1st - 5th October 2007

Monday
In at 0630 for a run down to Hewden at Dagenham where I'm working for today. It's pants weather and bad traffic and it takes nearly a hour to get there again. There's 2 deliveries and 2 collections for today. 1st on the 2nd delivery, a 5t CAT digger & buckets followed by delivery no.2 which is a 3t CAT digger, hydraulic breaker and buckets. It squeezes on nicely and I'm out of the yard at 0800. Luckily today the rain is keeping people inside rather than inside their cars and my journey into central London is as good as you could hope for.

My first drop is between Charlotte Street and Tottenham Court Road. It's not as bad as it sounds, fairly easy to get to Tottenham Court Rd, join it, head north and dive into the back streets. Made easier by my multidrop job from a couple of years ago I only needed check the map to find Chitty St. The machine is soon off and handed over and demonstrated before I'm off back to Tottenham Court Road and left headed out past Paddington onto the A40 elevated for drop no.2 at Uxbridge.

The address is Hanson Premix, Skip Road. Good name for a place with loads of refuse companies down there. The batching plant is at the end of the lane and is awash with a 2" thick sludge of water and mud. This goes everywhere as there is a whacking great shovel buzzing about, and the truck is covered.

The load is off and I head out on the A40 / M40 and pick up the M25 stopping for 45 at South Mimms about 1130. My collections are both in the same place in Silvertown, London E16 in the yard of Edwin Shirley Trucking - You rock we roll. The first thing to go is a 6t dumper and it's driven on chained and quickly run back to Hewden's yard before turning around and heading back for the next bit. Collection 2 is a 13.5m CAT Telehandler a TH560, there's also an 8t CAT digger from Hewden's but a driver from Peterborough turns up to collect it as it was hired from there!
The tele is loaded on, tightish up to the edge of the body as usual but when I get out the other side is well overhanging, so the American fat boy comes off and is loaded right up to the edge. It's all on and chained when I spot that the O/S Axle 3 tyre is looking pretty flat. I pump the air back into the body which improves things slightly but it's screwed. I found an airline with tyre inflator but that was crap so the tele comes off, the axle goes up and I run back to Chelmsford empty. The tyre is shot, it was on the last of it's tread anyway so a new one is fitted on the way to the yard before finishing at 1730.


Distance 306Km


Tuesday.
Another 0630 start this morning off to a farm near Kelvedon to collect our EX60 that has had some welding done on the dozer blade after a hirer nearly ripped it off.

It's only a 6 tonner but it's a good old workhouse and has got a similar size cab to our 13t Hitachis. Better than the zero tail swing newer models for sure. It's just the machine, no breaker or buckets so it's an easy move back to the yard to offload.

Next it's off to Greenshields JCB dealer at Braintree, to collect a new 531-70 telehandler destined for MAP plant at Barking. Extra care is taken to chain it down as they have had a reputation for being a bit picky and I'll try and keep as much paint on it as possible.

Although it does the job I don't usually chain across the tow pin, those ovalish slots are the tie down eyes that I'd run the chain through. I don't subscribe to using straps like they do when they come from the factory, they have chain eyes so I'll use chains. Sooner or later someone will, so it may as well be me, after about 2 days on hire it'll be scuffed up and probably have lost a mirror or lens. It's plant, built to work not to stay shiny. MAP's yard is right next to the flyover on the A13 (by mustdestroy.com) and is another poxy place where you have to reverse in from the road.


Things have worked out OK as a quick run down the A13 to the NCR junction and I can nip through Docklands to EST's yard to collect yesterdays tele. Yesterday the yard seemed full, today it seems fuller although everything seems to have moved overnight. No matter there's a gap to squeeze in and load and I'm soon chained down and off out of the gate back to Hewden's at Dagenham.




Ah, you've got the big one they say when I get to the yard. Although not the biggest (it's a 17m lift) this one is a 13.5m high 5 tonne machine and weighs in at 13.5t which explains why the tyre was looking fairly flat. You'll notice the straps on the front, this is because it has small chain eyes that I can't use. I have discovered that talking to the fitter whilst unloading is a bad thing as when I got in the machine it wouldn't engage reverse properly. It's not uncommon with these electronic controls so when it still doesn't respond aften knocking into neutral and back I give it a bit more power. BANG - WTF? Ah yes I'd forgotten to take the short strap off the nearside. It had ripped it apart and fired the handle across the yard. Oddly enough it seemed to move nicely now.

After a 45 minute break near Rainham (Essex) around 1230 I'm off over the water (Thames) to Kent to the Skanska site where they are building a new A2. This is the beast I'm collecting, it's fairly uncommon a JCB 4CX the big brother of the 3CX. It's largely the same but has interchangeable bucket / loading forks and has 4 massive wheels that all drive and steer. It's absolutely caked, the pictures don't do it justice really and a fair amount ends up on me.


This is a small selection of the heavier plant, the 14t duck is quite small here on this site as 20-22t 360's are the norm although there is a 65 tonner a bit further along. There was about 10 of the CAT trucks parked up and a larger bulldozer just out of shot. And a big grader too. Big boys toys here.

The 4 CX is taken back to the contractors yard at Braintree where it is going in the workshop for a few days. It leaves a mountain of mud behind which is duly swept off in their yard before I head back to Danbury. I'm back by 1600 and off home by 1630.
Distance 349Km

On the way up the M11 I got overtaken by a R530 Topline 6x2 rear lift rigid. It was a bit over top with lights but the twin stacks looked good. I thought I was doing well at 420hp but 530? for what's effectively an 18 tonner half the time, it didn't even have a drawbar coupling either. Yes please that'll do me.

Wednesday

0645 Start. I've got a passenger this morning, the proud of owner of a new (to him) tractor that we are collecting from the Cambridge auction site. I've never been to the auctions here so I just go where I'm directed and am slightly surprised to find the Cambridge auctions at a place called Sutton, about 4 miles west of Ely. The sale was on Monday and much of the stuff has gone already, but the place was still stacked out with tractors. Hundreds of the things and a fair bit of plant too.


There were about the same number of 3CX's behind me.
Just one of numerous lines of tractors.



We'll take this one an E reg MAssey Ferguson 3070.



My man was happy enough and we trundled back down to Essex and dropped it off at his farm at Purleigh near Maldon. My next job was a collection at Layer-de-la-Haye near Colchester and I'd got 40 minutes left on the clock before needing a 45. Will I? Won't I? With 5 minutes to go and about 5 minutes to the site I decide that if the site was too small I'd be screwed so I have a peaceful break on the causeway at Abberton reservoir.

After lunch I head into Layer and load a 1t skiploader and our Komatsu 27R 3t minidigger, I can't be arsed to take the windy road back through Maldon so I cut through the south of Colchester, past the zoo and out to the A12.

Passed this beast on the A12, It's a Hitachi ZX 470 with a long reach boom. Ordinarily it'd be clclassed as a 50t machine but with the long boom it's anyones guess. Either way it was very heavy, very long and very shiny and being dragged by an 8 leg Scania unit.

Back at the yard the 27R comes off. Followed by the skiploader. Tip the buckets out. Skiploader back on.

Followed by a Hitachi ZX 50, just a tiddler it's a 5 tonne machine. I'm back down to Purleigh to drop this at the side of the road where the water board are trying to mend a water main. Then it's round the corner to Lavenham Plant at Cold Norton to offload the skiploader. Somehow there seems to be an overload of work and I am now heading off out rather than back to the yard. Next call is to a place called Bobbingworth it's just off the A414 near Ongar and I'm collecting a roller for CRH plant. It's a winch job this one as it's a towed roller.

It's also bloody massive and weighs about 6t. What you need to pull it is a CAT D6, which deliver the thing to the bottom of my ramps. The winch isn't the best of things with anything on it and progress was painfully slow, in fact I'd probably still be trying to winch it on now but for matey in the D6 giving it a shove. I had to keep my eye on him as he'd have probably driven it straight on the back. I set to with the chains and chained the back down as tight as I could, then did the same at the front. Right that's secure I'm off. Despite the chains being solid the roller is seesawing up and down and the ride is choppy to say the least. Imagine driving an unbaffled tanker that's half full down a bumpy ride and you'll get the idea. It's only a short hop to North Weald where I stop to collect a 1400mm self propelled roller. I now get the ratchet straps out and pull the back of the big roller mega tight, surely now it can't move. There's a noticeable improvement on the howeward journey but it's still rocking slightly. Back in the yard at 1730 and off home by 1745.


Distance 436Km


Thursday.

0645 Start. First job was to get shot of the rollers at CRH plant at Witham, the Bomag 140 was easy as I could drive it off, but the big boy had to be dragged off with a dumper and held with the winch.



Tucked at the back of the yard was the sad remnants of a 2CX


With the rollers gone it's off to Braintree to load the 4CX to go back to the A2 in Kent.


It's not my week for equipment, this happened when I tried to tension the chain.


This guy gets to use lane 3 on the motorway. FAST and with 2 police cars as escort on blue lights and another about 1/2 mile ahead. One escort tails and one runs alongside. Everyone gets out of the way. I've only ever seen it on the M11 I reckon it's cash from the Bank of England print works at Loughton. Could be bullion I suppose but I reckon cash is more likely.
(Friday - As I was heading into London on the A11, there was a police convoy of three cars escorting an old (J reg or so) Seddon Atkinson 6 wheeler, same dark blue unmarked) they were bocking side roads and making a right noise about it. True to form though, I saw the Sed. quietly trundling on its own back down the M11 south of Loughton when I headed back out)

What I didn't see and will probably never hear the end of is RobK going the other way on the M25 and flashing and waving like a man possessed. I shall now wave at everyone going the other way to avoid offending anyone else. I'm very sorry everyone. I feel like I've let you all down.

It's a clear run down to Skanska on the A2, drop the 4CX and stop for a break before heading back to Essex. Despite the doom and gloom on the matrix signs, I get this close to the toll booths for the tunnel.



Where possible I always use the right hand tunnel, it's bigger and you haven't got to start lane changing when you come out the other side.


A short hop up the A127 to the next job at Romford. I hate these jobs loading bricks, blocks and building materials.


Well when I say loading, I mean someone else loading.


Saw this at Gallows Corner, now I'm a big mini (if that makes sense) fan and it's taken me a while to like the BMW version. But this is just crap, complete with matching pink alloys. Well it is Romford.


Back up the M25/M11/A120 and I'm site at Braintree. A nice big site with loads of space to take materials. Sadly it's just 4 packs of bricks here.


That I have to unload. Or more precisely have to be unloaded.

The rest of the stuff goes to a poxy site in the middle of South Woodham Ferrers. It's an absolute arse to get down the road to it, there's nowhere for the forkie to drop the stuff and getting out is also a nightmare.



But I'm eventually out and back across to Purleigh to collect the ZX50 from yesterday. It's right on a T junction with a busy road and nowhere to stop, so I have to get right over into the hedge to load.


Back at the yard there's a bit of a space issue, there's a mixture of everything we've got in at the moment. 1.5t / 3t / 5t / 6t/ 8t / 13t wheeled and tracked excavators.


3 lorries.


And one of our 20t ZX200's. There's also some dumpers and a bunch of vans that are spare or waiting for scrap. Come Monday it'll probably all be out. Hope so or we'll be in real trouble if any of the others come offhire. We'll be taking it home I reckon as we must be at capacity.


Distance 316Km

Friday.
0630 Start. Off to Hewdens at Dagenham again this morning and a much better run down the A12 than the last couple as there's no delay at Brook Street. I'm only on a half day here today so it's not the usual yellow pages size sheaf of delivery notes and collections waiting for me. 2 deliveries and 2 collections is all I've got and I load the two diggers, a 1.5t and a 3t easily.



I'm a regular at Hewdens, almost like their staff driver. Might be something to do with the fact that the driver of this left about 2 months ago and hasn't been replaced yet.


Oh, and about 4 months they got a brand new truck delivered and were going to get a second driver. They never did and this has never left the yard.


First drop was in E1 just off Whitechapel Road. Trouble is once you turn off there are lots of narrow one way streets. You just have to keep going and hope for the best.

Next is the first collection, another 3t digger and a hydraulic breaker tucked away in the corner of a site in Canning Town (or Cannnnin Taaaahn)

It goes on the back and I trundle off to Hewdens at Waltham Cross where I have to unload it, unload the 1.5t which is staying there and load the 3t back up the front. Then it's off to Rainham (Essex) to for the second collectionwhich is a CAT TH330 Telehandler. It's a bit bigger than I was expecting so a bit of nifty thinking later and the digger is slewed at 90 degrees to its tracks and the offset boom swung round to nestle inboard. Sometimes I surprise myself.

It's a short hop back to Dagenham to unload. Just in time as another hire firm pulls in in front and are there to collect their breaker. That's my lot for Hewdens for today, time to start working for Danbury. Back at the yard I manage to get in but have to start shunting stuff about to make space so I can load. This duck is right in the way, but until I load my machine there's nowhere for it to go. But that's what I'm paid for, to overcome these little challenges and I'm off out loaded with a Hitachi ZX75 for the amusingly named.................


It's gotta go in a field so it has to be offloaded in the road.



Obviously round here the local posties are hardcore militants.

It's then back to the yard for the final time this week. All finished by 1700 and a 52.5 hour week.
Distance 271Km.