20th - 26th January 2007

Some of you may recall that back in October I was unceremoniously ditched by my company for no reason and left with the prospect of being out of a full time job just 6 weeks before going away for all of December. I decided to try and find some temp. work for November and worry about January when it happened, I made some cards up and targeted small local plant hire companies and a couple of places on the advice of acquaintances. During seven days of unemployment, I visited 12 companies and two agencies, did three days work on agency and had one day with nothing to do. One of the agency days was at one of the places I had previously visited, but got me a days experience on a skip wagon. I managed to get a full time job with Easco in Boreham, with the promise of work in January if I was OK and happy to go back. This was somewhat a relief and I was grateful for the chance, sure it was only delivering and collecting skips of scrap metal but I was left to my own devices and given my own fleet of an Iveco 18t single skip, and a Scania 8 wheeler 2 skip to shuttle back and forwards between. Both were fairly well hammered but I was fairly happy, not pushed and found them a fairly decent to work for.

After returning from holiday in January, I was called by the metals company I had done the original day on skips with ad offered a job, but I declined as it was just the same job but 10 miles further from home. A week later I was called by Danbury Plant Hire who had also kept my card since October and now needed a full time plant driver and asked me along to see them. This as you may recall was my thing before and I called in the next day and was offered the job on the spot. I explained to my TM at Easco that I’d been approached and had accepted another job, he was disappointed that I wouldn’t be staying but could see why I wanted to go, however it didn’t stop an almost daily plea to stay and an invitation to go back if things didn’t work out which does give reassurance that maybe I aint too bad after all.

Saturday 20th January 2007

Saturday’s are not usually on my working calendar, but Danbury had asked me in so that I could go through the paperwork and have a looky round at my leisure before staring on Monday. I arrived at 0830 and started to fill in endless forms including a contract and was issued with a phone and various ticket books etc for use during the week. My new wheels for the job are in the shape of a Y reg Scania P 124 – 420 6 wheeler with beaver tail body. It’s a tidy little motor the cab is immaculate despite it’s 550,000Kms (which is roughly the same as the T plate 8 wheeler I’ve just left which was ingrained with dirt) and generally it seems to be in good order for a plant vehicle of this age. Apparently it started life as a unit and had been stretched and had the plant body added later in life before being acquired by Danbury late last year. It joins another Scania 6 wheeler with beaver tail and crane, and also an R420 with a Nooteboom low loader trailer. I moved all my gear in to the cab and spent a while looking at the bits and pieces and working out how to unfold the ramps etc. just so I’ll be familiar on Monday. Overall the setup seems good, and I feel that the boss could be one of a dying breed who is a actually a decent bloke to work for, loads of his staff have been there 20-30 years and he seems like a genuinely decent man. Time will tell of course, but I really hope that I’m right.

Monday 22nd January 2007

I’d been asked to start at 0700 and collect my paperwork, but I had the keys and was in the yard at 0645 and had my checks done so that I could be out by 0700. As I only had a 1½ t mini digger on the rear axle was up and it took a bit of getting used to being able to manoeuvre a full length vehicle so easily, just had to keep my eye on the rear swing. The next hurdle to overcome was the gearbox, a 3 over 3 range changer, out onto to the main road and I can’t get over about 20mph, now I know I’m doing something wrong as it clearly isn’t going into high when I flick the switch, this triggers a colleague telling me of a similar problem, and I discover the range change is actually on a lifting collar disguised as a gaiter whereas the splitter is the switch that on every other Scania I’ve driven is the range change. Oh well it’s all good experience and now I know what’s going on it is fairly easy to adjust to the unorthodox layout, although through the day I periodically split the gear instead of dropping the range, or try and force it into where 5th gear lives on a 4 over 4 only to find no slot. First call is to drop of the digger in Wanstead and I cop for a bit of traffic on the M11 before arriving at site at 0830. The road is narrow with parked cars either side, so I park the truck on the adjacent wider road and set about unstrapping, and removing the restraint bars on the ramps, so I can nip round the corner unfold the ramps, drive the digger off, fold the ramps and go with minimum disruption. It’s a nice idea that soon unravels when the digger just will not start, I’m sure I’m doing everything right and call the office to check, they give me some suggestions but it’s not playing ball and now the battery has had a hammering so they say someone will come out to look at it. Luckily I had stuffed the kettle in the cab, as I was to wait for about 3 hours for a fitter to arrive. Despite being a sleeper I cannot find a night heater and the diesel tanks were in desperate need of filling so I could sit running the engines too long to keep warm. When the fitter arrived, I was pleased to see that it gave him some problems too and took about an hour to effect a short time fix. The diesel heater had packed up on the machine (it’s only done 290 hours) but once it was going it was swiftly off loaded and I was on my way to my next call at Little Laver near Ongar in Essex. A short hop up the M11 and onto the A414 after a quick stop for fuel, I cut through the lanes to Moreton forgetting that last time I did this was in a 7½ tonner and that was tight enough, all is going OK until I discover an EDF crew taking up much of the narrow road leaving just enough room to squeeze a car through, to make matters worse they are French linesmen who have been shipped over with their vehicles to help repair storm damage. After about 15 minutes they pack their gear and move the truck so I can get through. At the next call one of the digger drivers is waiting for me, having been sent to assist and we quickly get the 8t digger loaded and chained with all its buckets. This gets taken back down the A414 to Chelmsford where I have to offload it into a field entrance, I manage to get it off OK but the neatly nested buckets have strewn themselves across the ramps and need rounding up before I can leave. It’s now nearly 1600 but I still have another to collect at Takeley near Stansted Airport, however I make good time and arrive on site just after 1630. No sooner than my feet hit the ground, someone hands me the keys to the little 3t digger and it’s on board and strapped down in record time. Aaargh, according to the paperwork there should be two more buckets, these took some finding in the gloomy compound and I was grateful to the machine driver who swiftly lifted them on for me. Again I’m lucky with the traffic and pull back into the yard at Danbury about 1745 just before the other 6 wheeler arrived. The machine was off loaded, the deck swept down, and finally I finished at 1815.

Tuesday 23rd January 2007

0645 Start. Straight out this morning onto the road for all of five minutes to reach the first call, another plant hire company where I have to collect a 6t dumper that has been cross hired. There are a few signs of life so I get busy dropping the suspension and lowering the ramps in anticipation and take refuge back in the cab as it’s flippin freezing and get the kettle on for a cheeky cuppa. Some 45 minutes later someone appears and presents me with the keys to the better looking of the two 6 tonners. Right here we go then, fire it up and drive it straight up the ramps. Err no, it’s got a flat battery. To get to the battery the old battered dumper has to be moved and of course it dutifully starts first time round. The newer one is soon jumped and going and five minutes later it’s all chained down and leaving the yard. It’s only a short hop this morning to Great Leighs, to a little works where they saw willow for cricket bat blanks.

It’s offloaded there without fuss and I’m on way to Felsted to collect another 6 tonner for a groundworks company. The site at Felsted is a massive housing development with several larger house builders each doing their bit, and it takes over half an hour of walking about asking before I finally find the machine. Dumpers have got to be one of the easiest things to load and secure and I’m soon off to drop it at another site in Southend. The access to the site was too tight from one end and when I found the other end I find that there’s an Entwistle wag & drag waiting to tip blocks and he’s waiting for Canute to finish so he can get in next. I was swapping the 6 tonner for a 10 tonner and the groundworkers agreed to run the dumper round the block for me a take the other one back effectively jumping the whole queue.
There was also another bit of plant to collect, but they couldn’t get it out past their fresh tarmac so again it was nice and simple. This was now my final job and I left Southend about midday, back to Chelmsford then follow the road to Braintree, Halstead and onto the site at Sudbury. A stop en route for a brew produced the missing night heater control box, and I discovered a little heated seat switch too. Things are looking up in the 8 (-2) wheels world. Apart from some heavy falling snow on the run back from Sudbury nothing much happened and I was back at the yard just after 1530. Wednesday 24th January 2007 0800 Start. Not much happening this morning as my first job is 11.00 in Colchester, I had planned to drag the steam cleaner out and have a bit of a wash down but there’s a bit of snow about and the ground is icy so adding more water seems like a bad idea. Instead I give the dash a dust off and sort out the toolbox, and generally kill a bit of time by hanging all the dogs and chains symmetrically from the bulkhead. Looks nice though. The site in Colchester is in Crouch St, which is in the town centre and it’s a good 20 minutes until I can get in when a wagon finally moves from outside the Tesco Express. This job is simply to collect a 6t dumper and move it to another site in Colchester, there’s no-one here other than the site agent and he gives me the keys. Hop up, turn the key, nothing. FFS what is going on with flat batteries these days. I try various combinations of foot on brake, accelerator etc whilst turning the key but still no result. There are no lights on the dash either and I wonder if it’s been standing for some time. Not so, it was in use yesterday afternoon according to the agent. It would appear unlikely to be completely flat and I turn my attention to looking for a battery isolator or similar immobilising device. Not finding anything I call the office, and the service fitter gives me some suggestions of where to look (it’s not our machine) It turns out that the metal rod on the key ring has to be detached and turned in a slot hidden under the engine cowl to turn on the electrics. It fires first time and I load it straight on, along with the compressor hitched up behind it. Round at the other site they ask why the compressor has turned up, but agree that it can be left as I am off to do more work for them afterwards. It’s backed off and left parked where it stopped, and I’m off to Kirby Cross near Walton to collect a 7t digger and 6t dumper to return to the groundworkers yard. Just as the welcome to Kirby Cross sign appears the phone rings and the job has been cancelled so I turn round and head straight back to the yard. Back at the yard the snow has gone and the temperature risen (a bit) so out comes the steam cleaner and I set to returning the body to red and the wheels silver. Norman the other 6 wheeler driver is shamed into doing his, despite the best efforts of the fitter trying to persuade him not to bother. Although the lowloader stayed where it was despite the best efforts of it’s driver Bob to persuade anyone else to do it for him. End 1600

Thursday 25th January 2007

0645 Start. This morning it’s first call at the Jovic Plant yard just down the road where we are cross hiring yet another 6t dumper. Things are a bit livelier there this morning and despite the freezing temperatures everything is sorted quickly and I’m on the road by 0730. It’s a quick blast up the A12 (unlike the poor buggers going the other way) to Lexden on the outskirts of Colchester. The dumper is being dropped off for a groundworks firm who are doing some work at the Essex Fire & rescue workshops. It was a shame I didn’t have the camera as I’ve never seen so many fire engines, I know it’s sad but I was like a little kid in a toyshop. Next up is a collection in High Garrett near Braintree from another groundworks firm, this time taking a brand spanking new Hitachi 7t digger and a full set of buckets to a sister company in Cottenham, Cambs. All I have to do is drop the ramps and chain it down when it has been loaded and secure the buckets, it all seems too easy sometimes. I decide that as I am not rushed I’ll meander through the countryside up towards Cambridge rather than take the dual carriageway route along to Stansted and up the M11. It’s a nice pleasant run, although not one you’d necessary want too often as it does seem to take quite a long time. Up at the A14 I decide to go around Cambridge rather than through to the ring road, and I arrive at Cottenham in just under an hour and a half. The machine is to be offloaded at a nearby farm, and I follow a bloke in his van out into the fenland near Longbeach. Unloading is equally simple, just unstrap, remove chains and drop the ramps and everything is taken care of. I stop just off the M11 for a break on the way back and have a lovely doze in the winter sun, it even gets so warm that I have to open the passenger window (and yes the heater was OFF) After a good run back I am back in the yard about 1400, and as there’s nothing much else to do I trundle back down to Jovic’s yard where I load a little 1½t mini digger and deliver it on to nearby Howe Green, it’s one of tomorrow’s jobs but it was ready and the customer to take it so at least I’ve got a head start for the morning. After adjusting the washer jets so that I could actually get some water on the top of the screen, I call it a day and head for home just before 1600.

Friday 26th January 2007

0645 Start. Off to yet another plant hire company this morning, this time near Brentwood to collect a JCB bucket for the machine that I will be moving first. The yard was a nightmare to find, and it’s an area I know well from working round there for 6 years. I’m not quite sure how we got this job as it was something to do with the other company, but the machine was a new JCB demonstrator and I had to collect it from a house in Epping Forest. It was a long reverse down the narrow driveway and for the first time I found the reverse camera useful, with all the bushes obscurinf the view from the mirrors. I found the machine tucked round behind a garage and started to nest the buckets against the dozer blade so it could all be moved together, this is not as easy as it sounds and took several minutes to achieve. Next I had to back (squeeze) the machine down between the garage and the fence without hitting anything and minding the overhead cable. Somehow I got out unscathed and loading the thing was the easiest part of the job. Once it was all chained down, the ramps folded and secure and the buckets strapped I headed out of the forest and picked up the M25 at J26 and followed it round to the A127 for a run down to Hockley. Although I knew where it was going I had to stop and think of an alternative as there are several ways in and out, mostly with low bridges, I keep forgetting to take a tape measure in but I measured one yesterday and that was about 13’6” so I decided to refresh my memory of the slightly less direct but unobstructed way. I arrived at Hockley around midday and the machine was quickly offloaded, and everything stowed away and all the mud swept off the deck. For reasons unknown the tag axle wouldn’t lift so I decide to run with it down, unfortunately the ABS warning light also came on and the exhaust brake stopped too. I ran with it for a few miles until I could get to a decent spot to stop, and tried fiddling with the switch, the air suspension box and turning the thing off for a couple of minutes. None of this did any good so I called it in, and was told to drop into TruckEast Scania on my way past. Obviously they are good as soon as I left the layby the ABS light went off, the exhaust brake started working again and when I stopped the axle lifted when I hit the switch. I did call in at the workshop, it would seem that it thought it had lifted the axle but hadn’t, and when the wheels turned it faulted the ABS and killed the exhaust brake. We decided that I’d keep an eye, as it is due in shortly and I headed off to collect a 3t dumper from a site near Mannheim auctions in Frating. The dumper was one that had been cross hired from Jovic plant so I dropped it in on the way back to the yard where I finished at 1515.Total distance 1146Kms