Why do I keep thinking of the rather carp* fifties movie 'Hell Drivers', with a young Stanley Baker playing the goodie and a young Patrick McGoohan playing the baddie?
* If there's one thing I can't stand in a movie it is speeded-up shots of vehicles.
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im sorry lud but i think that films brilliant :-(
tinyurl.com/yozytg
Edited by bell boy on 09/11/2007 at 13:29
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No doubt it is in some ways bb - good actors for example - but I refer you to my footnote above
It was about gravel lorries wasn't it?
:o}
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posted a link Lud
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Thanks for the trailer bb.
VistaVision and monochrome.. takes you back innit.
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No doubt it is in some ways bb - good actors for example - but I refer you to my footnote above
Lud Lud Lud lud Lud.
Hell drivers is ICONIC...........Insult it and I shall take you outside for a damn good thrashing.
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< Ulla>
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It may be 'iconic' but it contains - even in the trailer - speeded-up sequences to make the driving look faster and more dangerous.
This turns it into fatuous, irremediable carp.
I'm sorry but I don't know many German women and none of them is called Ulla, so your familiar tone and mode of address come as something of a surprise...
Edited by Lud on 10/11/2007 at 11:28
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I'm sorry but I don't know many German women and none of them is called Ulla so your familiar tone and mode of address come as something of a surprise...
Think Woking, nay think Horsell Common........
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< Ulla>
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I don't use the term 'iconic' myself - lived too long in the chattering classes to be able to stand it - but I suppose the fact that I remember the film after all these years does indicate something.
l'Escargot has just remembered it too, living up to his handle. He hasn't bothered to read our learned dialogue evidently... :o}
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It was a kind of lead in to the bad boy pictures of the 60's. Saturday night sunday morning, this sporting life. All classics. It was also the schoolyard for stanley baker and cy enderfield providing the experience and clout to make the great Zulu.
>l'Escargot has just remembered it too, living up to his handle. He hasn't bothered to read our learned dialogue >evidently... :o}
snail brain at work
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< Ulla>
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yes he wants to keep up with the times, we discussed this yesterday,probably l'Escargot is still sliding around on another post?
i feel a record coming on..........slip sliding away paul simon 1975?
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"hell drivers" usually shown on channel 5 about 6 times a year during the week , real edge of the seat stuff as baker and mcGoohan race back to the quarry doing all of 30mph.....classic
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>>Can somebody confirm what the law is - are they obliged to cover loads whilst in transit ?
It has long been illegal to drive with an insecure load in any type of vehicle, and loss of the load is therefore evidence of insecurity.
Traditionally, tipper trucks have not been required to sheet their loads - particularly where there is little danger of load shedding. My father's drivers were instructed to always check for loose stones on the rim of the tipper, and only to sheet tarmac (for thermal insulation) or the lighter grades of stone, which were more likely to be blown about.
To deal with badly distributed, or excessively piled loads, a sharp brake application just before leaving the quarry would usually sort that out!
However, the law has been tightened up to require all tipper loads to be properly covered, which explains why most modern tipper trucks have "easysheet" devices built in. (Cue Yorkshiremen discussing their idea of luxury!).
Having said this, I'm not a legal type, and it will take someone wise in the ways of the law like PU, DVD, or TU to make a more definitive statement.
Number_Cruncher
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C&U Regs 1986 have provisions relating particularly to bulk and loose loads. Making it an offence if loads cause a nuisance as well as a danger to other road users, and as such loads must be secured (physically if necessary) to stop them falling or being blown from a vehicle.
So just having a nuisance load can land the operator in trouble, this can equally apply to hay wagons as well as sand and gravel.
The regulations are in place that would enable VOSA or the Police to deal with it - if they are not dealing with it properly then write to the Traffic Commissioners orrifice, their address is on vosa.gov.uk, this is then recorded against the operators licence and the TC may well instruct VOSA to pay the operator a visit!!!
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A mate of mine used to work on site. He once saw a loaded tipper pulling off a demolition site with half a house brick stuck between two of the rear tyres; he managed to run up to the cab and warn the driver before he properly set off down the road. The driver said he had checked but not spotted it..
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I have often found myself following one of those, sometimes going rapidly.
One of the few things that make me back off seriously and leave a very, very long gap.
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we call them half a chunder up here in yorkshire
no idea why though.........sithee
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Another very good reason for sheeting loads such as sand, ballast, bricks etc is that rain can absorbed by the load, eventually resulting in an overloaded vehicle.
Edited by none on 09/11/2007 at 21:29
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or
if it was wet when it was loaded you pay for the water
takes me back to when i was a kid and we got less coal if that was dripping wet as well
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"we got less coal if that was dripping wet as well"
But the chap driving the coal tipper always had a warm home.
Edited by Pugugly {P} on 09/11/2007 at 22:05
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"we got less coal if that was dripping wet as well
talking of damp fuel did you know that north sea gas is so dry it has to be "wetted" up otherwise it dries the joints in the pipes and can cause leaks ( not the yellow plastic pipes but the old cast iron ones with rope and tar seals in the joints) and the smell has to be added too because north sea gas is odourless
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mj
>>the smell has to be added too
It goes under the delightful title of "Stenching Agent...."
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>>eventually resulting in an overloaded vehicle.
Yes, we had a case where this happened.
My mother put together our argument, which was based on the quarry records showing our truck had been weighed and was within the limits, and that even if there were sheet over the load, the water would have simply made the sheet sag - i.e., the extra weight due to the rainwater was unavoidable. Our driver escaped prosection - I strongly suspect the Ministry of Transport realised that arguments with my mother are completely futile!
Number_Cruncher
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I live one block from a road that leads directly to a series of gravel pits, and those trucks are always spraying bits of gravel into the road--if the loads are covered, it's usually not very well done. Once you get near the pits the road is strewn with rock of all sizes (safety hazard?) Not to mention the trucks are oversized and sharing the traffic with regular cars--you really have to watch out when driving there.
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Reminds me of Stanley Baker and Patrick McGoohan in "Hell Drivers" ! (1957 film for the benefit of the youngsters.)
--
L\'escargot.
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Sad what age does to memory. Remembers 1957 clear as anything... :-P
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I was behind a gravel truck the other day that had such an immense camber on its rear axle, the inside pair of wheels didn't touch the ground. Seen a few like this in fact. What's that about?
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Sure, that's normal. They were probably those old Czech-made Tatra trucks, once loaded, the inside wheels do touch the ground. Once unloaded, they don't. I imagine they use less fuel that way because of lower friction or something.
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Free enterprise is the basis of western democracy.
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Some years ago in our area a motorist was killed by a lump of limestone falling off an uncovered tipper. Now, I think, all the tippers use covers.
It is an offence for a driver to have an insecure load. Report to police is the answer.
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Quote: ....I was behind a gravel truck the other day that had such an immense camber on its rear axle, the inside pair of wheels didn't touch the ground. Seen a few like this in fact. What's that about?
Uh??? I don't follow - normal road lorries have live rear axles (or dead-beam on some 6x2 or 8x2 or on trailers). These have zero camber angle. Is it some sort of independent helper half-axles that can be raised or lowered according to load?
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With the way this country is becoming now with all of its crazy european rules and regulations in the future drivers won't be allowed to sheet up. I'm not talking about the ones with the automatic roller sheets, but the traditional do it yourself kind of sheets. All of that climbing will be banned and then you will be required by law to erect scaffolding first so you can work safely at a height. A bit like how window cleaners aren't allowed to use ladders (on their own) anymore...
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They drive me mad too
The council decided to build a new road recently to spend its massive unused budget and along with the ridiculous disruption getting 2 and from work during the 4 or so months worth of work i managed to get 2 unrepairable cracks in the windscreens of both of my new cars; all from following or passing lorries carrying dugg up roads or gravel.
£140 odd quid poorer the road is rather nice but with the money it has cost me i could have used the M6 toll 40 times!
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Reminds me of Stanley Baker and Patrick McGoohan in "Hell Drivers" ! (1957 film for the benefit of the youngsters.) -- L\'escargot.
Not to mention William Hartnell (later Doctor Who) as boss giving Baker's character a trial run to see if he was quick enough. A good practical aptitude test before HR departments were invented.
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When I was an HGV driver years ago we had to do roping and sheeting. I don't mean just pulling a cover over a tipper but using sheets and ropes to protect and restrain the load on a flatbed.
I would say that this archaic method of load protection jolly well should be a health and safety issue. With modern curtainsided vehicles and loading methods there is no need for it, or for handballing of large amounts of goods.
Edited by Sofa Spud on 11/11/2007 at 11:55
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do you know what sofa spud? i totally disagree with you,all drivers of curtainsiders should be shown how to rope and sheet how to have their loads secure and how to unload safely,go and watch any modern curtain sider be unloaded by forklift and you will normally see a dangerous act being performed ,anything from being overloaded to being badly balanced,how many times do you see a curtainsider going down the road with a protusion showing in the curtain and you have to pass it??? this could be anything from an empty box to a cooker,if the driver was shown how to rope and sheet rather than just pull the sheet across there may be less accidents on our roads due to waggons losing their loads;
and i am pro wagon driver not against them
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BB, you are rather making the assumption the driver is able to check the load. Many companies load and seal the trailer without the driver even knowing what is inside. I have taken glider engines from Bracknell to Manchester before now because I was not able to check the load and the loaders had sealed the wrong trailer!!!!!! I think they changed their processes afterwards though!!!!
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>>Glider engines??/
Almost an oxymoron - well, almost.....
Edited by Screwloose on 12/11/2007 at 16:48
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Glider engines???
Fresh Air ;o)
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