things that might make you go WOW!!!!! thread

[V8Druid]

Double edged sword though. If people could have some patience and drive responsibly around road work then most the traffic management could be removed and everything would flow better. But because most driver are impatient disrespectful a***holes then all the extra TM and temp lights have to be added to relatively simple jobs and cause chaos. Then it's the road workers fault.

well it would be if the ****ers were actually there working ..... patch job looked complete to me ... literally a two by two foot surface patch, smack on the apex of the corner .... could just as easily have been done overnight.
lights'd been up for days 'fore they turned up, so I was told later.
totally agree on your summation of most drivers ... I let a bus out of a side turning, going right, in front of me .... must've been 8-9 vehicles passed, oncoming, 'fore anyone let him across both lanes ... could virtually see the guy behind me jumping up and down in his seat , 'cos I let him out - tossers

 

[Quattromike]

If climate change is real, there will need to be several different solutions for the variety of working conditions that work trucks operate in. Nothing wrong with electric in fixed locations where charging is available outside of working hours. Trunking between different locations is a possibility. But there does need to be joined up thinking and sensible investment. Those two requirements are very rare in transport!!

Are we thinking full scale scalextric with power bars buried along the length of the road
Or tram style overhead power ?

 

[Smiffy]

well it would be if the ****ers were actually there working ..... patch job looked complete to me ... literally a two by two foot surface patch, smack on the apex of the corner .... could just as easily have been done overnight.
lights'd been up for days 'fore they turned up, so I was told later.
totally agree on your summation of most drivers ... I let a bus out of a side turning, going right, in front of me .... must've been 8-9 vehicles passed, oncoming, 'fore anyone let him across both lanes ... could virtually see the guy behind me jumping up and down in his seat , 'cos I let him out - tossers

This is just staffing problems. There simply aren't enough people in the industry to get the tm set up and brought in in a timely fashion. We bring our temp lights in at the end of the job and leave them tucked out the way so traffic can flow but a lot of blokes refu, "not my job "
They won't do nightwork as it costs 3.5-4 x as much on wages if you only do a single shift and the abuse you get from residents is ridiculous, even if you are fixing a problem they have complained about

 

[V8Druid]

https://www.energylivenews.com/2023...road-damage-of-petrol-vehicles-study-reveals/

some major investment needed on the road itself as well. Not just a few charging stations.

" A previous report by the Asphalt Industry Alliance estimated that this cost could mean that nearly £61,700 needed to be spent for every mile of a local road in England and Wales. " more chance of dinner with the pope

 

[V8Druid]

This is just staffing problems. There simply aren't enough people in the industry to get the tm set up and brought in in a timely fashion. We bring our temp lights in at the end of the job and leave them tucked out the way so traffic can flow but a lot of blokes refu, "not my job "
They won't do nightwork as it costs 3.5-4 x as much on wages if you only do a single shift and the abuse you get from residents is ridiculous, even if you are fixing a problem they have complained about

'bout time it became a part of it then ... obviously not self employed
plenty gets done here and abroad across Eu

 

[Smiffy]

'bout time it became a part of it then ... obviously not self employed
plenty gets done here and abroad across Eu

Completely agree the reinstatement gangs should collapse tm. We do it, it doesn't take long and isn't hard work but the construction industry is full of pre-madonnas
And It's not the individuals that won't do the nightwork it's the upper management won't authorize it. To do a night shift pay works out as
Day 1- operatives stay at home full pay then do the night shift paid at 1.5-2x normal shift rate
Day 2- operatives are on stand down for the day on full pay.
The operatives love it as they can earn 4 days money if they do 1 night.
Obviously they can make it better if they do a full week of nights and even better if they are full time night shifts.
But Its hard enough getting night time tarmac around London I don't know what the score would be in some parts of Wales. So you end up either having to get someone to take a hotbox in during the day or have a static hotbox that generally ruins the tarmac and therefore the work.

 

[kabin man]

on the subject of roads ....
Aber. yesterday ....
dropped Pam at Morrisons and went on to Aldi to do the bulk ...
usual story in there .. 3 out of 7 tills open - took me longer to queue and pay for 212 quids-worth than it did to fill the trolley
loaded it into the boot and tried to depart ...
10 minutes to get out .. (there will be an unholy row if i get a ticket for yesterday) .. and a further 45 min.s to do the reverse trip to Morrisons ...
half a mile max. Pam'd called me just as I was about to leave ... 50 mins later was a "WTF are you? " call ...
" 'bout 100 yds away - in a queue from hell !! "

there are temp lights on the corner by 'the angel hotel' on the map ... a bad bottle neck anyway ... with not a soul in sight, supposedly patching about 4 sq feet of surface. Been there all week apparently.... three sets of pelicans between there and the traffic lights where the A40 bears right, heading alongside Morrison's site .. another set of pelicans in that stretch, before hitting the lights controlling Morrisons entrance/exit ... none of them are phased ... total, utter carnage.

had to go look at a hutch this morning with Vicki's hubby, out on the A40, t'other side of town ... did a 5 mile detour around the lanes, circumnavigating the town, to get where I wanted to be on time ... and the reverse to get home

View attachment 49057

going anywhere these days is a bloody nightmare

Was a nightmare on m25 earlier. Luckily missed this..

 

[6feetdown]

Completely agree the reinstatement gangs should collapse tm. We do it, it doesn't take long and isn't hard work but the construction industry is full of pre-madonnas
And It's not the individuals that won't do the nightwork it's the upper management won't authorize it. To do a night shift pay works out as
Day 1- operatives stay at home full pay then do the night shift paid at 1.5-2x normal shift rate
Day 2- operatives are on stand down for the day on full pay.
The operatives love it as they can earn 4 days money if they do 1 night.
Obviously they can make it better if they do a full week of nights and even better if they are full time night shifts.
But Its hard enough getting night time tarmac around London I don't know what the score would be in some parts of Wales. So you end up either having to get someone to take a hotbox in during the day or have a static hotbox that generally ruins the tarmac and therefore the work.

They seem to manage tarmac at night on the major roads but I guess big volume then. Never understand why they don't have day and night shift gangs all this bs of 3 to 4 day pay for 1 day. Even if they did 1 week in 4 of nights at increased pay surely has to be better value

 

[Smiffy]

They seem to manage tarmac at night on the major roads but I guess big volume then. Never understand why they don't have day and night shift gangs all this bs of 3 to 4 day pay for 1 day. Even if they did 1 week in 4 of nights at increased pay surely has to be better value

Yeah it's ok if you book 1000 tonnes they will open up for you. Other than that there is 1 plant at Heathrow that I know of that does a night shift. The other 6 or 7 we use are 6 am to midday. And only some plants can do small tonnages.

And they can't find enough staff to fill the day shift, trying to fill a night shift aswell is asking the impossible.
Coupled with the appalling pay they offer it's never going to end well.

Currently an advert up for colus running one of the councils highways offering upto 13 quid an hour for gangers so God knows what they are offering for general operatives, By comparison the fibre gangs are offering upto £250 a day plus meterage bonus.

 

[6feetdown]

Yeah it's ok if you book 1000 tonnes they will open up for you. Other than that there is 1 plant at Heathrow that I know of that does a night shift. The other 6 or 7 we use are 6 am to midday. And only some plants can do small tonnages.

And they can't find enough staff to fill the day shift, trying to fill a night shift aswell is asking the impossible.
Coupled with the appalling pay they offer it's never going to end well.

Currently an advert up for colus running one of the councils highways offering upto 13 quid an hour for gangers so God knows what they are offering for general operatives, By comparison the fibre gangs are offering upto £250 a day plus meterage bonus.

Ridiculous money for a ganger no point running a gang for that may as well stack shelves

 

[V8Druid]

View attachment 49062Was a nightmare on m25 earlier. Luckily missed this..View attachment 49061

why are they pissing about with two wreckers at astronomic costs, when a single 50-60 tonner'd pick that onto transport and be in and away rapidly ... beggars belief ... used to do a lot of recovery type stuff for plod, then Walls bought a wrecker with a swivel boom, much like the front one and the work dropped off ---- until they'd find they couldn't manage it/couldn't reach/not enough capacity/etc. and have to turn up and sort their mess out with a 25/30/45 tonner ... used to be relatively easy money, 'til they became involved.

 

[Smiffy]

Ridiculous money for a ganger no point running a gang for that may as well stack shelves

I think that's where the problems stem from. No decent blokes are going to work for that money.
Our labourers are on better money than the supervisors seeing over them from the main contractor for the council.
We are completing jobs in a 3rd of the time that their own gangs are.

 

[Lancs Lad]

We bring our temp lights in at the end of the job and leave them tucked out the way so traffic can flow but a lot of blokes refu, "not my job "

Well f done...sick of seeing newly completed tarmac surrounded by pain the ass temp.lights that's still waiting for tm to come and remove

 

[V8Druid]

Well f done...sick of seeing newly completed tarmac surrounded by pain the ass temp.lights that's still waiting for tm to come and remove

come to Aber - see some more

 

[Smiffy]

Well f done...sick of seeing newly completed tarmac surrounded by pain the ass temp.lights that's still waiting for tm to come and remove

We quite often set up all our own traffic lights. Sometimes delivered to site and sometimes we take them ourselves.
A 1.5t machine with buckets and breaker plus a pair of traffic lights and all signage will fit on a 3.5t I for plant trailer. Would fit better with some custom racking. But this allows to carry everything that would normally go on an extra van with just a slightly larger trailer. It also saves on someone's wages to set it up and the hirer of extra lights that aren't doing anything.
We work slightly differently in that we do the whole job start to finish rather than separate reinstatement gangs. And I get it sometimes you need to get on before the tarmac is cool enough to run on. But generally the final gang should just turn the light pods in pull in the cones and knock over the traffic light signs. Takes no effort and if more gangs did it I feel people would have more respect for the tm and therefore tm would be reduced and hopefully the cycle would help everyone.
But it's difficult to find people prepared to do a little bit of every job.

 

[bobthebuilder]

I think that's where the problems stem from. No decent blokes are going to work for that money.
Our labourers are on better money than the supervisors seeing over them from the main contractor for the council.
We are completing jobs in a 3rd of the time that their own gangs are.

we have a new 30 space carpark going in ,in town ,the council have been at it 8 months ,6 week job max

 

[DaveDCB]

we have a new 30 space carpark going in ,in town ,the council have been at it 8 months ,6 week job max

6 days a bay?!!?! Are they painting it on with a toothpick?!

 

[Smiffy]

we have a new 30 space carpark going in ,in town ,the council have been at it 8 months ,6 week job max

Is it the actual council lads who don't want to work, or subbies on a day rate ??

 

[V8Druid]

we have a new 30 space carpark going in ,in town ,the council have been at it 8 months ,6 week job max

this wanton waste of tax payers money is the sort of thing that should highlighted and shouted from the roof tops ...
assume this is Monmouth ...
MCC/MBC are a shower of sh1t ...
surprised the 'Beacon' hasn't picked up on it or haven't they received the 'right' info. to highlight it yet Bob

Aber ...
beside Tesco on the main A40 Griffiths have been there 5 months putting in what was originally supposed to be a bus pull in bay ...
now transpires that all it is is a bus shelter beside the road on a plot big enough to pull 2 buses into and have bus shelters set back from road ...
they plan to use the busses stopping there to **** up the traffic flow even further as a 'traffic calming' measure ..
you could not make it up !!
Griff has had 10 blokes there, 4 or, 5 360s, ranging from 10 down to two tonners TM for most of the time they have been at it and have gone down circa 5-6ft to refill it with hardcore, etc. .... for a ****ing bus shelter. Ferk knows why there were two 10 t dumpers parked there - in the way - other than bumping up the bill ..
no where to use them

to cap it all ....
the plot was a 'garden of remembrance', supposedly sacrosanct - untouchable ...
(and paid for by Tescos, with them providing the ground from their plot -- equivalent of a sec. 106 back then)
Tesco's building was built on an old chapel site - with a grave yard -- all the graves they couldn't trace relatives for, to relocate them, if required, had their tombstones 'rested' in this 'garden of remembrance', ...
no idea what happened to the grave's contents

I know a lot about it as was involved at the time ... had a couple of dozen grave stones sat in my yard whilst the works went on ... re-delivered many back to the garden and was asked to dispose of the surplus -- that was a task in itself

 

[V8Druid]

Is it the actual council lads who don't want to work, or subbies on a day rate ??

both probably