How terrible are you at...parking?

[Night Train]

Just thought I'd post this to show a really nifty bit of reversing.

 

[slowmotion]

Thanks NT.
How about this..."My name is Michael Caine?"

[media]
]View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRoWklGX_L4[/media]

 

[snorri]

I've been putting boats alongside for a lot longer than I've been parking alongside. Believe me, the car is a lot easier. No brakes on a boat for a start.

....I agree, but it helps having the tyres in a much more sensible position on a boat than on cars.

 

[growingvegetables]

Guy parked a hire Corsa. Nothing unusual, except ...............

hsi "skill" Involved coastguard, and an alert to shipping in the Bristol Channel (so what did THAT say? "Beware, Corsa parked in mid-channel"?)

here

 

[Piemaster]

I was on one of my Companys boats in Great Yarmouth when the phone rang.
"Theres a car floating down the river"
"Err....like, really."
"Yes. Go have a look"
There was indeed. A Ford Ka. Apparently not that an unusual thing there either.

Supply boats (for the ones who do it regularly) are fairly easy to park. Bow and stern thrusters mean you can go sideways. If the space is big enough, it'll go in it.

 

[chillyuk]

Years ago when I lived and worked in London I could park anywhere if I had a foot in front and behind. After decades living in the wilds of Suffolk I have totally lost the knack and I am nowhere near as good as I was. The same thing about speeding down Eastern Avenue at 70 mph (pre speed camera days!) between Iford and Woodford, switching lanes with only a gap not much longer than my car. Now I like about 100 yards clearence. So to all you people who think anyone over 40 should take a driving test every fortnight here's some ammunition for you.

 

[Night Train]

Years ago when I lived and worked in London I could park anywhere if I had a foot in front and behind.

That's how I learnt.
I think I can still do it.

I had a six wheel Land Rover conversion that I was able to park in tight spots by leaning out of the driver's door and looking underneath the chassis to watch it clear over the top of the bonnet on the car behind for that extra foot or so of manouvering space.

 

[mickle]

I have a very useful 'parking sensor' on the back of my Volvo which doubles up as a tow ball.....

 

[Night Train]

 

[Arch]

Just thought I'd post this to show a really nifty bit of reversing.

Blimey, that's neat!

Thanks NT.
How about this..."My name is Michael Caine?"

[media]
]View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRoWklGX_L4[/media]

Argh! Ok, clever clogs, now do it with 100 screaming passengers on board!

I'm always impresssed by the guys who pick up our big skips at work - we're talking huge industrial slabsided skips here that form the entire back end of the lorry, not the big metal buckets people hire to chuck stuff in. They have to come in via a cycle path entrance the width of a narrow road, put the empty one down on the verge, reverse into our small yard, pick up the skip, take it out, put it down next to the empty one, pick the empty one back up, reverse into the yard again, put the empty one down, drive out, pick up the full one, turn round by reversing into the yard one last time, then drive out the way they came. It's wonderful to watch, and there's usually very little backing and filling to reposition for each pick up, which is done by catching a bar on the skip with a great big hook on an arm and then lifting and dragging it on rollers up onto the chassis. When the paper skip is full, this process lifts the front wheels of the truck off the ground....

 

[Night Train]

It's wonderful to watch, and there's usually very little backing and filling to reposition for each pick up, which is done by catching a bar on the skip with a great big hook on an arm and then lifting and dragging it on rollers up onto the chassis. When the paper skip is full, this process lifts the front wheels of the truck off the ground....

 

[Arch]

Yes, that's exactly the sort of skip, although I'm not sure it it's ever quite that pronounced!

 

[colly]

Not reversing but still impressive. It looks impossible at first.


View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4glfWBdCEk

 

[slowmotion]

Arch, here is some more skipology that I just discovered this week. The house across the street is having a basement excavated so, about once a day, there is a full skip that needs to be dragged away, and an empty one put in its place. Here is how they do it without having to put two skips side by side. It's so obvious in retrospect.

1)The lorry with the empty skip on board backs up behind the full one on the ground.
2) The lorry reaches backwards and picks up the full skip, and places the full skip on the empty one that is still on the lorry.
3) The driver of the lorry removes the chains from the top skip and puts them on the bottom (empty) skip.
4) He then lifts both skips off the back of the lorry and places them on the ground, with the empty one on the bottom.
5) He swaps the chains from the bottom skip to the top skip, and lifts the full skip onto the back of the lorry.

I saw this for the first time two days ago. Pure genius.

 

[Piemaster]

If my real world parking was as bad as it is with this I wouldn't get in the car with me.
or if you fancy trying it with a truck here