Thursday, November 26, 2015

How to Find the Most Cost Effective Lorry Insurance Programmes


To enable a haulier or HGV operator to manage their business finances effectively having an insurance programme is a good starting point. Insurance for lorries and trucks seem like and often is a massive part of a haulier's budget. However in order to operate legally vehicle insurance is an essential necessity.

Insurance companies who specialise in lorry insurance will be more than happy to work out an insurance programme with you to ensure the insurance cover meets your business needs in the most cost effective way.

If you have a number of lorries they may suggest and recommend that you have a fleet insurance policy. Fleet insurance for lorries can potentially save you hundreds of pounds each year opposed to each lorry having its own insurance policy. Each insurance company will have its own restrictions, exemptions, terms and conditions which you will have to agree to or meet in order to qualify for fleet insurance cover.

One of the key factors in this will be the number, size and type of lorries you operate and what they are used for. There are two different classes of use of insurance available:

Carriage of goods for hire or reward; this provides cover for operators who transport or carry goods for others for which they are rewarded or paid.

Carriage of own goods; this is exactly as it reads! Providing cover for operators who only use their lorry or lorries to transport their own goods and do not receive any payment or reward from others.

Lorries which are one unit and require the driver to hold a class II HGV driving license will have different insurance needs to an articulated lorry which required a class I HGV license to drive.

Insurance companies who specialise in HGV lorry insurance have flexible approaches and a variety of different insurance cover option which can be tailored to suit individual haulier and operator's business needs.

Third Party Only cover provides the minimum legal level of insurance needed to drive on public highways in the UK and most countries within the European Union. Driving outside of the European Union will need to be discussed with the insurance company to ensure that the appropriate and legal requirements of each country are met.

Additional Public Liability cover may also be required depending on the nature of the goods being carried and the potential risk they pose to members of the public should they be involved in an accident. The lorry insurance consultants will advise if this is necessary.

Third Party Fire and Theft provides the same cover as Third Party Only with additional cover for fire and theft. This level of insurance is particularly useful for lorries which drive and stay in high risk areas. Again the insurance consults will advise as to the advantages of having this level of lorry insurance cover.

Comprehensive lorry insurance has many added bonuses, most importantly it will provide cover for your lorry whether an accident was your fault or not. It will also provide cover for the goods you are carrying, this should be discussed with the lorry insurance consults and insurance companies as restrictions will apply.

Paul Headley is a specialist insurance article writer. Staveley Head are a leading UK insurance broker for lorry insurance.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Peaul_Hedley/283973



Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/2736379

5 Tips for Long-Range Lorry Drivers

Many groups are getting together to organise better road safety for lorry drivers and other motorists, and now many national newspapers - such as the Guardian, the Independent, and other local and special interest newspapers like the Aberdeen News and The Trucker - are reporting on ways that your transport contract can be carried out with regards to road safety. Many of these websites and articles are specific to a certain area, and it's always a good idea to check for any tips that other drivers may have from that particular area (like tricky turns, narrow bridges, or blind spots). Care and knowledge are the best things to keep you and other road users safe. Here are some tips from experienced lorry drivers to help get you on the road safely.

Tip #1: Plan Ahead

Experienced truck drivers might tell you that the most important things you can do for safety are the ones that you do before setting off, and 10 or 15 minutes spent rechecking your plan will decrease the likelihood of any unexpected accidents. In order to ensure that your transport contract is completed safely and efficiently, there are three things that you should take into consideration: duration of travel; route; and weather.

• Route: though most SatNav systems are incredibly accurate, always make sure to double-check your route using good ol' fashioned paper maps. Sometimes the best roads for lorries aren't always the ones suggested by the SatNav, so make sure that all the roads will be able to accommodate a vehicle of your truck's size and weight. Also, be sure to check for road closures.
• Duration: leave plenty of extra time to arrive at your destination without feeling rushed, and allow additional minutes for any delays or unplanned stops that you may need to take along the way.
• Weather: before setting out, always be sure to check the Met Office's weather report and be vigilant for updates on severe winds, fog, ice, or rain, as these may cause dangerous driving conditions. You can visit the Met Office online.

Tip #2: Check for Cyclists and Pedestrians

Always expect pedestrians and cyclists where you least expect them. You can make sure that your transport contract is carried out safely for you and others using the road if you keep your eyes open for smaller vehicles, cycles, and people on foot.

Tip #3: Secure your Load

As a driver in the haulage industry, it's your responsibility to ensure that the cargo is secure, and that your truck's bed is not overloaded. Keep in mind that curtains are meant to merely protect your cargo and not meant to secure it, so make sure that all the belts are strapped tightly.

Tip #4: No-Zone Awareness

No one will know your vehicle better than you do, and this includes your No-Zone Awareness, or your 'blind spot'. While you may be familiar with these areas of limited vision, other drivers on the road won't. While you're carrying out a transport contract be sure you keep a close eye on the other vehicles around you.

Tip #5: Avoid Side-Swiping

Much related to the previous tip, avoiding side-swiping is a lot about knowing your vehicle's 'blind spots'. Indicate well in advance of changing lanes, and always double-check before manoeuvring into the other lane. Also, be aware that non-UK lorries will have limited visibility off the right-hand of their trucks, so take special precautions when passing a truck with foreign plates.

Norman Dulwich is a Correspondent for Haulage Exchange, the leading online trade network for the road transport industry across the UK and Europe. It provides services for matching transport contract opportunities and to buy and sell road transport and haulage work in the domestic and international markets.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Norman_Dulwich/621817



Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7349234

Lorries In The Limelight

What do you think of when you picture a lorry? Perhaps one of these lorries from popular culture. They might not wear giant sunglasses or have punch-ups with the paparazzi, but that doesn't make these superstars any less well known.

From the Coca Cola Christmas haulage truck from the TV ad to the mysterious characters of the tongue twister 'Red Lorry Yellow Lorry', here is a reminder of some of the most famous trucks, lorries and general haulage vehicles of all time.

1) Red Lorry Yellow Lorry

Originally a British tongue twister, you may be interested to know that 'Red Lorry Yellow Lorry' is also a rock band that was formed in Leeds in 1981. Whilst there are no known lorry or lorries attached to the phrase, this is certainly a famous lorry concept which is entrenched in the British psyche. Red lorry yellow lorry red lorry yellow lorry ... It's even hard to type!

2) Long-distance Clara's juggernaught

As the song goes,

Long Distance Clara, shifts the gears

Long Distance Clara, she safely steers

Long Distance Clara, slams on the brakes

Long Distance Clara, accelerates

Long Distance Clara driving round the bend

Hot dinner waiting at her journeys end

Long Distance Clara, driving down the road

Always on time and never late

- Part of the theme tune to the adorable pre-school cartoon 'Pigeon Street'.

3) Fire Engines

Ok, so we don't really call them 'lorries', but we sometimes call them 'trucks', and that's really what they are. The real hero in the world of over-sized vehicles, this red bundle of bravery is like a giant red angel, transporting fire-fighters to the scene of the blaze and providing them selflessly with access to the burning building with its trusty ladder, water with its hose and a whole host of other equipment for battling the flames.

4) Coca Cola Christmas Truck

You remember the ad with all those beautiful Christmas - themed haulage trucks? Perhaps this will jog your memory:

'Holidays are coming, holidays are coming

Tis the season

Watch out, look around

Something's coming, coming to town

Do do do do do

Always Coca Cola.

Something magic, in the night

Can't you see it, shining bright!

La la la la la la la la la la

Holiday refreshment's what we bring

Tis the season, it's always the real thing!

Always Coca Cola!'

- A heart-warming Christmas treat which almost makes up for a million rotting teeth.

5) Optimus Prime and the Transformers Movie

The basis of the film is as follows: a long time ago, far away on the planet of Cybertron, an alien civil war was being waged between the two races of robots - the noble hero Autobots led by the wise Optimus Prime, and the devious evil Decepticons commanded by the dreaded Megatron - for control over the Allspark, a mystical talisman that would grant unlimited power to whoever possessed it. For some reason, the Autobots and the evil Decepticons are able to change into a variety of objects, including cars, trucks, planes and other technological creations, but tend to spend their time masquerading as enormous haulage trucks when inhabiting the Earth.

Lyall Cresswell is the Managing Director for the Transport Exchange Group. Haulage Exchange, their freight exchange for the 7.5 tonne and above market, offers an independent environment for its members to swap haulage loads.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Lyall_Cresswell/81876



Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/1087151

Combat Haulage - Lorries in the British Army

The Royal Logistics Corps is the arm of the British Army that deals with supply, rail and road haulage and distribution. The Army would be lost without adequate supplies, both in peace and wartime, and the Corps is their link to ammunition, essentials and medical supplies. The lorries that they and other specialists use are the backbone of any Army operation. We take a look at the vehicles some of the world's bravest lorry drivers use.

Close Support Tanker

Like many of the Army's vehicles and tanks, the Close support tanker does exactly what it says on the tin. Less a lorry than a tanker truck, it comes in three variants - none of which are your run of the mill road haulage vehicles: the 15,000-litre Tactical Air Refueller and the 18,000 and 20,000-litre Close Support Tanker (one for fuel and the other water). Other lorry drivers should take note not to mess with it if seen on the motorway - it sports enhanced, blast-proof armour and can be fitted with a 7.62mm machine gun.

All Terrain Mobility Platform

The All Terrain Mobility Platform, or ATMP, is the modern equivalent of the Second World War Bren Gun Carrier. Though it looks like a quad bike with more attitude, the ATMP is a front line logistics vehicle. Its' larger liquid, goods and road haulage brothers and sisters might be in danger of looking down their noses at the ATMP due to its diminutive size, but it excels at what it's designed for. It can carry deceptively heavy loads, is amphibious, and is most often used by light or airborne regiments in areas where lorries aren't practical. And like many army logistics vehicles, it isn't defenceless; it can be upgraded with the GPMG (General Purpose Machine Gun) which fires 7.62mm rounds at a rate of 750 a minute. A small but very powerful haulage vehicle.

Motorcycles

You wouldn't think motorbikes would be used in the British Army, but they prove excellent for courier services and document delivery. But once again, these aren't the usual motorbikes. Specially modified Harley Davidson MT350Es and Honda R250s are used, increasing the load a bike can take as well as having a special pannier for the SA80 infantry rifle.

Heavy Equipment Transporter

The Heavy Equipment Transporter (HET) is one of the largest available types of road haulage the Army employs. Challenger II main battle tanks don't get to the war zone on their own, and the HET is the vehicle that moves them from place to place. They are also used as relocation and haulage transporters for immobilised tanks, taking them from the war zone to areas where the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers can re-track them and get them back into working order. The HET can move a huge amount of weight (72 tonnes in total) thanks to its Caterpillar C18 turbocharged diesel engine. It dwarfs all other forms of road haulage, and embodies the pride and might of the British Army and her logistics and engineering corps.

Lyall Cresswell is the Managing Director for the Transport Exchange Group. Haulage Exchange, their freight exchange for the 7.5 tonne and above market, offers an independent environment for its members to find that next road haulage job.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Lyall_Cresswell/81876



Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/1935042

Five Outrageous Lorry Stories You Couldn't Make Up

Whether it is through luck or fate, lorries just seem to keep finding their way to the centre of the most bizarre news stories and urban myths around the internet. Weird and wonderful, strange and terrible, the crazy lorry stories just keep appearing - here are five of the oddest ones out there...

The Lord is Moving to Iowa

Thanks in part to groupage, lorry drivers frequently find themselves transporting full, heavy loads and backloads...but it is doubtful that many drivers have dealt with a load as heavy as the one in this story! The 100 year old Trinity Lutheran Church was moved hundreds of miles to its new home in Manning, Iowa, balanced precariously on the back of an enormous lorry. For the dedicated lorry driver, there truly is no job too big or small! For the curious, there is some truly stunning time lapse photography of the incident on the internet: just Google for "Moving a 100 Year Old Church."

The FedEx Redemption

At the Karlau prison in Austria, a lorry driver experienced a very unusual example of groupage when a convict added himself to the driver's backload, disguised in a parcel. In an inventive escape attempt, several other inmates packaged him up and loaded him on to the back of the lorry. Once the lorry was safely out of the prison gates, Muradif Hasanbegovic (who was serving a seven year sentence for robbery) broke out of the parcel and then out of the truck. The lorry driver told police: "I noticed the tarpaulin had a hole in it just as the prison called me and asked 'Have you noticed anything funny? We are kind of missing a prisoner'."

Covered in Bees!

Everyone knows that lorries sometimes carry dangerous loads, but its rare that they are as unusually dangerous as this! On July 1st 2008, a lorry carrying 12 million honey bees overturned on a rain slicked road in Canada, spilling its living load out onto the highway. Beekeepers were summoned to try and lure the bees back to their hives, though fortunately the rain kept most of the bees inside the lorry. One over eager reporter was stung whilst attempting to take photographs of the overturned lorry and its unusual cargo, but otherwise no one was injured.

The Chocolate Powered Lorry Goes to Timbuktu

As the race for sustainable fuels continues, there's one very unusual fuel source that should be considered - chocolate. The waste left over from cocoa when it is turned into chocolate can apparently be turned into a form of biodiesel. In order to raise awareness for green fuels, two men drove a chocolate powered lorry from London to Timbuktu with the intention of donating their biodiesel processor and any funds raised to charity.

Sometimes, Cartoons Do Come True

Questions have been raised about the veracity of this story, but sometimes you just want a news story to be real no matter how improbable or unsourced it is. Allegedly, in central China the life of a five year old child was saved when he fell from a fifth floor window, bounced off an awning and then landed in the back of a lorry that was filled with pillows. Awwww...

Lyall Cresswell is the Website manager for The Transport Exchange Group. Their exchange for haulage operators, Haulage Exchange, offers exchanges and groupage organisation for their clients with strict quality control to ensure smooth exchanges.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Lyall_Cresswell/81876



Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/1978783

How to Find the Most Cost Effective Lorry Insurance Programmes

To enable a haulier or HGV operator to manage their business finances effectively having an insurance programme is a good starting point. Insurance for lorries and trucks seem like and often is a massive part of a haulier's budget. However in order to operate legally vehicle insurance is an essential necessity.

Insurance companies who specialise in lorry insurance will be more than happy to work out an insurance programme with you to ensure the insurance cover meets your business needs in the most cost effective way.

If you have a number of lorries they may suggest and recommend that you have a fleet insurance policy. Fleet insurance for lorries can potentially save you hundreds of pounds each year opposed to each lorry having its own insurance policy. Each insurance company will have its own restrictions, exemptions, terms and conditions which you will have to agree to or meet in order to qualify for fleet insurance cover.

One of the key factors in this will be the number, size and type of lorries you operate and what they are used for. There are two different classes of use of insurance available:

Carriage of goods for hire or reward; this provides cover for operators who transport or carry goods for others for which they are rewarded or paid.

Carriage of own goods; this is exactly as it reads! Providing cover for operators who only use their lorry or lorries to transport their own goods and do not receive any payment or reward from others.

Lorries which are one unit and require the driver to hold a class II HGV driving license will have different insurance needs to an articulated lorry which required a class I HGV license to drive.

Insurance companies who specialise in HGV lorry insurance have flexible approaches and a variety of different insurance cover option which can be tailored to suit individual haulier and operator's business needs.

Third Party Only cover provides the minimum legal level of insurance needed to drive on public highways in the UK and most countries within the European Union. Driving outside of the European Union will need to be discussed with the insurance company to ensure that the appropriate and legal requirements of each country are met.

Additional Public Liability cover may also be required depending on the nature of the goods being carried and the potential risk they pose to members of the public should they be involved in an accident. The lorry insurance consultants will advise if this is necessary.

Third Party Fire and Theft provides the same cover as Third Party Only with additional cover for fire and theft. This level of insurance is particularly useful for lorries which drive and stay in high risk areas. Again the insurance consults will advise as to the advantages of having this level of lorry insurance cover.

Comprehensive lorry insurance has many added bonuses, most importantly it will provide cover for your lorry whether an accident was your fault or not. It will also provide cover for the goods you are carrying, this should be discussed with the lorry insurance consults and insurance companies as restrictions will apply.

Paul Headley is a specialist insurance article writer. Staveley Head are a leading UK insurance broker for lorry insurance.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Peaul_Hedley/283973



Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/2736379

Transport Contracts and UK Lorry Regulations

Within the past few years, the UK and EU governments have brought in new legislation which will make the shipping of goods safer for lorry drivers and for other road users. After being awarded your transport contract, make sure that you're aware of new and emerging laws which might affect your business and the transportation of goods in your care. Apart from these general changing laws, be wise to differences in regional speed limits for large vehicles to ensure that these variations don't lead to costly fines from local law enforcement. Below, you can read about some of the new laws that have recently come into force, or that are in the early stages of implementation.

Maximum Road Hours

The UK government has altered the maximum amount of hours that lorry drivers are allowed to be working on the roads. However, with careful planning this should not greatly effect your transport contract. Here is a brief outline regarding the changes.

• There will be an increased number of checks on drivers and their transport contract.

• Drivers may not be behind the wheel of their lorries for more than 9 hours per day; 56 hours in a seven day period; or 90 hours in a fortnight.

• Every day, drivers must have an uninterrupted 11 hours of rest - or an uninterrupted period of 9 hours and another of 3 hours.

• Every 4 ½ hours, a driver must rest for 45 minutes.

• Now, transport to and from work (driving to the dispatch centre) is included in these driving times.

• Each EU state has the power to decide the severity of the penalties, with holders of the transport contract who exceeded the maximum prescribed driving times by 20% considered making 'serious infringements'.

New Certification

Starting in 2014, haulage companies must carry out every transport contract using a driver with a special certification: Driver Certification of Professional Competence (Driver CPC). Written into legislation in 2009, this certification will help regulate the safety of the on-road transport industry. If you're already an experienced lorry driver, you'll receive the certificate through 'acquired rights' if you've been driving large haulage trucks before a certain date. After you've earned your Driver CPC, you'll need to complete 35 hours of training every five years in order to keep up to date with the certificate and to keep the certification.

James Hookham from the Freight Transport Association says that there is a 46% shortfall of drivers who have taken the test. Though these regulations don't come into effect until 2014, it would be best to start the process of certification early in order to avoid delays.

Norman Dulwich is a Correspondent for Haulage Exchange, the leading online trade network for the road transport industry across the UK and Europe. It provides services for matching transport contract opportunities and to buy and sell road transport and haulage work in the domestic and international markets.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Norman_Dulwich/621817



Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7349247