Good luck root crop farmers …….

[Old Tup]

Regulations already state a 15 mile radius, but if you've got bits of land all over the place........

Bloke in the two mile queue would happily see that cut to couple of miles…

 

[Tarw Coch]

Regulations already state a 15 mile radius, but if you've got bits of land all over the place........

15 miles radius only applies to haulage off farm not onto farm

Could haul in from lands end to John o groats if you wanted

 

[Jsmith2211]

Bloke in the two mile queue would happily see that cut to couple of miles…

law already says to pull in if you've got 2-3 cars behind you and it is safe to do so.

big grey area as "safe to do so". On a busy road you get 2-3 cars behind you the second you pull out, hence nobody heeds that law. if you pull in on said busy road you never get out again as nobody is going to let you out...

 

[Old Tup]

law already says to pull in if you've got 2-3 cars behind you and it is safe to do so.

big grey area as "safe to do so". On a busy road you get 2-3 cars behind you the second you pull out, hence nobody heeds that law. if you pull in on said busy road you never get out again as nobody is going to let you out...

Like I’m not remembering the five miles I did a few weeks ago in a queue behind said Potato man with phone clamped to ear on a busy A road at 5pm…..past more than two lay byes and never slackened…
Agreed pull in you will probably never get out again…..some of it was on dual carriageway way…by the time the trucks at the front had got past there wasn’t any dual left for the rest of the tail…one of the lay byes was on the dualled bit.

 

[Jsmith2211]

Like I’m not remembering the five miles I did a few weeks ago in a queue behind said Potato man with phone clamped to ear on a busy A road at 5pm…..past more than two lay byes and never slackened…
Agreed pull in you will probably never get out again…..some of it was on dual carriageway way…by the time the trucks at the front had got past there wasn’t any dual left for the rest of the tail…one of the lay byes was on the dualled bit.

we pulled in when moving the combine at about 5ish. we were sat there for ages waiting to get out. 5 miles isnt that far, would you rather miss 5 minutes of whatever rubbish is on TV now, or eat? if everybody pulled in every time there was a queue behind them everything would take twice as long. Anyway most big farms have 50k gearboxes, or even fasttracks doing the hauling now, which can keep up with some of the slow traffic on the main roads. Personally im a lot more pee'd when im stuck behind some twit in a micra doing 30 down a road he/she could very easily do 60 down, than i am following a tractor that cant go any quicker and is putting food on my plate.

 

[Scholsey]

Big apple processor in Hereford has banned any growers delivering with tractor and trailer if they weighed in overweight last year, have to use lorries now even if only a few miles away, sure its nothing to do with the fact they dont actually want the apples anymore despite 20+ year contracts with the growers......

 

[roscoe erf]

If the load extends above the fixed sides of the trailer, it has to be secured.

Ropes or ratchet straps for big stuff like bales, a sheet for small stuff like grain or spuds.

It's not exactly rocket science is it.

Must be cause you’ve got that wrong doesn’t have to be above the sides still needs securing

 

[Rs chunk]

In days gone by police would have seen those tatties as a wee bonus and went away home with them for the supper and hoped they’d find more tomorrow

 

[Old Tup]

we pulled in when moving the combine at about 5ish. we were sat there for ages waiting to get out. 5 miles isnt that far, would you rather miss 5 minutes of whatever rubbish is on TV now, or eat? if everybody pulled in every time there was a queue behind them everything would take twice as long. Anyway most big farms have 50k gearboxes, or even fasttracks doing the hauling now, which can keep up with some of the slow traffic on the main roads. Personally im a lot more pee'd when im stuck behind some twit in a micra doing 30 down a road he/she could very easily do 60 down, than i am following a tractor that cant go any quicker and is putting food on my plate.

Winding A road….plenty of Double White lines…I reckon the queue was over a mile long.
Steady 30mph.
Pure joy to see one of his buddies heading the other way empty ready to repeat the exercise…
Couple of trucks first in line behind the Tractor without enough Humpf to make use of the few possible passing places compounded the situation.
Pretty obvious the decision had been made, just keep plugging on….don’t look back…and don’t pull over…
Not as if it was one load.
The eventual repercussion will be that some opportunistic Politician will seize upon the chance to make their name….

 

[alomy75]

Must be cause you’ve got that wrong doesn’t have to be above the sides still needs securing

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a beet lorry sheeted down going into the factory. None of mine gets sheeted by my contractor. The guys clamber on the load to smooth out any peaks and that’s it. You’re never going to get a level or less than level load of pots/onions/beet jump out of a bulker unless you roll it. Just an observation; I’m not sure about the actual law regarding it.

 

[kiwi pom]

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a beet lorry sheeted down going into the factory. None of mine gets sheeted by my contractor. The guys clamber on the load to smooth out any peaks and that’s it. You’re never going to get a level or less than level load of pots/onions/beet jump out of a bulker unless you roll it. Just an observation; I’m not sure about the actual law regarding it.

It needs to be covered as far as I know. Not a difficult task these days with electric tarps.
Just because you see people doing it, it doesn't men they're doing it right.
The police may decide to have a clamp down outside a beet factory and pull anyone not covered as well as weigh them.
Luckily they don't do it.

 

[kiwi pom]

what about all these lorry loads of straw you see going down the road with bits blowing off isn't that an insecure load, should be sheeted right over to stop this ?

That's the interesting one isn't it. Technically straw flying off makes it insecure. My guess is a cop would pull you if you'd just left the field and were getting up to speed, or you'd unloaded and left the loose on the deck, which all blows off at once.
Three hours into a journey, I'd guess you'd be right, as long as it was strapped on of course.
It has to be sheeted to the deck here if going on an interisland ferry (at least it used to be), which is a pain in the arse. I've loaded lots of curtainsiders with straw because of it.

 

[alomy75]

It needs to be covered as far as I know. Not a difficult task these days with electric tarps.
Just because you see people doing it, it doesn't men they're doing it right.
The police may decide to have a clamp down outside a beet factory and pull anyone not covered as well as weigh them.
Luckily they don't do it.

I used to work for British Sugar so I actually spoke to an old colleague just now. Seemingly they have an agreement with VOSA. Sheeting will not be enforced however level loads and weights will. Would explain why they’re so keen to level the peaks. Beet can be absolutely disgusting so I can understand why they don’t want to get the sheets mauled up with mud potentially contaminating other cleaner loads like grain.

 

[Muddyroads]

Thought about this thread earlier today when I met a Richard Western trailer just outside Cullompton with a net over its load of maize silage. Never seen it done before.

 

[Clive]

You don't think the cop used common sense in stopping that trailer?
I can't believe he didn't weigh it, no way that trailers below 18 ton.
I can see why you're not in transport anymore.

It brings up an interesting point though, if your neighbour had a driver that did things properly, would the boss fit and use covers or would he fire the driver?

i have made no comment re weight …….. which I agree does look dubious

and for the record in all the years we ran up to 13 artics moving many hundred of thousand tones a year not ONCE did we receive penalty for being overweight or anything else for that matter, we had a 100% clean record with police and vosa

I’m just saying that far worse things happen on our roads than a few stray potatoes, just maybe the police time would be better spent elsewhere


has anyones death ever been record as due to a “potato on the road” ? ……. Just saying !

 

[Clive]

You never hit a spud or onion or sugar beet on a motor bike then! Our local lot are carting onions. Every corner is like a roulette of huge onion marbles. Only saving grace is it’s slowing the racing Lycra lot! If that was rubble that fell off a lorry and hit your wife in her Porsche with your kids, you’d be creating hell. Why are farmers any different?

but it’s not rubble is it, it’s a potato

how many road deaths are down to stray potatoes every year ?

 

[roscoe erf]

i have made no comment re weight …….. which I agree does look dubious

and for the record in all the years we ran up to 13 artics moving many hundred of thousand tones a year not ONCE did we receive penalty for being overweight or anything else for that matter, we had a 100% clean record with police and vosa

I’m just saying that far worse things happen on our roads than a few stray potatoes, just maybe the police time would be better spent elsewhere


has anyones death ever been record as due to a “potato on the road” ? ……. Just saying !

So someone has to die first before you’ll secure your load isn’t that the point of road safety just like hse you have a health and safety policy you like to tell us your a very safe employer I’d get your dad to hide that spade

 

[Cab-over Pete]

but it’s not rubble is it, it’s a potato

how many road deaths are down to stray potatoes every year ?

None. Because the rozzers clamp down on potato crime hard.

 

[Clive]

So someone has to die first before you’ll secure your load isn’t that the point of road safety just like hse you have a health and safety policy you like to tell us your a very safe employer I’d get your dad to hide that spade

if we are serious about saving lives in the Uk why is it legal to be fat still ? bad diet and Diabetes kills more than anything that happens on the road already…….. in fact more than anything at all and is rising at alarming levels that truly will overwhelm the nhs in the future

so cake tax / fines for fatties ……. Discuss ? Save fatties from themselves, let’s round them up and send them to starvation camps, ban chocolate, cheese and sugar etc ……… all for their own good of course !

i‘m being intentionally facetious btw of course any unsecured load is a bad thing ….. BUT get some persecutive on this shocking potato incident ( the likes of which killed no one, ever ) and have a think about what kind of padded policed state we all want to live in, if we have learnt anything from the last 2 years re covid imo it’s is how important our freedom really is and how it is not reasonable for government to dictate our every move, life contains some risks………. Thankfully …….as it would be bloody boring and hardly worth living otherwise

we all do our best to reduce risks to reasonable levels of course, to my mind the risk of a potato on the road REALLY is very small …….. risk of fallen branches is higher ……. So shall we remove all roadside trees ? Potholes ? Should roads be closed because of them ? Much more dangerous and responsible for more bike / motorbike accidents daily than ……… potatoes

I will also wager that most (all even) on here so critical of this farmer who I know runs a very safe and high quality business with great track record have at some point driven on the road with unsheeted load, over weight and over speed limits ! The internet loves a hypocrite

 

[Rookie]

I used to work for British Sugar so I actually spoke to an old colleague just now. Seemingly they have an agreement with VOSA. Sheeting will not be enforced however level loads and weights will. Would explain why they’re so keen to level the peaks. Beet can be absolutely disgusting so I can understand why they don’t want to get the sheets mauled up with mud potentially contaminating other cleaner loads like grain.

Some beet lorries risk dropping beet after they have tipped their load, as tend to get beet sat on top of easy sheet hoop above back door and centre bar, but you are not allowed to climb on trailer on bs property to remove. Catch 22.