Anyone who lives in a rural area will know tractors are getting larger and larger and so are the trailers they tow.
Many of them don’t know what speed limits they should be adhering to.
However for months now they have been using our local road to haul stone and earth from a quarry to a large farm building that has been constructed
Speed aside I can’t help but think that the trailers are overloaded. Would a 20 tonne sum trail filled to its absolute limit exceed the trailer limit and there the combined limit of tractor and trailer? A quarry vehicle leaving an official quarry has to be weighed, I doubt this is happening here
Road verges are getting warm away due to the width of the tractors, and then this is causing the edge of the road to collapse
I’m concerned that at some point there will be an accident, and also roads are going to require large maintenance due to overloading of an inappropriate vehicle
Is there any simple way to prove a trailer is overloaded without weighing it?
Tldr.
Tractors getting in my way- usual moan on the local area Facebook group
Usual response . Move back to the town the tractors won't bother you there.
Fyi 18.5 ton max trailer 31t max train weight.
I have more of an issue with the car drivers of large cars who think that 60-70 mph on a 1.5 lane road shared with horses walkers and cyclists in rural areas is ok.
Thanks - I really don’t mind tractors, what I do mind is when they drive in a way not sticking to the rules that others have to
I know the gross weight can be 31t however. A tractor with a large trailer full of hay or grain would be below the 31t limit (because that’s what it is designed for) but a trailer full to the max with stone rubble, would that take it over the weight limit ?
They are destroying the verges too since this building work has started and the road is literally starting to collapse
This wasn’t happening prior to the building work starting
Tractors doing tractor stuff.
Pics please
Raise your concern re damage with the local authority highways department. Some developments will have limits on access routes, weights, times of day etc for some of the reasons you mention.
a trailer full to the max with stone rubble, would that take it over the weight limit ?
Yeah but how many tanks?
Hgv comes in at 44t have they been banned from your road ?
Given stone weighs twice as much as barley grain it's unlikely that even the most irresponsible farmer is using his finest grain trailer to be moving stone. Mostly as it would result in a trashed trailer.....
If you really want to see your road destroyed try logging trucks.
haul stone and earth from a quarry to a large farm building that has been constructed
Proper artisan builders sourcing their own building materials, I'm well impressed.
Or are they just keeping it in a building that they have constructed?
But yeah, them tractor owners - they don't pay road tax you know.
But yeah, them tractor owners – they don’t pay road tax you know.
& they use cherry in them!
Where I live it's not agricultural tractors that cause the problems, there seem to be a number of groundworkers using them regularly to haul plant and rubble, much of which seems to be getting dumped in various gullys up on the moors. Theres a building project been going on for around 4 years about half a mile up the road, the amount of material brought in and dumped on site is way in excess of what is needed for the building work. They've actually completely filled a small valley and levelled it off with rubble, I think to get rid of the building waste rather than as landscaping.
Having said that quarry wagons are the worst, leave the roads filthy and regularly break the speed limit on the 30 zone up from the valley floor. Regular complaints into the council about the wheel wash being OOS and complaonts to the haulier about the driving standards of their employees by many residents. They just don't care.
A tractor and trailer will not do anywhere near as much damage to a road as a logging lorry or just a normal HGV. A heavier tractor will have wider tyres purely to stop it sinking in the fields so the actual load on the road surface is no different with a standard tractor or one of the new ones. Same with the trailers, the new types have much wider tyres that spread the load. Yes the extra width will damage the verges to an extent but it's the countryside, it's a working environment where very little is 'natural'. As for whether they're overloaded? Pretty much guaranteed to be at some point but then that's nothing new whatsoever.
Rural roads have always been in a poor state, it's why lots of people who live there don't have new, shiny cars as daily drivers. It's part and parcel of living there. I don't know if you're a townie who moved there or a lifelong country-dweller so don't know whether your point is slightly NIMBY or not but it does come across that way. My advice either way would be to contact your local Highways Department but don't expect anything to happen quickly.
Regular complaints into the council about the wheel wash being OOS and complaonts to the haulier about the driving standards of their employees by many residents. They just don’t care.
Find out when the O licence is up for renewal and write to the traffic commissioners. Sod that write now and point out the manager doesn't appear to have CPC or any ongoing professional development. It's not the council's job to police 'o' licences
I suppose I’m against tractors in politics…
I was chatting to someone I know who hauls logs to a sawmill with a massive tractor. He can use a double trailer - a trailer towing a trailer behind the tractor and as he’s hauling back to his yard only not delivering he doesn’t have to worry about weight limits that Hgvs do nor does he need a licence and training cpd etc that a lorry driver needs. He said in fact you could drive it down a street where there’s a weight limit even if you were 16 years old if you were working for him or part of his family perhaps. I think he said the gross weight was something like 70 tonnes and the tractor will do 40 mph!
OP and others have a point and it's not necessarily about tractors - I think there is a bit of an epidemic at the moment with unlicensed tipping of building waste/rubble. Several recent examples near me where roads were being torn up by huge lorries carrying rubble to a farm. In one case locally the farmer had planning permission for a barn...not sure it required 6 months of constant lorries tipping rubble onto his fields as well. After complaints/newspaper articles etc. the Local authority even confirmed said planning permission had been breached, but nothing actually happens to stop it...I have added this to the list of indicators we are becoming a failed state (alongside failure to enforce fire regulations in high rises, and ambulance waiting times!)
He can use a double trailer – a trailer towing a trailer behind the tractor
Well he can but one has to be empty....not sure that's what he's doing
Seems fair enough. I would regard anything to do with agriculture as possibly a priority in this country. Damn site more important than someone suspension. If the roads are really that bad drive slower or get a Land Rover.
You want damaged road surfaces? This is a few miles from me, a stretch of road on a notoriously unstable hillside, where topsoil above the road has slipped after heavy rain, which you can see at the beginning. It’s still moving downhill, nobody knows when, or how, repairs can start, how it’ll be carried out, or how much it’ll cost.
I’ve driven it many times, and it’s always been very uneven with cracks appearing and being patched up.
It’s always been a fairly busy road, with quite a lot of heavy vehicles, the only detour adds quite a few miles to a journey.
Pics please
Are you an MP?
Pics please
Dirty.
I used to work for a waste management company (horrid job it was too). We used tractors to haul sewage and paper sludge to fields for land spreading. In using tractors, for sites within a relatively short radius we undercut competitors using lorries because we used red diesel (until we got challenged on whether the deliveries were agricultural), we employed non HGV drivers who were cheaper and no tachos were needed so we could run longer shifts.
Luckily we didn’t have any bad accidents but there were plenty of near misses. We ran the tractors overloaded and they didn’t stop particularly well. They were scary downhill at full speed and the drivers simply didn’t have the same sense of what could go wrong as the HGV drivers - most of them were local farm lads who hadn’t long left school. At top speed they were really bouncy… but that was a top speed would be nothing to an artic or 8 wheeler.
They did wreck verges because the drivers had no fear of damaging the tractor… unlike our HGV drivers who would take care not to catch a bumper on a rough verge of knock a mirror. When we had finished delivering sludge to a field the verges and hedge banks would be trashed.
I am not surprised people complained. Townies and country people alike. I would have been pissed off if they had delivered 36 loads a day down a narrow lane that I lived in.
Very interesting to see some of the responses, and rather perplexing.
Tractors doing tractor stuff.
I didnt realise that tractors were allowed to break so many rules and thats ok.
Speeding
Duty Fraud
Overloading
Driving whilst using a phone
I didnt realise that tractors were allowed to break so many rules and thats ok.
Speeding
Duty Fraud
Overloading
Driving whilst using a phone
Well if at first you don't get compassionate response based on the safety and road conditions which are relevent but unavoidable when tractors do tractor things
Change tact Go nuclear and throw conjecture and assumption at it.
Have you supplied your evidence of the above to the relevent authorities ?
Maddest thread of the week?
Speeding
Duty Fraud
Overloading
Driving whilst using a phone
Are they speeding?
Duty Fraud how can you tell?
Overloading? You’ve no idea and are speculating.
Driving whilst using a phone? Yeah sadly loads of people still do that.
Driving whilst using a phone? Yeah sadly loads of people still do that.
And if it was a genuine safety concern post -is the most pertinent and critical fact with the cause for most concern but yet did not make the initial cut of concerns for the post.
The driving on the phone compounds all the other issues by a significant factor.
Change tact Go nuclear and throw conjecture and assumption at it.
Fair point - but there was also lots of assumptions from other people that they are only doing what any tractor does.
Are they speeding? - Yes followed them doing more than 24 mph - The local FB page has had complaints and the contract owner even stated that at no time do his drivers exceed 30mph. At which point he clearly doesnt even understand the law that applies to tractors.
Duty Fraud how can you tell? - No I cannot confirm, but seeing as the loads were coming out of a Tarmac quarry, I doubt they were fuelling the tractors with normal diesel rather than red (ie why not just use a normal lorry designed for the job rather than have 4 tractors doing constant shuttles)
Overloading? You’ve no idea and are speculating. - Hence why I was asking on here. But yes I am jumping to conclusions that they are overloaded seeing as though they struggle to even make it up the hill in their shiny powerful tractors.
Driving whilst using a phone? Yeah sadly loads of people still do that.
I came here looking for advice on how to get my initial thoughts investigated, some responses are helpful others clearly not and condoning potential poor working practice.
And if it was a genuine safety concern post -is the most pertinent and critical fact with the cause for most concern but yet did not make the initial cut of concerns for the post.
Because I know that is wrong so do not need advice on it
I take it’s a 20mph limit? Details would help.
I doubt they were fuelling the tractors with normal diesel rather than red (ie why not just use a normal lorry designed for the job rather than have 4 tractors doing constant shuttles)
Maybe the lorries won’t fit on the dropping of site?
I came here looking for advice on how to get my initial thoughts investigated, some responses are helpful others clearly not and condoning potential poor working practice.
It maybe would have helped giving more detail from the start.
You’re going to struggle to prove any of your concerns without evidence and details.
I doubt the authorities would care. I reported a farmer completely covering the road with a thick layer of mud for weeks on end, nothing was done. And yes it is against the law for them to do that.
Have you supplied your evidence of the above to the relevent authorities ?
Is the only suitable response - it's a roads policing issue, not sure if the rural crime team would get involved, Highways need to be informed of the ongoing damage to the road.
Duty Fraud how can you tell? – No I cannot confirm, but seeing as the loads were coming out of a Tarmac quarry, I doubt they were fuelling the tractors with normal diesel rather than red
As of 1st April quarries lost access to red diesel so its unlikely they will be fueling the tractors with it.
Rural roads have always been in a poor state, it’s why lots of people who live there don’t have new, shiny cars as daily drivers. It’s part and parcel of living there.
Yep and due to no pavements and overgrown hedgerows on side of road we also don't care about the scratch lines all down the side of out cars.
A lot of the roads around me have to be pretty much driven down the centre as the edges have massive bits missing. Don't see many tractors go down them though...
Pics please
Dirty.
Given stone weighs twice as much as barley grain
Yeah, but how much does a ton of feathers weigh? 😉
Look at what tractor has done to that road, the dirty girl.
It's unlikely to damage the road but it won't stop on a slope from more than walking pace.
Tractor brakes are universally shit and trailer brakes are rarely maintained.
As of 1st April quarries lost access to red diesel so its unlikely they will be fueling the tractors with it.
But thats the point. Its cheaper to use tractors using red diesel than use an appropriate lorry. However the rules state that you are not allowed to use red diesel in a tractor for hauling rubble unless you are have got the rubble of your own land.
I realise you can give a shit about more than one thing at a time but even having this on the list of things to give a shit about puts you in a lucky position 🙂
But thats the point. Its cheaper to use tractors using red diesel than use an appropriate lorry. However the rules state that you are not allowed to use red diesel in a tractor for hauling rubble unless you are have got the rubble of your own land.
No, I think you missed the point. Quarrying is not a regognised use for rebated fuel so they wouldn't be able to get it anyway. Its also been made very clear that the ban was absolute, with no phasing out so clean tanks. That's not a risk I'd be taking when running a business, doubtless some would but any stocks will quickly be depleted anyway.
But he says they are and that stone weighs more per ton then grain.
If you're actually worried about it tell VOSA, or the council or anyone else with the power to look into it.
All the talk of red diesel ... they may actually be running them on white. I know a couple of people running FastTrac's on white.
But thats the point. Its cheaper to use tractors using red diesel than use an appropriate lorry. However the rules state that you are not allowed to use red diesel in a tractor for hauling rubble unless you are have got the rubble of your own land.
So have you got evidence abuse of the rules yet ?
Thanks goodness that it didn't take long to lose the point of the OP which was tractors damaging the road. Heaven forbid that we stay on topic too long.
So this report appeared in the local paper yesterday. Turns out the farm in question doesn't like playing by the rules. Obviously this has nothing to do with driving tractors on the road with red diesel when potentially you shouldn't be doing / poor driving etc, but does make you think...
The council has issued an enforcement notice for Trefarclawdd Farm owner Yareal, telling the farming business to stop bringing in materials being used to raise the level of livestock buildings on the site by four metres
The owner has also been ordered to remove areas of unapproved hardstanding, restore the land to former levels, fill in an underground slurry system, return the buildings to their approved size and fill in two balancing pools..
As to the road damage, highways have now marked it up ready to be repaired. So as tax payers we are paying for their damage doing something they shouldnt have been doing in the first place.
The owner has also been ordered to remove areas of unapproved hardstanding
Does that mean theyve got to take it all out again, with tractors, along the road?
Does that mean theyve got to take it all out again, with tractors, along the road?
That was my thought exactly !
The reality is nothing will happen, they just wont expand any further. The quarry wont buy back the rubble I would doubt
Destruction of roads. IMHO this is an issue for the Local Authority. It's probably a balance between upgrading old drovers' roads at huge expense to cope with 31T tractors and doing smaller, cheaper repairs. Agicultural or haulage will still cause damage
Are they speeding? – Yes followed them doing more than 24 mph – The local FB page has had complaints and the contract owner even stated that at no time do his drivers exceed 30mph.
Tractor speed limit is generally 40km/h (almost 25mph), but some, up to 2.55m wide, can legally do 40mph. This was amended in 2015 along with other changes, e.g. higher weight limits, etc. This is observable by you
No operator's licensing for agriculture. This is observable by you...either a blue or a green disc where the tax disc used to go and the same diameter
No requirement to "MoT" an agricultural tractor and trailer but it must be roadworthy. This is to some extent observable by you
Red diesel is still available to farming, horticulture and forestry. Not observable
£0 for agricultural VED. Not observable
Limited driver's hours requirements. Not observable
I'd suggest that any observable issues should be reported to DVSA/police as one might lead to another
