I was made to feel like a naughty schoolboy today at the Dartford Tunnel, they’d obviously clocked the load whilst I was in the queue for the booths and decided that I was trying to sneakily outdo them of a £42 ■■■■■■.
As I got to the barrier they held me so a Traffic Officer could have a word
“Err driver, how wide is load”
I reply that it is 9’6"
“What’s that in metric then”
“Dunno, why do you ask the sign says 9’6” or over for ■■■■■■"
“Right we’ll stop the other traffic, lift the barrier and you go back down the other side to the abnormal loads bay so we can measure you”
I think they were disappointed that I was right but I think in future I’ll pull in for them to check rather than do the drive of shame.
It was one of these on board.
![](http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/kk8/8wheels-2/work00348.jpg)
that looks like an Andover trailer without boards so thats 8 foot, you dont look over size to me, I would have gone for it too ![:wink: :wink:](https://emoji.discourse-cdn.com/twitter/wink.png?v=12)
It’s actually a Nooteboome trailer.
I’ve since discovered that the regular driver will pull in and let them decide it’s OK first, that’s a good idea as I really don’t want to be getting turned back to be checked. It’s a VOSA hotspot too, although I;'ve got nothing to hide they must see stuff coming back and take more interest.
Rikki-UK:
that looks like an Andover trailer without boards so thats 8 foot, you dont look over size to me, I would have gone for it too ![:wink: :wink:](https://emoji.discourse-cdn.com/twitter/wink.png?v=12)
Was just gonna say the same, even with my limited experience on them. There’s no way that’s 9’6 as the tracks only overhang by a couple of inches on each side if you get them square.
I think they stay pretty much the same width til you get up to the 350+ size.
Our 22t machines are about 10’3 wide
![](http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/kk8/8wheels-2/work00317.jpg)
The biggest one I’m currently shifting is this 25tonner at 3.4m wide
![](http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/kk8/8wheels-2/work00355.jpg)
You can have machines with different width tracks, wider for stability or a 20t machine on narrower tracks to avoid the wide load permit hassle.
In fairness to the Tunnel lot they weren’t arsy about it and didn’t mess me about once I’d got in the compound.
Yes, sorry it’s the 220s where they get fatter. ![:blush: :blush:](https://emoji.discourse-cdn.com/twitter/blush.png?v=12)
You can’t win here.
I dragged another one through today, but decided to let them check it first.
Me “Do you want to measure this and check?”
TO “How wide is it?”
ME “About 9’ but last week you stopped me at the barrier and turned me to check”
TO “Well if it was OK then it’ll be OK now, off you go”
![:unamused: :unamused:](https://emoji.discourse-cdn.com/twitter/unamused.png?v=12)
Although I did see a German with orange boards get turned around on Sunday, which made me feel better.