Cutting my teeth on some international stuff over the next few weeks. Ireland first, then Netherlands, then Germany.
Just been doing some research, and a couple of questions come up:
Speed limits in Germany - is it seriously the case that it is 60 kph anywhere that isn’t 50 and isn’t a motorway or am I getting dud advice? Do people do it, and is it enforced? (most of Europe seems to be 80…)
Hull ferry to Europort - my ‘friends’ are making a big deal of having to reverse on and trying to spook me out! I’m quite new to class 1 and now just a bit concerned - how bad is it really?! Any tips? Ok - yes - try not to hit anything, but seriously if there is anything worth knowing I’m all ears!
Hi Tim,welcome to Tnuk.We are to help, so keep asking questions no matter how trivial you think it is.
Germany;Note the speed limit signs for non motorway signs in towns and villages.They may do random speed checks with radar.
Motorway is 56 mph.
Hull ferry;if you have to reverse on,the crew may have whistles and guide you in with hand signals.
For Benelux ,which is short for Be:Belgium ,Ne;Netherlands and Lux;Luxembourg ,you need to buy a vignete ticket.
For Germany it is a toll system with a machine in many languages.A driver will show you how to use it.
You can get a refund on the toll ticket.
If you have no tacho records for the last 28 days,an attestation activity letter is needed to cover absence/holidays or sickness.
Truck documents must be originals and no photocopies.
Flip flops for showers to prevent Athletes foot.
For each illegal immigrant found in your trailer,the fine is £2000.Download a journey check list from the UKBA website.
Had the same line used on me many a time ref reversing on the boat . I once sat at zeebrugge for four hours watching Tuggs reverse onto the pride of York with their ro ro trailers,fearing the same thing . When the time came they drove you on around the sides of the hold and turned u around at the top end of the boat . If u get what I mean . I’ve only ever reversed off a boat once in Dover beginning of this year , and it was a bit of job . If its your first time abroad in a truck , just go steady , I always thought it was easier driving over their . Enjoy it .
In built up areas 50kph. Be aware that these limits apply as soon as you pass the yellow sign with the town name, there may be no “50” sign.
Around schools and in particularly narrow streets there will quite possibly be a 30kph limit.
2 lane roads outside built up areas 60kph.
Motorways and dual carriageways 80kph.
There are a lot of static and mobile radar around these days but nothing to worry about if you drive sensibly.
Reversing onto the Hull boat can be a bit daunting at first but take it easy and you will be ok. Switch your SIDELIGHTS on (headlights will dazzle those reversing on after you) so you can see your trailer marker lights.
The lanes are well marked and you will have 1 or 2 little foreign gentlemen guiding you in. Take your time and don’t let them hurry you. When you hear the whistle, STOP!
And don’t forget to fold your mirrors in!
Watch some euro driver videos on youtube.
Look for Luke Vernon (Switchlogic on here) youtube.com/channel/UCUu_K_ … oSMPIhQ67Q
and Peter owens youtube.com/channel/UC6vmlu … 4mnX4OrgWw
There’s also Ned Kelly but I’ve found the other 2 a bit more informative about the ins and outs of the euro stuff.
I don’t drive over the water but find it all interesting.
Luke also does some great in cab cooking stuff that’s worth a look if you’re going to be away a while.
Tim,when eating on the motorways or normal roads,ask the cashier for a loyalty card.Buy ten meals get one free.There is a great truckstop in Belgium at Habay.
They do foot long mixed meat on a skewer.
Autogrill places have 20% off the price for drivers.Show the kucence.But they have never asked to see mine.
Just say chaffeur.
The German Autohoffs are spotless.
On the motorways and other stops,you pay to use the loo.They are guarded by cleaners.
They give you a voucher to spend in the cafe.
In Germany,you can come off the toll road to patk up.Some nice tavenas that sell five litre glasses of beer.
Pork schinznel is a large pork chop cooked in bread crumbs.
The Germans are very friendly and do have a sense of humour.
The load must be secured and strapped.
No tears in the ratchet straps and the load limits label must be shown.Heavy fines for non compliance.They fine the firm that loaded it.They fine the driver and your boss and they may call out a firm to remove the goods or take them off the trailer.A triple Whammy.
The load must be secured and strapped,no tears . the ratchet straps
Dont forget NEVER park anywhere within 50 Km at least of the ports and (unlike me) ALWAYS CHECK YOUR TRAILER for tears, seal breaks or any tampering with. Look under the trailer as well.
I had a Family of 5 vietnamese in the trailer when i was CO2 checked at the lanes in calais, all nicely wrapped in black dustbin bags and Dear daddy of the family had tooled his self with a stanley for emergency exiting.
24 hours parking in the docks and a visit to gendarme HQ, and i was ready for the “midnight express” treatment and have the soles of my feet bambooed !!!
Are you fined if the unwelcome guests are discovered before you have left the country, or only if discovery when you get back to Blighty?
I take the point to check and double check regardless though, cheers.
It used to be if they where discovered once you had disembarked off the ferry at dover ect, hence why you would see some drivers refusing to drive off the ferry untill the crew had removed them from the truck ,as we used to always check the truck before getting off the ferry
But that was before they stationed customs /passport controls at the likes of calais, i heard a rumour that you can now get fined if they are found at calais or the ET terminal down the road ,
I did hear of a situation where a driver came over from the continent and delivered to schumans ( i think thats there name) here in south wales and as he opened the curtains 4 afghans jumped out and made a bolt for freedom.
The security patrol guard happened to be passing and gave chase. He managed to tackle one to the ground, must of been a paid up member of UKIP. !!
However no sooner did he get the sad looking afghan up than the driver rugby tackled the guard and told the afghan to p*** off ( he obviously used several hand movements to impress the urgency of his predicament as i,m sure he did,nt speak afghanie)
His explanation to the police was " did,nt see a thing officer, the guard must of been mistaken" !!!
Re reversing onto a boat, it’s no different than any other reverse. Take your time, no rush and don’t be rushed. Look at one person for signals and pay attention to him only.
If you have a fridge and need a plug in, turn your hazards on once you start to drive on. This lets them know where to put you.
If you need any help with Ireland, directions and such, feel free to pm. And good luck
kitbuilder123:
Re reversing onto a boat, it’s no different than any other reverse. Take your time, no rush and don’t be rushed. Look at one person for signals and pay attention to him only.
If you have a fridge and need a plug in, turn your hazards on once you start to drive on. This lets them know where to put you.
If you need any help with Ireland, directions and such, feel free to pm. And good luck
Thanks. Ireland trip this week. Loaded trailer today, and any that moan about hand balling loads should see this trailer, full of over 60 heavy flight cases! Looking forward to it, will try and take some pictures if I have time.
The drive from Carlisle to Cairnryan was the hard part. Great food on the ferry in truckers lounge. Then very enjoyable drive from Belfast right down to almost Cork. Only issue I had was with the services signs on the motorway which seem to direct you to the center of the nearest town/village. Seems you have to discover/ plan in advance where the real services are. Apologies to the residents of Cashel, and thanks to the very nice bloke who gave me directions back to the motorway and some ‘normal’ services!
I was driving the the trusty old white manual FH12 - this was our arrival in Trabolgen near Cork:
Cashel is a ■■■■■■ of a town, I was there a few weeks ago and they had half the town dug up!
There’s not many proper services on the motorways yet! one near Lusk off the M1, and one near Portlaoise off the M7, they have the garage just off the M8 at Cashel listed as a services but I’m pretty sure there are only a few truck spaces there (you might have been directed here it’s a Topaz garage with a Mc Donald’s), I was only in a van so I wasn’t paying much attention to the truck area but it looked tiny,
There is an Amber garage just off the motorway at Fermoy that has parking and good food aswell!
I used to go on holidays to Trabolgan! Glad the trip went well!
I thought it wasn’t just me … Cashel is indeed still half dug up, with some tight corners. Yes, it was the J8 garage I was directed to. It’s a bit rich calling even this “services”. The HGV entrance is shared with the MCD drive thru, with cars parked both sides, resulting in an extremely tight turn in. Then you go round the back, and narrowly miss the height limiter, and there are 4 HGV pumps, and 2 truck parking spaces.
If you know Trabolgan, they put up a marquee for this event we were covering in the overflow car park (just down the slope from the swimming pool) and I had a great deal of fun getting an artic in and out of this spot! Everything inside the tent (stage, truss, lights, cameras, sound) was in the back of my truck, and unloading and setup took best part of a day.
Great place with cool scenery and lovely people though.
Quick update… basically I was worrying too much about most of it!
Did the run to Muenster, and then onto Deldon in NL. Getting on ferry was a bit scary but not too bad. Didn’t realise how tight mirrors are when going up ramp and came close to losing one, reckon there’s about an inch to spare either side?!
Took a few shunts to back into space and the blokes were fairly patient and helpful. Good grub on boat. Next morning could only get into cab on passenger side, and bloke next to me couldn’t get in at all so felt a bit bad for not getting it straight enough, but he was very decent about it. Not sure why they don’t make the ferries with a little more room to spare between trucks, it’s impressively tight.
Getting off ferry was comparatively easy, just U turn at the front and down the ramp, watching mirrors very carefully this time!
Then the first miles on wrong side of the road in a truck, and this was nowhere near as bad as I feared, the roads seem to be better generally over here. It got a bit more interesting on the Muenster ring, plenty to think about.
Don’t quite follow the German thing of turning the lights green at same time as the crossing on the road to your right and then making you give way to the cyclists and pedestrians, feels like a recipe for disaster to me! And the Dutch minor roads with one lane in Middle and cycle lanes either side feel like a strange idea too…
But so far so good, looking forward to being back in Blighty for a decent cup of tea in a couple of weeks time.
