0545 Start. I seem to be getting more earlier starts of late, that's a habit I'll have to try and break. Actually I was due to go to Maldon first thing to load but I seized the opportunity on Friday to get one step ahead and load up so I could get an early start in.
I've got a mobile crusher loaded on the front and a 5t Hamm roller on the back, it's all sorted ready and I'm on the road Kent bound by 0600. Clear of the M25 by 0645 and through Tunbridge Wells by 0715, I'm hoping I'll be away from the jams for the rest of the day. First stop is at Mayfield Grange in East Sussex, I've delivered one of these rollers here previously and recall offloading in the road as the site entrance was not very clever. Today however it has been dug up and is unusable, the posh entrance says "no site traffic" and there's what looks like a new site road being created, I decide that looks like a probable spot for the roller and tip off in the road outside and rumble the roller in there. When I eventually find someone, it's in the wrong place and despite all the signage to the contrary I should have gone in the posh entrance, this is a proper pain in the arse as I have to reload the roller reverse up 100 yards or so and drive into the entrance to offload on the site. I was all for driving it straight in but they were having none of it, so I have to go with it but I cheated and didn't chain it back on again.
I could have done without the messing about but I'm still away by 0800, on my way towards Petworth on the A272, it's about 50 miles or so but it's not busy and is a pleasant journey. Or at least it was until I get to Haywards Heath, this takes approximately an hour to get through thanks to some roadworks they talk about on the radio. Must be a big job I think, I'm wrong it's about 20' of road coned off and a bloke digging a small hole. Whilst I'm sitting in the jam around 0900 I get a call chasing my progress on the crusher, cheeky buggers, if I'd loaded it this morning as they had booked I'd have got there 1st drop about 1030. Here I am 1 down and well on the way at 0900 and they're chasing me.
Thankfully once past HH things improve although the freight route for through traffic on the A272 at Petworth is roundabout to say the least. I'm heading for a small village callled Lickfold which is a couple of miles off the A272, it's just past Lodsworth which is a very small village with even narrower roads. I arrive on site at about 1030 and carefully unload the crusher, a delicate touch is needed here firstly to rotate it through 180 degrees to get the conveyor facing forward and secondly it's remote control with buttons rather than push switches on the remote to move it. It's soon manouvered into place, demonstrated and working crushing some fairly big lumps of concrete into a fine sub base. It's nearly 1100 when I leave and I'm keeping my eye on the time as I'm running out of time, I decide to cut across to Pulborough and up to Billingshurst rather than the route in on the A272 and laybys are conspicous by their abscence. In the end I stop just before the A24 at Horsham with just minutes to spare.
Thankfully the run back was clear and after doing some bits in the yard I'm off home at 1545
Tuesday
0645 Start. Thankfully there was a job on the board this morning, one that had come in since leaving yesterday. I'm loading one of our Hitachi ZX50 machines from the yard, we can't start machines until 0700 and when I try it's having none of it. It's mega cold this morning and it's been stood for a few days but it's still unusual for one of ours, I dig out my jump start pack connect it up and take refuge in the office with a cuppa. I just manage to get the ZX50 going and I leave it running for 20 minutes or so whilst I get it loaded and secured.
By the time I actually leave it's close to 0800 but traffic isn't too bad as I'm heading to Framlingham in Suffolk. It's a surprisingly long hike up there, but as the journey is broken up by passing Colchester, Ipswich and Woodbridge at regular intervals it's a lot loss monotonous than a similiar motorway distance. I tip the machine off in the driveway to the castle and make my way back to Essex. There's a collection on the way from a big house in Hatfield Peverel, it's our 6t dumper and it's back to the yard after that.
Last job of the day is a quick run to Jovic Plant at Sandon for a 5t JCB ready for the morning.
Wednesday.
0645 Start. Off to Basildon this morning with the JCB, it's delivered to a school there and next stop is Truck East, Scania at Witham for MOT. My job sheet says to call for pickup, this is lacking some detail however as I cannot decide whether it means
a) call other driver Bob as once suggested to be collected.
b) call the office for someone to collect me.
c) call at the office and load our pickup truck so I can drive myself back.
I try a) but get voicemail, b) too early so I decide to skip c) and just go there anyway.
In the end I get collected and returned to the yard. I'm at a bit of a loose end now so I get sent on an errand to collect some Keruing flooring boards from Brentwood and then assist with the refurbishment of the ramps on the lowloader trailer.
Thursday.
0645 Start. No wheels for me in the yard today, but it means I've got to start using my recent training. I'm going up in the world today, another step up in fact into our R124-420. I've got a chance to drive the lowloader, it's the first time since passing my class 1 and I've the bonus of having the regular driver sat alongside. First job is to reverse out of the yard and to get out of our little industrial estate, it's not a big problem at 0700 when there's nothing there but later in the day will be difficult I'm sure.
We're loaded with a Hyundai 14t machine and soon I'm trundling off down the hill with it to deliver it to nearby Galleywood, it's only a short run but I get A roads both single and dual, roundabouts and a bit of narrow country lane before we arrive at the site. The machine driver is there ready and we're soon unloaded and ready to go again, it's another short run though only going as far as Danbury quarry. There's a Daewoo 13t to collect here and it's soon on and ready.
It's an old pic, but it's loaded with a Daewoo 130
I can either spin round by the batching plant or reverse the trailer round into the loading area, I figure that the easy option isn't really going to do me any good so I reverse round and am happy enough with the result. It's now just a short run back to the yard to unload where I manage to park the thing like a banana.
There's some tidying up in the yard to do, sorting out some rubbish and some scrap, before getting a lift over to Truck East about 1400 to collect my newly MOT'd vehicle. As usual they have decided that the MOT needed all sorts of things doing that never seem to be a problem at the 6 weekly inspections.
Like removing the reversing camera screen which obscures a miniscule part of forward vision (I rarely use it, but find it handy for tight places so I can back right up to something without hitting it.
Replacing a light cluster with an identical one that according to them last year was not a suitable type for a rigid.
New mudflaps.
They also fixed the exhaust which now sounds really sweet, it's supposed to have been done previously but it was never noticable.
Back to the yard and it's a quick swapover to the little pickup truck, for a quick blast up to Volvo at Duxford to collect some parts that had been biked from Newcastle. There's no point in going back tonight so I head straight for home by 1715.
Friday
0630 Start. I'm not sure what's happening this morning so I make the effort and roll in a bit earlier in case I'm out with Bob. I'm not, but at least there are a couple of jobs to do which will make a change. First stop is Jovic Plant at Sandon to load a breaker, there's nothing else to go on so it's an almost empty run down to Basildon to drop it off at the machine I delivered on Wednesday.
Next on the cards is a move from Maldon, it's a 5t JCB for a fencing contractor. When I arrive it's lashing with rain so I sit tight for 10 minutes and get the kettle on. Once the sky had emptied I discover that I'm also moving his JCB Robot skid steer, not a common machine type for me to move and this one scores extra points as it has door unlike the Bobcat ones where you have to clamber in through the front. They're both loaded and secured and it's a short run around to Latchingdon to drop them off.
Now I'm back into the yard to load a bucket for a 13t machine, it belongs to one of our customers and somehow came back from a job with one of our machines.
It's a site in Dartford where I'm headed with the bucket and I'm told to reverse in so they can pluck it off with the machine. Unfortunately this upsets a Hanson blocks artic driver who obviously thinks I'm trying to queue jump him and drives into the site so I can't get out. Numerous people explain that it's a one minute job, and if he'll just back out of the way I'll clear off out of his way, with some huffing and puffing he reverses out and still blocks the gateway. In the end I drive off the hard road on site to let him in, if he'd asked why I was "queue jumping" rather than assuming I was and just driving straight in he'd have been in much quicker.
I'm back onto the M25 headed for the M20 (as is the traffic jam going for the tunnel) and up into Vigo village. I've been here before, delivering to the school on DBC and my site is virtually next door. It's only the maggot I'm loading, our little 1.5t machine which looks daft on the back of the truck. Still not as daft as when it arrived here on it's own on the lowloader (although there was a 20 tonner going back to the yard)
I decide not to spend Friday afternoon queuing for the tunnel so I follow the A227 up to the A2 and round my sneaky way to jump to the front of the queue at J1a. I'm through the tunnel no bother and on a flyer back to the yard, I'm hoping that I arrive before Bob has left the yard as he's got a 22 tonner going to Colchester but when I arrive back he's gone. There's a bit more to do however so the maggot gets tipped off and I'm off to Lavenham Plant at Cold Norton for a 120 roller to take back to the yard.
Still not done, apparently we're desperate for a 3t machine so I'm despatched off to Lt. Baddow where there's a Jovic one coming off hire. I'm to collect it and a 6t dumper and deliver them to their yard so they can get the 3t machine ready for me to collect on Monday. Their wagon is either VOR or busy so we're doing this to make the machine available when we need it.
The bloke is still working the machine when I arrive but he's finished with the dumper so that gets loaded on. After half hour or so sitting on this surprisingly busy road he's finished with the machine and that goes on too.
Back to Jovic's now and tip the whole lot. Back to the yard and I sort out tomorrow's job before going home at 1700
No comments:
Post a Comment