Halfords 'We Fit' lorry gets stuck under bridge

[Emyr]

It depends if the driver has the necessary language skills to read the signage, doesn't it...

Also whether he's comparing the bridge height specified on the sign with the usual tractor unit height stickered inside the cab, or the trailer's (greater) height.

Do coach and truck satnav units have a configurable height and width option? Conveniently NR has a computer system to manage information on structural gauges...

 

[Antman]

I was waiting for a train at Grantham last week when the bridge just north of the station was struck. Going by the announcements it happened only just before my train was due, and it finally left 15min late so the incident was managed effectively.

According to a member of station staff this bridge is hit so frequently that it has girders attached each side, so presumably just a case of checking that the damage is confined to the girders not the actual bridge. However another bridge nearby was damaged by a recent impact and has been designated red so any further impact would need all trains to be stopped until a thorough examination was completed.

I thought girders avoided the need for stopping trains and checking? I cannot imagine the bridge hit by the Halfords lorry gets hit very often being 15ft 3'.

 

[talltim]

There's two stories that have been posted. One of the Halfords lorry, which is a double deck trailer and the cab roof is undamaged. There's a second one from Norfolk where the cargo was a container on a flat bed, where the airdam has been damaged when the lorry has tipped (thus just one corner dinged). You're both right about two different lorries!

True, but I posted the second one with a container, after dysonsphere has posted about the airdam

 

[Antman]

There's two stories that have been posted. One of the Halfords lorry, which is a double deck trailer and the cab roof is undamaged. There's a second one from Norfolk where the cargo was a container on a flat bed, where the airdam has been damaged when the lorry has tipped (thus just one corner dinged). You're both right about two different lorries!

Oh right, I wasn't aware of another one in Norfolk! Container lorries tend to do a lot more damage, on most other lorries the bodywork absorbes much of the impact.
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There does seem to be an increase in these double deck trailers - they are fine on the Motorway but in town with low trees and bridges they seem to be a liability

Also it's scary passing one in a strong crosswind!

I think they are a fairly recent innovation, Asda use them as do many parcel related businesses. As you say they're fine on the motorway but a bit of extra care is needed elsewhere.
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Halfords trucks are operated by DHL so it is DHL's driver or sub-contractor at fault. The Renault unit is not one of their normal ones so it may have been either hired in or driven by a sub-contractor.

Of course Halfords could have saved all this embarrasment by using plain unliveried trailers..............as for the 'we fit' bit!

DHL are involved in a lot of distribution work, it's difficult to make any excuse for the driver but obviously we all make mistakes

 

[CharlieSpotted]

I worked for a while in a building overlooking a railway bridge on the approach to Lichfield City station. We got very, very used to the sound of the *screech* *crunch* as a lorry scraped under the first part of the bridge and bashed the second. A very regular occurrence indeed and hugely disruptive for the (perennially troubled) Cross City Line.

Enough flourescent signs, surely?

 

[starrymarkb]

It depends if the driver has the necessary language skills to read the signage, doesn't it...

I'd hope so as they would be working for a UK company. Double Deck Trailers are not allowed in most European countries (there is a height limit of 4m on European roads - anything bigger is classed as outsize and needs escort) so it won't be a European driver.

 

[dysonsphere]

Are they putting signs in Metric and Imperial these days/.

 

[edwin_m]

I'd hope so as they would be working for a UK company. Double Deck Trailers are not allowed in most European countries (there is a height limit of 4m on European roads - anything bigger is classed as outsize and needs escort) so it won't be a European driver.

A UK company could be employing a driver from somewhere else. Though you would hope they would require sufficient English and give some training on the dimensions of the trailers!

 

[DynamicSpirit]

Of course Halfords could have saved all this embarrasment by using plain unliveried trailers..............as for the 'we fit' bit!

But realistically, although a lot of people will be making fun of the story because of the irony of the 'we fit' logo, the story isn't going to harm Halfords. Noone's going to decide not to shop at Halfords because of this incident. If anything, it's free publicity for them.

Using unliveried trailers would have been a silly decision since the Halfords liveries on lorries going around town also provide free publicity for them.

 

[dysonsphere]

True, but I posted the second one with a container, after dysonsphere has posted about the airdam

I have a funny feeling I saw the container pic elsewhere and got them mixed up.

 

[Antman]

But realistically, although a lot of people will be making fun of the story because of the irony of the 'we fit' logo, the story isn't going to harm Halfords. Noone's going to decide not to shop at Halfords because of this incident. If anything, it's free publicity for them.

Using unliveried trailers would have been a silly decision since the Halfords liveries on lorries going around town also provide free publicity for them.

Well as the old saying goes there is no such thing as bad publicity although some companies do prefer to use unliveried vehicles.

I don't know whether it was a factor here but the CPC (discussed in another thread) is now a requirement and I suspect this will inevitably lead a decline in driving standards (even though it was supposed to do the opposite:roll as experienced drivers leave the industry creating a shortage and companies have to take whoever they can get and having sat in a classroom watching DVD's doesn't turn a bad driver into a good one.

 

[TheEdge]

Not as funny, but more dramatic http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-29512618

I was the guard on the first train over that when they declared it safe to run but with the lorry still under it. Looked fairly impressive from above and I was rather impressed, I mean, if you are going to do something, do it properly!

 

[apk55]

A normal go anyware vehicle can be up to 4.3M high. Above this is normaly a special case requiring escorts etc. Bridges are normaly designed for 4.8M clearance to allow for tolerance etc. Any less than 4.8M must have signs. European rules probably demand that the figure is quoted in metric.

Most modern sat navs have provision for HGV options. This includes a cheap one I got recently from EBAY for £40 that warns you of what signs are up ahead, eg bend or steep hill. I presume if I selected the HGV option it would warn of low bridges. Therefore there should be no excuses.

 

[deltic08]

Isn't any compensation paid by their insurers?

No. Fed up with my business premises being hit on a 90 degree bend in a one way street in Ripon, I applied to the District Council to erect a sign "Unsuitable For Articulated Lorries" at a junction where lorries could take an alternate route.

The Road Haulage Association idiotically appealed and the sign had to be removed. I now refuse to help stranded drivers and revel that bollards that I legally installed to protect my property makes the road even narrower and rips out sides of artic trailers and tyres.

 

[najaB]

Perhaps we need some of these over here?

 

[jopsuk]

The Road Haulage Association idiotically.

Yeah, that sums them up.

 

[matchmaker]

There was a bridge strike (digger on trailer) on the Aberdeen-Inverness line quite a number of years ago that damaged the bridge so much that an approaching DMU was derailed.

 

[PeterC]

Just occasionaly its not the driver's fault. I know of one local authority who installed a speed table under a bridge without changing the signs showing the clearance with inevitable results.

 

[swj99]

I thought girders avoided the need for stopping trains and checking? I cannot imagine the bridge hit by the Halfords lorry gets hit very often being 15ft 3'.

The bridge over the B2148 in Emsworth Hampshire has been hit many times over the years. I recall one incident when a skip lorry went under it with the lifting gear partially raised on one side. The empty skip came off, but the truck went most of the way under. The girder fell down at one side, and for several weeks after, the height restriction sign on the south side of the bridge wasn't replaced. It was still missing when a curtain sider hit the bridge going north.

............as for the 'we fit' bit!

I thought that referred to the epileptic fit the PR department has when something like this happens, and they read all the comments on forums such as this one.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

On my way home from work this evening I saw a lorry with an Italic trailer being recovered from having had an argument with the bridge over the B284 Hook Road at the Chase Road junction in Epsom...