Monday 23rd July
0630 Start. A quick catch up in the yard with one of the other drivers and the fitter and I'm on the road at 0700. It's the A12 to Colchester this morning to call at Target Plant to collect a 3t dumper that we have cross hired. As I reverse in they are just pulling the dumper out of it's slot and it's a stop of only a few minutes to drop the ramps, load it on, chain it down and ramps up before I'm on my way back down the A12 towards Chelmsford. I'm actually heading for Gt. Leighs between Chelmsford and Braintree so I cut through Boreham which saves the ardous road around North East Chelmsford. It's a bit tight in places but I used to use when I was driving the double bin 8 legger for Easco and I still use it from time to time. Unfortunately so do quite a few other people including a bloke in coach who was expecting me about as much as I was expecting him right on that bend. I brushed the hedge on my left whilst he sort of lunged towards his verge. We managed to pass but I think it could have been a brown trouser moment for him as I was well clear before he started to move off again. The site at Gt. Leighs is a sawmill where they cut willow into cricket bat blanks and export them worldwide, there were no construction workers present so it was left secure in the usual place and I trundle off to make myself a cuppa in the first layby on the way back to the yard.
It's really bad news on a Monday when the tea is made and the milk is off and I have to return to the yard sooner than I needed just to get the tea intake back on track. As is sometimes the way the next job is not for a while and I wait whilst the fitter finishes working on our 7.5t Hitachi machine before loading it on and heading off for Sudbury, Suffolk just before 1100.
It's back to Colchester on the A12 as I'm not a fan of the tedious Braintree, Halstead, Sudbury route and I arrive at the job on the one way in Sudbury bang on 1200. The machine is tracked off onto the road but the hirers aren't happy as this machine has steel tracks and is going to be used in a layby. I suggest that they put a few sheets of old ply down to protect the tarmac and this they do although I have my suspicions that it won't be the last of this topic. I head back to Colchester and stop for a half hour snooze around lunch time in a quiet layby. Just as I am about to turn into the yard at Danbury the office calls, I know what the call will be about and I wander in to see if I'm right. Sure enough they want the Sudbury machine swapped for a rubber tracked machine, I have to wait a while before they can get one released tempararily from another site that can be swapped. Eventually the get the OK to take one from the same hirer at a site in South Woodham Ferrers and I am able to collect it at 1530-1600. SWF is a large new town and the plot of land where they are building is right in the middle of the existing housing.
Close to the site there are cars everywhere and whilst I manage to squeeze between a Freelander and an Escort van I cannot get past a Beetle with side swiping the van. The LR owner comes out and has a bit of a rant, but I sympathise with her and she agrees to move rather than risk her mirror. I'm on site at 1515 and the machine is still working and it's 1545 before I can get it on board. This half hour is spent shunting back and forth as I cannot get the swing to get in the site and I'm stuck outside making things awkward for everyone. Eventually I'm out and straight back to the yard, the machine is tipped off and loaded straight on to our other 6 wheeler for delivery tomorrow.
Finshed 1630. 263Km
Monday, 23 July 2007
Saturday, 21 July 2007
15th - 20th July 2007
Monday 15th July - Day off
Tuesday 16th July
0645 Start. Out empty to Felsted for a booked 0800 pickup, I was sure I'd be OK earlier and sure enough the machine driver was waiting ready when I arrived just before 0730. It was a Volvo BL71 Backhoe loader (think typical JCB and you'll get the picture) for a groundwork company that we do a lot for. It was soon and secure thanks to the driver Ken, who is always ready to help. It's a short hop to Gt. Dunmow where I pick up the A120 with him following in his van, from there it's across to Stansted and up the M11/A505 to Royston before taking the A10 towards Cambridge to the first village Melbourn.
It's a funny one this site, we have to run round the bypass to the far end and drop back down the main road so we can reverse into the narrow lane that serves as access. There's walls on either side and often cars parked outside the shops opposite and it's a funny angle but it's not too bad today, at worst we could have unloaded on the main road and driven the machine down. The next job is Colchester and although I'm spoilt for choice of route I head back down to Stansted and across the A120 to make my way to the Garrison where I am to collect one of our old machines a Hyundai 5.5t, I find the machine easy enough on the huge site (it's pea green, like Kermit) although the key is not obvious.
One of my Hitachi ones fits but there's an immobiliser so it's back on a treasure hunt. 1st stop is one of our machines working there but he has no key and points me to the contractors office. No joy there either so I bell the guy who had been on it last week and he tells me where they are hidden. Caked in grease I get the thing going and loaded before heading back to the yard. It had been clunking a bit when I moved it about and I discover the problem is one of the sprockets which is badly worn and being replaced whilst it is in the yard. I'm just glad that the track didn't come off, I had one go on a brand new machine last week and could do without it again.
At 1340 I get asked if I'd nip down to Dartford to switch a machine over, take one of ours down and collect one that had been hired in, and offhire it in Basildon. It seemed straightforward enough and the run down was uneventful. It started to unravel when I got to the site at Green Street Green as the machine wasn't ready etc. and I was there longer than planned. Then the tunnel had backed up and to cap it all the A13 was partially blocked on the way into Bas. Finally got the machine off and back to the yard for a 1715 finish. 257km
Wednesday 17th July 2007
0530 Start. First stop Winnersh near Reading, there's a bit of traffic on the M25 but it's not too bad although the M4 was tricky as a squaddie Landrover had lost a wheel in lane 3 and had gained quite a queue to get past. I arrived on site at 0800 though and they were slowly getting into gear and set about unloading a load of kitchen units from a wagon.
My collection here was a 12m Telehandler for Bovis, although this transpired to include a 1000l diesel tank (IBC) & pump, shovel bucket and 3 tipping skips. The forkie driver was Eastern European and not much cop with the machine, managing to knock a cupboard over and running over some cornice or pelmet stuff that had just been delivered. I let him sort himself out and I managed to get a 45 in before he was ready to start loading. Finally it all went on and after securing everything I am ready to leave about 0915.
It's down the A329M to Bracknell and out to the M3, up to the M25 down the M23 and onto the A27 at Brighton heading towards Lewes. I'm headed for Peacehaven and the map looks good for the Bwhatever to Rottingdean, as usual they wait until you are comitted to that route and virtually there before spring the 7.5t limit. There's no weak bridges on the new Truckers atlas and it's an except for loading "nimby" type so I just ignore it as it'll probably cover the area I need to go anyway. It's a bit tight in the town centre but I'm soon on the right track and pick up the Bovis site traffic signs. I'm on site with just over 2 hours driving remaining and I wonder if I'll get back in one hit.
They don't seem too keen to take the extra bits here, but as they had loaded them at Reading I make them take them anyway. I pull off site and decide to see how I go for time and take a different route back, first to Newhaven, on to Lewes and then Tunbridge Wells for the A21. It's all familiar after Newhaven and it's quite enjoyable as this is my only booked job for today. I forgoe my usual stops in this part of the world and decide to try for home on my remaining time. Tunny Wells goes behind me with 1hr 15min on the clock and I'm in with a slim chance. The Dartford Tunnel is clear and I blast through and up to the A12 at J28. I get stopped for about a century at the lights and am watching the timer like a hawk. Push push push all the way back to Danbury. In the yard, handbrake on, engine off and timer stopped at 19sec. Finished at 1500. 435Km
Thursday 19th July.
0530 Start. I'm booked to Hewdens all day today although not to the usual depot at Dagenham, my first call is their Ashford yard for 0800. I make good time and arrive at 0715 and there's activity already, another haulier loading a 13 tonner on a lowloader. The bloke in the office (who is smoking, despite the new signs everywhere) grumbles cos I'm early and tells me to wait a while. I grab a 15 and go in again when the lowloader leaves. I get another earful about how lucky I am as they don't usually load until 0800 to get the lowloaders out of the way. Bollox to that. Anyway they trundle out a CAT TH63 12m Telehandler and on it goes along with a sheaf of paperwork from the workshop as it is being transferred from one depot to another.
It's a good run back to Essex to J26 where I come off and take the machine to their Waltham Cross yard where it gets offloaded. In return they give me another 12m to load, a more modern machine and this one is going to Chelmsford. It's one of 3 going there today, 1 has already gone and the last is my second load. The job at Chelmsford is to Hylands Park where the V festival is held, at the moment they are setting up the World Scout Jamboree and I was here a couple of weeks ago for Hewdens dropping off forklifts on day 1 of the setup. After stopping to fuel up on the way back I calculate I'm getting approx 10mpg I'm soon back in Chelmsford.
It's got more organised? now and there seems to be a system. I am told to follow the track to the carpark and turn left into the plant area at the end. The entrance in to the yard is exit only and the next one in is outside of the Heras compound where there about a dozen other Hewden forklifts and Telehandlers already alonside access platforms and tractors and allsorts. There's a gateway of sorts in the Heras so I unload and aim the machine for it only to get stopped by some nob why doesn't want me to drive it across his cables. The only access is through the gate where the 'security' who directed me initially are stationed beside.
I get stopped by some over zealous volunteer with a HiVis and a clipboard and he gives me a bollocking telling me he's going to give me a 'plant notice' presumably assuming I'm working there. he doesn't like the fact that I am travelling with the mast raised and the forks up high as there are some cables across some of the gateways. These are just the PA and comms one not High Voltage power and I'd dropped the mast to go through. Apparently the site rules are that the forks must be kept low. I tell him it's a load of Bollox as you have limited vision to the offside front and have forks jutting out at pedestrian level. I drop the machine, get the paperwork signed and park up on the access road for a quiet 30 min.
Back down to Hewdens and the yard is full. They have got an old spunker R Reg 18t DAF 55 sitting there being unused which is presumably being replaced by the '07 Scanny 6 wheeler at the back of the yard. Blocking the reamaining space is their other 6 wheeler which is being driven by a Eastern European who looks like he sleeps in a hedge. Fair enough it's a dirty job, but i reckon he goes home cleaner than when he started. He's tossing about with a little 7m telehandler and I decide to squeeze my 12m past so I could load outside. I'm away before he's got his ramps up and he'd already started when I arrived. Straight back to Hylands and this time I drive straight into the plant yard to tip off. Another officious sort rolls up and starts checking everything on the machine, he's not able to fault it as it's one ex Ashford and Waltham Cross have checked it too. Finally he decides to measure the boom as it can't be a 12m in his opinion. After pointing out that 12m is it's height and that with the boom flat it will be less I show him him the capacity plate in the cab and finally he signs it off.
I'm away about 1430 and trundle into Great Baddow to see if tomorrow's machine is ready for collection. I have to wait while they are finishing off the Unimog that I'm collecting, but I grab a cuppa and chat to the guy who runs the place as I've known him for a few years. Finally the beast is ready and they give it a quick test before loading it straight on. When I get back to the yard the boss had just phoned them to see if it was ready only to be told I'd loaded it already. Cool. Finshed 1630. 392Km
Friday 20th July.
0530 Start. Another early one, the weather people were predicting torrential downpours and I wanted to clear the worst hold ups early. Back into Kent and along the well trod A21 I follow the road to Flimwell and turn off towards Rye on the A268. It's a pleasant area although the weather is misty, dark and generally dank. No rain though. I arrive at the mushroom farm at 0715 which is 45 minutes eralier than I'd said so I fired the beast up and let it build up air whilst I unchained it. It's a left hooker and a little bit odd, but mechanically simple and I soon get the old girl off and safely on the ground. It's proud new owner arrives and I hand him the keys in exchange for a wodge of cash.
A 15 minute here with a cuppa and I cut across to Rye to go back via Brenzett and Ashford, I'm not a big fan of going out and back the same way if there is another route of similar length and I know this way to be a nice straightforward route with only a little traffic. My next job is 2x brand new JCB 8018's from the dealer in Braintree and after a 30 enroute I'm there to load around eleven. These machines are destined for the waterboard and are have worklights on the front (OK) and the back (Why lights on the back of machine that rotates?) Also they have got number plates both registered GN07 XXX, I've never seen road registered minidiggers before.
They're loaded side by side and a pallet of buckets up front. It's lashing down as I lash them down and I hhurry to get them on their way. They're headed for the resrvoir at Hanningfield, near Chelmsford which is the local Water Authorities main depot. At the barrier I'm told to head for stores, where I'm directed to the vehicle garage in search of Clive.
Clive has gone out and is the only man who can sign for the machines but thankfully he reappears before I leave. When I ustrap the machines I discover that in my hast to get them strapped down, one of the ratchets cannot be undone as it cannot be fully opened to release the tension as it's tight to the machine. There's nothing for it but surgery with a knife and I now have a ratchet strap about 8' long. The first machine is gingerely unloaded in the torrential rain and as I start the second one I notice that the fule gauge is on empty, I make a mental note to tell Clive when it's off. However as the machine changes angle at the top of the ramps it coughs and splutters and I switch it off before it finally conks out. Luckily they have got a drop of fuel in a can and as I'd not let it run dry I was able to get it going without bleeding the air out. I leave the site drenched despite the waterproofs and head back to the yard via the Unimog dealer to drop the cash off. I'm off home at 1430. 357Km
Tuesday 16th July
0645 Start. Out empty to Felsted for a booked 0800 pickup, I was sure I'd be OK earlier and sure enough the machine driver was waiting ready when I arrived just before 0730. It was a Volvo BL71 Backhoe loader (think typical JCB and you'll get the picture) for a groundwork company that we do a lot for. It was soon and secure thanks to the driver Ken, who is always ready to help. It's a short hop to Gt. Dunmow where I pick up the A120 with him following in his van, from there it's across to Stansted and up the M11/A505 to Royston before taking the A10 towards Cambridge to the first village Melbourn.
It's a funny one this site, we have to run round the bypass to the far end and drop back down the main road so we can reverse into the narrow lane that serves as access. There's walls on either side and often cars parked outside the shops opposite and it's a funny angle but it's not too bad today, at worst we could have unloaded on the main road and driven the machine down. The next job is Colchester and although I'm spoilt for choice of route I head back down to Stansted and across the A120 to make my way to the Garrison where I am to collect one of our old machines a Hyundai 5.5t, I find the machine easy enough on the huge site (it's pea green, like Kermit) although the key is not obvious.
One of my Hitachi ones fits but there's an immobiliser so it's back on a treasure hunt. 1st stop is one of our machines working there but he has no key and points me to the contractors office. No joy there either so I bell the guy who had been on it last week and he tells me where they are hidden. Caked in grease I get the thing going and loaded before heading back to the yard. It had been clunking a bit when I moved it about and I discover the problem is one of the sprockets which is badly worn and being replaced whilst it is in the yard. I'm just glad that the track didn't come off, I had one go on a brand new machine last week and could do without it again.
At 1340 I get asked if I'd nip down to Dartford to switch a machine over, take one of ours down and collect one that had been hired in, and offhire it in Basildon. It seemed straightforward enough and the run down was uneventful. It started to unravel when I got to the site at Green Street Green as the machine wasn't ready etc. and I was there longer than planned. Then the tunnel had backed up and to cap it all the A13 was partially blocked on the way into Bas. Finally got the machine off and back to the yard for a 1715 finish. 257km
Wednesday 17th July 2007
0530 Start. First stop Winnersh near Reading, there's a bit of traffic on the M25 but it's not too bad although the M4 was tricky as a squaddie Landrover had lost a wheel in lane 3 and had gained quite a queue to get past. I arrived on site at 0800 though and they were slowly getting into gear and set about unloading a load of kitchen units from a wagon.
My collection here was a 12m Telehandler for Bovis, although this transpired to include a 1000l diesel tank (IBC) & pump, shovel bucket and 3 tipping skips. The forkie driver was Eastern European and not much cop with the machine, managing to knock a cupboard over and running over some cornice or pelmet stuff that had just been delivered. I let him sort himself out and I managed to get a 45 in before he was ready to start loading. Finally it all went on and after securing everything I am ready to leave about 0915.
It's down the A329M to Bracknell and out to the M3, up to the M25 down the M23 and onto the A27 at Brighton heading towards Lewes. I'm headed for Peacehaven and the map looks good for the Bwhatever to Rottingdean, as usual they wait until you are comitted to that route and virtually there before spring the 7.5t limit. There's no weak bridges on the new Truckers atlas and it's an except for loading "nimby" type so I just ignore it as it'll probably cover the area I need to go anyway. It's a bit tight in the town centre but I'm soon on the right track and pick up the Bovis site traffic signs. I'm on site with just over 2 hours driving remaining and I wonder if I'll get back in one hit.
They don't seem too keen to take the extra bits here, but as they had loaded them at Reading I make them take them anyway. I pull off site and decide to see how I go for time and take a different route back, first to Newhaven, on to Lewes and then Tunbridge Wells for the A21. It's all familiar after Newhaven and it's quite enjoyable as this is my only booked job for today. I forgoe my usual stops in this part of the world and decide to try for home on my remaining time. Tunny Wells goes behind me with 1hr 15min on the clock and I'm in with a slim chance. The Dartford Tunnel is clear and I blast through and up to the A12 at J28. I get stopped for about a century at the lights and am watching the timer like a hawk. Push push push all the way back to Danbury. In the yard, handbrake on, engine off and timer stopped at 19sec. Finished at 1500. 435Km
Thursday 19th July.
0530 Start. I'm booked to Hewdens all day today although not to the usual depot at Dagenham, my first call is their Ashford yard for 0800. I make good time and arrive at 0715 and there's activity already, another haulier loading a 13 tonner on a lowloader. The bloke in the office (who is smoking, despite the new signs everywhere) grumbles cos I'm early and tells me to wait a while. I grab a 15 and go in again when the lowloader leaves. I get another earful about how lucky I am as they don't usually load until 0800 to get the lowloaders out of the way. Bollox to that. Anyway they trundle out a CAT TH63 12m Telehandler and on it goes along with a sheaf of paperwork from the workshop as it is being transferred from one depot to another.
It's a good run back to Essex to J26 where I come off and take the machine to their Waltham Cross yard where it gets offloaded. In return they give me another 12m to load, a more modern machine and this one is going to Chelmsford. It's one of 3 going there today, 1 has already gone and the last is my second load. The job at Chelmsford is to Hylands Park where the V festival is held, at the moment they are setting up the World Scout Jamboree and I was here a couple of weeks ago for Hewdens dropping off forklifts on day 1 of the setup. After stopping to fuel up on the way back I calculate I'm getting approx 10mpg I'm soon back in Chelmsford.
It's got more organised? now and there seems to be a system. I am told to follow the track to the carpark and turn left into the plant area at the end. The entrance in to the yard is exit only and the next one in is outside of the Heras compound where there about a dozen other Hewden forklifts and Telehandlers already alonside access platforms and tractors and allsorts. There's a gateway of sorts in the Heras so I unload and aim the machine for it only to get stopped by some nob why doesn't want me to drive it across his cables. The only access is through the gate where the 'security' who directed me initially are stationed beside.
I get stopped by some over zealous volunteer with a HiVis and a clipboard and he gives me a bollocking telling me he's going to give me a 'plant notice' presumably assuming I'm working there. he doesn't like the fact that I am travelling with the mast raised and the forks up high as there are some cables across some of the gateways. These are just the PA and comms one not High Voltage power and I'd dropped the mast to go through. Apparently the site rules are that the forks must be kept low. I tell him it's a load of Bollox as you have limited vision to the offside front and have forks jutting out at pedestrian level. I drop the machine, get the paperwork signed and park up on the access road for a quiet 30 min.
Back down to Hewdens and the yard is full. They have got an old spunker R Reg 18t DAF 55 sitting there being unused which is presumably being replaced by the '07 Scanny 6 wheeler at the back of the yard. Blocking the reamaining space is their other 6 wheeler which is being driven by a Eastern European who looks like he sleeps in a hedge. Fair enough it's a dirty job, but i reckon he goes home cleaner than when he started. He's tossing about with a little 7m telehandler and I decide to squeeze my 12m past so I could load outside. I'm away before he's got his ramps up and he'd already started when I arrived. Straight back to Hylands and this time I drive straight into the plant yard to tip off. Another officious sort rolls up and starts checking everything on the machine, he's not able to fault it as it's one ex Ashford and Waltham Cross have checked it too. Finally he decides to measure the boom as it can't be a 12m in his opinion. After pointing out that 12m is it's height and that with the boom flat it will be less I show him him the capacity plate in the cab and finally he signs it off.
I'm away about 1430 and trundle into Great Baddow to see if tomorrow's machine is ready for collection. I have to wait while they are finishing off the Unimog that I'm collecting, but I grab a cuppa and chat to the guy who runs the place as I've known him for a few years. Finally the beast is ready and they give it a quick test before loading it straight on. When I get back to the yard the boss had just phoned them to see if it was ready only to be told I'd loaded it already. Cool. Finshed 1630. 392Km
Friday 20th July.
0530 Start. Another early one, the weather people were predicting torrential downpours and I wanted to clear the worst hold ups early. Back into Kent and along the well trod A21 I follow the road to Flimwell and turn off towards Rye on the A268. It's a pleasant area although the weather is misty, dark and generally dank. No rain though. I arrive at the mushroom farm at 0715 which is 45 minutes eralier than I'd said so I fired the beast up and let it build up air whilst I unchained it. It's a left hooker and a little bit odd, but mechanically simple and I soon get the old girl off and safely on the ground. It's proud new owner arrives and I hand him the keys in exchange for a wodge of cash.
A 15 minute here with a cuppa and I cut across to Rye to go back via Brenzett and Ashford, I'm not a big fan of going out and back the same way if there is another route of similar length and I know this way to be a nice straightforward route with only a little traffic. My next job is 2x brand new JCB 8018's from the dealer in Braintree and after a 30 enroute I'm there to load around eleven. These machines are destined for the waterboard and are have worklights on the front (OK) and the back (Why lights on the back of machine that rotates?) Also they have got number plates both registered GN07 XXX, I've never seen road registered minidiggers before.
They're loaded side by side and a pallet of buckets up front. It's lashing down as I lash them down and I hhurry to get them on their way. They're headed for the resrvoir at Hanningfield, near Chelmsford which is the local Water Authorities main depot. At the barrier I'm told to head for stores, where I'm directed to the vehicle garage in search of Clive.
Clive has gone out and is the only man who can sign for the machines but thankfully he reappears before I leave. When I ustrap the machines I discover that in my hast to get them strapped down, one of the ratchets cannot be undone as it cannot be fully opened to release the tension as it's tight to the machine. There's nothing for it but surgery with a knife and I now have a ratchet strap about 8' long. The first machine is gingerely unloaded in the torrential rain and as I start the second one I notice that the fule gauge is on empty, I make a mental note to tell Clive when it's off. However as the machine changes angle at the top of the ramps it coughs and splutters and I switch it off before it finally conks out. Luckily they have got a drop of fuel in a can and as I'd not let it run dry I was able to get it going without bleeding the air out. I leave the site drenched despite the waterproofs and head back to the yard via the Unimog dealer to drop the cash off. I'm off home at 1430. 357Km
4th - 8th June 2007
Monday 4th June 2007.
0645 Start. Last week was cut short on Thursday night when my son broke his arm. I managed to get the day off on Friday and as a result this morning I was unaware of what the day would bring. No one had rung me so I breezed in at usual time and picked up my paperwork for the day.
First job was to run over to The Hythe in Colchester where they are building loads of apartment blocks. There’s two sites there and I guess right first time and back in to the compound and load on a 7½t digger belonging to a groundwork company that we do plenty of moves for. By 0800 everything is sorted and I head out and try and escape Colchester which is now heavy with traffic all the way out to the A12. I’m heading for Newport between Stansted and Cambridge and the traffic is building up nicely on the Braintree A120 bypass when I pass along about 0845. After the hold up I’m back in business and follow the A120 past Birchanger services before taking the winding B road through Stansted Mountfitchet and Ugley. The site at Newport is dead easy to find, right at the start of the built up area and I’m soon in and offloaded before running back to the yard at Danbury.
It’s about 1030 when I buzz back into the yard and time is starting to catch up on me so it’s a quick stop to load one of our 3t dumpers before making my way to Billericay to collect a 5t digger to go with it. There’s a bit of a hold up on site as there has been a big delivery of concrete floor beams and these have to be moved before I can squeeze my little machine out, it doesn’t go to waste however and I bag a handy 15 minute break whilst they sort it out. I’ve got just over an hour of driving left and I need to get to my next job in Old Harlow as this apparently had also been arranged as a first drop.
I decide that my best route would be to towards Brentwood and cut through Hutton to the A12. Good plan, off I go and get about half way to Brentwood before remembering the 13’ bridge by Tallon Road. A quick check with the tape measure and I’m over and have to waste a few minutes by going through Shenfield High Street and doubling back to the A12. No matter I find my way through to the job in Old Harlow and spot the contractors silver van rather than the tiny housename. With time slipping away I find a nice (hard standing) spot by an underpass under the M11 and take my 30 minute break there with about 18 minutes left on the clock.
Ten minutes after leaving my spot alongside the M11, I’m passing over the bridge heading north and onto the JCB dealer at Braintree to collect a couple of small (in my head) telehandlers. All JCB’s have numbers and it’s easy to get them muddled I thought it was a couple of 520’s little site telehandlers. In fact it was a couple of waste shovels weighing 7.6t each without attachments.
If only they were a bit lighter I reckon I could have found a way of getting both on in one trip. I collect the paperwork and the delivery address is to the Street Cleaning Team at Colchester B.C. in the Town Hall. I resist the temptation to try and deliver there and clarify the correct address to deliver to, which is as I suspected the depot in Shrub End where the dustcarts operate from.
The first one is offloaded and after a hunt around I find someone to sign for it before I attempt to leave. This is a poxy place, no space to turn round. All the bin wagons go into the yard over a weighbridge double back and park up ready to drive out in the morning. Eventually I hold up a guy in a shovel loading green waste into a bulker and nudge the ramps up against his heap of mulch to get out. Time to do it all again, so it’s back to Braintree to collect another one although I call at another groundworkers yard in nearby Cressing to collect a 3t dumper which is loaded up front for tomorrow.
Back at JCB the next shovel is loaded with the bucket on top of the dumper skip and it’s back to the depot in Colchester to hand the machine over before 1700. There’s even less turning space now and it takes about 10 shunts to get out just before the guy shuts the gate. Finally I leave Colchester for the third time and I’m back at Danbury just after 1730.
I’m still not quite done though as the dumper is cross loaded to our other 6 wheeler and a 1½t mini digger loaded and strapped down ready for the morning. Finally at around 1800 I leave for home and I manage to spend some time with my other son on his birthday. Usually I’d have made a bit of noise about doing that lot today but after letting me take Friday off at 2100 on Thursday I guess it’s swings and roundabouts. 424Km.
Tuesday 5th June 2007
0600 Start.
First job this morning is to decamp across to the other 6 wheeler, a W reg Scania 114 – 340.
It’s actually booked as VOR this week whilst the regular driver is on holiday and it’s due to have some work done to the crane, but somehow a container move had got booked in and my Hiab ticket had been dusted off for the occasion. Apart from a couple of times as passenger I’d not been in this one and it’s just the same but different. It took some readjusting back to the 4 over 4 gearbox, having got used to the weird 3 over 3 in my 420. Overall it seemed heavy to steer, although it’s got a heavier front axle and a crane mounted up front so it’s inevitable really.
It’s actually booked as VOR this week whilst the regular driver is on holiday and it’s due to have some work done to the crane, but somehow a container move had got booked in and my Hiab ticket had been dusted off for the occasion. Apart from a couple of times as passenger I’d not been in this one and it’s just the same but different. It took some readjusting back to the 4 over 4 gearbox, having got used to the weird 3 over 3 in my 420. Overall it seemed heavy to steer, although it’s got a heavier front axle and a crane mounted up front so it’s inevitable really.
On the go it’s about 2-3mph slower than mine and means that there’s a steady stream of motors overtaking which is something I don’t get too much of. On the map this looks like a simple drop, A12 / M25 / A2 to Blackheath Common and into Morden College just off the edge of the common. It’s good going all the way up until Kidbrooke Int. and then there’s only a bit of traffic before I turn first left across the common. On the map there is no obvious entrance into the college and I take the wrong fork which leads me through a 3t weight limit. The next potential road runs along the back and could well have an entrance on it. Not so. The road is a dead end and despite being quite wide, there’s no way I can turn around, I’d manage in mine but this one just doesn’t have the same lock. It’s not helped by the fact that the tag axle drops with a fag packet on the back, whereas I can happily load about 7t on mine before it lowers itself. Even so I’m sure I’d have got round. My only escape is to reverse back up the road and onto a mini roundabout, back through the 3t limit and finally I find the entrance where I follow the narrow drive to the site where there is no possibility of turning round. The maggot and the dumper are swiftly unloaded and I have to reverse all the way back out down the driveway and through the gate.
Finally I’m ready to leave and I’m back out down the A2 and back through the Dartford tunnel (which is clear) into Essex. I’d considered the Blackwall but figured it’d be quicker to come the long way round and come back on the A127 to my next job at Collier Row near Romford. As I approached the site I noticed all the groundworkers vans were parked outside, I thought “that’s handy they’ve cleared space for me to go and lift the container” The reality was that the entrance road was under heavy excavation for drainage pipes and completely inaccessible to vehicles. It wasn’t a problem as they used a 13t machine to bring the container and loaded it straight on the wagon without me touching the crane.
I was actually quite pleased about this, having not touched a crane for over 6 months, never used a Cormach one and a container is not the best way to get back into it. My plan of having a refresher last Friday went out the window when my son broke his arm. The container was knackered, it’d had a fire inside and had no floor and wasn’t a lot of use, good job then that the delivery address was to EMR, Bidder St. Canning Town.
EMR is European Metal Recycling and big scrapyards have big cranes. This old battered container was simply grabbed off by the crane and I’m back out collecting £144 on my way. Quite why the customer wanted us to travel further into London to scrap the container rather than use the local yard is beyond me, what could have been a 2½ hour transport charge became a 3½ hour one instead. After a stop on the way back in which I remembered how much I hate day cabs I was back in the yard at 1230.
There were no more moves to do, so I shipped my gear back over and spent time doing some look busy type maintenance tasks like going round with a grease gun, tidying the toolbox, oiling ratchets, cleaning the inside of the rear light lenses. I did lend a hand helping to put new tracks on one of our 14t machines before leaving at 1600. 212Km
Wednesday 7th June 2007
0645 Start.Back to my motor again this morning thankfully. After spending the last six months with it thinking that the gearbox is just odd, this morning it all seemed to make sense. Not much on the sheet for today but the first job is a 4 machine move meaning two round trips. The job is near Gt.Saling, just north of of the old A120 between Braintree and Gt.Dunmow and is a contract on rural bridleway maintenance. There’s a couple of dumpers (3t & 6t) and two diggers (5t & 7½t) . I’m on site with the kettle boiling at 0715 and wait until 0730 before one of the contractors arrives with the keys. I’d already dropped the ramps and laid the chains out ready and the first dumper is chained down ready by the time the first digger is tracked on. We load it with the dumper backed up against the headboard and the machine sits at the back with the dozer blade sitting on the beaver tail to keep it level. Usually we drive the roller up after the dumper and use a combination of the winch and lifting with the machine to turn it through 90 degrees and slot under the skip of the dumper, The machine is then tracked right up to the roller which sandwiches it nicely, this means that we have to lay the boom of the machine between the ramps and can leave an overhang of nearly 2m at the back.
When I do these moves I never know quite where the next job is so one of the contractors always rides passenger to direct me to the particular bit of track where they need the machines. This time they are going to Molehill Green just beside Stansted Airport and they are at the end of narrow lane about ½ mile long. There’s a bit of a turning head at the bottom which is partially blocked by a load of crushed hardcore ready for the path, but it’s soon scraped up to make some space and I’m able to turn round and head back to collect the other two machines. By the time I return there’s been a couple of 8 wheelers in and tipped more crushed and there’s no chance of turning around, so I make a slow reverse right back to the main road. For once the reversing camera comes in useful as there’s times when the bushes obscure both mirrors.
After a quick break on the A120 I’m off past Braintree and on to Sible Hedingham to collect a 5t dumper for a groundwork firm. The site at Sible is weird, it’s right at the end of the Premdor factory ground and access is through the yard past the timber sheds, it’s better than most large housing sites where you have to thread you way past all the new occupied housing at the front of the site to get to the unfinished ones at the back. The dumper is quickly loaded and it’s a short journey to Silver End near Braintree to drop it off before returning to the yard.
There was not much doing except for a run down to collect a 5t JCB from the plant firm down the road ready for tomorrow. After a bit of hanging around waiting I get the job of ferrying the other wagon to Truck East at Witham for overnight servicing. Whilst it’s been standing in the yard the fitter has removed one of the rams from the crane and left the jib unstowed on the bed. This has the unfortunate effect of setting off the warning noise ( a very high pitched squeal) which is only partially silenced by wrapping the sounder unit in old rag. The truck is dropped off, a car collected and I’m home by 1615. 232Km
Thursday 7th June 2007
0630 Start.First job is to run the car back to Truck East at Witham, to be honest I can’t get rid of it quick enough. It’s a little ’06 plate Fiesta, nothing wrong with that but it’s filthy inside and out, has battle scars and stinks of B.O. The journey back to Danbury is accompanied by the squeal still and I’m glad to swap back to my motor so I can go and start working properly. I’m already loaded with the 5t Jake from last night but I’ve got to go and collect a swivel skip dumper from Jovic Plant at Basildon.
I arrive at 0730 but don’t get away until 0800 as it had only been returned late last night and was being washed when I arrived. The site for this is on the ridiculously named Green Street Green Road (the road that goes to Green Street Green in Kent) as daft names go it’s a good one although not as good as my favourite, a village in Essex called Matching Tye.
Leaving Basildon at 8 headed for Kent isn’t usually too clever but I have a clear run down the A13 and only get slowed down on the final approach to the tolls. Off at J1b, cross the A282/M25 left at the next roundabout and you cross over it again on the next bridge before passing under the A2 viaduct. I’m amazed every time I come round this way how well the junction improvements are progressing considering it’s only been under way for a few months. It’s only a couple of miles and the site comes up on the right, it’s only 0845 and I can’t believe how well I’ve done timewise. The digger and dumper are offloaded and I’m back on my way and soon through the tolls and into the tunnel headed back to Essex.
Next job is in Halstead so it’s a bit further round to the M11 and off along the A120 towards Braintree, I stop again at the little rest area near Dunmow and amazed that despite being able to park right next to the toilets the place reeks of piss. My details for the next job are sketchy but I’ve got a phone number and I’m given instructions of where the site is and that of the three items of plant to load, first off is to be the digger at the companies yard in Witham. Further instructions will be given when I get to the yard. The A120 is good to Braintree but the road up to Halstead seems to take forever but I arrive just before 1100. Getting reversed in is a bit of squeeze to thread my way through the parked cars but I’m soon ready to load and my first item is a fairly decrepit 3t dumper with a non working handbrake. It’s a bit (well) dodgy as leaving it gear doesn’t do too much to restrain it and I’m pleased when it’s chained down.
Next up is a 1200mm roller, the bloke on site doesn’t seem to grasp how I want to load it so send him off to fetch the digger whilst I get it turned slightly with the winch ready to help slew it round.
Once matey brings the digger over I fix a chain to the lifting point so he can take the weight whilst I reel in the winch and get the thing sideways. 
This is now strapped down and the digger backed right up against it to wedge it in tight.
The boom of the digger sticks through between the ramps and it’s all ready to go.Except that the dumper is rocking about when I pull away so I have to stop and put another chain on it. Finally ready I decide to take the A1124 to Stanway and pick up the A12 for Witham rather than trundle back to Braintree. Back at their yard in Witham I offload the digger and spin the roller round before lifting the buckets out of the dumper.
1 down, 2 to go . I get told that the next drop is the roller so that’s great until he remembers that actually it’s the dumper next off. Actually there’s no reason and he soon agrees to leave it as is and I make my way back to Stanway to get rid of the roller. If it hadn’t been for all the secret squirrel stuff I could have dropped it on the way through and saved him an hour or so charge.
And another gone.
Especially as the dumper was going to their fitter at Great Braxted, just off the A12 near Kelvedon. The whole job was completely arse about face, but that’s not uncommon.
During the morning my office has called with a couple of job and when I’m done I head off to Woodham Ferrers to the south of Chelmsford to collect a hydraulic breaker, and on to nearby N. Fambridge to collect our Volvo 7t digger. It’s been so long since I saw this one I forgot we’d even got it. At the end of the day it’s just another machine and it’s loaded like any other before I head back to Danbury. Back at the yard it comes off and is replaced by a little 3 tonner and I run the breaker back to Sandon to off hire it. After some discussions in the yard about next weeks possible work I head for home at 1630.
Ready for the morning.
333Km
Friday 8th June 2007
0645 Start. It’s only a short run down the road to Maldon this morning to unload the little 3 tonner at a farm, it’s been raining since I got up but now it really starts RAINING and after only a few minutes out in it I’m wet. The next job on my sheet is to collect a forklift from Witham booked for 0730 and I’m spot on with the timing although they won’t let any machines start until 0800. The forklift turns out to be a nice little 7m telehandler, but has also got a tipping skip, shovel bucket and a pallet of bricks and tiles to go with it. The pallet and the skip are loaded up against the headboard, the bucket goes on the machine with the forks inside and finally at 0830 now thoroughly wet it’s time to go.
Really it is June.
The pallet of bricks and tiles is an extra and has got to go to Halstead, I figure that I’m going to have to go through Witham at school run time and then arrive at Braintree about 0845 where it’s usually busy and probably worse today in the heavy rain. I decide to take the A12 back to Stanway and take the A1124 to Halstead as it’s likely to be clearer, it was poor driving conditions but without hold up or incident nonetheless. I had about a 15 minute wait whilst they unloaded a staircase at the site and then was able to pull up so they could offload the single pallet. Only Mr.Forkie was complaining that he’d got a large machine and it’d be easier if I shunted back a bit. I could see the problem and told him it’d be easier if I did it myself which didn’t please him, however I was too wet to argue so shunted back and pushed on as soon as I could. The machine I had collected had to be exchanged with another at Belchamp Walter a little village about half way between Gt. Yeldham and Sudbury. It was still raining when I arrived and I just accepted that I was going to stay wet and got on with unloading. The machine going on was a 17 year old veteran with a large shovel bucket and a strange jib attachment but it all fitted and I head off for the last job of the day for this company.
I needed to go to Finchingfield and headed across country along some little lanes, surprisingly I was still in good spirits. This was cut short but a weak bridge at Toppesfield but it was easily avoided and I was at the school in Finchingfield shortly afterwards. Thankfully it had stopped raining and the blokes on site had the kettle going so things were looking up. No-one seemed to be champing at the bit to unload so I took the machine off and told them that the jib and skip were theirs too. They were all claiming that they could drive the machine so I ended up unloading to the bits too. It was now time to start working for a different groundworker and the next scheduled job was collecting from Braintree, however they had asked if we could collect some stuff from a site in Chelmsford and take to Braintree so I had to go there first. The material in question was 15x 6m x100mm drainage pipes, which I had to handball on. OK so it’s not much but it seemed a bit pointless, I suppose that as our jobs are booked timewise as if we start and finish at Danbury technically it’s on the way.
Hmmmm The tubes were quickly chucked off and Braintree and a forkie enlisted to load 11x tonne bags, some shingle but mostly topsoil destined originally for a job in Maldon but now headed back to their yard at Hazeleigh (near Maldon) I’m on the way back via Witham when I get a call asking for 2 bags of shingle to go to Maldon, it’s hardly out of the way and I thread my way round the narrow streets to Butts Lane Car Park where the job is.
In the car park. Do I need a ticket?
Only now they can’t get material in through the carpark end and everything has to go down a little alleyway running off the High St. Back I go and stop by the alley blocking one side of the road (it’s 1530 now) worse still it’s only a little industrial forklift rather than a telehandler so we have to block the whole road for a minute whilst he nips round for the bag on the nearside. It wasn’t quite chaos but it caused a lengthy tailback. Finally I was able to go and get the rest offloaded at their yard nearby before returning to the yard. Had a spring clean and tidy up in the cab, as it’s going on a weekend overnighter to Wales and whilst I like to keep it clean anyway it was a bit messy after today and I’d like to think that someone else would leave there’s OK for me in the same situation. Finally done at 1645. 212 Km Total for the week 1413Km
Fokker
Sometime earlier this year................
Norm then pulls back into the yard and loads the cockpit section and we are off in convoy headed for Qinetiq, Chertsey.
We get a fair few weird looks as we make our way around the M25, but the best is a bloke on some roadworks near Chobham who nearly falls down the hole in the road as he is having a good gawp. The site isn't really Chertsey but right alongside the London bound carriageway of the M3, I've often wondered what the run down looking factory place is all about.
We pull up at security and tell the bloke we are after building L84, we have do double back on ourselves and cross the M3 on the overbridge leading to the test track side if the site. It would seem that this place is used to test military vehicles and there are all sorts of rough surfaces and other interesting looking facilities with a few weird and wondeful bits of kit around. I'd love to be able to snoop around a bit but it's an MOD type place and I really don't want to start wandering about with the camera.
We find L84, it's a hangar type workshop building being used by a film crew who are filming an episode of Spooks there. It would seem that there has been a plane crash and our old junk is the wreckage that the investigators will be looking at. This old scrap has been hired at £1500 for the week, transport costs on top.
There are planty of luvvy types involved here, Oooh it's wonderful etc. I have never seen so many neckerchiefs, there was also a bloke with a handbag. They faffed about for a while before getting a rigger to make up a dolly onto which the fuselage was loaded, it was then pulled into place with several of them pulling, pushing etc trying to assist a 2wd Hilux. It didn't occur to them to ask for my 420hp so I didn't bother to offer. They were almost bursting with excitement when it came to the cockpit so I decided to leave them to it and trundled off to my next job, as lightly more mundane digger & dumper move.
This is what it looked like before it was scrapped at Southend airport.
THE RETURN JOURNEY
As it was quiet I had a snoop about before returning to the bunk and the kettle.
Shortly after I had been poking about there was activity by the weighbridge office but after a few minutes they got back in their Land Rover and cleared off. Some of the film people showed up and started lugging bits of props out of the hangar and I decided to secure all the loose bits that had been stuffed inside the fuselage which had been wheeled outside the hangar.
Norm arrived just before 0900, my half hour lead had gained another half hour, and soon we were talked into shifting the portacabin that he’d moved on Monday back to the other side of the site. It had clearly seen better days and it was a bit dodgy walking on the roof to attach the chains. It was on and we took it back to the North side of the site where we were told to position it right behind some race cars that they wanted blocking in. Not to stop them being stolen, but because the site manager had got fed up telling whoever they belonged to not to leave them there.
Back over the bridge there was some activity going on, there was a brand new airport fire engine being tested on the perimeter test track, it didn’t arf sound good as it thundered around. Banked corners and all, some people get jammy jobs. Outside L84 is a huge tarmac area with circles painted on for testing cars on and there were a couple of artics on the far side that looked like they might have some development vehicles on board, however all we saw was what looked like a rigid tent being assembled.
Although I’d love to stay and have a good nose around and see what’s happening we did need to get on with the job and we loaded the fuselage on to my truck first as it was the easy part. The cockpit was still inside the hangar and one set of doors had been damaged so we had to enter from the other end and bump down the step inside. Trying to use the crane inside a building is obviously difficult, so we settled for just getting it onboard roughly before trundling back outside to get in on board properly.
After a brew up we were all set to go at 1040 and we trundled off through Virginia Water to Egham to pick up the M25 at J13 which seemed like a better route than their original instructions of J11.
The run back to Hanningfield Metals was good and the aircraft was offloaded in reverse order to how we loaded.
My next job was a little more mundane, a 5t digger and 4t dumper from Chelmsford to High Easter before running down to Basildon to collect a crosshired 7t JCB, this was added to at the yard with a 3t dumper before leaving for home at 1630.
After a quick blast down to Romford this morning to deliver a 1.5t JCB mini digger I was back in the Chelmsford area at 0800 at Hanningfield Metals. This is a funny little yard that specialises in aircraft salvage and breaking, although they still break aircraft they tend to specialise in hiring or selling stuff for use in film / tv rather than actually scrapping the gear. There's no one about except for the guard dog, so I put the kettle on and wait, shortly afterwards Norman arrives in the other 6 wheeler and we stand about enjoying the morning sun. The owner of the yard has been delayed and it is about 0845 before we are able to get in. There is barely room for one wagon in the yard, so mine is parked out of the way in the yard next door whilst we start throwing tons of crap out of the fuselage of a Fokker F27 which is to be our 1st lift. 
Norm reverses out of the yard, I pull up alogside and we cross load the fuselage onto my truck and I decide to use chains rather than straps as there's plenty of sharp ally about.
Norm reverses out of the yard, I pull up alogside and we cross load the fuselage onto my truck and I decide to use chains rather than straps as there's plenty of sharp ally about.
Norm then pulls back into the yard and loads the cockpit section and we are off in convoy headed for Qinetiq, Chertsey.
We get a fair few weird looks as we make our way around the M25, but the best is a bloke on some roadworks near Chobham who nearly falls down the hole in the road as he is having a good gawp. The site isn't really Chertsey but right alongside the London bound carriageway of the M3, I've often wondered what the run down looking factory place is all about.
We pull up at security and tell the bloke we are after building L84, we have do double back on ourselves and cross the M3 on the overbridge leading to the test track side if the site. It would seem that this place is used to test military vehicles and there are all sorts of rough surfaces and other interesting looking facilities with a few weird and wondeful bits of kit around. I'd love to be able to snoop around a bit but it's an MOD type place and I really don't want to start wandering about with the camera.
We find L84, it's a hangar type workshop building being used by a film crew who are filming an episode of Spooks there. It would seem that there has been a plane crash and our old junk is the wreckage that the investigators will be looking at. This old scrap has been hired at £1500 for the week, transport costs on top.
There are planty of luvvy types involved here, Oooh it's wonderful etc. I have never seen so many neckerchiefs, there was also a bloke with a handbag. They faffed about for a while before getting a rigger to make up a dolly onto which the fuselage was loaded, it was then pulled into place with several of them pulling, pushing etc trying to assist a 2wd Hilux. It didn't occur to them to ask for my 420hp so I didn't bother to offer. They were almost bursting with excitement when it came to the cockpit so I decided to leave them to it and trundled off to my next job, as lightly more mundane digger & dumper move.
This is what it looked like before it was scrapped at Southend airport.
THE RETURN JOURNEY
Up early this morning and in the yard at 0530, Norm had already left as he had to collect a steel staircase in Dunmow at 0600 and deliver it to a site in the High St shortly afterwards where a mobile crane would take over. We figured that if all went well we shouldn’t be too far apart on the M25 on our way back to Qinetiq at Chertsey.He was about half hour behind on the M25 and where I slipped through the traffic without delay, he was not quite so lucky and hit some of the traffic. I arrived on site at 0745 and trundled off round to building L84 and parked up next to the huge inclines designed for tank testing
As it was quiet I had a snoop about before returning to the bunk and the kettle.
Shortly after I had been poking about there was activity by the weighbridge office but after a few minutes they got back in their Land Rover and cleared off. Some of the film people showed up and started lugging bits of props out of the hangar and I decided to secure all the loose bits that had been stuffed inside the fuselage which had been wheeled outside the hangar.
Norm arrived just before 0900, my half hour lead had gained another half hour, and soon we were talked into shifting the portacabin that he’d moved on Monday back to the other side of the site. It had clearly seen better days and it was a bit dodgy walking on the roof to attach the chains. It was on and we took it back to the North side of the site where we were told to position it right behind some race cars that they wanted blocking in. Not to stop them being stolen, but because the site manager had got fed up telling whoever they belonged to not to leave them there.
Back over the bridge there was some activity going on, there was a brand new airport fire engine being tested on the perimeter test track, it didn’t arf sound good as it thundered around. Banked corners and all, some people get jammy jobs. Outside L84 is a huge tarmac area with circles painted on for testing cars on and there were a couple of artics on the far side that looked like they might have some development vehicles on board, however all we saw was what looked like a rigid tent being assembled.
Although I’d love to stay and have a good nose around and see what’s happening we did need to get on with the job and we loaded the fuselage on to my truck first as it was the easy part. The cockpit was still inside the hangar and one set of doors had been damaged so we had to enter from the other end and bump down the step inside. Trying to use the crane inside a building is obviously difficult, so we settled for just getting it onboard roughly before trundling back outside to get in on board properly.
After a brew up we were all set to go at 1040 and we trundled off through Virginia Water to Egham to pick up the M25 at J13 which seemed like a better route than their original instructions of J11.
The run back to Hanningfield Metals was good and the aircraft was offloaded in reverse order to how we loaded.
My next job was a little more mundane, a 5t digger and 4t dumper from Chelmsford to High Easter before running down to Basildon to collect a crosshired 7t JCB, this was added to at the yard with a 3t dumper before leaving for home at 1630.
19th - 23rd February 2007.
Monday 19th February 2007
0615 Start. In and indeed out of the yard this morning with a minimum of fuss, a central London to do and a dentist appointment late afternoon meant that I wanted a good start in. First job was to run down empty to Loughton to collect some stuff belonging to a tennis court contractor. From Chelmsford the most direct way is along the A414 to Ongar and drop down to Abridge before cutting underneath J5 of the M11 but it is a bit arduous and easier to take the longer but faster route. Of course it would be easy if J5 was available to traffic arriving and departing from to the M25, however the best way in, is around to J26 M25 and drop in along the A121. My address was a road just past the turning for the station and right at the end was a little sports club with tennis courts. It’s 0730 and there’s no one on site so I try and find some space that won’t block too many people in and end up with me becoming a shunter. Whilst I’m waiting I knock the tie bars off the ramps, have a brew up and wander over to see what I have got to collect. Behind the Heras fencing is a skip (full), pile of spoil (large) and behind that the following plant; 1½t mini digger, skip loader, roller, Kramer shovel and a cement mixer. I have a scout about but cannot unearth any keys but at least it looks like it will be just possible to squeeze the stuff out between the gate post and the spoil heap. 
At around 0800 someone shows up in a car and I expect he’s got the keys for this lot, he assumes I’ve got keys and it turns out that this is a job we are doing for another plant company and they have assumed it would be Norm and his magic keys on this job. Unfortunately the only solution is for someone to bring me the keys out from Chelmsford, so I settle back in the cab and stop the kettle from drying out. It is about 0915 before someone arrives, one of the fitters from the other company. He’s a top bloke though and helps me dismantle the Heras fencing and get the plant out, as the mixer is unpowered I decided that it’d have to be towed on but it can’t connect to the only machine with a hitch so we load up the shovel, the dumper and the roller before backing the digger up last. I chain the mixer’s towbar to the digger bucket and it’s a fairly tricky job trying to get the mixer up the ramps when it only just spans the gap and the digger has to go up the centre before being placed to the side. Somehow it all goes on and the mixer stays on the beavertail nudged up against the ramps.
After getting busy with the straps, I am finally ready to leave at 1000 having been on site for 2½ hours, the fitter retrieves his keys (that’s why he was so helpful) and assures me that they have keys on site. All this is to be delivered to Lambeth, just behind the Imperial War Museum so I head out onto the M11 via J5 and follow the A12 / A11 down to Aldgate and down to Southwark Bridge. It’s a short hop to Elephant & Castle and an even shorter one to the narrow street that is my delivery point, it’s a 7½t limit with no except for loading sign but I ignore it as chaos would ensue if I tried offloading on the main road. I’m in the right place and I’m told the keymeister will be with me in 5 minutes or so. I’m all unstrapped and stowed ready and they leave it to me to take the mixer off, theoretically a reversal of the loading but in reality 10x worse. The rest comes off easily enough and I grab one of the blokes to stop the traffic on the main road so I can reverse back up the one way street and onto it. By now it’s 1200 and that’s one job done, luckily I’ve only been allocated one more and that should do me fine. I made my way out the same way and followed the M11 up to Stansted and branched off down the A120 for Braintree and eventually High Garrett. Job 2 was to collect a Manitou rough terrain masted forklift from a civil engineering yard and it was loaded swiftly after the fitter had poured oil and water in it.
This was headed for Colchester to a housing development on Hythe Quay, sandwiched between Jewsons and Travis Perkins on the bank of the stinking river overlooking Easco’s scrapyard. Throw in a bit of grey sky and rain and …………..well what a place to want to live. Once it was all off and signed for, the ramps up and the chains stowed it was back to the A12 for a quick blast back to Danbury and off home at 1600 to visit the dentist.Tuesday 20th February 2007
0645 Start. A large bucket had been loaded since I left so after securing it, I checked my paperwork and found that it was to be dropped off in Southend. The site in Southend was in a pub carpark where one of our machines is sinking a large diameter shaft, presumably for access to sewerage or water systems. There was not a lot of room, especially with a JS220 in there and I stayed outside and let them lift it off and over the hoarding with the machine. My next job was only a short hop around the corner to an old folks home to collect a skip loader and a 1½t mini digger, essentially similar to the ones I had on yesterday, these were loaded side by side up front and were taken back to be off hired at Jovic plant just down the road from our yard. When it came to unloading the dumper was fine but the mini was slipping about on the beaver tail and was proving difficult to get lined up so that it wouldn’t fall down the gap between the two ramps. I tried most things and even trying to get back up so I could go down one ramp wasn’t really happening as one of the tracks kept spinning and the whole thing sliding towards impending doom. Of course the best thing to do in this situation is to declare ‘your machine, you can get it’ and let someone try and get it off without damaging it. Thus it was so. Next up was an empty run down the waterfront at Brightlingsea to collect a 9t Komatsu that belonged to a local groundworker, I arrived on site and found the fella that I’d handed it over to when I’d delivered it and he showed me where it was and located the buckets for me. Oddly they weren’t together so I had to mess about with chains to try and get them in some sort of order, more oddly was the fact that he’d said the driver had had the machine all packed up with buckets nested against the blade. However I got sort of sorted and started manoeuvred it into a little space that I could get the truck in front and load up. There was a bit of a level (or lack of) ground issue here and the tracks did start to slip, I took it back down, gunned the revs and gave it a do or die charge up the ramps, it was a bit messy but it was on.
Shortly afterwards as I was getting in the cab, an old boy started talking to me and said ‘well you can tell you’ve done that before’ Obviously easily impressed. This machine had to be returned to it’s owner and that involved taking it right past our yard and off into wilds near Maldon. The entrance to the farm where they are based was a complete joke, not possible to get in without reversing up the farm entrance opposite to line up with the narrow gateway, there was a 20t + size machine there which is lowloader territory and being groundworkers they could easily widen the entrance. Maybe it was intentionally awkward to deter thieves I dunno. No sooner than I’d stopped I got the third degree about the buckets, apparently two were not for this machine and were wrong, I countered with the fact that I’d been told exactly which to take, they were all together and maybe if they’d been left with the machine it wouldn’t have happened. I loaded the rogues up the front, dropped the two good ones onto the floor and offloaded the machine before turning round in their poxy yard removing the lens from a marker light in the process. Whilst I was there a job had been phoned through, collecting from nearby Hazeleigh about a mile away. My instructions were fairly vague, go into the farm yard, open the gate and load a forklift (it hopefully should start, but the brakes aren’t all that) Oh joy. Found the farm and ‘unlocked’ the high security string padlock and found an elderly Case forklift. It did start and I spent a couple of minutes trying to work out which lever did what. Touching the handbrake killed the engine, touching the footbrake did nothing and the clutch came so far up my knee was almost under my chin and was really just a case of in or out with no chance of control whatsoever. Cab heat was provided by the vertical stack about 3” behind my head and I lurched round to the front to try and load it on. I got myself lined up and the bottom of the ramps, lifted the clutch and lunged forwards at the slope, about half way up the front wheels started spinning like a paddle steamer and as dabbing the brakes had no effect I decided to try my luck with the clutch. It did have some effect, being that of thundering backwards down the ramps.
Ah, now I see it.
Not sure how legal this is, perhaps to stop people trying to steal stuff like this...
I decided on a change of plan and turned the machine round and unspooled the winch cable ready to pull it on. It was the first time I’d used this winch and it was making some horrid grinding noises, I figured that if it went pear shaped the brakes weren’t going to be any good, so I thought I’d try and reverse it on instead. It was a bit of a death or glory effort but the gamble paid off and finally it was on. After re-securing the premises...............
I headed back to Danbury to deliver the machine to a Turkey Farm, it turns out that they had bought the beast (at least I won’t be taking it back) and unsurprisingly they weren’t champing at the bit to hop up and drive it off. We found a bit of ground sloping uphill and backed up to that to act as a gravity brake, I started it up, engaged gear and charged down the ramp onto the uphill stopping about 5 yards off the ramps. Handbrake on, engine off and with a hasty dismount declared ‘it’s yours now’ and left them to it whilst I made my escape back to the yard. Off home by 1545.
Wednesday 21st February 2007
In at 0630 this morning and I discover that the O/S/R markers and tail lamp are out, so I open the fuse box to investigate. Weirdly the fuse is OK but I notice that the front body marker on the nearside is also out whereas the front offside is on. These two markers are the LED type and are mounted more on the cab than the body and I suspect that they were the original ones on it when it was a unit. When I tried the fuse for the nearside it cured the problem, obviously someone got their wires crossed when they cut and shut it. With everything sorted my first job was a collection in Chafford Hundred, the posh sounding bit of Grays. First on was a large fuel bowser followed by a 4½t Kobelco digger. This was an external movement and the digger was returned to it’s yard in Tiptree before cutting across to Silver End to offload the tank.
Somewhere down here is a little yard. 
Once I was empty I cut through Cressing to the A120 and off headed for Heathrow. I decided to stop at the rest area near Stansted and check the map as the details I had for the next job were sketchy. I opened up my map locker and rummaged around for my Surrey street atlas, this covered a bit of Heathrow although the road name wasn’t in the index but I noticed that it bordered Berkshire so I tried the same on that one too, same goes and out comes Buckinghamshire. All the maps are the Philips ones which I find to be excellent, however they do not overlap at all and I can’t believe that they haven’t overlapped a bit here as Heathrow is on the border of three maps. I eventually found what I was after on the London A-Z and it really couldn’t have been easier, just off M4 J4 on the North side. Traffic was backed up through the roadworks on the M25, there had been an accident just inside the tunnel and everything was having to pass on lane 3. At the other end of the tunnel on the other carriageway something similar had happened causing delays there as well. I eventually arrived at the Balfour Beatty compound at about 1200 and was presented with the keys to a 7t Hamm roller (not a 7t ham roll) This was a new one for me and it was a big old beast, still it was easy as anything to move, turn the key, joystick for forward and reverse and a steering wheel.
It was soon loaded and chained and I sat in the canteen watching Bargain Hunt with the site manager over a cup of tea. This I am sure is just a way of getting people who aren’t really ill back to work as it is truly dreadful daytime TV. After a while I could stand it no more and made my way back to Essex. This was also an external move for a company in Maldon and whilst there I collected a little Rammax roller to take back to the yard.
Offloaded the Rammax and then trundled off to Jovic plant at Sandon to collect a 3t digger for tomorrow, things were a bit slack there and it was just before 1700 when I left.
Thursday 22nd February 2007
0630 Start. This morning was a classic hurry and wait episode, rather than dropping the 3 tonner off first, I was to collect a 7½ t Hitachi from Hullbridge as it was needed urgently elsewhere. The site in Hullbridge is a large mobile home park and is a poxy place to go to, the roads are narrow, turning is difficult and all the residents are curtain twitching to make sure that you don’t even let the tail swing across their grass, let alone run over it. I was on site at 0715 and the site was shut up with Heras fencing which I had to dismantle before even attempting to get onto the plot. It was tight getting in and needed several shunts even with the tag lifted. Our fitter turned up behind to refuel it and give it a once over and then we started to work out how to squeeze it all on. Unhelpfully the machine had been left with the buckets strewn here and there and there was also a breaker to lift on as well. I let Clive do the fancy work with the buckets, he picked them up on the quick hitch and dropped the on the body whilst I sat in the 3 tonner and shifted them into position with that. All this messing about meant that it was 0830 before I was able to attempt to get out. This was not easy as with the extra weight I was running near max weight on all three axles and it involved a few more shunts to get out, before re-erecting the Heras fencing. It was only a short hop to Wickford to drop the machine and the buckets in Russell Gardens which as usual was chocca with vehicles trying to get in and out to all the businesses there. Finally I was able to go to Ramsden Heath to offload the 3 tonner on a housing development that has sprung up on a brownfield industrial site. I still had the breaker which was heading back to the yard, but it wasn’t in the way so I made my way back to Chelmsford for my next job. The address was George St. not a road I could picture and a check of the map shows it’s a tiny little road running behind Moulsham St. in the town centre, should be interesting. It’s a one way street squeezed in next to a pub and as I don’t know what’s the other end and don’t fancy reversing out I reverse down the street, meaning I will have to drive out the wrong way. The road is very narrow and there’s only a few inches either side before it opens into a long narrow surface car park
View from the cab.
There’s no space to get the wagon off the road so I just block the road and drop the ramps and figure people will have to find somewhere else to park today. The machine is a fairly old Cat excavator and it takes a while and a couple of phone calls to locate the keys. Eventually I start to track it across to the bottom of the ramps and score the tarmac whilst turning it line up. Just as I am about to load it an old biddy asks me if I can just back up to let her into the car park, I politely explain that if she’d just give me 2 minutes I’ll have the machine on, ramps up and I’ll get right out of the way which would probably be quicker than moving the machine and the lorry. Amazingly there were about three cars all stopped in the narrow lane in front of me, despite the beacons and hazards etc. It obviously hadn’t dawned on them that I’d have to get them to move first before they could get down the road. Once I had cleared the traffic, I pulled out and stopped around the corner to chain everything down and stop further chaos. The plan had been to take this back to it’s owners yard, but a last minute change of plan had me running it down to a little lane near Basildon Hospital. It was actually to go down a little private unmade road off the lane but there was no way you’d get anything much bigger than a skip lorry down the track because if you could get past the 2 trees standing either side of the track then there was a nasty little kink about 30 yards in. It was so tight that the machine only just squeezed through with literally an inch on either side of the dozer blade. I had to get some vans shunted and reposition a skip with the bucket to make a space to dump the machine in but it just managed to squeeze in somehow.
Ready to unload
The lane entrance between the trees, the driveway opposite wasn't an option as the 'main' road was too narrow to swing across to let me back in. . It was now just a case of running the breaker back to the yard and seeing if there was anything else to do. I had planned on a washdown if there was nothing doing, but the weather was having a go itself, so after a bit of cab tidying and an errand to the post office I made an early departure at 1430 for a straight 8 hour no overtime shift.
Friday 23rd February 2007
0645 Start. Out empty this morning, over to Greenshields JCB at Braintree to collect a machine. I was there about 0730 but no-one knew anything about it so I ended up waiting until 0800 until somewhere rolled in who knew the score. Today’s charge was a 541-70 Wastemaster (great name) which is basically a telehandler with a big bucket and grab for use in a waste transfer station.
Nice isn't it.
After loading it and getting it signed out, I headed off to deliver it to it’s new home in Brightlingsea at a refuse company. There was some question as to whether I was collecting the old machine hat had been Part Ex’d for this one, it was agreed I’d take it back until they decided that they weren’t happy with the bucket and would not use this machine until it had been changed over. In the end I returned to the yard empty and I was back in by 1100. There was not much doing so I dragged out the washer and gave everything a good clean up, revealing a red body and silver wheels underneath all the grime. Unfortunately it will not stay that way for long. There was a couple of jobs that had come in, so Norman and I selected one each and I think I made a bad call. My job was to collect a 5t Volvo from the site at Ramsden Heath and drop it in Bishops Stortford, it seemed like a nice little number but I discovered that I wouldn’t be able to collect it until about 1400. The machine (not ours) had suffered damage to the ram on the dipper arm and it took a while to extricate and collate the buckets, not helped by the disappearance of my lifting chains. Finally at 1430 I was on my way and I decided to take the A12 / M25 / M11 up to Stansted rather than one of the more direct but slower routes. I rang Norm at 1500 to ask if he’d seen my chains and he gave me the news that he was back in the yard having finished his job. Once I arrived on site I discovered that the fella who had loaded the machine had not left the keys in and hadn’t yet arrived, however he arrived shortly afterwards and I was off site by 1600. I decided to come back through Hatfield Heath to Chelmsford and I finished at the yard about 1700. Approx 1250Km this week.
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