The dock coppers (known locally as chocolate soldiers) @ Seaforth have been ‘nicking’ drivers entering the terminal (under the gantry where you swipe your card) for driving with twistlocks ‘open’!! I would elect to go to court as the dock have shunter trailers (horrible yellow things) with small sides and NO TWISTLOCKS!!! How can it be safe for them & not for us? I only drive @ about 5 or 10mph inside the terminal so there’s absolutely no chance of it jumping the twistlocks & it they claim it could tip over, what on their shunter trailers would prevent this happening to them??
Ross.
robinhood_1984:
It wont be long until they all go and visit Germany for some training
It has nothing to do with Germany or training. In my opinion it is all about micro managements refusal to allow drivers to get on with the job and the willingness of management to sack any driver after a customer complaint.
Long gone are the days when drivers dictated how their trucks were loaded and given the time to secure said load.
Today it’s all about shut TF up driver, go and sit in that in that shed or you’ll be banned off the site.
bobbya:
thedennis:
NathanB:
thedennis:
I was having chat with a national transport manager yesterday who said a major block & paving manufacturer with a site in Kent had 14 vehicles stopped recently. They were advising on insufficient load security and what they needed to do, the next time around £60 fines will be issued to the driver and a potential £1000 fine to the company.
The company uses cargo nets and straps, but not over every pack.
Marshalls?
No it wasn’t Marshalls it was the contract haulier who delivers for this particular paving manufacturer, which isn’t Marshalls.
Foley&Miles,Canute?
Not us, although we had a couple stopped at the blackwall tunnel a while back, on the pretence of being overheight, which became insecure load, despite being strapped (not very pack) and netted. Besides we hardly work out of Marshalls, might be a haulier from the west country 
Seems clear to me. You strap/chain the load to stop it shifting AND to keep it on the deck if you happen to fall over. An insecure load of bricks (for instance) will crush and kill anything in it’s path if you tip it over in an accident, whereas a secure load should stay on and keep you out of prison for manslaughter.
mickfly:
Seems clear to me. You strap/chain the load to stop it shifting AND to keep it on the deck if you happen to fall over. An insecure load of bricks (for instance) will crush and kill anything in it’s path if you tip it over in an accident, whereas a secure load should stay on and keep you out of prison for manslaughter.
Although it’s a lovely idea, it’s generally not practical, and very often impossible to secure a load to survive a rollover! Using bricks as an example, you can put as many straps as you like on, but the pack is still going to ‘explode’ when it hits the deck. A net will help to a point, but with several packs worth of bricks pushing against it, that’s not going to stay in place for many milliseconds either.
Some loads are even tricky to secure against the forces of general driving, and require regular stops and tensioning and very steady driving. That load of bags above for example, it’d probably look a mess (at best!) if you took a roundabout too fast, let alone rolled it over. And that’s no disrespect to the driver at all, just the nature of the load and the way a professional should handle it.
It seems to me to come down to this ‘cover your arse’ culture we seem to have got ourselves into. Safety’s one thing, but throwing 400 Spansets at a load alone isn’t necessarily going to stop it hurting someone when you hit a bridge at 56.
That’ll never shift, we have never strapped them all 
Anyone we know? it was a good friend who took this with his fixed nuclear helmet cam whilst stationary because someone had blocked the road.
I took a truck down to a company yesterday and picked another identical one up to come back.
So I asked why they were being swapped, and he showed me a netting / strapping system being installed inside (inside a curtain sider), this was apparantly to keep vosa happy.
It was a netting that you could drag from the front to the back, on a rail, then it had straps all the way along it which went into fixed ratchets on the chassis.
It was a supplier of all sorts, bricks, coal bags, sand etc.
Seemed like a good idea but still wasn’t perfect, and what really made me laugh, was the guy who was doing all the preaching was then taking a ‘drop side’? unit out with no straps, netting, sheeting or anything because nothing came higher than the sides…
waynedl:
I took a truck down to a company yesterday and picked another identical one up to come back.
So I asked why they were being swapped, and he showed me a netting / strapping system being installed inside (inside a curtain sider), this was apparantly to keep vosa happy.
It was a netting that you could drag from the front to the back, on a rail, then it had straps all the way along it which went into fixed ratchets on the chassis.
It was a supplier of all sorts, bricks, coal bags, sand etc.
Seemed like a good idea but still wasn’t perfect, and what really made me laugh, was the guy who was doing all the preaching was then taking a ‘drop side’? unit out with no straps, netting, sheeting or anything because nothing came higher than the sides…
Who was the company with this system?..was it Wincanton?
thedennis:
waynedl:
I took a truck down to a company yesterday and picked another identical one up to come back.
So I asked why they were being swapped, and he showed me a netting / strapping system being installed inside (inside a curtain sider), this was apparantly to keep vosa happy.
It was a netting that you could drag from the front to the back, on a rail, then it had straps all the way along it which went into fixed ratchets on the chassis.
It was a supplier of all sorts, bricks, coal bags, sand etc.
Seemed like a good idea but still wasn’t perfect, and what really made me laugh, was the guy who was doing all the preaching was then taking a ‘drop side’? unit out with no straps, netting, sheeting or anything because nothing came higher than the sides…
Who was the company with this system?..was it Wincanton?
The truck was a Ryder truck, and the company was CPL
waynedl:
The truck was a Ryder truck, and the company was CPL
Is that CPL that do the BBQ coal stuff? Their pallets were a nightmare to stack in a stationery warehouse - never mind in a moving trailer 
Forever settling and moving.
if they’re spending money like that I would guees they’ve either had an ‘incident’ or to much stock damage through load shift 
what happens when the trailer doesnt have a headboard? does that make every load insecure?
scotstrucker:
what happens when the trailer doesnt have a headboard? does that make every load insecure?
A headboard isn’t needed if alternative and suitable restraint is used. if you read the VOSA matrix it does have a note about this (I think). if there is a gap to the headboard and no other suitable restraint used - then it’s a problem.
Maybe crossed over straps at the front? Something like that? if it is of sufficient capacity then that is a headboard substitute. Depends greatly on the type of load
shep532:
waynedl:
The truck was a Ryder truck, and the company was CPL
Is that CPL that do the BBQ coal stuff? Their pallets were a nightmare to stack in a stationery warehouse - never mind in a moving trailer Forever settling and moving.
if they’re spending money like that I would guees they’ve either had an ‘incident’ or to much stock damage through load shift
Yeah, that’s them, but they use rigids.
I believe it’s just because of the vosa load security issue, the trucks are on lease hire anyway, so they just insist on it and the lease company jump
mickfly:
Seems clear to me. You strap/chain the load to stop it shifting AND to keep it on the deck if you happen to fall over. An insecure load of bricks (for instance) will crush and kill anything in it’s path if you tip it over in an accident, whereas a secure load should stay on and keep you out of prison for manslaughter.
So you would be happy that a trailer full of sand or gravel would be secure with the sheet if it rolled over?
when we were running limestone up to the north yorkshire coal fields in the late 90s a rjb mining truck went over all but the last rear pallets stopped on the trailer because they were roped on i no it is time consuming exercise but imagine a car under 28 tonnes of bricks or bulk bags as i was always told by veterans now not with us gravity is not a load restraint
Various photos showing why fastening loads is a good idea.
