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Stuck On The M 20!


Vaughan

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2 hours ago, BroadAmbition said:

Seen on t news this morning, there are now over four thousand lorries waiting to cross over the channel, they stated the sad fact that some of those drivers will be stuck in their cabs for Christmas day,  Not good

Griff

I do feel sorry for them and it’s not there fault .. I know what’s it like...Spent a few christmas and New Years in the cab.. Not the best place to be but was lucky to be with fellow truckers so it was a different Christmas...

This is not what the Media is telling us ...

Theres nothing stopping them from shipping out from other UK ports but it all comes down to cost.. Over the last 20 odd years the Eastern European’s butchered international transport (Funded by EU grants ) by slashing the rates big time. They put a lot of UK hauliers out of business for international work.. This is why they use Dover as the quick in out cheap option.. They pay no road tax they buy no fuel over here... They use the service areas and don’t pay to park.. speeding fines not paid.. DVSA VOSA prohibitions fines not paid and drivers and hauliers not attending court and so on.. To many eastern cowboy hauliers out there now... The UK Government should bring in a road tax toll charge like other European countries do...

 Is France paying for all the COVID testing for these drivers as they going into France ... ?? 

Many of those Drivers will not be getting paid being sat there.. If the wheels ain’t turning the truck ain’t earning... 

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considering that dover can handle up to 10,000 trucks a day and the channel tunnel another 6000 a day, its unlikely that the delay is down to the port or tunnel, more likely the testing required will be the limiting factor, it has been reported locally that anyone coming up positive on the quick test is being put up in a hotel and retested properly, the drivers that will be delayed longest are the ones trying to circumvent the diversions and testing requirements by using unsuitable back roads to get around the restrictions, who upon arrival will be sent back to the very areas they have tried to avoid for testing, these drivers will not only have caused nuisance by travelling the back roads, but are the ones that are moaning the most as they want to avoid the testing in the first place. the majority of the drivers are doing what they must to comply, and are getting their crossings as quick as can be arranged.

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9 hours ago, BroadAmbition said:

Seen on t news this morning, there are now over four thousand lorries waiting to cross over the channel, they stated the sad fact that some of those drivers will be stuck in their cabs for Christmas day,  Not good

Griff

That's right Griff . I expect there will be more distress about not having a fresh lettuce for the prawn cocktail with most

Finny

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4 hours ago, OldBerkshireBoy said:

Does anybody still order Prawn Cocktail when eating out?

Along with scampi  & chips or chicken & chips, served in a basket and washed down with a pint of Double Diamond or Red Barrel!

Joking aside I had a prawn cocktail on Sunday and very good it was too. first one for a very long time

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One of my pet hates is when food is served on boards/skates or anything other than an old fashioned round plate .

This was my only complaint with my meal at The Sutton Staithe hotel , my gammon steak arrived on an oblong plate , chips were in a mini fry basket and the peas were in a mini galvanised bucket , it (to me) makes a lot of unnecessary washing up .

And !!!!!!

they use bl**dy sachets for condiments and the mustard is not Colman’s , it’s a good thing I always take some freshly made mustard when we go out for a meal (Kate carries it in her bag for me )

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It has occurred to me that all these trucks crossing the channel now, will not be allowed to run in France as it is a public holiday - Christmas Day!  They won't be allowed to run on Sunday either.  Let us pray that the French have enough sense not to enforce it, or they will not be very popular in Europe!

Trucks are allowed to travel a certain distance to a border, if they are on their way home, so they can always go north to Dunkirk, cross into Belgium, cross into Germany at Aachen, and then through there to Eastern Europe.

It is a long way home, to Romania, or the Czech Republic.

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1 hour ago, CambridgeCabby said:

One of my pet hates is when food is served on boards/skates or anything other than an old fashioned round plate .

This was my only complaint with my meal at The Sutton Staithe hotel , my gammon steak arrived on an oblong plate , chips were in a mini fry basket and the peas were in a mini galvanised bucket , it (to me) makes a lot of unnecessary washing up .

And !!!!!!

they use bl**dy sachets for condiments and the mustard is not Colman’s , it’s a good thing I always take some freshly made mustard when we go out for a meal (Kate carries it in her bag for me )

The condiments have to be in sachets because of covid regs.

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1 hour ago, Vaughan said:

It has occurred to me that all these trucks crossing the channel now, will not be allowed to run in France as it is a public holiday - Christmas Day!  They won't be allowed to run on Sunday either.  Let us pray that the French have enough sense not to enforce it, or they will not be very popular in Europe!

Trucks are allowed to travel a certain distance to a border, if they are on their way home, so they can always go north to Dunkirk, cross into Belgium, cross into Germany at Aachen, and then through there to Eastern Europe.

It is a long way home, to Romania, or the Czech Republic.

Your right there Vaughan... Most of them will run up the corridor to Belgium or the others who are carrying fresh and frozen are exempt and can travel through with no problem..

A friend of mine has heard that the French Gov will let them transit through to get home.. I don’t know how true that is tho.. 

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Well on my trip to support my parents this morning there are a lot of foreign trucks driving the back roads of kent today, i crossed the m20 at one point, and there was a single line of trucks on the hard shoulder, starting t ashford (where i crossed,) as i could see the back of the queue, I also would like everyone to spare a thought for the police who are out there managing the traffic.

I also have a revisit booked to fix the soil stack that has broken loose from the house at the top, once i can get into B&Q to get a new bracket, little job for next week then.

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45 minutes ago, ScrumpyCheddar said:

Most of them will run up the corridor to Belgium or the others who are carrying fresh and frozen are exempt and can travel through with no problem..

Yes, but that raises other problems.  "Fridge boxes" as they are are called, have a tachograph fitted, to prove how long the compressor has been running.  If that load has run out of date, because of being stuck on the M20 for 3 or 4 days, then it is useless. 

The original meaning of "sell-by date"!

The other problem may be driver's hours.  They are very complex but basically, after a full driving day, you must park up "somewhere safe off the road" for an 11 hour break.  But that does not mean the slow lane of the M20, where you have to be awake at the wheel, in case the queue moves forward!  These drivers have not had a legal break and if they moved their truck in the queue, yesterday, it would show on the tachograph.

So if they get stopped by the German police on the border at Aachen, they will not be able to show a tachograph trace which proves they have respected international driver's hours.  By now, they will be out of daily hours and out of weekly hours as well.  They all risk being "parked up" in Germany, and it is not their fault!

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TIR stood for Transports Internationales Routiers, which meant they were travelling to countries outside Europe, especially Turkey, in those days, as well as Switzerland, which is also non EU.

This meant the trailer was sealed by customs before leaving UK and each customs border only had to check the seal was intact, before clearing the load through.

At least, in theory!

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4 hours ago, Vaughan said:

But that does not mean the slow lane of the M20, where you have to be awake at the wheel, in case the queue moves forward!  These drivers have not had a legal break and if they moved their truck in the queue, yesterday, it would show on the tachograph.

I queried this and when operation stack is in place the M20 is not considered a road, but a holding park and the driver considered to be resting. They are not driving hours. The queue will not just start moving but drivers notified of a move forward time.

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5 hours ago, Vaughan said:

Yes, but that raises other problems.  "Fridge boxes" as they are are called, have a tachograph fitted, to prove how long the compressor has been running.  If that load has run out of date, because of being stuck on the M20 for 3 or 4 days, then it is useless. 

The original meaning of "sell-by date"!

The other problem may be driver's hours.  They are very complex but basically, after a full driving day, you must park up "somewhere safe off the road" for an 11 hour break.  But that does not mean the slow lane of the M20, where you have to be awake at the wheel, in case the queue moves forward!  These drivers have not had a legal break and if they moved their truck in the queue, yesterday, it would show on the tachograph.

So if they get stopped by the German police on the border at Aachen, they will not be able to show a tachograph trace which proves they have respected international driver's hours.  By now, they will be out of daily hours and out of weekly hours as well.  They all risk being "parked up" in Germany, and it is not their fault!

Drivers hours now are all on a digi card (Mine included)what stores the drivers data for 28 days.. most firms ask the driver to do a daily print out at the end of there shift..

Even the tacho head and digi card can be downloaded manually or via GPS straight to the Depot and DVSA/VOSA.. The days of paper Tachos are long gone... The same as fridge box .. it’s all done by GPS tracked now temperature controlled.. The customer can log on and watch and track there goods and see the temperature Is correct...

Drivers hours rest breaks can be reduced to 9hrs off three times in a week... And they can reduce there weekly rest period to 24hrs off... But the following weekend they must have 45hrs off.. 

Any Country in Europe who stops you can just download your Digi card and they can see what you’ve driven and rest periods..

They won’t be going over there hours as they have been instructed to park up and have a break... And they would of been told they won’t be moving..

A lot of the trucks parked up are empty.. There back loads are in Europe just off the corridor... so that’s there meal ticket home or internal work then come back to the UK..

 

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1 hour ago, Paul said:

I queried this and when operation stack is in place the M20 is not considered a road, but a holding park and the driver considered to be resting. They are not driving hours. The queue will not just start moving but drivers notified of a move forward time.

Not in my day, it wasn't! 

The rozzers would jump on truckers for the slightest excuse. And the Suffolk police, around Felixtowe, were the worst.

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