just completed my adr course our instructor told us the same story then showed us a picture ile never forget
all that was left of the nurse was a corroded torso with most of the skin missing
i dont think most people realise whats out there
if they did they might drive with more consideration but i doubt it !
bikemonkey:
bugcos:
I heard that one too Bikemonkey, possible urban myth alert perhaps??Yeah I thought that too mate,either that or its been exaggerated more and more each time its been told.
Just done my ADR and my instructor told us the same story about the nurse 1969 i think it happened.
I will tell you what lads it is no myth saw the photo of what was left not very nice at all 
OLEUM Bad stuff 
Diesel Tony:
just completed my adr course our instructor told us the same story then showed us a picture ile never forget
all that was left of the nurse was a corroded torso with most of the skin missing
i dont think most people realise whats out there
if they did they might drive with more consideration but i doubt it !
Diesel Tony
Where and when did you do your course 
Got told the same story and shown the same picture.
Aye, a lot of people don’t realise what those numbers and letters mean.
I reckon most of the general public would be horrified if they knew what was sloshing about in the back of each tanker they pass by.
hi gumbo666
i took the course at manchester training greengate middleton manchester
last week
the instructor was barry jarman a nice chap
Was going to say it wasnt a myth never done ADR, but my friend did it at the start of the year and told me about the nurse and the pic of her.
I’ve never fancied doing my ADR, heard some horror stories, and also worked with loads of different companies and know how half arsed a lot of them are towards safety, no way on earth i’d be haulin something dangerous for an extra £ per hour.
Willie Mac i think i know the lot you mean, and know of another big nationwide company which does the same thing.
Picked up a trailer down south opened curtains up here and had some drums of some chemicals which i am sure fall within the remit of the ADR.
We were’nt shown the picture just told about it,certainly believable when we were told it and it has embedded itself in my brain,I’ve done loads of searches about it on the net and it has come up with nothing,so I became a bit sceptical whether it was true or not,but if it was in 69 then I suppose it would’nt be on the net would it,the trainer just said it was a few years ago.
Its certainly makes you think eh. 
There certainly is some nasty ■■■■ out there.
bikemonkey:
We were’nt shown the picture just told about it,certainly believable when we were told it and it has embedded itself in my brain,I’ve done loads of searches about it on the net and it has come up with nothing,so I became a bit sceptical whether it was true or not,but if it was in 69 then I suppose it would’nt be on the net would it,the trainer just said it was a few years ago.
Its certainly makes you think eh.
There certainly is some nasty [zb] out there.
Dieseldave should be able to clear up any doubt about the story.
it was’nt an ADR load, but i had a load of car batteries get loose in the back once.
to cut a long story short, as i cleared it up, i managed to burn the front of my jeans off… lucky i had pants on!
quite embarassig at tesco looking for a cheap pair of jeans later that day!
bikemonkey:
When I was doing my ADR training our trainer told us of an accident on the M6 a few years ago involving a tanker carrying Oleum (potent sulphuric acid)and a number of other vehicles,the some or all of the acid spilled on the carriageway…a nurse was passing and got out to try an help,as she did she came into contact with the acid and within minutes all that was left of her was her badge on her uniform
Dunno how true it was,or how much was exaggerated,quite scary though.
Believe me its no urban myth although I dont know how much has been exagggerated over the years. The driver of that truck was working at my place up until a couple of months ago when he retired. Ive been off work since the beggining of June but when I hopefully start back next week I will try and get in touch and ask him the full details. He has told us that it was himself driving but we could still see that it upset him to talk about it so have never asked him the full story.
On the topic about urban myths tho, who’s heard the one about the customs guy in Dover who wasn’t going to be told his job. One day a Driver with a tanker had crossed back into the UK loaded. The customs pulled him and one jobs worth wanted to give him the full works. The driver told him that he was carrying a very toxic load and it was impossible to check the tanks whilst loaded. Mr customs guy wasnt taking no for an answer an proceeded to open one of the lids and when he did he was killed instantly by the fumes.
Paul
Paul:
On the topic about urban myths tho, who’s heard the one about the customs guy in Dover who wasn’t going to be told his job. One day a Driver with a tanker had crossed back into the UK loaded. The customs pulled him and one jobs worth wanted to give him the full works. The driver told him that he was carrying a very toxic load and it was impossible to check the tanks whilst loaded. Mr customs guy wasnt taking no for an answer an proceeded to open one of the lids and when he did he was killed instantly by the fumes.Paul
hmmm not buying that one mate 
sure acids are bad, but you can in theory stay away from them in a spill, surely some of the class 6 crap (poisonous) is worse as it can be carried in the air - from memory any phenol is potentially very nasty gear?
Now for my own ADR horror story.
A number of years ago when I used to do international work, a company I worked for only had one or two drivers who had the then ADR licence. We used to load quite often out of a chemical factory in Swinton near the old chloride lorrival and Pilkington tiles factory but for the life of me I cant remember the companies name ( Dafdave help me out here).
We used to load a full trailer of 45 gallon drums but the boss would always tell us it wasn’t hazardous and off we would go to mainland europe. I eventually was put through the ADR course at the time when the licence was a paper one that looked like a driving licence and lasted 5 years. From that time on when ever we loaded at the same company the exact same load to the same destinations it was now hazardous and they had now stopped putting it in drums and it was now in the 1 ton bags ( same as what you load with fertilizer or what comes from B&Q with sand in). Now I cant remember the classes of haz but I can remember that this stuff was in the " dangerous when wet " group.
One trip in the winter I had loaded a stepframe with a full bottom deck and 4 bags on top of the rest all strapped down for Germany. I had got to the delivery the next night and parked up out side for the night in about 2 foot of snow. I got out for the usual “wet the wheels” and heard a hissing noise. It sounded like a tyre loosing air so I walked around the trailer with my torch inspecting the tyres on the trailer. As I got around to the passenger side the hissing became louder but all the tyres were ok, as I got half way up the trailer I could see this mound of fine powder forming at the side. It was coming from inside the trailer so I went inside to have a look and found that one of the top loaded bags had rubbed along the roof support bar and that a hole had been created, so I got out a roll of green parcel tape and taped up the hole. Parked next to me on my passenger side was a German driver who had decided to sit in his passenger side smoking his head off and flicking the still burning butts out of the window. You can imagine what was going through my head but I couldnt ask him to stop and explain why or me may have thought " I’ll phone the cops and he will get done and I will get tipped before him" so I had to hope for the best, after all I didnt know how much or for how long this stuff had been leaking and nothing had happened yet so fingers crossed but I didnt get a great deal of sleep that night.
Next morning and I’m first in line, I drive into the yard and explain the sittuation as best I could to the fork truck driver , after all I couldn’t really hide it with a 2 foot circle of green tape on the side of the bag. He continued to unload me and when he got the to burst bag as he lifted it off the tape gave way and another now more quickly mound of the said powder fell to the wet floor. Once I was empty the fork truck driver got a brush and even swept out the powder from my trailer onto the floor, he then to my disbelief swept all the powder that was on the floor into the DRAIN. He signed my CMR as ok and I was out of there like a shot.
I havent to this day got a clue what the cargo was all I can remember is it looked like very small iron filings, just wish I could remember the company or the UN number.
Paul
jj72:
Paul:
On the topic about urban myths tho, who’s heard the one about the customs guy in Dover who wasn’t going to be told his job. One day a Driver with a tanker had crossed back into the UK loaded. The customs pulled him and one jobs worth wanted to give him the full works. The driver told him that he was carrying a very toxic load and it was impossible to check the tanks whilst loaded. Mr customs guy wasnt taking no for an answer an proceeded to open one of the lids and when he did he was killed instantly by the fumes.Paul
hmmm not buying that one mate
As I said JJ " its another one of the thousands of urban myths" but one Ive heard 100’s of times in the wheelhouse, the Albion and the NU-AGE club and of course the CB, I was even clearing in Zagreb one year and got talking to a Dutchman and he was asking me all about it.
Paul
gsm31:
Dieseldave should be able to clear up any doubt about the story.
Hi gsm31, Only too happy to help clear this one up mate.
Here is a little extract copied and pasted directly from the Consortium ADR course:
The incident happened on a still foggy morning on the M6 North bound near to the junction with the M62. A tanker (36T) carrying Oleum (concentrated Sulphuric Acid) was in collision with a lorry carrying scaffolding. A scaffolding pole caused a gash in the tankers shell and a large quantity of Oleum leaked out onto the carriageway.
…the fumes from the Oleum were extremely dangerous and would render anyone inhaling them unconscious almost immediately. The Nurse however obviously thought the driver wanted help and waded into the Oleum (which looks like clear water) she then became unconscious as she inhaled the fumes and fell into the Oleum which then attacked her body as the photograph shows.
As well as the Consortium’s ADR course, there are other approved ADR courses such as: Chemfreight, LRT and Friendberry.
ADR providers can only use the ADR course that they have bought, otherwise they must write their own and submit it for approval. The reason that not all of you will get to see the photo of what was left of the nurse is that the photo isn’t published on the internet, and IIRC was only included in the Consortium course by permission.
The photo is an old B&W one and is therefore quite grainy, but it is clear that the oleum claimed the nurse’s arms and legs. IMHO, further description is far too gory for a family show like this and would serve no useful purpose. I’ll also say that quite a lot more than “just the nurse’s badge” was found. The one good thing that came from this incident was that it focused the government’s minds and caused the system for marking UK tankers with 3 large hazard warning panels to be devised.
Trivia fact: Showing a plain orange coloured plate on the front of a UK tanker wasn’t required until the mid 90s.
While I’m not disupting that it’s taught in the ADR course, is there any evidence that it’s actually true? Science teachers have a huge love of making up stories just to shock people, same goes for the army, anything where you get safety briefings.
Even in 1969 there’d still likely be references available to the accident, considering it was so horrific and on a motorway. Just the obvious thing being it happened in 1969 on the M6 near the M62 junction, but the M62 wasn’t started until 1971. Then there’s the fact that afaik Oleum is yellow not clear, depending on concetration, at some concentrations it’s not even a liquid, it’s powder, and I think that’s the form they’d use to transport it. It also starts fuming like crazy when it touches water or moisture so you’d see plumes of vapour bellowing out of where it was spilt.
Maybe it is all true, but maybe it’s a seperate accident that’s instead been utilised for demonstrating the hazards of ADR.
when called out to tankers i ask the driver how dodgy the load is…most say oh,it’s only something or other,it won’t do any harm.true,it won’t do any harm in the tank,but the reason i’m asking is if we get shunted and survive i’d like to know what we’re dealing with if the tank leaks.
we’ve dealt with breakdowns involving phenol,radioactive,various dodgy looking powders and some other stuff like creosote and petrol based products.
other tanks have been the plastic pellets and potato starch.(which incidentally goes black after a short time after initally turning the whole yard white when the discharge pipe blew out )
I can confirm that the M6 death is not an urban myth, I can remember it happening but it was definetly in the early 70’s because it was after I started working in the haulage game, the summer of 1970. IIRC it was one of Harold Wood’s and it was a winters evening and that bit of the M6 was unlit, as was most of the motorway network at the time. also I think it occured around the Shevington area of the M6 which is north of the M62 split which also, as previously said, didn’t open fully until the early 70’s
I also seem to remember that ‘the nurse’ had her daughter in the car with her and she also suffered some injuries but didn’t die.
There are some things that happen on the road that you never forget about and this was certainly one of them. I’m sure some of the real details have been exaggerated over the period of time but as has already been stated this tragic death brought about the big changes in the transportation and road/rail movement of hazardous goods.
I’m sure there must be some others on here who were around, working in transport, at the time who clearly remember this happening as it was a major national news item.
wasnt it the nurse incident that led to the bringing in of haz boards