I passed a jacknifed bartrums actros on the A14 near Ipswich this morning, then heard another one had jacknifed near hadleigh, and watching the news one of their drivers died after running into the back of another truck. Bad day for all at Bartrums, and RIP to the driver that died 
RIP to the driver but if road conditions were that bad in east Anglia- and two jackknifed lorries suggest they were- then management should not have sent the trucks out.
Harry Monk:
RIP to the driver but if road conditions were that bad in east Anglia- and two jackknifed lorries suggest they were- then management should not have sent the trucks out.
If you follow that thought to its logical conclusion then no one would drive in wind/snow/ice/ heavy rain etc…
Fact is they do, neccesacity needs for us all that they do. You can’t blame management for events like that. I’m suprised at you saying something like this. I’m well aware of risk assesments and who is responsible for them and how its soley a companies fault is beyond me.
But hang on, the name Bartrums was mentioned…?
Harry Monk:
RIP to the driver but if road conditions were that bad in east Anglia- and two jackknifed lorries suggest they were- then management should not have sent the trucks out.
to me it becomes funny sometimes, when drivers say today was bad weathers,must not sent lorry to somewhere.it is not ice,not snow.if follow you recomendation in some European country from november till April all lorry must be parked and all delivery must do by horses.
Harry Monk:
…management should not have sent the trucks out.
I refused to go to Peterborough this week - no hero bonus for me.
Not only bad in the UK - More than 100 cars and lorries were involved in a pile-up on the German A45 Autobahn North of Frankfurt near Muenzenberg on Tuesday 12 March amid severe weather conditions.
Cosmic:
Man killed in lorry crash on A130 | Anglia - ITV News
A man has died after two lorries crashed in a lay-by in Essex.
The lorries collided on the A130 near Rettendon between Chelmsford and Southend just after 11am on Tuesday.
Police say one of the drivers died at the scene.
The other was treated for minor injuries. Police are appealing for witnesses.
I saw the one on the A130 yesterday not long after it happened. It looked grim, the layby must have been icy as at the time the roads well in a good condition and had cleared considrably. When I came back the other way the road was still open but they’d parked three fire engines nose to tail alongside to deter rubber neckers.
Terrible thing for all involved not lease the poor driver who was parked and got hit, it brings it home as I only stop in dual carriageway laybys where they have the separate on / off slip and protective kerbs.
R.I.P
At RDC’s etc the batrums staff are always ok when i spoke to them… 
Makes you wonder at times how severely unrated driving jobs are in terms of danger…
Anything for pen pushers though right ? 
8wheels:
I saw the one on the A130 yesterday not long after it happened. It looked grim, the layby must have been icy as at the time the roads well in a good condition and had cleared considrably. When I came back the other way the road was still open but they’d parked three fire engines nose to tail alongside to deter rubber neckers.Terrible thing for all involved not lease the poor driver who was parked and got hit, it brings it home as I only stop in dual carriageway laybys where they have the separate on / off slip and protective kerbs.
As I recall the layby’s on the A130 are on a dual carriageway and segregated (or set back) too, so its a bit strange how such a collision may have occured in the layby itself. I hate laybys and avoid parking in them where possible because of the number of times I hear of collisions involving people entering, or leaving laybys and have seen several collisions where parked vehicles have been caught up in other peoples accidents. If the hard shoulder of a Motorway is one of the most dangerous places to be, I would suggest some layby’s have just the same risk as stopping on a hard shoulder - if not greater. With segregated layby’s how often do you see the entrance slip roads with a truck parked half on the kerb forcing vehicles to slow so much vehicles on the main carriageway have to slow down and take evasive action? It’s about time someone from Government looked at the problem’s truckers (and motorists in general) have parking for rests when on the road and looked at safer and cost effective places to park.
So sorry to hear of another fellow trucker losing his life doing his job.
There’s a driver of a fridge trailer who I regularly see parked up in a layby on the A725 before Bellshill. The layby is so narrow, his wheels are almost on the white lines and he has to fold his mirrors in so they don’t get wiped out. Why he chooses to park there is beyond me. He is less than a quarter of a mile from the Rigghead Ind Est which must be a safer place to stop. It’s an accident waiting to happen IMO.
RIP driver! Any fatal accident is a tragedy, and my thoughts go out to the driver’s family and all at Bartrums!
In Canada we have these conditions for months and most firms respect the drivers judgement if they shut down due to the weather. And despite what people often expect the ploughing/gritting plan can be hit and miss and sassketchwan are a joke the UK highways agency would run rings round them.
Thankfully the roads are a lot quiter so it stops it been complete carnage. You can be unlucky just hit a patch of Ice or catch the wind and end up in the ditch through no fault of your own but here it’s a case of it gets there when it does not when it’s maybe meant to
Bummer having 3 trucks go down in one day. RIP drive.
damoq:
There’s a driver of a fridge trailer who I regularly see parked up in a layby on the A725 before Bellshill. The layby is so narrow, his wheels are almost on the white lines and he has to fold his mirrors in so they don’t get wiped out. Why he chooses to park there is beyond me. He is less than a quarter of a mile from the Rigghead Ind Est which must be a safer place to stop. It’s an accident waiting to happen IMO.
yip seen a few in there lad, its beyond me why they even consider parking up there …you have to go over the white line so as to not hit them
It seems from reading the above that the road was dry but there was ice on the layby.Horrible!
A Swiss I know had a good fleet & then had 3 write-offs in a coupla months.One of them was a load of chocolates went over a bridge & a train went right thru it.All the drivers were OK. He was refused insurance & went bankrupt,sent him bonkers.
kr79:
In Canada we have these conditions for months and most firms respect the drivers judgement if they shut down due to the weather. And despite what people often expect the ploughing/gritting plan can be hit and miss and sassketchwan are a joke the UK highways agency would run rings round them
To be fair the distances to be covered over there are much more which would probably create just as many problems here for our highways authorities.Added to which is often lower temperatures in which case salt won’t work anyway and just adds to the problems if it melts snow which then re freezes again causing ice.As for jacknifing sorry but I’ll stick with the idea that euro spec single drive axle units wouldn’t stand a chance in a decent North American winter.
Which is why no one over there ( rightly ) wants the things to be used in zb conditions and it’s that which is one of the main causes of euro heaps ending up folded into a V shape at the first sign of slippery conditions here.While no one is saying that a few artics there don’t end up in ditches I think the speed differences can probably account for that in many cases.
Taking everything into account,on a like with like basis,the British road transport system would probably sieze up completely if it was faced with the same conditions as an average North American winter,especially in the worst type of conditions.
Carryfast:
kr79:
In Canada we have these conditions for months and most firms respect the drivers judgement if they shut down due to the weather. And despite what people often expect the ploughing/gritting plan can be hit and miss and sassketchwan are a joke the UK highways agency would run rings round themTo be fair the distances to be covered over there are much more which would probably create just as many problems here for our highways authorities.Added to which is often lower temperatures in which case salt won’t work anyway and just adds to the problems if it melts snow which then re freezes again causing ice.As for jacknifing sorry but I’ll stick with the idea that euro spec single drive axle units wouldn’t stand a chance in a decent North American winter.
Which is why no one over there ( rightly ) wants the things to be used in zb conditions and it’s that which is one of the main causes of euro heaps ending up folded into a V shape at the first sign of slippery conditions here.While no one is saying that a few artics there don’t end up in ditches I think the speed differences can probably account for that in many cases.
Taking everything into account,on a like with like basis,the British road transport system would probably sieze up completely if it was faced with the same conditions as an average North American winter,especially in the worst type of conditions.
I’d say it was more to do with wheelbase, than the number of driven axles