I have just had one of those weeks!!
I have been pulling the same trailer for nearly 10 months except for the odd day here and there. Not one mark have I put on it, quite pleased I am with myself. A lovely Gray-Adams with a pallet carrier.
So on Monday, I am loading down at Avonmouth Docks. As I back onto the bay between two of those massive ‘guide’ bars they have, I am just slightly offline and the next thing is a crack as the brackets for my rear mudguard snap off 
one floppy mudguard now. So I get a rachet strap and do my best to tie it up (remembering I had had new tyres on that axle on the Friday) I leave there and as I head round the 25 for Teynham, the “Fat Controller” rings me up. Ermmmm, ******, a concerned motorist has just rung us … you have a mudflap hanging off Captured
On arriving at Teynham, the shunter helps me secure it once more and this looks a much better job!
The next day, I arrive at our depot in Venlo and by now, the guard is hanging off again. This is when I decide to take the thing right off! I end up sawing the front brackets off and throwing the whole lot in the pallet carrier.
By now, the ‘little man’ in Venlo in jumping up and down. You must be in Duisberg by 8pm to do the trailer swop and then bring it back here. He can’t make his mind up which trailer I am to take there. In the end I tell him I am taking my one there so they can load for me to pick up the following day. ok ok he says. just get going, you must get to Kassel tonight for a 7am tip 
Its now 705pm
NOW, how many of you have started dropping a trailer and stopped halfway thro?? and then changed your mind? cos thats exactly what I did. an absolute recipe for disaster!!
I walked round the trailer, wound the legs back up, knocked the park brake off and climbed in my cab. Didn’t I do something else I thought as I climbed back into the cab? YES, I HAD!!! I HAD PULLED THE BLOODY PIN!!!
As I pulled away (luckily slowly) I watched the trailer gracefully slide of the back of my unit
Now we all know the scenrio at these times … those susies stretch to about 50 feet, break and hit the back of the cab… the trailer is on its knees and the legs are damaged …welllllll
As I got out ( and now the little man is having a major major fit) I was able to walk between the unit and the trailer. The susies were still attached but stretched over the fifth wheel and smothered in grease
As I unplugged each susie, they sprang straight back into place!!! The leg supports on my trailer are quite long and therefore the pallet carrier was undamaged 
The little man went running off to get the diesel forklift. while he was gone, I was able to raise the trailer about 4 inches using the slow turn, dropped the suspension on my unit as far as possible and by the time he came back, I had the trailer up again and all plugged in ready to go!! except for being covered in fifth wheel grease!! I had to drive for the rest of the week with filthy susies which covered my catwalk in gunge and it wasn’t until today that I was able to get in the yard to get a new wing fitted and then spent the rest of the afternoon taking my susies off and washing them in neat detergent, washing all my catwalk and the front of the trailer and generally cleaning things up while ending up rotten dirty myself!!
So remember, newbies, you aren’t the only ones to make mistakes!!! I have been driving since 1981 and we all make mistakes, just some of us are luckier than others
lol nice story…
Newbies dont make this mistake…only oldies do.
Your temper is a credit to you Bear a leeser mortal would’ve flattened the little man, before promissing themselves that this is a [zb] stupid occupation, and to get a proper job at the earliest opputunity. Although changing their mind when running out next week, as everying thing runs smooth as clock work.
Briliant tale made me laugh 
My god! I will never moan about my week again!
I have been driving since 1981 and we all make mistakes, just some of us are luckier than others
that’s why you had a bad day bear,your tired m8.thats a long time to be driving we all have bad day’s m8,zb happens as they say. 
things could have been a lot worse 
It COULD have been me
DOH!
As KK said ZB Happens
nice story bear…
better week next week then
Its good to know the old hands still make mistakes to. Great story.
Newbie:
Its good to know the old hands still make mistakes to. Great story.
no we don’t i’m perfect
im glad everything was ok in the end but when things go wrong they seem to go wrong in a big way.
thats all because that little bloke was getting on your case winding you up putting pressure on you so you lost your consotration.
Wonderfully told Bear. Thanks for sharing this not so wonderful experience with the rest of us. It’s reading these stories that keeps us fairly new truckers so paranoid that we avoid doing things like that. (Fingers crossed).
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Jo
TC:
Newbies dont make this mistake…only oldies do.
Hopefully I won’t tempt fate here…
I think that’s probably true. I’m so [zb] frightened of doing it that I end up double, triple and quadruple-checking everything to make absolutely, positively and unequivocably sure that it won’t happen to me…
Having said that, I did go to drop a trailer last week - did almost everything, got back in the cab, started the engine, engaged 1st, released the handbrake…
[zb]! I haven’t pulled the pin!
Done it myself. The last checks I make before getting in the cab are that my legs are down and airlines are out . Your arm doesn’t half ache if you wind it down in low gear .
I just seem to have a thing for forgetting the stupid little things when I fumble about. One of my classics is to forget to release the trailer break before getting into the can and trying to pull off. That’s very embarrassing when there’re onlookers about ! 
I also frequently forget to make sure the fifth wheel handle is pulled back into position before backing under the trailer. In certain units it doesn’t always release and lock so you sit there for a few seconds wondering why on earth the thing doesn’t wonna hook on ! Doh !!!
You get quite good leg muscles with all that jumping in and out of the cab
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Jo