So I was chatting to vosa about load security yesterday...

So yesterday I had the pleasure of spending some time with vosa at Blyth services on the A1. I'm always nice with them, being a prick gets you nowhere, and usually have a list of questions for them, (I'd rather hear it from the horses mouth than my boss/transport manager, neither of whom really know much about much.) As I was with them with a tipper, (did I tell you how much I hate sugar beet?) I decided to ask about load security when it comes to curtainsiders - when I have the curtainsider I ask about tippers, seems wise not to incriminate yourself.

Some stuff he told me that some of you might appreciate.
-It's not £60 per strap missing/not strapped as the rumours say (this set him off on a actually quite funny rant about the £30 per trailer leg wind bulllst rumour) it's £100 for the whole load, not the £780 bill I thought we could earn ourselves.
-Apparently, they're trying to get firm with places that don't let you get on the trailer or supply you with what you need to secure the load (ie if you deliver pallets of tins of beer as I occasionally do we should really put (and have access to) another pallet to shove on top so we can ratchet it down, makes sense. Something I'd welcome.
-"internal hanging straps aren't worth a st". Good to know, he said fine for light stuff, but your not legally having to secure anything under 400kilos anyway.
-also, ropes don't count either, not for anything over 400 kilos
-load bearing curtains won't get you anywhere, they don't count either.


I'm sure for a lot of you, there is nothing new there, but if someone dodges a fine, it's not a wasted post.


Side note, I asked him about when I'm shifting one and a half ton bagges of potatoes, saying how straps are st as they settle too much etc (which is what started me on the vertical strap thing) and he was saying about how you can get like a big net/sheet, that has webbing for ratchet straps down the side, so you can crank the whole lot down. I thought this sounded like a great idea. So this morning I tried to find one on the Internet, couldn't find anything at all, so I either misunderstood him (likely) or didn't Google hard enough. Anyone know anything about it? Or should I go pitch one to dragons den?

Up until last year I had a Iveco daily and a 3.5T trailer

I was a stickler for strapping everything down, it looked like Spider-Man had been at it when I pulled away

I watched a guy come in with a 7.5t drop side to collect 1 x 1.4 tonne pallet which stood about 5ft high

He put one strap on it but over the top of the alloy side boards so the were bending in then drove off

I've seen many curtain siders leave with 20 pallets and not one strap

In Germany a fella at a company who was watching me load & strap a car down said they can prosecute the firm you loaded from if your load isn't strapped down correctly & straps are in good condition!

I believe just the fine. But might be wrong

I asked him about when I'm shifting one and a half ton bagges of potatoes, saying how straps are st as they settle too much etc (which is what started me on the vertical strap thing) and he was saying about how you can get like a big net/sheet, that has webbing for ratchet straps down the side, so you can crank the whole lot down.





watson