Paragon route planning

UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUMS THE UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUM (INTERACTIVE)
1

Has anyone on here got experience of this awful piece of software that has been thrown away by the likes of Tescos?

For those who don’t know…Paragon is a navigation system on a desktop PC for transport managers to plan journeys. As a driver all you get is an A4 sized map covering your whole journey (in my case today, Basingstoke, Calcott, Croydon, Basingstoke) and then pages of road names.

a fine example of its brilliant logic is this…from Basingstoke we often have to go to Sutton, via Epsom…the route we’d normally take is M3, M25 J9, right onto A243, join A24…into epsom…

But Paragon says M3, M25 J9, left onto A243, B280 (12’ 6" bridge), A24…as Some of you may have spotted, that bridge is too low for a truck…if I was in a double decker bus I’d consider it.

And just to clarify, the list of road names and numbers is just that, a list…doesn’t say “turn right onto…”, It just lists them as it plots them, meaning half of the roads you’re supposed to go down just aren’t signed posted or named with a sign. For instance, today it told me to go down the M4 from Calcott, come off and J2?, follow A4, then B317 (North End Street). There was no sign saying B317 or North End Street…In the end I opted to follow the A4, A302, A202 then down the A23, passing the likes of Parliament Square, MI6, V&A and lots of lovely Congestion Charge cameras :wink:

And to top it off, It only takes you to the local area of your drop, for instance…One of my drops today was Croydon Drummond Centre, Paragon knows it simply as “A236 Croydon Drummond”, for those who know the drummond centre, there’s a further 4 roads off of the A236 that you need to go down before reaching the underground service yard.

Anyway…looking forward to your comments.

2

You’re lucky you didn’t have to go to Tesco at Weybridge. The A318 has a 9’9" bridge on it at Byfleet.

My first outing to an RDC in 1996 was this one and I missed the turning and was confronted by this bridge. Fortunately there is an industrial estate before it and I was able to turn round.

3

I know the bridge you mean…I drove under it once on my way home from gliding…as I approached it i said to my gf “Thank ■■■■ I’m not driving an artic right now!”

4

C.■■■■ used to use it when I workrd for them on the Poundstretcher job, but when I was planning, I refused to use it and the IT guy got all shirty with me.

I preferred good old fashioned brain knowledge, as a computer can’t tell you where roadworks are, where low bridges are, etc etc.

Crock of ■■■■ if you ask me, but someone has made a mint out of it.

Ken.

5

I wish I could refuse to use it but I’m only agency. It’s a shame agency drivers don’t have rights.

There’s only one good thing about it, and that is if you’ve got a fairly simple route then the times are usually spot on. Anywhere inside the M25 though and it hasn’t got a clue.

6

Quinny:
Crock of [zb] if you ask me, but someone has made a mint out of it.

100% true.

Our company paid a reported £100k for it, absolute ■■■■■ it is, I have told em I would have done all the routing for substantially less,
The system doesnt know weight limits or bridge heights so how it can be used in transport is beyond me, but yet company’s such as ours get mugged by it.

7

Yeah…I know what you mean, we’ve had it for about 4 months now and we have to write down comments on it all the time about bridges and weight limits and the like. The worst bit is just the way everything is listed…how can you safely navigate with it without causing inconvenience to the world and at night? It wouldn’t be so bad if they shoved it on a PDA and gave it to the drivers as a proper sat nav. At least all we’d have to think about is bridges and weight limits.

Thing is Sat Nags are against company policy, but my car sat nag, which hasnt been updated since 2006 has saved my arse so many times when paragon has got me so lost I cant even find myself on a map!

8

waddy640:
You’re lucky you didn’t have to go to Tesco at Weybridge. The A318 has a 9’9" bridge on it at Byfleet.

I know, took me an hour to find a drop there the other week because of it and it turn out it was right in front of it :imp:
It was a classic case of ignoring the satnav even though it was right this time… :blush: