27/06/2011

Oh man, one small hole and the whole of London comes to a standstill. All-right not a small hole exactly but a burst water pipe. Almost outside Baker street Tube Station, after crawling for 3.5 hours on the A40 I finally got to the problem and when I saw that only 2 lanes were closed I thought that all this will be over shortly. How wrong can you get, the 2 bods did let all the buses through but when poor old me approached the traffic lights they plonked down their cones and directed me left. Just follow the redirected signs and when you get to the 2nd road on the right turn in there and you'll come out by the Planetarium. Fair do but when I approached the said road I notice a slightly large tree with branches just a bit lower than my 14ft 7in trailer, so off we go straight on, following the other redirected signs. Jolly trip around Regents Park and rejoin the A501 just outside Great Portland street Tube Station. Would you believe it the Euston Tunnel was clear and in a few minutes I arrived in Farmington Road. 'You're a bit late mate', well what do you expect with that great blooming hole in the road. Not bad I thought, must be some sort of a record, left Heathrow at 09:30 and arrived at 13:20. Decided to see if a snapshot of this mess could be taken and hoping for a red light, but this is all I could manage.

25/06/2011

Friday morning seemed to get off to a good start, when I arrived to collect my load there was only enough for a single deck. Brill I thought, this looks like a promising day, then things went astray. On the Marleborne Road a street sweeper broke down, tailbacks to just before Paddington ramp. as I was creeping down the Edgware Rd flyover I saw in the distance the flashing lights of the recovery lorry. Great stuff, now things will speed up a bit, arrived in Farringdon Rd depot and offloaded. Then back to the yard for a break, the second trip was even better, got there without much ado but the trip back was another matter. A40 solid, M25 even worse, took me 2.5hrs to get from Farringdon Road to Hanger Lane, very short on driving time so had to do a detour to one of our depots for a break. Back in the yard for 8pm, all in all a very interesting if not usual Friday.

23/06/2011

Ah the joys of being constantly cut up by Mini Cabs and then them trying it on like it was my fault. Sometimes I wonder what possess people to drive like that and how many of them are actually legal on the road. It seems like every other car on London has a Mini Cab sticker on the windscreen.

11/06/2011

What's with the Tipper Lorry drivers, haven't seen one yet who will drive in a normal fashion. Always pushing the limits of their lorries and other people's patience. Coming back to Langley on Friday I was just about to move into the left lane on the M40 to take me to the off ramp to the M25 when I spotted a tipper trying to undertake me. As he was way back I managed to get into the correct lane and then get to the ramp. At that point there are 2 lanes, one going South and other going North. Pulling a Double decker I slowed down and the tipper went past me in the other lane, this would indicate that he would be going North. Guess what, at the chevrons he decides that he needs to be in my lane and swings over, somewhere about 15-20Ft in front of me. Trundles of totally oblivious to what he's done. The stupid thing was that he was going to a Biffa site which is about 400 yds from our depot and he arrived one car in front of me. This guy is dangerous and I'll post his reg number later on as it is in my unit.

09/06/2011

Why oh why do people insist on sitting in the middle lane of a Motorway or an A road and do 10 or so miles under the speed limit. Even worse though they seem to think that when they join the road the cars/lorries already on the carriageway have to give way to them, just by putting on your indicator does not give you the right to pull out in front of other cars. Then when flashed they just ignore it and continue to cause an obstruction, when you do manage to get past the look that they give you is unreal. There should be a minimum speed limit on those roads and if you are unable to drive correctly then please stay off them. we who drive for a living have enough trouble of getting from A to B without having to go round cars driven by inconsiderate people.

07/06/2011

Stuck in traffic on Euston Road, crawling at a knackered snails pace up to a set of traffic lights and then this lemon in a 4x4 comes flying up to the back end of my trailer in a lane which turns right. He then decides to come level with my cab and try to angle his thing so that he can sneak in, slaps on his indicator and tries to edge out. Oh no my friend not today, if you behaved normally I would have let you in but as you were a genuine prat you can wait till I go through the traffic lights. Sorry but I've got no time for people like him who thinks that he can just do whatever he wants on the road and everyone will just accommodate him.

06/06/2011

Amazing, today the good old A40 wasn't that bad. It had it's usual crawl due to a tipper lorry being stranded but after that it seemed to in a 'good' mood. The usual tailbacks just weren't there for a change and even at Euston & Kings Cross the traffic moved at a decent rate. Of course it wouldn't be London without the usual Mini Cabs, Buses, Black Cabs cutting you up but that is just London. Got to admit that today I was much calmer driving about, lets hope it stays like this for at least the rest of the week.

01/06/2011

Just as I was beginning to wonder where all the idiots driving BMW's have gone I got the answer very quickly. They all bought Audi A4's, the amount of times in the last 2 days that I got cut up by an Audi is unreal.