Same day courier: Securing you loads

It’s been an interesting month driving around Essex.  I have seen a few loads badly secured to their vehicles and one even scared the living daylights out of Sarah as she was driving.

We were driving early evening back from Canvey Island in the car, it was twilight and as some of you may know, we do some of our best talking and thinking whilst driving. Sarah was driving well within the speed limit when she suddenly had to brake, I looked through the windscreen and a grey sheet of material was heading towards us, hit the bonnet and flew over the roof.

Sarah had stopped the car as she didnt know what was about to hit us – plastic, metal, wood and she didnt know where it would hit us. If she hadn’t of stopped, it could have gone through the windscreen if it was wood or metal.

In this instance we avoided an an accident through a poorly secured load and was very lucky that another vehicle didn’t hit us from behind.  The driver of the deathtrap, drove another 300 yards, with plastic pieces falling from either side of the vehicle before they pulled over. All of this could have been avoided if they had used a tarpaulin to cover the vehicle and then strapped it down properly.

The second incident came about when driving to Chelmsford, again it was a lorry and they hadn’t secured their load and this time is was remnants of carpet flying over the top, again the driver eventually pulled over but not before a lot of other road users yelled at them, tooted them and generally gesticulated at them.

One of the things I do when I am driving, and as a courier company, we cover a lot of miles, is alert the police when there are foreign objects on the road. It is not always safe for other drivers to stop and remove the object, so the best thing to do is call the police.

Looking at it from another angle, the angle of corporate manslaughter. If you as a company fail to secure your loads safely, you are liable for any accidents and could be prosecuted. It’s only a matter of time before the police look at the motorway cameras and see who is responsible for such things and start prosecuting.

Look at it responsibly -  for your safety, for your local community and for your business reputation. Secure your loads safely.

Kevin