemplating ringing next week to see if they were serious about the offer of driving for a night with Dave who helped me at hub last night I suppose they can only laugh and say we were joking 
The good thing is he goes past chieveley svcs on A34 so could get him to pick me up from there saves a drive to Faringdon as only 5 mins up the road
jx
I used to collect from palletways London hub in greenford, always used to check my weight as like you I thought it looked a lot more, anyway, one time I said to my work I aināt doing the hub collection anymore as I am convinced I am overweight, i got the forklift driver in our yard to check weigh the whole load, what should have been 9200kg was actually 12250kg, so I was 2250kg overweight, boss wasnāt happy, got straight on the phone to the hub, but they donāt really care as they just want the load out.
So from that time I am always sceptical on what weight is on the paperwork, if I am unsure I will find a weigh ridge if poss or some of it comes off.
selby newcomer:
I used to collect from palletways London hub in greenford, always used to check my weight as like you I thought it looked a lot more, anyway, one time I said to my work I aināt doing the hub collection anymore as I am convinced I am overweight, i got the forklift driver in our yard to check weigh the whole load, what should have been 9200kg was actually 12250kg, so I was 2250kg overweight, boss wasnāt happy, got straight on the phone to the hub, but they donāt really care as they just want the load out.
So from that time I am always sceptical on what weight is on the paperwork, if I am unsure I will find a weigh ridge if poss or some of it comes off.
Just thought but would that paperwork give you some clout to be covered if say vosa stopped you and really was overweight , I dont know of a weighbridge near there and at that time of morning wouldnt of thought would be open if is one near ā ā ?
Jennie:
Just thought but would that paperwork give you some clout to be covered if say vosa stopped you and really was overweight ā¦
Hi Jennie,
Sorry, 'fraid not.
Overloading is an āabsoluteā offence, and IIRC there are only two defences available if youāre found to be overweight:
1.) You are on your way to the nearest weighbridge for the purpose of checkweighing your load.
2.) You are on your way back from the nearest weighbridge to offload the excess weight/redistribute the weight at the original loading point.
Of course, even those defences wouldnāt get a driver off from the separate charge of āusing a vehicle in a dangerous conditionā if the excess weight causes road safety issues.
Thatās going to remain the case until the UK has a proper consignor liability law like some other countries do.
IMHO, successive governments have let drivers down on this point, because it wouldnāt take much to amend existing legislation to shift the responsibility more fairly without need for the time and effort needed to enact a brand new law.
Dave,
Iām sure youāre right that having been given incorrect paperwork isnāt a defence, but Iād have thought it was a useful mitigation if/when you get to court. After all, they do tend to fine both drivers and operators for overweight offences, and I would expect that this sort of thing affects how they apportion the blame.
Iām not really convinced itās in the long-term interest of drivers to avoid responsibilty for this sort of thing anyway - it just makes the job gradually closer and closer to the cleaner/shelf-stacker that everybody dreads becoming. Not sure how you actually take the responsibilty though - as Jennie says you canāt magic-up a weighbridge in the middle of the night.
One day, every lorry will have on-board weighing, and all this crap will stop.
wilbur:
Dave,
Iām sure youāre right that having been given incorrect paperwork isnāt a defence, but Iād have thought it was a useful mitigation if/when you get to court. After all, they do tend to fine both drivers and operators for overweight offences, and I would expect that this sort of thing affects how they apportion the blame.
Hi wilbur,
Your idea might well be taken into account by a court, but I was writing in terms of a defence to get a driver off the charge completely. Ever since I first began back in the 70s, itās been the way it is now.
The consignor always seems to be able to get away with telling lies on paperwork without the possibility of legal comebacks, which seems manifestly unfair to me.
wilbur:
One day, every lorry will have on-board weighing, and all this crap will stop.
That would be a great start mate, but without a proper consignor liability law, the consignors would just lean on the carrier and driver by making threats of getting the work done by somebody else.
IMHO, the lack of a consignor liability law needs addressing to more fairly share the legal responsibility and penalties for running overweight vehicles.
