Lorry driver closes Forth Road Bridge.

[Pro Tour Punditry]

I found out about the incident on returning home from work when my wife asked "did you here about the bell-end on the FRB?"

 

[marknotgeorge]

Yes, correct - closed to HGVs as per the link in the OP

Oops. I'd read the story earlier on today so didn't read it from Brandane's link. If forgotten that little detail.

 

[screenman]

I bet the driver needed clean pants after that one.

 

[Pro Tour Punditry]

He's not the first bell-end to ignore the warnings, remember this one from 2013
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-25372502

The driver got a one year ban and 100 hours unpaid work

 

[Melvil]

This has really inconvenienced colleagues of mine who live in Fife and work in Edinburgh. The delays and ongoing forced re-arranging of plans forced on thousands of motorists (in the order of over 22K per day according to 2014 figures) due to this one pillock (or, being charitable, his company who forced the pillock to drive unsafely) ignoring safety signs are quite massive. Kind of makes me wish the new bridge across the Forth had been a tunnel instead. Obviously more costly and technically difficult but avoids wind and other weather problems.

 

[Drago]

It's not a wind and weather problem. It's a brain dead prat problem.

 

[Brandane]

his company who forced the pillock to drive unsafely

Just to clarify that point, I know what you mean, but at the end of the day it's the driver's call on whether to break the law or not.
Transport managers are usually ex drivers turned desk jockeys, and my general experience of them is that they will rip the pish out of drivers, IF YOU LET THEM! They will try it on and ask you to take rest breaks on your tachograph while you are loading/unloading, and all sorts of other things to get the job done quicker whilst taking a liberal interpretation of the law. It's just one more reason why I don't drive their lorries any more. It is MY licence, MY job at risk, and a TM will just hang you out to dry if you get caught driving "bent". I fell foul of a few of them over the years for pointing out these facts to them, and taking breaks as required by the law, and driving within the law to the best of my ability. Break the law and face hefty fines and points when you're earning about £9 per hour? You're having a larf.....

 

[Melvil]

It's not a wind and weather problem. It's a brain dead prat problem.

Well, quite.

 

[threebikesmcginty]

Great free advertising for Currie European, they must be thrilled...

 

[Drago]

Marie Curie is turning in her gently glowing radioactive grave.

 

[greekonabike]

I'm not excusing his behaviour but drivers are under constant pressure to get stuff where it needs to be in increasingly diminishing time constraints. The bloke's a plank, granted.

I wonder what the lorry was carrying. Maybe it was a shipment of Ammaco Colorado's.

GOAB

 

[subaqua]

Apparently according to one whiter than white it must be " Eastern European driver as not used to heavy lorries "

Laughed at that one

 

[Levo-Lon]

Took me 4 1/2 hrs to drive from Aylesbury to Peterborough yesterday70 odd miles.
set off at 4pm.. temporary lights on the MK M1 link road...chaos..accident on the A421..accident Black Cat
A1 a simple drive that takes 1 hour 40 as a rule give or take 5 mins..

just add idiots and road works, and a sign that says very long delays expected about 500 yds from the traffic lights!!! I could have ignored the sat nav and just used the A5d more miles but a 2 hr drive instead.

 

[Brandane]

Took me 4 1/2 hrs to drive from Aylesbury to Peterborough yesterday70 odd miles.
set off at 4pm.. temporary lights on the MK M1 link road...chaos..accident on the A421..accident Black Cat
A1 a simple drive that takes 1 hour 40 as a rule give or take 5 mins..

just add idiots and road works, and a sign that says very long delays expected about 500 yds from the traffic lights!!! I could have ignored the sat nav and just used the A5d more miles but a 2 hr drive instead.

And that is ANOTHER reason why I no longer drive lorries! Even up here in the less populated areas north of the border, there is invariably some kind of "incident" (roadworks/accident/weather/road closure) every day to cause chaos wherever you happen to be trying to drive. From my limited experience, it is 10 times worse once you get south of Preston. It makes for a very stressful (and long) day, when it should really be quite straightforward. Quite simply, it's not worth the hassle for the money on offer, IMHO.. I used to quite enjoy driving, but now I hate it with a vengeance. Funnily enough, once I escape the UK - or head for northern Scotland (north of a line linking Fort William and Inverness) - I actually quite enjoy it again. Especially on the motorbike.

 

[Drago]

I once visited the factory in Kennington where Vesta curry was invented. It was an almost religious experience, like being in the presence of Gods.