HGV Driver. What was he thinking ?

Duiske

This happened earlier today at the service station on the Borris Rd, Graignamanagh. Apparently the driver was attempting to pull up at the diesel pump under the canopy.







In the 3rd pic you can see the area for large vehicle re-fueling directly behind the canopy. The pumps are just out of shot on the right. How the driver did not notice the canopy, the other pumps or the other entrance for HGV's is anybody's guess. Actually, would a forecourt canopy's height normally allow for a HGV to pass safely underneath ? Maybe this one was too low ?

TGi666

well its the drivers responsibility to know the height of the vehicle they are driving and usually most canopy's have there height signposted even if it didn't the driver should have known better.

john t

Normally their is a height sign on canopy too let drivers know how high canopy is like on bridges.

Bagenal

Heights are usually but not always on canopies but the maxim of if in doubt check it out applies. There'll be some bill for repairs to that :O

Victor

But he wanted to get petrol!

The station seems to have been re-branded.

I can't see the remote diesel pump being the easiest to get to without reversing, which a truck shouldn't be doing in a public area like that.

kasper

HGV Driver. what was he thinking ?
answer- I can fit the truck under that no bother

kneemos

Was it the cabs spoiler that hit it or the trailer,might account for his error.

padd b1975

kneemos wrote: »

Was it the cabs spoiler that hit it or the trailer,might account for his error.

Had to be the trailer, the wind deflectors are pretty flimsy compared to a forecourt roof.

Bottom line, its driver error.

Speaking as a driver, would hate to be ringing the office to explain that!:o

bigroad

I dont think he was very experienced.I might got shot for saying this but was he irish ,i dont thing so,and i can find out simple enough.In the end of the day garages like that are a no go.Even the bigger garages are dogey as there are cars wizing around ,people walking behind you when reversing,and the most important childer running around .Route should have been better planed.

biko

Happens all the time.
I like these signs

OldmanMondeo

FFS he only wanted a brekie roll... You see if we still have the parking thread, you would have then seen all the bad parkers blocking the HGV pumps...

Atlantic Dawn

Same type of clown who hits the railroad bridges, if you don't know what's the height of your truck don't be a truck driver.

SCOOP 64

If hes not self employed could be out of a job, the bill for that is going to be enormous, not just damage ,but the lost from takings of petrol station.

kneemos

Always thought those canopies were a standard height to accomodate trucks.

vickers209

Looking at pictures it seems like a tight squeeze between the wall and pumps.
I reckon he was concentrating on hes mirrors so much making sure not to it pumps and wall that he didn't notice the canopy overhead until he hit it

Big Nasty

He wasn't thinking I guess.

Amateur mistake TBH.

corktina

in a job I had we had a feller leave to go truck driving and he hit a canopy first day out and was back with us the next day :-)

101sean

So no comments about standing under a collapsing canopy while it's supported by a man basket on a teleporter, a load of pallets on a tiddly forklift and the backactor of a JCB :eek:

Nice one lads, don't come near one of my sites!

randy hickey

101sean wrote: »

So no comments about standing under a collapsing canopy while it's supported by a man basket on a teleporter, a load of pallets on a tiddly forklift and the backactor of a JCB :eek:

Nice one lads, don't come near one of my sites!

Jaysis Sean, maybe you'd want to stay off those sites yourself if you think that 360 rubber duck (or possibly even a track machine) looks like a JCB backactor!!:D:D:D

allthedoyles

He could have mistaken it for the next service station on his way to New Ross , although next one is Topaz , but easy parking for trucks .

Definately a novice unfortunately ...........

miller50841

I see he used his sleeping area top part of his cab to lift the canopy. It looks a lot worse then it is. Yes the canopy is badly damaged but nobody dies. Yes truck is damaged but from the pics not too badly. Ego defo damaged. The moment it happened priceless for everything else there is master (people) others who get up on their high horse that have never made a mistake. Poor guy I have seen similar it can be very stresful and the way I see things sh1t happens.

mickdw

Its not huge damage to be fair.
No one dead. Im thinking the final cost here will be alot less than if he had hit a couple of cars and had to pay out on injury claims.

tossy

bigroad wrote: »

I dont think he was very experienced.I might got shot for saying this but was he irish ,i dont thing so,and i can find out simple enough.In the end of the day garages like that are a no go.Even the bigger garages are dogey as there are cars wizing around ,people walking behind you when reversing,and the most important childer running around .Route should have been better planed.

What kind of village do you live in where they only let the most important childer run around? Is that not unfair on the less important childer?

osheen

mickdw wrote: »

Its not huge damage to be fair.
No one dead. Im thinking the final cost here will be alot less than if he had hit a couple of cars and had to pay out on injury claims.

We had a lad damage a canopy a while back - height of truck 3.8m height on canopy 4.1 !! . Turned out they had resurfaced the forecourt and put in new drains so the actual height was 3.8.
They wanted 80k for damage and loss of earningsbut insurance got it sorted 50/
50.
Cost us 20euro for some tec7 in the rnd.

Yawns

Longford about 2 years back.

kneemos

Yawns wrote: »

Longford about 2 years back.

If it went in it'll come out.

fryup

Duiske wrote: »

This happened earlier today at the service station on the Borris Rd, Graignamanagh. Apparently the driver was attempting to pull up at the diesel pump under the canopy.

that looks a bit paddy'ish

(hope it was a polish driver)

danger_mouse_tm

osheen wrote: »

We had a lad damage a canopy a while back - height of truck 3.8m height on canopy 4.1 !! . Turned out they had resurfaced the forecourt and put in new drains so the actual height was 3.8.
They wanted 80k for damage and loss of earningsbut insurance got it sorted 50/
50.
Cost us 20euro for some tec7 in the rnd.

I caught the canopy in a garage in Ballicollig a couple of years back. The sign said 3.65 my truck is 3.6. It was the lights on the canopy that I pushed up.
Same garage again, a few weeks ago I brought someone elses truck in for diesel. I asked the girl in the shop if she thought my truck would go under, she said "it should fit". I asked her if she had ever seen "that" truck in here before. She said no. I called the guy who owned the truck and he told me "not a hope in hell!" As for the driver in the OP's photo I really can't understand how he could have even contemplated going near that garage. Doing things like that is for glorified van drivers like me. When you are pulling a fridge you are thinking 4.5 metres all the time (continental trailer height). Looking at how far his tractor unit is pushed down - he was way off the mark. All I can think of is that someone told him that he would fit there - obviously referring to the Topaz garage further up the road or the diesel island outside the canopy.

vibe666

why can't forecourts (and low bridges) all have poles/chains suspended a few feet/yards etc. before them at the height of the low canopy/bridge that you would be hitting if you drove a lorry into them?

whilst i appreciate that HGV drivers need to pay more attention to avoid hitting these things, surely it would be considerably cheaper to put these up than to pay for the removal of a HGV and repair the damage just once, never mind the multiple times it happens.

Bagenal

vibe666 wrote: »

why can't forecourts (and low bridges) all have poles/chains suspended a few feet/yards etc. before them at the height of the low canopy/bridge that you would be hitting if you drove a lorry into them?

whilst i appreciate that HGV drivers need to pay more attention to avoid hitting these things, surely it would be considerably cheaper to put these up than to pay for the removal of a HGV and repair the damage just once, never mind the multiple times it happens.

That would be a cheap method of lessening the amount of bridge strikes alright.

Danger Mouse T M
I caught the canopy in a garage in Ballicollig a couple of years back. The sign said 3.65 my truck is 3.6. It was the lights on the canopy that I pushed up.
Same garage again, a few weeks ago I brought someone elses truck in for diesel. I asked the girl in the shop if she thought my truck would go under, she said "it should fit". I asked her if she had ever seen "that" truck in here before. She said no. I called the guy who owned the truck and he told me "not a hope in hell!" As for the driver in the OP's photo I really can't understand how he could have even contemplated going near that garage. Doing things like that is for glorified van drivers like me. When you are pulling a fridge you are thinking 4.5 metres all the time (continental trailer height). Looking at how far his tractor unit is pushed down - he was way off the mark. All I can think of is that someone told him that he would fit there - obviously referring to the Topaz garage further up the road or the diesel island outside the canopy.

4 metres is the height in Europe, some places you might get away with 4.2 metres. I wouldn't advise going through a tunnel in Switzerland with a 4.5 metre trailer :eek:

101sean

A lot of regularly struck bridges have strike beams just before to take the impact and in the UK some have height detectors and VMS signs.

The cost of delays on a busy rail line in the UK can be up to £2000 a minute if a line is closed for inspection after a strike, don't know what sort of costs IE charge.

Taking the top decks off double deck buses on low bridges is still common in the UK

vibe666

any route with a low bridge will have an alternate route for high vehicles, so why not have one of these strike beams directly before the last turnoff before the low bridge and have a big sign that says "if you hit this beam, you'll hit THAT bridge"

the culture of deference

Dublin Bus crash 2009 roof ripped off Amiens street.

http://www.ybig.ie/forum/dublin-bus-accident-on-amiens-st-today_topic5431.html

Cash is king

That bus reminds me of a scene from a James bond film!!!