Dropped Semi—why did it happen ?
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THE item by Handyman in the November 26 issue entitled "Unusual Cause of Dropped Semitrailer" was read by us with great interest as we suffered a similar experience a few months ago and have not been able to isolate a cause for what happened.
Our company is engaged in Irish Ferry operations through the Port of Preston and amongst our trailer fleet, we had a Tasker Twinside four-in-line.
On the day in question the trailer was parked on Preston dockside some little distance from the loading berth. On the trailer was a "lift off" Lancashire flat laden with about 134 tons of steel. The shipping company responsible for shunting the flat to the ship operates Douglas Tugmasters which couple to the trailer in the usual manner, but instead of the driver winding up the landing wheels the front end of the trailer is raised on hydraulic rams until the landing legs are some 6 in. to 8 in. clear of the road. In theory the Tugmaster driver then releases the trailer parking brake and sets off.
It could be that the parking brake was not fully released on this occasion because after travelling only about 30 yards over one or two pot-holes, the trailer became detached from the Tugmaster and crashed to the floor. The landing wheels folded up under the weight of the load and the trailer ended up with the kingpin firmly embedded in the tarmac.
We had decided that the driver had not coupled up correctly, as the tractor coupling was found to be in perfect working order and the kingpin was not damaged even after the accident. In view of the similarity between our experience and the one described in your article, we are now having second thoughts as to whether or not the driver was at fault. Luckily, he does not work for us, and we could not take any punitive action which it now appears may have been unjustified.
Preston, Lancs. J. W. EDMUNDSON,
Walter Edmundson Ltd.