We all see the pictures on here pretty much every week and on Facebook and elsewhere of a lorry wedged in some little village or lane. Usually following a car type sat nav is the reason given for the ■■■■ up.
Does it realy happen more than 10 or 20 years ago or is it the fact most of us have mobiles with cameras and can upload photos in seconds that in hours can be seen all over the world whereas before it would probaly only be local residents a couple of cops a recovery driver and people who worked for the firm that would know.
Both I reckon due to people just following satnavs and the wonderful thing we call the Internet 
Think you’ve hit the nail on the head there:
Now everyone has a camera on their phone, no-one ever sees UFO’s anymore. Coincidence?
Don’t think wagons getting stuck is any more common, rather when they do it’s publicised more.
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The fact the the unfortunate incident can be photographed and uploaded instantly, these things have happened since time immemorial, in the past we didn’t have smartphones and a panel of “experts” to give their opinions.
A couple of posts have shown 2 vehicles trying to make a left turn which was clearly signed as unsuitable, no excuses for either of them.
Where I work fellow drivers poke fun because I carry a map and take time to route plan, everyone that ever drove has done something daft without exception.
Good drivers learn from their mistakes and more importantly the mistakes of others, the one thing I have learned is how to get out of a fix or better still not get into one in the first place.
Or could it be the current crop of drivers are so inept and reliant on technology that they deserve to be paid in the currency of old shirt buttons.
If destination is back end of deyond then it makes little difference if you use satnav and some common or a paper map, you can still get into trouble.
Think it is no more common just easier to take a pick now.
One of the problems is that sat-navs contain errors. For this reason I always use maps as well.
Another factor is that delivery points are found in more obscure places than before. When I resumed LGV driving a few years ago one of the drops I had on my second day was literally in the middle of a field. The was a narrow track to and from it and very little turning space.
I think since farms have diversified and people have set up online businesses from home you seem far more likely to have a delivery address that’s not to somewhere lorry friendly. I would say you’re much more likely to find yourself round a non-industrial or residential area these days.
Having been a Subbie for Maritime on containers I know that they have 20’ containers sent to places that specify (and pay a huge premium) for “must be delivered on rigid”. If they don’t have a rigid spare they’ll just send a subbie in an artic to see if it can be done.
If you do make it into the customers premises they are ■■■■■■ off because they paid a lot more to get a rigid.
If you don’t? well as far as Maritime are concerned thats your problem. 
Putting part loads on too large a vehicle (having driven a 6w tipper I’m used to part loads of say 5t because I can backload nearly 16 instead of our mini tipper carrying 7). Cheap car derived satnavs have a lot to answer for, sadly our lot are putting more vague addresses because they include postcodes for satnavs.
I couldn’t find a remote farm on my map and shipper said “do you want the postcode?” I replied with “Ffs sake David, I want to deliver their sand, not write them an effin letter!”
also more news coverage of things like this as well…and as mentioned the internet makes news travel so much quicker.
You can get into just as much trouble with a map, possibly more compared to a truck sat nav.
Saaamon:
You can get into just as much trouble with a map, possibly more compared to a truck sat nav.
+1
Sat navs are only as good as the information contained in them. It relies upon a human being to provide accurate data.
This is not always the case, I had one that had an error 100 yards from my house so take nothing for granted. Perhaps “Google Street View” would be more accurate and helpful.
Saw a Curtain sider artic two car lengths from the bottom cattle grid on Winnatts Pass today trying to go up
Artstu:
Saw a Curtain sider artic two car lengths from the bottom cattle grid on Winnatts Pass today trying to go up
I would of have gone for it just for the scenery!!!
Or are drivers (esp. new drivers) just getting lazy and relying in sat nav / smart phone maps to get them to delivery points, and not watching / reading the road ahead…?
I use a standard Garmin to get a basic idea of a route from A to B, stick to Motorways and A Roads etc; if the drop is off the beaten track, in little villages - why not ring ahead and ask the owner / Manager / Warehouse the best way in etc, and do what they teach you when you learn… watch the road, read the signs (that’s why they are there), think about where you are putting the truck. If in any doubt, pull over, get out and take a walk down the road and do a reccy.
It’s not rocket science, I’ve never hit a bridge, never been down a weight restriction, never got stuck and never made a turn I can’t get down.
Another in Manchester today
seeing this thread, and the one with the stranded Tesco artic, reminded me of these pics on my phone.
They were taken a year or two ago in the centre of Howden.
He was Romanian I think - he’d come up Hailgate from the A614, made a 90-degree left into Bishopgate, and was trying to take a 90-degree right out onto Bridgegate (A63) when he got stuck. He had to reverse back out onto Hailgate
this is a map of the town centre
I doubt there are many more trucks getting stuck as pre sat navs, and it true that digital maps will have errors, but so do paper maps. As I found when I decided to take a particular route to a factory in Accrington many years ago only to find the through route shown on the a-z was in fact a dead end and also trying to find a non existent motorway in Luxembourg that was shown on my map.
Having been a cartographer I like to tell people they are not errors, but deliberate mistakes to catch out people who copy your maps.
I also doubt deliveries are particular worse than they under to be, I remember going to some real out of the way places when I started as we were doing multi drops with artics. Maybe we get out and ask a lot more than now, but that could get you in as much trouble if you asked the wrong people, like the one that think a 7.5 tonnes is the same size as an artic.
It’s easy to blame sat navs, especially old school drivers, but trying to hold and read an a-z while navigating a truck through a town was hardly foolproof or particuly safe. And then of course it didn’t seem to matter how many a-z’s you had the address you where looking for was always just outside the area in the a-z or it was a new development and your a-z was now out of date.
Where there’s a will there’s a way:
A lorry trailer has been lifted free after getting stuck in a single-track lane in a Cornish village.
The lorry got stuck in a single-track lane at Forder, near Saltash in Cornwall, on Monday after taking a wrong turn.
It was carrying 40 tonnes of seed, which has been removed.