Have I ignored some unwritten truckers’ code regarding moving some cones placed in front of an unaccompanied trailer? Reached 4 hours driving so I pulled into a nice quiet layby, only to find a Tuffnels’ drawbar parked there, with the rest of the area coned off in front of it.
I picked the cones up and parked up, but back at base it appears I’ve done something akin to ■■■■■■■ on the bible* by doing what I did. If a trailer swap was in progress I would’ve waited or carried on, but what right do Tuffnels, Paul Matthew or even showmen have, treating laybys as a trailer park?
*I have no worries regarding ■■■■■■■ on the bible, Qoran (■■■■■■■■ if it’s spelt wrong) or any religious text/fairy story by the way.
These cones are in fact “Anti-dogging” devices.
They have been sprayed with a ■■■ drive inhibiting drug…you sir…are now in big trouble 
Public lay by. There for one and all. Get um moved and tell said driver to move on.
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Laybys are a public space, nobody has any right to reserve public space. Unsure why your office has made a stink, or that Tuffnell’s have had the nerve to complain.
There have been many instances of people putting cones outside their house to guard a parking space, or shops putting cones out for wagons and the council generally tell them to do one. This is no different.
Our local church is on a main road with a small layby outside. They put cones out for the hearse to park up. I understand the need to not be late for your own funeral so I park elsewhere.
All other cones are moveable for any reason.
So here it is, this is what the transport industry has really come down to!!
This is how drivers treat other drivers!!!
The driver that has left the draw-bar hasn’t gone off on a jolly, he’s obviously left it there because , probably, his next tip requires that he can only get in with the main unit only and will be along shortly, “to collect it” and then carry on on his merry way.
As for the cones… no he hasn’t got any God given right to place them there, but he has done this probably because he has obviously come back to collect his drag to find a D…K H…D, like you More Ale, has parked in front of it, which means he cant get to it and continue his day.
You say that you reached 4 hours driving, so that means you’ve got another 30 mins to find another spot.
And as for
midlands-lad:
Public lay by. There for one and all. Get um moved and tell said driver to move on.
This is exactly what is wrong with this industry, we have to get along together and help each other out.
rob22888:
Laybys are a public space, nobody has any right to reserve space. Unsure why your office has made a stink, or that Tuffnell’s have had the nerve to complain. I’m sure there have been many instances of people putting cones outside their house to guard a parking space and the council generally tell them to do one. This is no different.
Totally different, if you are expecting a skip or a removal van outside your house, put out some cones, you are not inconveniencing anybody. Places I have delivered to have put bins outside their premises to make sure that nobody parks there then sod off to the station or the supermarket, Park Royal, West London is a prime example of this, for those that know the area. All thatthe Tuffnells driver has done is left the draw-bar trailer there while he goes and delivers somewhere else.
The OP in my opinion is a complete a/h parking in front of a draw-bar trailer that has been left there. It hasn’t been dumped and he the OP should’ve realized that parking in front of it will cause a problem to the driver coming back to collect it.
Rant over 
Ok pierrot. I have lost count of the amount of empty trailers, drawbars and trucks left in lay bys for long periods of time. How can another motorist tell the difference between a trailer change or a deliberate long period park up. Its a public space. If you leave it… in my book its not a quick change. We all have to have breaks, rests.
We can all get along by being thoughtfull and aware of each others needs so park it else where and allow others to use it. I stand by my comment. If i saw a trailer change in progress then fair play… if not dont be thinking i am gonna avoid. If that makes me wrong then so be it. I have come across this multiple times.
If i NEED that space, sorry pal consider it taken for my break / daily rest.
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Your doing it wrong, when the office said, there was cones, you should have replied no sir, only cones in the area were the ones in the back of my truck.
Its not about being a selfish twit. Its about needing a place to park.
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pierrot 14:
So here it is, this is what the transport industry has really come down to!!
This is how drivers treat other drivers!!!The driver that has left the draw-bar hasn’t gone off on a jolly, he’s obviously left it there because , probably, his next tip requires that he can only get in with the main unit only and will be along shortly, “to collect it” and then carry on on his merry way.
As for the cones… no he hasn’t got any God given right to place them there, but he has done this probably because he has obviously come back to collect his drag to find a D…K H…D, like you More Ale, has parked in front of it, which means he cant get to it and continue his day.
You say that you reached 4 hours driving, so that means you’ve got another 30 mins to find another spot.And as for
midlands-lad:
Public lay by. There for one and all. Get um moved and tell said driver to move on.This is exactly what is wrong with this industry, we have to get along together and help each other out.
rob22888:
Laybys are a public space, nobody has any right to reserve space. Unsure why your office has made a stink, or that Tuffnell’s have had the nerve to complain. I’m sure there have been many instances of people putting cones outside their house to guard a parking space and the council generally tell them to do one. This is no different.Totally different, if you are expecting a skip or a removal van outside your house, put out some cones, you are not inconveniencing anybody. Places I have delivered to have put bins outside their premises to make sure that nobody parks there then sod off to the station or the supermarket, Park Royal, West London is a prime example of this, for those that know the area. All thatthe Tuffnells driver has done is left the draw-bar trailer there while he goes and delivers somewhere else.
The OP in my opinion is a complete a/h parking in front of a draw-bar trailer that has been left there. It hasn’t been dumped and he the OP should’ve realized that parking in front of it will cause a problem to the driver coming back to collect it.
Rant over
This is what p1sses me off, people who sit on the fence who wont actually say what they mean…
I’m with pierott on this, I would not block in another driver’s trailer either.
There again I park in more imaginative places than lay bys.
He may have dropped his trailer there for a number of valid reasons, if it was me I would have given him the benefit of the doubt, but that is just me, I tend to consider my fellow drivers. 
robroy:
I’m with pierott on this, I would not block in another driver’s trailer either.
There again I park in more imaginative places than lay bys.
He may have dropped his trailer there for a number of valid reasons, if it was me I would have given him the benefit of the doubt, but that is just me, I tend to consider my fellow drivers.
Isn’t it just down to driver etiquette and respect for the fellow routier Robroy ?
midlands-lad:
Ok pierrot. I have lost count of the amount of empty trailers, drawbars and trucks left in lay bys for long periods of time. How can another motorist tell the difference between a trailer change or a deliberate long period park up. Its a public space. If you leave it… in my book its not a quick change. We all have to have breaks, rests.We can all get along by being thoughtfull and aware of each others needs so park it else where and allow others to use it. I stand by my comment. If i saw a trailer change in progress then fair play… if not dont be thinking i am gonna avoid. If that makes me wrong then so be it. I have come across this multiple times.
If i NEED that space, sorry pal consider it taken for my break / daily rest.
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So and we’re not talking trailer changes as you have put it, you come to a lay by for a break and there is a "draw bar " trailer parked with just enough room for you to park in front of it, do you :-
A. Think, don’t know when he’ll be back and he needs space to pick that up, so I’ll carry on to the next lay by
B. Fick him, dopey twant why park that there, doesn’t he realise that he has caused me an inconvenience, he is totally selfish thinking only of himself he should’ve found himself a more convenient place to park it,… oh hang on HE HAS!!!
AndrewG:
pierrot 14:
So here it is, this is what the transport industry has really come down to!!
This is how drivers treat other drivers!!!The driver that has left the draw-bar hasn’t gone off on a jolly, he’s obviously left it there because , probably, his next tip requires that he can only get in with the main unit only and will be along shortly, “to collect it” and then carry on on his merry way.
As for the cones… no he hasn’t got any God given right to place them there, but he has done this probably because he has obviously come back to collect his drag to find a D…K H…D, like you More Ale, has parked in front of it, which means he cant get to it and continue his day.
You say that you reached 4 hours driving, so that means you’ve got another 30 mins to find another spot.And as for
midlands-lad:
Public lay by. There for one and all. Get um moved and tell said driver to move on.This is exactly what is wrong with this industry, we have to get along together and help each other out.
rob22888:
Laybys are a public space, nobody has any right to reserve space. Unsure why your office has made a stink, or that Tuffnell’s have had the nerve to complain. I’m sure there have been many instances of people putting cones outside their house to guard a parking space and the council generally tell them to do one. This is no different.Totally different, if you are expecting a skip or a removal van outside your house, put out some cones, you are not inconveniencing anybody. Places I have delivered to have put bins outside their premises to make sure that nobody parks there then sod off to the station or the supermarket, Park Royal, West London is a prime example of this, for those that know the area. All thatthe Tuffnells driver has done is left the draw-bar trailer there while he goes and delivers somewhere else.
The OP in my opinion is a complete a/h parking in front of a draw-bar trailer that has been left there. It hasn’t been dumped and he the OP should’ve realized that parking in front of it will cause a problem to the driver coming back to collect it.
Rant over
This is what p1sses me off, people who sit on the fence who wont actually say what they mean…
Behave yourself and go find yourself a nice EMPTY lay by somewhere in France.!!
Wouldn’t happen over here would it Andrew ?
If you’re only having a 45 and the driver comes back, crack out the brew tackle, splash the ash and have a chinwag about how the good old days were better. It’s amazing what you can get away with when you’re nice to someone. After all, they’re a driver too and know the need for a 45.
Captain Caveman 76:
If you’re only having a 45 and the driver comes back, crack out the brew tackle, splash the ash and have a chinwag about how the good old days were better. It’s amazing what you can get away with when you’re nice to someone. After all, they’re a driver too and know the need for a 45.
Agreed, if you’re only on a 45. If the draw-bar driver turns up I’m sure some sort of arrangement can be made
" Only got 10 left on a 45 drive and I’ll be out of your way" or “just got here mate, let me move it, you pick up the dangler and I’ll take your space” .
But by the sound of the OP it seems he was on a daily break.
pierrot 14:
Behave yourself and go find yourself a nice EMPTY lay by somewhere in France.!!
Wouldn’t happen over here would it Andrew ?
Certainly wouldnt…more so if the drag was BG/HU…
As a (max length) drawbar driver, often sent to ■■■■■■■ stupid ■■■■■■■■■ you shouldn’t be sending anything bigger than a transit van to, I often have to find ‘imaginative’ places to leave the drawbar trailer for a while, though normally not more than half an hour or so. If i’ve left it somewhere, it’s because I HAVE to leave it, not because I want to - I simply cannot get 62ft of truck into the place i’m delivering to!
I try to avoid lay-bys for pretty much the reason above, there’s a chance someone else will need to stop in the lay-by, and by dumping my trailer there, i’m potentially going to be causing them to struggle to find somewhere for a break… but then again, should they really be cutting it so fine they have no option but to stop right there right now? 
I tend to try to find some space in a yard en-route, or in a quiet industrial estate… but then again, how far should I be expected to drive away from my delivery point, just to avoid leaving it in a lay-by? A mile? 5? 25?
So, if push comes to shove, I’ll leave it in a lay-by, but I’ll always drive right up to the very end of it, ensuring there’s plenty of room behind for anyone else that needs to park. As for coning it off, yep… always… otherwise there’s always some ■■■■■■ that will come along and give no thought to anything above and park right in front of it. Some of them probably do it to ‘teach them a lesson’. Aye, crack on, ■■■■■
Andrew , I have just sent you a PM
Ultimately, it all just comes to down to the usual ■■■■ poor planning by the ‘professionals’ in the planning / transport office.
Wagon & Drag clearly unsuitable for part of the job, so it was dumped for a bit. If it was a one-off maybe, but if it’s a regular thing then as above, ■■■■ poor planning - shock horror.
Driver might even be relieved that he gets blocked in, he could be sick of ■■■■■■■■ about having to leave it in the first place for all we know, why doesn’t the company use a more suitable ■■■■ ing vehicle, but then again that takes thinkin’ about by the office… hey why not send out two rigids instead and give some poor sod the chance of gainful employment, a newbie even. But that costs extra…
Company I worked for many years ago doing Class 1 tramping had in all the drivers contracts - do not drop your trailer and leave it unattended at any time with prior permission from the office. Was grounds for instant dismissal if you did. Not that any of the drivers actually paid any attention to it, this was way before tracking systems. Just don’t get caught… 