yesterday here in west wales i was off to do an afternoon drop when travelling along the a40 just outside haverfordwest i joined queueing traffic, about 15 cars ahead i could see a lorry that was on the grass verge and the trailer strewn across the length of the carriage way, all the oncoming traffic was squezzing round the back of the trailer and not letting the traffic from my way through, so i took the bold move to pull out and head for the gap round the back of the trailer and stop traffic from both ways, i was thanked with flashong lights , horns and hand gestures 
. i held the traffic up in both directions whilst i spoke to the driver, two cars had overtaken him with not enough room and cut in font, he had to brake and it was wet and caused him to jackknife, lucky nobody was hurt or injured and nobody was involved, the two cars kept going, boy racers racing apparently… in an attempt to move the truck he mounted the grass verge and got stuck, he had phoneed the police but there was no sign, so i pulled my wagon in front and we began to hook up some straps and ropes that we both had so i could pull him off the verge, just as we were about to make the first attempt the police arrived and put stop to it!.. they said it was now a road closed incident and no vehicle was to be moved until they assessed the situation, trafffic was stopped both ways now, they wanted to know what happened , why, who was involved etc, i explained my part but was faced with an arsey copper, anyway a few arrived and we were given the option fo trying to shift it, he had a flat bed trailer and only to small pallets up the front end, so it was worth a go, anyway it wasnt happening, the police told us to untie it and for me to go on, they would have it shifted some how, i think it took an hour or so in the end… just wondering how many others have attempted to help a fellow driver in a predicament …
Always, if i can help and its safe to do so, every time , because one day I may be that driver, I would like to think there are a lot more out there with the same attitude…
so to summarise, he had blocked half the road, so you decided to block the other half, then the police arrived and stated you had effectively closed the road 
then you buggered off so half the roaed was reopened
RESULT
green456:
so to summarise, he had blocked half the road, so you decided to block the other half, then the police arrived and stated you had effectively closed the road
RESULT
Well done for trying to help, I am sure the other driver appreciated the assistance.
I am not surprised by the attitude of the other drivers. As long as they aren’t involved then they don’t care.
Same here
Well done for at least trying to Help
Always pull 'em out same way they went in.
Usually pull them out the same way they went in.
Depends if you can get the wrecker where you want it to be.
I applaud the OP’s helpful attitude and decision to have a go, but without the right equipment or the right training, he’s leaving himself wide open to a nasty situation. In this day and age of litigation and the no-win-no-fee compensation culture, I’m suprised the Police let him try.
We’ve been to loads of heavies which were a lot worse AFTER a good samaritan tried to tow/extract them.
Usually when the vehicle slides a couple of wheels down a ditch, a good samaritan (farmer) tries to tow them out and 99% of the time just pulls them further in (I can think of a couple that started out as one or two back wheels of a trailer over the edge of a ditch, and with the ‘help’ of a tractor ended up on their sides in the field). Or when they’re stuck in snow and an old hand tells the driver to throw chains under the drive wheels. I’ve recovered a car with no windscreen and a set of chains in the boot due to this very situation. Owner came a week later to empty his property from the car, had half his face missing 
OP, where would you stand legally if you were trying to tow the jack-kinfe straight, and your chains or strops snapped? Would your insurance cover the damage/injury/death caused, or would you end up in court 
And what recompense would you get for riveing hell out of your motor?
If you’re trying to pull something round by chaining it to your motor and driving, you’ve no control over it at all. If you chained to the tow eye, I hope it wasn’t on a Volvo, they’re famous for ripping out the front of the truck, so you now have a 20 odd ton bungee rope with a 20kg lump of cast iron on the end of it, and guess which way it’s heading! If it doesn’t write your cab off, it’ll certainly write any bystanders or even you off!
My polite way of saying, leave it to the professionals!
kemaro:
they would have it shifted some how,
Yep, they’d have rang their contractors, who would have attended in a wrecker.
I bet the Police there were wetting themselves with excitement at the drama of it all.
I wasn’t aware chains or straps would flick if they broke. Drop on the floor more like.
AFAIK only steel winch cables do that and they should have a wet sack hung over them.
As for the bungee effect, would need to be a nylon rope. Thats how 4x4’s are often extricated from bog holes.
They do, sometimes with catastrophic results.
4x4’s are often recovered with ■■■■■■ straps (or KERRs, kinetic energy recovery ropes), which are effective. They are usually used when there is not another vehicle with a suitable capacity winch to extract the stuck vehicle. ■■■■■■ straps carry a much higher risk of damage when things go wrong, the reason professional recovery companies don’t use them.
As for winch ropes, I agree they do wind up the most, when they fail they have the most potential for very serious damage/death. A wet sack won’t stop a wrecker winch rope at all, these days we use rope arresters when doing a hard pull. Of course, with proper training, with the winch load calculated and proper maintainance and testing of the equipment, such risk is greatly reduced. Working the equipment well within it’s capacities. Most we’ve had on the load cells is just shy of 90 tons, extracting a 20 ton 360 from a bog (thieves got it stuck, tried to dig themselves out, got it further stuck, so they set fire to the cab, then it sunk into the bog).
Just reading between the lines, but I can’t imagine many standard haulage tractors would carry suitable equipment to pull a jack-knife out. Standard 10mm load binding chain has a break force of about 6.5 tons. Most modern units weight around 8 tons, given that it’s a dead weight the sums don’t add up.
Grade 80/100 chain has a higher break force, but costs a lot more, so it’s unlikely it’ll be used as general load lashing chain. Heavy haulage lads would carry 13mm or 16mm chain though.
switchlogic:
I bet the Police there were wetting themselves with excitement at the drama of it all.
If i was there dealing with that incident i would be very wet 
cieranc:
They do, sometimes with catastrophic results.4x4’s are often recovered with ‘■■■■■■ straps’, which are effective. They are usually used when there is not another vehicle with a suitable capacity winch to extract the stuck vehicle. ■■■■■■ straps carry a much higher risk of damage when things go wrong, the reason professional recovery companies don’t use them.
There speaks a wrecker owner/driver 
An experienced lorry driver knows how and what to hook up to and how to tow another heavy off a grass verge and out of a ditch as long as the stuck vehicle isn’t at an angle where it is likely to go over.
cieranc:
We’ve been to loads of heavies which were a lot worse AFTER a good samaritan tried to tow/extract them.
Dave the Renegade:
An experienced lorry driver knows how and what to hook up to and how to tow another heavy off a grass verge and out of a ditch as long as the stuck vehicle isn’t at an angle where it is likely to go over.
We like them experienced drivers, they’re good for trade
Thems the lads that turn a £200 winch-out into a £3000 roll-over
cieranc:
cieranc:
We’ve been to loads of heavies which were a lot worse AFTER a good samaritan tried to tow/extract them.Dave the Renegade:
An experienced lorry driver knows how and what to hook up to and how to tow another heavy off a grass verge and out of a ditch as long as the stuck vehicle isn’t at an angle where it is likely to go over.We like them experienced drivers, they’re good for trade
Thems the lads that turn a £200 winch-out into a £3000 roll-over
Thats in the North East,this happened in Wales where the drivers are experienced 
.
Ahh so that’s the reason Dragon Rescue have wound up, there’s that many professional hauliers they have no trade (Get well soon Steve Powell).
So so kicking myself, can’t believe I missed a perfect ‘So Called Professional Drivers’ opportunity 
cieranc:
Thems the lads that turn a £200 winch-out into a £3000 roll-over
£200 for a winch out, your having a laff arn’t you, or did you miss a zero 
I thought that BigJ, it’ll be that just to start the wrecker up before it leaves the yard.
cieranc:
kemaro:
they would have it shifted some how,Yep, they’d have rang their contractors, who would have attended in a wrecker.
…KERCHING££££££££ 
Nah, private work hourly rate on a wrecker is £60. So for a straight winch out, couple of hours work, £200 not far off the mark.
Police work is all fixed price now, your jack-knife would be:
Over 18 tons, on road, not substantially damaged = £350.
How much to replace the clutch on your unit after you’ve rived [zb] out of it trying to pull a jack-knife out for free ■■?