limeyphil:
chaversdad:
nick2008:
limeyphil:
Every load should be secure. We shouldn’t need vosa to tell us this.+1
But we also dont need Vosa to tell us when common sense says a load doesnt need strapping ie. bog rolls, crisps etc
Bog roll and crisps are secured, I’ll criss cross every second stack (8 pallets).
yeah but is that because your worried about getting a pull or you think they will move?
Strapping bog rolls and tea bags is ■■■■■■■ pointless, except for possibly stopping stuff falling out when the curtains are opened, ie double stacked bog rolls etc.
Even the Germans show a bit of common sense in this regard.
I’m not sure exactly,but I think if the pallets are less than 400 k each,then you can forget straps.
Also, whenever I deliver loads of washing powder for example that will be 20000/24000 kg because using ratchet straps would totally goose the load, it seems, that this is allowed, I don’t know this as a fact but, I have delivered many loads like this over the years I assume the bag or whatever they are called make allowances for it.
Ok,this is in code XL trailers with planks.
Is it a case of the uk gold plating bullcrap again,or in reality are vosa going to use some common sense.
Surely,we cannot be more ■■■■ than the Germans.
zippo:
I’m not sure exactly,but I think if the pallets are less than 400 k each,then you can forget straps.
Close but no cigar. VOSA guidelines state that individual pallets weighing less than 400 kg may be restrained by internal straps; over that and you need ratchets to secure the pallet to the bed.
Sidevalve:
zippo:
I’m not sure exactly,but I think if the pallets are less than 400 k each,then you can forget straps.Close but no cigar. VOSA guidelines state that individual pallets weighing less than 400 kg may be restrained by internal straps; over that and you need ratchets to secure the pallet to the bed.
I’m talking about Germany.
Like I said,I’m not sure but it seems that is the score in Germany.
Still guidelines are just that,for guidance,so not worth getting our nickers in a twist.
ROADRANGER:
Sidevalve:
zippo:
I’m not sure exactly,but I think if the pallets are less than 400 k each,then you can forget straps.Close but no cigar. VOSA guidelines state that individual pallets weighing less than 400 kg may be restrained by internal straps; over that and you need ratchets to secure the pallet to the bed.
I’m talking about Germany.
Like I said,I’m not sure but it seems that is the score in Germany.
Still guidelines are just that,for guidance,so not worth getting our nickers in a twist.
The last time I looked- must be twenty years ago- the legal wording was that “The load must be SECURED to the vehicle by some means other that it’s own weight”. It seems like VOSA have decided to implement their own interpretation of the phrase, “some means”. Experienced drivers may well know what is secure and what is not, but you can bet your life that if a VOSA officer tells the local magistrates that the load was “unsafe” or “insecure” their worships will believe the officer, not the driver.
chaversdad:
limeyphil:
chaversdad:
nick2008:
limeyphil:
Every load should be secure. We shouldn’t need vosa to tell us this.+1
But we also dont need Vosa to tell us when common sense says a load doesnt need strapping ie. bog rolls, crisps etc
Bog roll and crisps are secured, I’ll criss cross every second stack (8 pallets).
yeah but is that because your worried about getting a pull or you think they will move?
They won’t fall off. But they need to stay in a decent position for unloading.
So on a similar vein…
We run DD curtain siders through a pallet network at night. Our old trailer has internal straps - which I, personally, don’t think secure the pallets much at all but that’s another matter.
We have bought a second DD, second hand from a large supermarket chain. This doesn’t have internal straps and never has.
Our MD spoke to the head man at VOSA in charge of vehicle security - his response was it was not illegal to run such a trailer without internal straps, and as always it is down to the driver as to whether he thinks the load is safe.
So how does that work? Our night driver is now (quite rightly some would say) refusing to use this trailer.
I’ve never seen of any road test things where they put some lumpy load on the back of a “load bearing curtain” trailer, with no straps, and then swerve it about, crash-test it etc. to see how the load moves when restrained and unrestrained.
Personally, I’m thinking it doesn’t make a lot of difference, just like those stupid flimsy straps they give you on palletliners that wouldn’t hold a book closed… You get some twerp FLT stick a car axel on a pallet up on the top deck - do you really think it’s not going to move when you run into some rut like the “peartree trench” or "M4east M25 anticlockwise “bridge stepoff” and other such dodgy bits of road?
Pyschologically, if you are aware your “load is unstrapped” you might well drive your load on a “handle like eggs” basis.
Strap it, and then careen around roundabouts on 11 wheels, and I’m thinking “no amount of good strapping will hold it though”.
Ditto for an impact that’s likely to see the load ping through it’s straps, and shoot out the side door anyways… 
“Restrained by other means” NOT just sitting there…
I got busted last August, 26 pallets of bleach in cardboard boxes, each pallet was strapped using internal straps crossed over, got pulled into the services for a “routine check”, they got me to open both curtains to check for load security, alas my best efforts to secure the load were in vein. They made me put straps and ratchets over each and every pallet, they then told me to start tightening the straps and they would decide when it was safe. Needless to say, the top layer on every pallet was destroyed by the time they were “satisfied”! End result? Customer refused the load, quite rightly, because of the damage. For my troubles, I was fined £60, this was just before they raised the bounty, in my opinion, the way i had it strapped was far safer than the way they demanded it. 
Are there no regulations regarding hazardous goods (eg bleach) that trump anything some non-qualified uniform might have a go about?
Squashing boxes, cartons, and plastic containers so there is a great danger of hazardous chemical leaking out should have taken preference over the safety of them “Not being strapped for public safety” I would have thought? 
you need these
load bearing curtains and still use my internal straps, max weigh carried 48 pallets @ 3 ton
pete-b:
I got busted last August, 26 pallets of bleach in cardboard boxes, each pallet was strapped using internal straps crossed over, got pulled into the services for a “routine check”, they got me to open both curtains to check for load security, alas my best efforts to secure the load were in vein. They made me put straps and ratchets over each and every pallet, they then told me to start tightening the straps and they would decide when it was safe. Needless to say, the top layer on every pallet was destroyed by the time they were “satisfied”! End result? Customer refused the load, quite rightly, because of the damage. For my troubles, I was fined £60, this was just before they raised the bounty, in my opinion, the way i had it strapped was far safer than the way they demanded it.
i would have got them to sign, that they made you do the damage
if you have internal roof straps on every pallet and the pallets are pushed up tight and crossed roof starps at the back the load is never ever going to move, unless you take roundabouts at 56 lol
The law hasn’t changed ladies, but since VOSA became self funded its a case of catch us all out at every opportunity by shafting you and your company with fines…
Also I think because there is an increase of loads being shed on the highways and causing mayhem to other road users, there checking everything…
End of the day having a curtain sided trailer doesn’t guarantee keeping your load in… the load straps are rubbish, its the curtains do keeps the weather off it… so treat them like a flatbed…any monkey that takes a trailer out with out checking load security, shouldn’t be driving…
I’ve only ever used a curtain sider a few times, I try to use internal straps as much as possible, but I feel they are very weak compared to the straps we use in the back of a box trailer.
In our yard, the curtain sider is always loaded top to bottom, back to front with empty pallets, with the internal straps at the back doors, How would one strap this down… Would the trailer need to be unloaded then reloaded so you could strap them down as its being loaded?
In the picture, if it had been only one pallet high, doubt if I would have strapped it, but two high I thought I had better, ran out of straps 4-6 pallets from the end 
Essix Blue:
So on a similar vein…We run DD curtain siders through a pallet network at night. Our old trailer has internal straps - which I, personally, don’t think secure the pallets much at all but that’s another matter.
We have bought a second DD, second hand from a large supermarket chain. This doesn’t have internal straps and never has.
Our MD spoke to the head man at VOSA in charge of vehicle security - his response was it was not illegal to run such a trailer without internal straps, and as always it is down to the driver as to whether he thinks the load is safe.
So how does that work? Our night driver is now (quite rightly some would say) refusing to use this trailer.
Obvioulsy who ever has told you this about the MD is lying (what people lie whatever next). Even a properly rated XL trailer has limitations think its 40% based on pallets with a certain friction co-efficient and other technical stuff that I know bugger all about. One thing I do know is that VOSA expect curtainsiders to be treated as flat beds, even XL’s with a light load may need a criss cross strap set up at the back to show willing.
In the end it the drivers responsibility…those who are unable to take responsibility will have responsibility or large fines forced upon them.
G6Bob:
In the picture, if it had been only one pallet high, doubt if I would have strapped it, but two high I thought I had better, ran out of straps 4-6 pallets from the end
Dodgy tip, if not enough straps don’t strap the front ones, curtain should be at its max tension point here (well except when the winds blowing it all over the place) also when opening the trailer for a VOSA inspection they won’t be able to see that far up the front 
…
Glad I’m off curtainsiders and back on box wagons. 1 less thing to worry about.
Dipper_Dave:
G6Bob:
In the picture, if it had been only one pallet high, doubt if I would have strapped it, but two high I thought I had better, ran out of straps 4-6 pallets from the endDodgy tip, if not enough straps don’t strap the front ones, curtain should be at its max tension point here (well except when the winds blowing it all over the place) also when opening the trailer for a VOSA inspection they won’t be able to see that far up the front
Yeah thats a good tip, again I’m not used to curtain siders so never thought to count the straps.
What do you do with empty pallets stacked to the roof front to back?
All I can say is that some of you guys evidently have a lot more time on your hands than I do.
I just brought a load of pulp up from Sheerness to Manchester. I strapped the last lift with a ratchet strap - that’s it.
If that load gets to the point of moving then you’re in bigger trouble than shedding the load!
I don’t know of anyone that lost a load.
At other times we have carried 2 x 12 tonne coils of steel completely unstrapped on a curtain sider. You load them on slats of wood to take the metal pallets off the trailer’s steels and drive away (taking your time).
Chains would have been useful but we had none.
One / two tonne straps are completely useless on that load.
Still, I never heard of any being lost.
Probably because we’re professional drivers - maybe.
Ratchet strapping pallets of bottled bleach which are in cardboard boxes is nothing short of criminal damage.
I won’t be opening my curtains for VOSA. If they want to see my load they can open them themselves.