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While she might make the occasional expensive error, at least HGV driver Lucy Radley learns from her mistakes.
Page 13
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"Keep coming... You're OK...." Crunch! "Whoa!" There's nothing like a good banksman.
Why on earth I trusted the man in the highvis clobber I have no idea, but you can bet your life it'll be another decade until I make that mistake again.
Looking back, I've done some truly stupid things in my time, but I can honestly say I've only ever done any of them once. The blocking of the M42 at rush hour after a rather dramatic jackknife was the most terrifying and nearly fatal — experience I have ever had, and even though that was categorically not my fault, I've never left an air leak unattended since. That agonising slow-motion view of the world turning 180°, the sickening thud as the trailer embedded itself in the back wall of the cab, and the sheer horror of watching the embankment coming straight at me has stayed in my nightmares ever since.
It was only the solid nature of the Series 2 Scania that allowed me to escape with my life. There wasn't much left to tow away. And I've never lost the awareness of just what I'm driving every day and how much damage it can do.
I've swung the cab of a Eurotech straight into a neighbouring trailer. I've caved in the rear end of a Skoda Octavia after failing to check my blindspot mirror because I trusted the judgement of the car behind that flashed me in. I forgot to check the suspension was raised on a trailer I picked up from Dover once and discovered around about Oxford exactly what six melted wide singles look like. Oh, and if you drive across Southampton after forgetting to put your fuel cap back on, it will cost you more than you earned (as well as making one hell of a mess of the side skirts).
The best drivers haven't just done it all, they've broken most of it at some point along the line as well. So when you get the bill, try to remember what you're paying for, because it's not just a new bumper for an ERF or a wing mirror for a badly parked Sprinter. It's for something far more valuable than that — the knowledge that it probably won't happen again.