Goodaye all, sorry for last week, had a fairly busy Saturday and left after 8 AM Sunday morning so my normal blog window was lost. Got over to load after a two hour trip, but then the truck in front had loaded and the forkie later apologized saying he had not scanned the load and it all had to come off a van and then be scanned and reloaded. Funny how the first day of the week can have such an impact. So out later, into Melbourne to find roadworks, different stories on the UHF about the Burnley tunnel, got there, yes was open, but had a detour at the far end sending trucks off to try and avoid low bridges.
We all pulled up, traffic qued for miles, I directed traffic and got most of the cars around, trucks off to the side and the fellow at the front had spoken with the traffic controller after the first one had no clue and we were told in 15 minutes, we would all be escorted through the one open lane in the roadworks, excellent. That lasted 5 minutes till someone else said no, so all of us had to do a sharp right and go back through tunnel and go off at King Parade and then find our way from there.
A sign at the start of the tunnel saying “Find Alternate Route” when you are already there is not good enough. I simply went out Dandenong Road to Oakleigh and we will come back to that. All the way out I could hear drivers asking how to get here or there and I hope no one got badly lost or stuck. I had looked at my delivery address and it looked like an industrial type area, but when I got there with another loop to avoid a wild b-double unfriendly bit, I found the street had houses down the other side, so no parking there. Ah, a roundabout ahead, MMM this looks a bit tight, made it round with at least 6 inches to spare using the road, the gutter and the footpath a bit, then lucky it was cool enough not to need the Icepack, and to bed to be rocked by speeding cars all night.
Up, walk in, no you could have come in earlier, thanks a lot, wait and unload and back to Altona. On the way, rang Vicroads, the roadworks, insufficient signage and detours not suitable for large trucks was a problem, “Not us, that is the “Big Dig” roadworks, I will pass you on, thanks. No, not us, that is Vicroads, no they said it is you, no then it is Citylink and I’ll pass you on and they would not even answer the phone. I did ask the first two to follow up either way and of course, have not heard back. I then rang the VTA to see if they were aware and they too were to follow up.
Weights and roads there were another issue I will ignore here for now, but did detail to Vicroads too. Loaded and out, made it back to Tomingley for radio and had Sal Petrocitto, the CEO of the NHVR on the radio taking calls for an hour and a half, did a little longer myself, then to bed and later back to Dubbo where I was due to load later that night for Sydney.
Another driver went AWOL and they ended up loading me back to Melbourne, but now on a mission, thankfully roadworks done at tunnel and nearly made it to Dandy only three minutes overtime and found only one spot left in a road filled with trucks and trailers, all local it seems as they were gone in the morn. Again, paperwork had said delivery after 9 and that suited my arrival time, drove in then and they said, no open at 6, so maybe next time.
Back to Altona for another drop and load to again as had a plan to be in Shepparton for the NRFA AGM Friday night and conference Saturday, so on a mission now. Load again, for Dubbo, out and made it back to Tomingley again, but only two minutes overtime this morning. Got a shower there, sleep and into Dubbo, unload and fuel and out again to reload where I started Sunday. Happy forkie there, loves my truck as I load it different to others (not) then “That’s another of your drivers, he doesn’t have a clue”. Sorry, not one of ours, we don’t have any Volvos. Loaded, grab paperwork after an exchange with the stop go man out the front, then the dispatcher says, “That bloke, first trip, does not know what weight he can carry, then wanted to argue he had to take 34 pallets and would not listen or understand, they would not load it and let him out overweight”. Yes he was an overseas gent and how can anyone be sent out to load without a clue. I did think back to the first time I ever loaded there, told the forkie it was my first time there, but knew what weight I could load and gross etc. What a world we live in now. OK so getting tired now and much to do and tell, so will do a midweek update just to keep you all in suspense about the conference. Till then, Safe travelling, Rod Hannifey.
TRUCKRIGHT 