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Brake warning on trailers

8th December 1994
Page 10
Page 10, 8th December 1994 — Brake warning on trailers
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

• The police and truck manufacturers are warning hauliers that mechanical brakes on trailers must always be set when the trailer is unhitched from its drawing unit.

The warning follows the death of a 23-year-old driver who was crushed by his trailer.

Henricus Prevoo. of Gronsveld, the Netherlands, was trying to reconnect the suzies for the air braking system on his Volvo F12. He had not set the mechanical brake on its drawbar trailer, which was parked at the premises of Concorde Express, Bedfont, on

11 November.

At last week's West London inquest into Prevoo's death, the coroner was told that the air brakes on the trailer had accidentally been released.

PC Anthony Read, an advanced vehicle examiner attached to Hampton Police Garage, told the coroner that palm couplings on the suzie pipes were notoriously awkward to reconnect in one continuous movement.

He said: "It is common for drivers to rely on the air reservoir and spring loaded actuators to hold trailers while temporarily parked. Often they do not set the mechanical brake.

"In this case," said PC Read, "when the driver reversed his vehicle up to the trailer, it is probable that he missed the hitching point and there was then nothing to stop the trailer moving down the slope as soon as its brakes were released."

He concluded: "It appears that, in trying to connect the palm coupling on the red emergency pipe, a blast of at least 30psi of air passed down the line. This had the effect of releasing the trailer's brakes with tragic results."

Tags

Locations: London, Gronsveld

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