21st - 25th October 2007

Monday
0645 Start. It's a cold one this morning and I hit the night heater to warm things up a bit whilst I sort myself out before leaving. I'm off to Witham first thing and I'm there ready to load at 0715.

Or would be if they knew where the gate key was.

0815 the gate is open and first I have to coax a 6t dumper into life to shift it out of the way. Next in the queue is a Hyundai 55, I seemed to be plagued by these bloody things and except fro a couple of new ones I move they are nearly always knackered. This is no exception, all the bonnet flaps are broken, rear gab glass broken, door won't latch open, front screen jammed half way up. And completely dead, just about as much life in the battery as an AAA.

I don't hold out a lot of hope for my jumpstart pack, it's only designed for cars and cost me £20 but after about 5 mins it has done just enough to splutter the machine into life.

The last in line is another 6t dumper which is the one I'm loading, there's no chance my pack will have enough go in it to start it if it's flat but luckily it fires and it goes on first. Double chained as judging by the general state of disrepair on these machines it will wander back and forwards if I only use a single chain.



The Hyundai sits on the arse end, and I start to fold the ramps. "Hmmm, better just start the engine before going any further" I think, so as not to cane the batteries. Too late, a combo of cold weekend, early morning night heater, short run, bit more heater and a kettle full of water has done for the batteries.

It's another half hour delay whilst our fitter comes out and gets me going again, and finally at 0940 I'm heading for Clacton to unload the rusty relics

Move number 2 is new JCB 520-40 from Greenshields at Braintree.
At the factory there's a bloke with a bucket full of diesel and a sponge. He dunks the sponge and squeezes the diesel into the tank. Well you'd bloody think so, they never have more than a spoonful and this one dies right here.


For the last few months I have been carrying a can of red, purely on the basis of new JCB's that I have delivered before.



As it was at their yard they used their sponge to put some in. And quite a bit on my boots too.

This machine was delivered to Kelter Plant at St.Albans, it's an easy run and I've delivered a machine here before so it's a no brainer.

My third and final job was to collect one of our 5t Yanmars from a mobile home park at Stock near Chelmsford. I found the machine on one plot with two buckets, and two more buckets and a breaker on another plot. This machine had been badly abused during the week it was here, everything covered in conrete and just left as is. I moved the machine to the other plot to collect the other bits but discovered they have split a brand new hose on the quickhitch coupling.

I decided to leave the machine on site rather than track it round the whole site with heavy breaker and buckets suspended from a chain and I returned to the yard empty handed.

Back at the yard I load a 5t dumper and Kobelco 60 ready for the morning.
Distance 303Km

Tuesday.
0645 Start. It's a short run to Great Leighs between Braintree and Chelmsford to drop off the Kobelco & the dumper. It's at a place where they manufacture cricket bat blanks and export them all over the world for final shaping and finishing.



They're soon off and I'm off to Maldon to load a batch of lighting towers from the main agents. We manage to get six of them which is good as Norm only managed 5 when he did the same run last week.


By 0900 I'm loaded and strapped down secure so it's A414 , A12, M25 & M1 for me as I make my way to Old Stratford on the A5 on the far side of Milton Keynes. There's a road closure somewhere in MK but it's a signposted diversion and I find my way through the largely traffic free maze with ease.

The blokes at Ace plant are good and I soon have two men and a telehandler unloading me, there's not much for me to do except guide the towers across the yard and unhitch the chain. 20 minutes later I'm back out and I meander back along the A5 right the way to J9 on the M1.

I'm close on time for a break and as I pull into the truck park at South Mimms my timer is beeping away merrily. Realistically that means I'd got about 10 minutes or so left.

On the way out this bad boy was parked on the roundabout cut through, far up front there's an 8 leg unit and a couple more axles on the front of the trailer.

There's nothing else booked for the day so I head back to the yard and give the cab a tidy out. One of tomorrows moves is ready, so I nip out to Purleigh near Maldon and load this pair of dumpers ready for the morning. Back at the yard I'm all done by 1645.


Distance 352Km

Wednesday.
0630 Start. I'm not sure why I ended up being in earlier today it just sort of happened that way. No matter I decided not to waste it and got on the road by 0645. The dumpers were heading for Harlow and by way of a change I went along the A1060 through The Rodings, it's one of 3 useable routes that all take a similar time but this one is often not so busy. By 0800 I've tipped the dumpers and I'm back at Hastingwood dropping on to the M11.

The matrix signs are predicting doom and gloom from J28 - J1b on the M25 but I catch the back of the queue at J29 where I peel off and follow the A127 into Upminster for the next job.

First on this aged 2t dumper

Followed by this 11 year old JS70. It's obviously been painted but it's been well loved since it was built in 1996.

It's a short move to Rainham, usually a trip around the 25 would be best but due to the traffic I follow the contractor and we cut through some lanes and end up on site in next to no time, right next to where I loaded Hewdens roller last Friday.

Once I'm done I head back to our yard to load another relic, an old EX60 that we've had to fix. It's jinxed this machine, I took it once and the cab guards although looking securely fixed on the roof were not. I saw them in my mirror cartwheeling away like a deck of playing cards. When our other driver brought it back from that site he mangled the cab guard rack on a low branch. This was why we were fixing it.



It's a short run of a few miles to run it back to their yard, but whilst I'm driving along a narrow lane I start to struggle to keep driving in a straight line. I decide to stop, the truck also decides it's stopping. The OSF brake is binding and billowing out acrid smoke, The brake disc is glowing orange and I grab my fire extinguisher just in case, I've also got about 3l of water but that's my final reserve effort. If it's going up, I'd rather crack the disc and save the rest than just rely on one small extinguisher.



The situation improves slightly and now there's just a wisp of smoke and an acrid stench, I ring the yard and they arrange to get Truck East Scania to come out to me.



The fitter calls me to find my location and decides it might be a chamber so puts one in his van. When he arrives about an hour later the wheel is still hot and I douse the water over and still get a load of steam. We decide that it's OK to drive it the 1/2 mile to where I'm heading for so that I can unload the machine and give him the chance to look at it off the road.
He changes the chamber and indications are that it's OK, he follows me back to the yard and everything seems fine and the wheel is a normal temperature again.



I have a poke about underneath to try and find the source of an occasional knocking and discover this.

There's about 12" missing off of one of the spring leafs. Dunno where there went, could have been nasty. It's fairly recent judging by the lack of corrosion on the break. It's got to be sorted so it's off to Truck East at Witham for the late shift to sort out. One good thing about driving a beavertail is that you can carry a spare vehicle with you to get you home.



I'm done at Witham by about 1630 and off home in the runabout.
Distance 191Km

Thursday.

Fixed.
0645 Start. First job is to collect the Scania from Witham, the little truck is loaded on and piggybacked to the yard before I start work proper. I'm booked for 0800 at TCP in Maldon for another 6 lighting towers, there's never much activity there early in the day but this morning there's an Irish artic in there with the curtains hooked back and they are about to start loading towers on. There's also a small Polish rigid who's waiting to tip.

They've said 0800 so the meters running and I sit there and wait, I get a call from our lot asking if I could bring a roller back from Coventry for TCP, I reply that I might if they ever manage to get me loaded today. Shortly afterwards someone appears and they start to load the towers on board. It's about 0940 by the time I'm ready to roll and as I take the first roundabout I notice that a couple have moved slightly so I pull up in a layby and investigate. In their belated haste they haven't wound the legs down far enough and although braked they are still moving slightly. Acouple more straps and everything is OK. These towers are going to the same place at MK, but I avoid most of the M1 roadworks by using the M10 and A5 to MK.

Once I'm unloaded I'm off to TCP's Coventry depot in Canley, not too far from a site I went to last year a few times. When I find the yard tucked away between some other buildings I'm given a power barrow to load.

Followed by a smallish Rammax roller.


With just a few minutes left on the clock I take a 45 there and I leave there at 1415, I figure that the M1 roadworks, M25 and J28 roadworks are going to be hellish when I get there so I carry along the A45 to the M6 and come back across the A14 to the M11. I go straight back to our yard with the plan of offloading or delivering 1st thing in the morning. As luck would have it they have arranged for their wagon to come and pick them up. At about 1730 I've just finished unloading when their wagon arrives, I leave them to it and head for home.

Distance 486Km

Friday.
0645 Start. I start working before I leave the yard today, loading and securing a 5t ZX50.
The delivery is to a golf course in Colchester, which involves going through here. Whilst it's not that narrow in any one bit, trying to thread a 40' vehicle through is tight because there is no straight line through.


They are building an extension of the greenkeepers shed and need this machine for something or other.

They also need a couple more bits bringing in from their job at the cricket bat factory in Great Leighs. Somewhere around here should be a digger, dumper and a roller.

Ah there they are.

I just need the roller and dumper at the moment. The ground is mulchy and wet and the roller refuses to get past here. I try several times, fast, slow, backwards but it's no good it has to be winched on.

The dumper is much easier.

These are then taken back over to the golf course at Colchester, before I return to Great Leighs to collect the 6t Kobelco.

This machine is on steel tracks but has got rubber pads fixed to the tracks so it can work on tarmac. However this makes it really slippy and unable to climb the ramps, it almost makes it and then admits defeat and slides back down to the bottom. The winch would be no good on this machine it's too heavy, I'd probably pull it out of it's mountings so I have to improvise with a shackle and chain attached to one of the strong points on the body.



Ta -da, all that's needed is to use my handy crane to pick the buckets up.


Secure and go.

I have to wait a while for their driver to finish unloading. This is one of the few other driving jobs I'd like to do. Around here it's probably dead mans shoes though as I know of only 2 dedicated timber grab wagons in Essex. This guy has been doing it for donkeys years, I used to know him when I worked at a timber yard.

The Kobelco goes back to the yard and is offloaded. In it's place goes a 5t Yanmar which is going to Southminster. I drop the Yanmar at a farm and head back to Danbury, there's not a whole lot doing so I load a dumper for Monday and clear off home about 1545.

Distance 245Km
Total distance 1578Km