M62 this afternoon - loads of trucks on the hard shoulder

[Dog Star]

Bit of background: Earlier today I moved my car into the underground car park at work and decided to get the train back from Leeds (dest Manchester Vic). Leeds has had a big dump of snow rendering roads gridlocked and not fat tyred RWD Merc friendly. The train station was chaos (the people trying to get onto the train reminded me of that classic photo of people trying to get on the last helicopter out of Saigon from the US embassy). Loads of trains were "late" which I think transatles as canceled since the missing ones never arrived. Anyway, after waiting 40 minutes one did arrive. Got on it. Got a seat. Another 20 minutes later the driver announces that this train is canceled - no conductor! WTF? This is the transport system our lords and masters think we should use to reduce "carbon emissions" ?

I thought "fk this" - there would then be hundreds of people fighting for whatever train turned up - if I wanted to live like a savage I could experience this by simply going to London - so I decided to retrieve the car and try going home in that, as it happens it was a piece of piss, no problem at all..

Anyway my point of this post - on several occasions I came across great queues of lorries parked up on the hard shoulder of the M62. All in groups ranging from a few to maybe 20. Anyone any idea what for? Never seen it before.

[insideline]

Probably had to take their rest break but couldn't risk getting stuck on slip roads/in the service areas.

[Dog Star]

insideline said:

Probably had to take their rest break but couldn't risk getting stuck on slip roads/in the service areas.

I did wonder about that, but seems a bit risky and dangerous.

[HellDiver]

Dog Star said:

I came across great queues of lorries parked up on the hard shoulder of the M62. All in groups ranging from a few to maybe 20. Anyone any idea what for? Never seen it before.

Just a wild guess, might be something to do with the snow that's been falling the past few days?

[dave-the-diver]

Could be completely wrong, but have seen similar before.

Is it something to do without the amount of hours they can drive in a day / without a break?

Think if they get stuck in traffic, can't then reach the next services without exceed their hours and thus have to stop wherever.

Possibly complete bks though.

David

[mnkiboy]

Sureley not legal though, or do the police turn a blind eye in these conditions?

[Dog Star]

HellDiver said:

Dog Star said:

I came across great queues of lorries parked up on the hard shoulder of the M62. All in groups ranging from a few to maybe 20. Anyone any idea what for? Never seen it before.

Just a wild guess, might be something to do with the snow that's been falling the past few days?

Nope - the motorway was absolutely utterly clear - really nice job. 70mph no problem.

[zakelwe]

It's the "white" Blitz spirit I guess, just sit it out.

As an aside, if the M25 ever had proper weather conditions like the M62 then we really would be in trouble down here.

Andy

[Engineer1]

Don't forget the Motorways are always likely to have the best road conditions so a lorry driver may spend extra hours getting from the delivery to the motorway so any additional delay may put the driver over.

[Mazdarese]

Interesting. Surely they're not allowed to just stop on the hard-shoulder because they're almost "over their hours"?

[smifffymoto]

Was it near an incline? A stranded/jack knifed truck causes havoc to traffic flow.

[anonymous-user]

Mazdarese said:

Interesting. Surely they're not allowed to just stop on the hard-shoulder because they're almost "over their hours"?

I guess they have to, or they get busted for going over their hours

[Super Slo Mo]

Mazdarese said:

Interesting. Surely they're not allowed to just stop on the hard-shoulder because they're almost "over their hours"?

No they're not, they're allowed to get to the nearest 'safe place to stop'. So you could go over your hours to get to the nearest layby/service station if you've been held up.

[matt9k]

As far as I'm aware it is an offence to take your break on the hard shoulder (Question for SP&L perhaps?). EU Driver's hours regs allow for driving time limits to be exceeded to get to a suitable stopping place in the case of unforeseen events (snow delays should qualify) - as long as road safety isn't being compromised. But you've got to make a note on the tacho chart as to why you've over-run on the hours.

edit: Darned slow connection, beaten to it.

Edited by matt9k on Wednesday 1st December 16:18

[Gafferjim]

Sometimes the police & HA have to take a different approach to this, although I'm not aware of what the actual problem was, if there's a closure, sometimes the diversion route is not appropriate for HGV's due to low bridges etc, and then the decision then is to "stack" them along the H/s until such time as they can be released.

[iva cosworth]

matt9k said:

in the case of unforeseen events (snow delays should qualify

true ,but the snow was not unforeseen ,so cannot use that excuse