Being a skip lorry driver isn't easy. They have a massive job on their backs as they drive around with a skip. A skip hire company is expense to run, the petrol, the permits for the different locations, the masses of staff needed, the list goes on! It is true, it's a very tough and responsible job to do.
the curious incident of the skip on a railway line, led me to wish I was a superhero.
One fine day, I was cursing in my ford mustang when it could not drive an inch further. The problem was an 8 cubic yard builders skip blocking my path. It was now lying across the railway lines. The crazy lorry driver was trying to push it off the tracks himself!
I suppose if he had been a contestant on the show 'the worlds heaviest man' he may have stood a chance in pushing it on his own. But alas he was not, and so it was a funny sight.
By this point, I had stopped my car and got out to help. I couldn't really push it by myself, I am only small. Thankfully soon other drivers stopped and got out of their cars to help. There was now 8 men pushing this huge skip up to the right hand side and off the tracks so that the skip lorry could transport it to the back of the lorry.
It wasn't all plain sailing though and we actually ended up damaging the lines. If I train came, we knew that it wouldn't be able to pass over the lines safely. I knew a train was due within the next ten minutes or so, there wasn't much time to spare here at all. I checked my timetable again
We managed to avoid any deaths by contacting the relevant people. We had a job making them believe us, that a skip had actually fallen onto the tracks. The skip hire lorry driver was almost in tears, he couldn't believe he hadn't secured it properly. Apparently he was in a rush, really that is no excuse. The unsecured lorry had caused the skip to fall off onto the lines
mush inconvenience later the the line was fixed, and service resumed as normal. I got a mention in the skip hire magazine and the driver got a disciplinary!
the curious incident of the skip on a railway line, led me to wish I was a superhero.
One fine day, I was cursing in my ford mustang when it could not drive an inch further. The problem was an 8 cubic yard builders skip blocking my path. It was now lying across the railway lines. The crazy lorry driver was trying to push it off the tracks himself!
I suppose if he had been a contestant on the show 'the worlds heaviest man' he may have stood a chance in pushing it on his own. But alas he was not, and so it was a funny sight.
By this point, I had stopped my car and got out to help. I couldn't really push it by myself, I am only small. Thankfully soon other drivers stopped and got out of their cars to help. There was now 8 men pushing this huge skip up to the right hand side and off the tracks so that the skip lorry could transport it to the back of the lorry.
It wasn't all plain sailing though and we actually ended up damaging the lines. If I train came, we knew that it wouldn't be able to pass over the lines safely. I knew a train was due within the next ten minutes or so, there wasn't much time to spare here at all. I checked my timetable again
We managed to avoid any deaths by contacting the relevant people. We had a job making them believe us, that a skip had actually fallen onto the tracks. The skip hire lorry driver was almost in tears, he couldn't believe he hadn't secured it properly. Apparently he was in a rush, really that is no excuse. The unsecured lorry had caused the skip to fall off onto the lines
mush inconvenience later the the line was fixed, and service resumed as normal. I got a mention in the skip hire magazine and the driver got a disciplinary!
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