The Rustler:
The biggest problem on Sutton Bank, is not how steep it is … the problem is the hair-pin bend about half-way up … with an artic, you need to take a wide swing over the centre white line AND you have got to keep the low gear / plenty of revs …BUT … if a vehicle coming down the hill does not give-way and you lose speed ( or God forbid STOP ) … you will find it difficult to get going.
Highway code rule used to be vehicles going down a hill should give way to vehicles coming up the hill … particularly if that vehicle is larger / heavier / loaded … I bet they don’t teach THAT on the driving test
AND … YES I have been UP & DOWN in an artic
A very simple and inexpensive solution…have a give way with priority for traffic coming up the hill!
The Rustler:
The biggest problem on Sutton Bank, is not how steep it is … the problem is the hair-pin bend about half-way up … with an artic, you need to take a wide swing over the centre white line AND you have got to keep the low gear / plenty of revs …BUT … if a vehicle coming down the hill does not give-way and you lose speed ( or God forbid STOP ) … you will find it difficult to get going.
Highway code rule used to be vehicles going down a hill should give way to vehicles coming up the hill … particularly if that vehicle is larger / heavier / loaded … I bet they don’t teach THAT on the driving test
AND … YES I have been UP & DOWN in an artic
This is one of the few sensible replies on this thread. It is a 1:4 gradient, not far off the steepest in UK. It will test any HGV driver. The ones saying get on with it are the sort who haven’t the wit or manners to give way to trucks using more of he road to maintain momentum on the hair-pin. Once the weight goes off that king-pin if you are not travelling fast enough you are ■■■■■■■ Last time I went over there was in a B Series ERF…what fun.
Been up it empty in a Stralis. Stopped at the bottom, engaged low gear in manual, and feathered the throttle all the way up, not foot to the floor because as soon as you lose traction, your toast.
many many more trucks get stuck on there then what is suggested on the signs, these are only the ones where the police and recovery get called out for… many more either loose traction before hitting the hairpin and then reverse back…
a few years back i was up and down it several times a week in a tipper, tipping stone at a farm sutton under whitestone … and saw many get stuck…
as said its not always the driver going up that causes the problem, you do need a wide swing as you approach the hairpin, anything coming the other way and your screwed… and as most of these coming down are looking at the views, jobs ■■■■■■■
they are now trying to ban trucks from using sutton bank and tbh think it will happen… its only a matter of time before someone gets stuck and reverses back then to loose it… been some close ones over the years…
Been up it in an artic with 6/8 pallets of compost on it, Volvo ishift, engage power and manual, slow but didn’t miss a beat, was dry too, may be tricky in the wet.
We used to run up Sutton bank to the bacon factory at Malton via Helmsley.
It stopped doing it after 1 guy pulling a load of hanging meat got stuck.
We also used to run up from Morrisons Stockton via Stokesley up through chopgate to Helmsley. In summer we’d go more scenic & run up via the caravan route so we could stop off in the village and get home made ice creams
The Rustler:
Highway code rule used to be vehicles going down a hill should give way to vehicles coming up the hill … particularly if that vehicle is larger / heavier / loaded … I bet they don’t teach THAT on the driving test
AND … YES I have been UP & DOWN in an artic
Ignorance in the industry has so called pro truck drivers ingnoring that rule these days, don’t they teach that at truck driving school either?
Good point well made Rustler ! How you doin ?
Stevebarnsleytrucker , I too have been up and down in both arctics and rigids but can’t actually remember goin up in empty artic. The bend is the thing, whichever way you go let us know won’t you ?
I was going to Felixkirk today and the sign said " 47 incidents so far this year "
Good luck
I have done it in my younger days you when your in one them moods when you switch off and worry about it later,
not now there are to many eyes and any one who gets a buzz out of seeing you ■■■■ up and then you have to try a explain to your boss about the police being there and trying to get out of this position that you put yourself into
I tell you mate it is not worth it for a few extra miles and diesel do what you know is right and at the end of the day or when some one asks you a few years later you will look back on this and know you did the right thing and go round.
peirre:
We used to run up Sutton bank to the bacon factory at Malton via Helmsley.
It stopped doing it after 1 guy pulling a load of hanging meat got stuck.
We also used to run up from Morrisons Stockton via Stokesley up through chopgate to Helmsley. In summer we’d go more scenic & run up via the caravan route so we could stop off in the village and get home made ice creams
Trucks should be banned from using the B1257 from Stokesley to Helmsley it should be reserved for motorbikes only, well at weekends any way
As for Sutton bank why give yourself the aggro, you only need one prat in car (there’s plenty of them) and your left with all sorts of hassle.
I wouldn’t try it in the DAF I’ve got now, but would have given it a go in the MAN I used to have. That may be down to tyres.
Truckulent:
I wouldn’t bother. Too many truck drivers get stuck on Sutton Bank 'cos they think taking an artic up there will make their small ■■■■■ larger.
Follow the route advice of those that wouldn’t!
If a driver can’t get an empty artic in dry weather up Sutton Bank then he/she should probably hand their licence in. That isn’t some macho bull btw, just a simple statement of facts.
1 moaster , always went that way from Stockton - Malton , never had any issues
old 67:
Aye, looks reet enough to me Steve. The odds of getting up are pretty good too, police say on average only 120 lorries per year fail to make it past the hairpin.
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Regards. John.
Having read the posts on this thread, I refer you all back to my first post on the thread and say, what more evidence do you need? A lot of truck drivers really need to grow up. All this ‘man up’ ■■■■■■■■ and ‘you’re not a driver if you can’t get an artic up Sutton Bank’. Of course it can be done. The art of driving an artic is how well you go backwards, not how well you can drive up a hill…
Fellas, you’re truck drivers not the SAS. No one’s impressed whether or not you’ve taken an artic up there. It’s more about the other traffic than you anyway. Half the car drivers going up/down there are ■■■■■■■■ bricks… When they see an artic it turns into ■■■■■■■■ houses…
and I have as well !!
