sicknote:
Right then gents, like the Big Un, I too was a good friend of Micks and also a work colleague at Sherwoods. The offending chain was not under tension, nor was it securing anything. How the chain became a cheesewire could have happened two simple ways, it either slid across the bed and hit something in the road that caused it to flail up and slice Mick’s cab, or it caught the rotating tyre/wheel of the trailer and that flung it up into the air having the same effect. I’ve done low loader work before with chains and always secured them when not in use, never leaving them on the bed of the trailer as the any vibrations can cause them to move. It’s simple physics really, put a brick on a washing machine even on a SLOW spin and it will work itself off (an extreme example but true). What happened was a one in a million tragedy. The driver of the Select truck never set out that day to kill anyone, however this case must highlight the dangers of unsecured chains on the back of trailers and hopefully stop this ever happening again. RIP Mick Stringer, a pleasure to have known you and glad a few of us could make your last journey with you!
Thank you for that info, I suspected that this may have been the case rather than the chain swinging out.
FarnboroughBoy11:
I see the flatbed boys and low loaders leave their chains in a bunch on the trailer, always looks as if the weight is good enough to hold them down but clearly not this time.
No Problem about that.
But a Chain,Cable or Strap escaping when under full pressure will cut you in half.
A Chain is just that strong as the weakest Link. same for Steel Cable,Ropes and Straps.
Know Double deck Trailer where Topdeck is lifted and hold by Cable,and i trust them not anything. Not that the Rope will break,but,if it breaks theres nothing to help you.
FarnboroughBoy11:
I see the flatbed boys and low loaders leave their chains in a bunch on the trailer, always looks as if the weight is good enough to hold them down but clearly not this time.
No Problem about that.
But a Chain,Cable or Strap escaping when under full pressure will cut you in half.
A Chain is just that strong as the weakest Link. same for Steel Cable,Ropes and Straps.
Know Double deck Trailer where Topdeck is lifted and hold by Cable,and i trust them not anything. Not that the Rope will break,but,if it breaks theres nothing to help you.
FarnboroughBoy11:
I see the flatbed boys and low loaders leave their chains in a bunch on the trailer, always looks as if the weight is good enough to hold them down but clearly not this time.
No Problem about that.
But a Chain,Cable or Strap escaping when under full pressure will cut you in half.
A Chain is just that strong as the weakest Link. same for Steel Cable,Ropes and Straps.
Know Double deck Trailer where Topdeck is lifted and hold by Cable,and i trust them not anything. Not that the Rope will break,but,if it breaks theres nothing to help you.
A bit dramatic but it wont cut you in half. Have a look on google as Mythbusters did an episode based on could this happen using chains and a pig carcus. While you are most likely to die, you’re not likely to be ‘cut in half’ - with dramatisation like that you could get a job as the voiceover for stobarts next season of trucks trains and planes.
This one, & a few others recently, have really made think about my attitude & approach to the job.
This could so easily have been ME in the place of either Michael Stringer or Christopher Watson.
Christopher Watson was convicted at Oxford Crown Court in November of causing the death of Michael Stringer, from Brill in Buckinghamshire, by driving a lorry in a dangerous condition.
The 45-year-old yesterday received an 18-month suspended sentence after a judge said what happened was “unique and disastrous”.
The accident took place on the A415 near Abingdon on July 18, 2012, as Mr Stringer’s vehicle and a flatbed lorry driven by the defendant were passing each other.
Judge Mary Jane Mowat said the evidence in the case showed Watson had left one or more chains unsecured on the back of his lorry after transporting a load to Abingdon.
She said the 52-year-old Mr Stringer died after the chain whipped through the cabin of his lorry and inflicted what a prosecutor called a “catastrophic head injury”.
Feel so sorry for the lad killed, and for his family…also to the other lad, who will carry this for the rest of his days.
He went to work that day, did with those chains what he’s done a thousand times…this time with tragic results…a terrible accident…could have been any one of us…there for the grace of god… etc etc…
