I just saw...

[Arch]

A huge flatbed HGV trying to do a three point turn outside the Minster. I can only assume he'd come up the dead end by mistake, poor chap. He got round, luckily.

The reason I especially noticed it all was that it was a haulage firm from Cockermouth and the load was a number of huge cast concrete slabs, and I wondered if it was something to do with a) flood defences, or the new temporary railway station at Workington. After all, if there're two things York knows about, it's floods and railways.

I may be way off the mark, but it was somehow nice to think that we (York) was helping out in some way....

 

[Rhythm Thief]

There's nothing worse than the sinking feeling you get when you realise you've taken a 45' trailer up a restricted dead end. Especially when you're surrounded by historic buildings.

 

[upsidedown]

I saw one the other day do a u-turn at a set of lights. I would have put a week's wages on it not being possible, but round it went, sort of pivoting around the back wheels, very odd looking but impressive to watch.

 

[Rhythm Thief]

I saw one the other day do a u-turn at a set of lights. I would have put a week's wages on it not being possible, but round it went, sort of pivoting around the back wheels, very odd looking but impressive to watch.

It's surprising how little space you need to jacknife one round. You just need to watch for the back of the trailer swinging out.

 

[dustystreet]

There's nothing worse than the sinking feeling you get when you realise you've taken a 45' trailer up a restricted dead end.

ooo err RT!

 

[Landslide]

You just need to watch for the back of the trailer swinging out.

Or so you've been told, yeah?

 

[Rhythm Thief]

Or so you've been told, yeah?

er ... yes, that's right.

 

[Sh4rkyBloke]

I followed a dozy driver in an HGV who ignored/didn't see a sign saying that the road was not suitable for HGVs and drive on regardless (despite me trying to warn him by flashing lights/beeping behind him before he got too far).

The road leads (very narrowly too) past a few houses and a pub and then sets up for a sharp left hander, followed about 30ft later by a sharp right hander (over a small bridge at this point) and then another sharp left hander.

He got right down to the first left hander before realising there wasn't a hope in Hell of getting round/over. I presume he had to reverse all the way back, which would have been an absolute nightmare in itself!!

 

[mr_cellophane]

This takes some nerve and skill. Must have been for a TV show though so doesn't really count


View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRoWklGX_L4&feature=related

 

[Arch]

A few weeks back, in Northumberland, a friend and I waited for another friend to catch up with us at the top of a hill (we weren't faster than him, he'd stopped to talk to someone at the bottom), and both stepped right back onto the verge to let an HGV go by - a little unexpected on a yellow road. Some way further on, after we'd negotiated 2 90 degree turns, he passed us going back the other way, looking unhappy. How he turned round I don't know - apparently the reason he (and a lot more traffic than we expected to see) was there was a closure of the A1....

The other thing you have to do, in a big van, is when reversing out of a tiny precinct, into the small park which turned out to be the only way in and out without a height restriction, not to be so careful of avoiding the porch of the public toilets with the front that you partly demolish a small ornamental wall with your back end.... Thank you, the man from our client council who swore he'd checked all the venues for access...

 

[Rhythm Thief]

This takes some nerve and skill. Must have been for a TV show though so doesn't really count


View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRoWklGX_L4&feature=related

Yikes.

 

[Rhythm Thief]

A few weeks back, in Northumberland, a friend and I waited for another friend to catch up with us at the top of a hill (we weren't faster than him, he'd stopped to talk to someone at the bottom), and both stepped right back onto the verge to let an HGV go by - a little unexpected on a yellow road. Some way further on, after we'd negotiated 2 90 degree turns, he passed us going back the other way, looking unhappy. How he turned round I don't know - apparently the reason he (and a lot more traffic than we expected to see) was there was a closure of the A1....

He might have been delivering to a farm, or something. Sometimes it's surprising where you're expected to go. I took my "leviathan of the motorways" down a tiny lane somewhere in Kent not that long ago to pick up from an improbably located bathroom supplies business. The cab on its own would have been a tight fit, but with a 15' high trailer on the back it was a real struggle!

 

[Kirstie]

I was in the waiting room of Carlisle station yesterday and overheard a phone conversation a woman was having - she was obviously from that part of the world. She sounded so harrassed - relating the tales of all the people she knew who'd had water in their homes at shoulder height, and how long she was going to have her friend staying whose home was devastated. I felt so sorry for her, and ended up having a conversation with her about how harrassed she was!

 

[CopperBrompton]

Having had a 2-hour trial lesson in an articulated truck (just for fun), I have huge admiration for artic drivers.

The instructor had great fun with me. They used cones to create a 'garage' into which I had to reverse. This was offset from the truck by about 10 feet, requiring me to reverse in an S-curve. The first time he just got out of the truck, stood beside the cab, said 'Off you go' and watched me make a complete hash of it. :-)

The second time he gave me step-by-step instructions, still standing beside the cab, and it all worked perfectly.

My favourite HGV story, which I'd love to believe is true, is a driver who took a wrong turn and went under one of those low railway bridges with a deep dip in the road. Went under ok until the cab started coming up the other side of the dip at which point the roof of the trailer got very firmly wedged under the bridge. The police arrived and the copper asked the driver "What happened?". The driver apparently just stared at him for a few seconds then said: "Well, officer, I was delivering this bridge ..."

 

[Arch]

I was in the waiting room of Carlisle station yesterday and overheard a phone conversation a woman was having - she was obviously from that part of the world. She sounded so harrassed - relating the tales of all the people she knew who'd had water in their homes at shoulder height, and how long she was going to have her friend staying whose home was devastated. I felt so sorry for her, and ended up having a conversation with her about how harrassed she was!

There's no doubt, it's a huge upheaval. It's time like this I feel happy living on the second floor, and that both Mum and sister live on hills. The Ouse is up, but only in the normal way it comes up every year several times and the only buildings flooded are designed by now to cope. But no one is ever going to think about the consequences of a foot of rain in a day because that's outside modern or even historical experience. And I think, no matter how often we see floods, we assume that in this day and age, rivers should bend to our will - when in fact nothing will stop determined water...