If the load’s safe enough to move the vehicle and there’s somewhere convenient to go, move off the bay and let other drivers use it.
You see that raises another issue all together.
As i mentioned this place was an alcohol distributors and the amount of drivers i saw just pull off the bay and drive out the gates without even bothering to secure the load was unreal [emoji54]
All you need to worry about is what your carrying,forget what other people are doing just worry about yourself.
Your load is secure and you feel safe to take it then do so,if you see the offending driver with his load strewn all over the road outside then feel free to let me know so I can get some free booze before they start to clean it up.
BeakFreak81:
So it’s all down to personal choice then?
Sort of, i just like to be helpful to other drivers so if pulling off the bay got them 10 minutes in front then i would do it, if you dont think you should then thats your choice
You see i don’t visit many RDC’S.Only for back loads usually.But as i’ve been sat waiting my turn in the queue i’ve watched other drivers habits and i thought strapping up on the bay was the norm.
I was sat on a a bay at a well known alcohol distributors today,picking up a back load to run up to the North East with.Light turns green so i have a wander over the office to collect my paperwork.
On my return to the wagon i opened up the curtains and started strapping the load.As i was closing the first side up a voice behind me asks how long i’m going to be.Without even turning i replied that i was going to strap the other side and then i’d be done.The reply i got was well hurry up i’m on this bay next.At this i turned round to see some bloke swaggering off towards another wagon.
It must of taken a maximum of 10 minutes for me from start to finish to put the straps on and secure the curtains but the whole thing has left me a little confused.
I always thought it was good manners to let a driver put his house in order …secure the load,sort the paperwork whilst he was on the bay,rather than pull off and have to find somewhere else to do it.
Am i wrong?
Poor etiquette imho but perhaps you are a new driver and didn’t know better? There’s no official “law” on what one must do but it’s considered courteous to either move forwards or drive away from the bay if there are other people waiting. I like to view it as “if that were me waiting behind, what would I like them to do?” You wouldn’t want to be further delayed while some guy messes around strapping his load where there are places away from the bay to do it. Treat others as you’d like to be treated yourself . You will 99% of time get a big thanks from the following driver for moving too, which is always a nice feeling.
One of my jobs is sometimes doing the newspapers to the wholesalers and due to the nature of how the operation works you often find that the trucks carrying the other titles from other print centres all turn up at the wholesalers at more-or-less the same time so there can be a bit of a queue and obviously it’s a time sensitive delivery. To my mind if I’m waiting in the queue behind another truck and I have a truck behind me then it is common sense to use that waiting time to undo my buckles and open the curtains (if it’s not raining) so that I’ve done my bit to help everyone get in and out as quickly and efficiently as possible. The instant I’m tipped I will jump straight in and pull forwards 60ft so that the guy behind can start getting unloaded while I do up my curtains and get my notes. However, the number of drivers that don’t do this simple stuff…
The-Snowman:
Wonder who’ll be the first to chime in with either “guy did this to me once and I knocked him spark out” or “Id have took my sweet time and went as slow as possible”
I was somewhere sometime and I was asked to move so this bloke could get on the loading bay and knocked him spark out one punch out cold and said to him "I will move when am ■■■■■■■ ready not when you say " so what I did was because it was int good ole days I unfasten mi sheets pulled him of folded em back up ggot ladder out carried em back up and resheeted load and took mi time, then I went to canteen and had a breakfast for 25p because in them days it wa subsidised, then filled in me log book fo week and then decided to have a night out there so I got planks of wood from behind seats and mi foam I got from an ol settee coz I like to be comfy and pulled mi curtains round ar lass med me and got head darn till 8 next morning the bloke had just come round so I said oye tha can get on nar pal and he never said a word.
.
I pull off the bay even to close the back doors. But that’s because I’m a nice guy + I have a note from me psychiatrist that I’m to avoid situations that may cause me to get excited. I even have to show this note during police stops and potential confrontations.
Dipper_Dave:
I pull off the bay even to close the back doors. But that’s because I’m a nice guy + I have a note from me psychiatrist that I’m to avoid situations that may cause me to get excited. I even have to show this note during police stops and potential confrontations.
BeakFreak81:
As i mentioned this place was an alcohol distributors and the amount of drivers i saw just pull off the bay and drive out the gates without even bothering to secure the load was unreal [emoji54]
Same at a paper place we load at, 12 pallets get double stacked in the middle of the trailer yet guys still just pull the curtains on some flimsy old tautliner and go. It’s frightening.
RE: the thread subject though, always pull off if possible (& allowed) and strap somewhere out of the way imo.
damoq:
I prefer to move off and let the next driver in, then do what I’ve got to do with straps, paperwork etc.
If you pull off the bay, and an unsecured part of your load falls off whilst you are still in the yard… Guess who gets it in the neck?.. It won’t be Mr Impatient who couldn’t be arsed to wait his bloody turn properly…
BeakFreak81:
So it’s all down to personal choice then?
Sort of yeah, i just like to be helpful to other drivers so if pulling off the bay got them 10 minutes in front then i would do it, if you dont think you should then thats your choice
It’s often not practical to pull of the bay and block the (too small) yard somewhere. “Outside on the service road” is often the “first opportunity” to pull up and strap up if you will - but then you’ve left the yard with an unsecured load, and that probably breaks even the most casual yard’s H&S rules…
Winseer:
If you pull off the bay, and an unsecured part of your load falls off whilst you are still in the yard… Guess who gets it in the neck?.. It won’t be Mr Impatient who couldn’t be arsed to wait his bloody turn properly…
If you pull off the bay in order to strap up and part of your load falls off I suggest that you have driven like a ■■■■ for them few yards and you need to bear in mind it’s a HGV and not a bloody RS turbo!
Winseer:
If you pull off the bay, and an unsecured part of your load falls off whilst you are still in the yard… Guess who gets it in the neck?.. It won’t be Mr Impatient who couldn’t be arsed to wait his bloody turn properly…
If you pull off the bay in order to strap up and part of your load falls off I suggest that you have driven like a [zb] for them few yards and you need to bear in mind it’s a HGV and not a bloody RS turbo!
That’s assuming the forkie did a good job of course, and we all know THEY never ■■■■ up! Not to mention an unsecured curtain swinging out or being caught by a gust of wind, sending a curtain pole through someone’s window, or worse, their skull. It’s my licence, and nobody is going to make me do something I’m not 100% happy with.
Captain Caveman 76:
That’s assuming the forkie did a good job of course, and we all know THEY never [zb] up! Not to mention an unsecured curtain swinging out or being caught by a gust of wind, sending a curtain pole through someone’s window, or worse, their skull.
did you know that by driving a truck, you could hit someone and kill them? best not turn that key driver!
Winseer:
If you pull off the bay, and an unsecured part of your load falls off whilst you are still in the yard… Guess who gets it in the neck?.. It won’t be Mr Impatient who couldn’t be arsed to wait his bloody turn properly…
If you pull off the bay in order to strap up and part of your load falls off I suggest that you have driven like a [zb] for them few yards and you need to bear in mind it’s a HGV and not a bloody RS turbo!
The “driving like a helmet” starts the moment you move before you’ve secured the load…
Winseer:
The “driving like a helmet” starts the moment you move before you’ve secured the load…
Speak for yourself sweetheart!
Well, I don’t think it’s daft to stick to H&S procedure when it comes down to protecting my licence in the face of some verbal crap about how some other bloke thinks he has a God-given right to hurry me up…
I don’t do “Hurry”. I’ll leave that to those younguns out there on a promise with about three different birds on the go when they get “home”…
If I go to pick up a trailer, and find what should be pre-strapped has NOT been - then I’m going to have to do it myself - in my own time.
One of the things about working perma nights/lates is that I’ve known for many years that for one reason or another - the day staff are in such a hurry when they get back with the truck I’m taking over - they often don’t derv it, don’t unload it, or don’t even bother with defects - 'cos it’s the end of their duty, and they can’t wait to get out of the gate.
. You will 99% of time get a big thanks from the following driver for moving too, which is always a nice feeling.
then filled in me log book fo week and then decided to have a night out there so I got planks of wood from behind seats and mi foam I got from an ol settee coz I like to be comfy and pulled mi curtains round ar lass med me and got head darn till 8 next morning the bloke had just come round so I said oye tha can get on nar pal and he never said a word. 
