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Easily avoidable. RIP drive.
And after the recent threads on H+S you see why it is deemed necessary to train drivers on things they already should know…
A sad bit familiar story. Seen it a few times, fortunately only vehicles and property were damaged in the ones I witnessed.
RIP Driver.
MickM
I nearly did it with a fridge once. I was lucky.
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Very sad. Its not the first time either. It happened a few years back at Toyota in Derby when a Goldstar container driver lost his life under similar circumstances whilst carrying out a drop & swap.
All those health & safety hoops we each jump through on a daily basis are a right pain in the ■■■■. But its only when something like this occurs I suppose we should be thankful that the UK haulage industry is actually one of the safest in the world.
RIP Driver.
I was sat doing my final paperwork checks one morning when the wagon right next to me started to trundle forward, I saw it moving out of the corner of my eye, thought it was me at first, my foot was on my brake rather rapid! Crapped myself, the whole lot rolled across the yard (it was on a slight slope), through the fence and onto the service road. No one hurt thankfully, very lucky.
MickM
How was it the firm’s fault in real terms ?
I’m assuming he was parked on a slope, and I know the poor guy paid the ultimate price for it, but surely he knew it was necessary to use his hand brake, trailer brake or both, is it not common sense. Maybe it was an over sight on his part who knows, we all make mistakes, and if that was the case the lad and his family paid dearly for it.
However, has it really got to the stage where we have to be told every little bloody detail of procedure to protect us from ourselves? and if so where is the cut off point ? …Breathe in breathe out?
I’m not being flippant here btw towards the poor lad who lost his life either, before anybody starts , I’m just a bit ■■■■■■ off with all this h&s ■■■■■■■■ where thinking for yourself is not an option any longer, and making a human mistake is not a reason or excuse for an epic balls up anymore such as this.
RIP drive.
I have worked in yards where to put trailer brake on is enough to get someone punched out. An inexperienced driver can easily be bullied into going with it and then hooks up and wham!
There is a place for H&S but as with everything in this country it’s taken to nth degree.
Will the fine stop anything or bring the poor driver back. Nope
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robroy:
How was it the firm’s fault in real terms ?
I’m assuming he was parked on a slope, and I know the poor guy paid the ultimate price for it, but surely he knew it was necessary to use his hand brake, trailer brake or both, is it not common sense. Maybe it was an over sight on his part who knows, we all make mistakes, and if that was the case the lad and his family paid dearly for it.However, has it really got to the stage where we have to be told every little bloody detail of procedure to protect us from ourselves? and if so where is the cut off point ? …Breathe in breathe out?
I’m not being flippant here btw towards the poor lad who lost his life either, before anybody starts
RIP drive.
I can’t see it was, but when you see the fine the company paid, you can see why so much arse covering goes on.
I am not being flippant either.
P Stoff:
I have worked in yards where to put trailer brake on is enough to get someone punched out. An inexperienced driver can easily be bullied into going with it and then hooks up and wham!There is a place for H&S but as with everything in this country it’s taken to nth degree.
Will the fine stop anything or bring the poor driver back. Nope
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It might at Youngs. The lesson is there for all to learn though. RIP bud. 
I’m sure there was a thread on here about it at the time.
robroy:
How was it the firm’s fault in real terms ?
I’m assuming he was parked on a slope, and I know the poor guy paid the ultimate price for it, but surely he knew it was necessary to use his hand brake, trailer brake or both, is it not common sense. Maybe it was an over sight on his part who knows, we all make mistakes, and if that was the case the lad and his family paid dearly for it.However, has it really got to the stage where we have to be told every little bloody detail of procedure to protect us from ourselves? and if so where is the cut off point ? …Breathe in breathe out?
I’m not being flippant here btw towards the poor lad who lost his life either, before anybody starts
RIP drive.
We live in a compensation culture, where there’s blame there’s a claim. People do stupid things because they haven’t been told not to, then blame the company for not telling them not to do it.
This H&S culture is the companies response to unscrupulous/stupid people who could potentially sue them. The only way they can prove that it wasn’t their fault is by having training sessions and recording them. In this case, it looks like the training records weren’t kept up to date, therefore, it’s their fault. Unfortunately, we all have to comply.
“Lowest common denominator” springs to mind.
Rest assured, it’s not just the transport industry that has stupid rules. I had to be trained how to put work up on the wall, apparently I could have stabbed myself with a drawing pin or swallowed bluetac and choked! I kid you not.
Unless a trailer has been pushed along the road with someone chasing it with a tractor unit trying to hitch it? what possible factor can the trailer parking not being used have to do with a runaway once the trailer is hitched up, answer it doesn’t.
The only way the combo could possibly move is if the tractor unit brake was left off also, in which case the vehicle would have moved anyway once the trailer brake was released, and depending where the button was located the result would be the same, runaway.
I know this parking brake must be used mantra is drummed in, but unless some clot has pressed the shunt button the trailer isn’t going anywhere, the parking brake must have harks back to the days of non spring brakes where if the air pressure dropped the brakes released, and the typical cable parking brake in those heady days was either wrapped solid off the spool requiring a gas axe to shift it, or the mechanism would be seized solid by the second application of road salt following MOT test.
Anyone with any sense trains themselves that as they alight from the cab after hitching up, the very last thing they do before shutting the door is to take a final look at the parking brake lever to make sure its on…course if you have a modern Volvo with a toytown electric brake you rely on a silly little led bulb to let you know the brake is on
These arn’t toys we drive, once on the roll they aint stopping in a hurry, more care and respect for what we do and a bit less rushing around like their arses are on fire would help some.
Another reason why split coupling should be band and Mavis rails fitted to all and Every trailer and a standardisation of trailer parking breaks placed next to the Mavis rail.
In today’s industry is there really any need for the shunt button since 90% or most new trailers the shunt buttons don’t work as there connnected to the park brake .
Juddian:
Unless a trailer has been pushed along the road with someone chasing it with a tractor unit trying to hitch it? what possible factor can the trailer parking not being used have to do with a runaway once the trailer is hitched up, answer it doesn’t.The only way the combo could possibly move is if the tractor unit brake was left off also, in which case the vehicle would have moved anyway once the trailer brake was released, and depending where the button was located the result would be the same, runaway.
I know this parking brake must be used mantra is drummed in, but unless some clot has pressed the shunt button the trailer isn’t going anywhere, the parking brake must have harks back to the days of non spring brakes where if the air pressure dropped the brakes released, and the typical cable parking brake in those heady days was either wrapped solid off the spool requiring a gas axe to shift it, or the mechanism would be seized solid by the second application of road salt following MOT test.
Anyone with any sense trains themselves that as they alight from the cab after hitching up, the very last thing they do before shutting the door is to take a final look at the parking brake lever to make sure its on…course if you have a modern Volvo with a toytown electric brake you rely on a silly little led bulb to let you know the brake is on
These arn’t toys we drive, once on the roll they aint stopping in a hurry, more care and respect for what we do and a bit less rushing around like their arses are on fire would help some.
Realistically it’s either the situation of the hand brake not being applied on the unit or the trailer running forward against the unit.The latter of those two scenarios only being possible if the trailer is sitting higher than the unit when the unit is put under it because the jaws will stop the pin regardless if it’s all at the correct height from the the start.Which is a point I’ve long been making.While the former is possible if a driver falls into the trap of rushing the job.I guess that’s how we survived decades of of working with long ago seized mechanical winch type trailer parking brakes.
Out here in USA & Canada, the trailer brake is in the cab next to the truck brake, so when you drop a trailer, pull both brakes out and there’s no chance of that trailer moving again until the next truck has hitched up, split couple or normal and pushed the button in again.
Shunt tugs have the same system, easy & safe.
It was Driver error and anyone of us could do the same we are all human RIP Drive ! fining the company seems a bit stupid after all they cant police every aspect of what we do can they accidents happen but in this case was it the company’s fault i dont think so
Juddian:
Anyone with any sense trains themselves that as they alight from the cab after hitching up, the very last thing they do before shutting the door is to take a final look at the parking brake lever to make sure its on…course if you have a modern Volvo with a toytown electric brake you rely on a silly little led bulb to let you know the brake is on
^^ This!
I also really dislike these new electronic park brakes in both cars and trucks, nothing beats the actual visual and tactile reassurance that such a crucial piece of safety equipment is actually applied.
nick2008:
Another reason why split coupling should be band and Mavis rails fitted to all and Every trailer and a standardisation of trailer parking breaks placed next to the Mavis rail.
In today’s industry is there really any need for the shunt button since 90% or most new trailers the shunt buttons don’t work as there connnected to the park brake .
I started driving a few weeks ago and was trained in split coupling as the majority of their trailers don’t have the rails. I told drivers at my previous job about it before I started and they couldn’t believe it. At their depot it is summary dismissal due to the risks involved, rails fitted obviously. As Nick says I can’t believe it would be that expensive to fit the rails especially considering the possible worst case scenario here.
I know if you follow the process it is fine but in the world of long hours and silly o clock start times you can see why mistakes get made. I am still new enough to be paranoid about it. Unfortunately this guy paid the ultimate price. RIP to the driver