Bin lorry overturned, Townley Road

[Rockets]

And don't the Veolia collection teams wear uniforms with Southwark Council logo on them...this might explain why the councillors were so keen to point out the lorry wasn't operated by the council because if you saw a load of people clambering out of the cab of a lorry one that just rolled wearing clothing emblazoned with the council logo you might think it was being operated by the council.

The Helen Hayes reference is weird as well it was almost as if the councillor post was: this is awful, nothing to do with us, speak to Helen.

[vladi]

Went to the junction today to check the "scene of the event" to try and work out from the tyre marks on the road and the damage to the kerb, what were the contributing factors to the accident. Here are my observations and deductions.


1.Compaction type refuse collection trucks, such as these, are exceptionally "tail-heavy" due the the weight of the hydraulic compaction mechanism and the fact that this weight is positioned on the  rear overhang ie behind the rear wheels.

2. To compensate for the extra weight, the truck is fitted with a "tag axle". The tag axle is located  forward of the rearmost axle. When fully laden, all the rear tyres will be running at very close to their operating limit.

3. The tag axle has only 2 wheels as opposed to 4 wheels on the rearmost axle. So on either side at the rear, there a three wheels. So if one rear tyre on the near side has lost pressure,  the weight carried by the remaining two is increased by 50%.

4. Being tail-heavy with a high centre of gravity, the driver of such vehicles should be ultra cautious when cornering.

5. When turning to the right,  the weight imposed on near side tyres is further increased depending on the speed involved.

6. The two long curved tyre marks on the road  suggest that only two of the 3 tyres on the near side were taking the weight. 

7 These curved tyre marks end abruptly and I'm trying to work out exactly why. This spot is  very close to where the  near side rear wheels  slide up against the kerb and the wheel rims gouge out chunks  of the kerb stones. There is a possibility that the driver braked late and so caused the tyres to loose all grip and so slide into the kerb.

If there are any forensic traffic experts around, I would welcome their take on this.

[Spartacus]

Wow 

So many armchair accident investigators putting forward their theorys. My thoughts are that we should wait for an official investigation to tell us what actually happened. 

[teddyboy23]

Some one mentioned the driver as been sacked. And an illegal substance might be involved?

[Spartacus]

8 minutes ago, teddyboy23 said:

Some one mentioned the driver as been sacked. And an illegal substance might be involved?

Love the speculation, unless you have evidence other than hearsay ? 

[teddyboy23]

No evidence only what other streetcleaners are saying?

Edited April 14, 2025 by teddyboy23

[kford]

More aftermath photos when it had been righted. The driver was there, with a bandaged up finger. All the crew were ok. 

[Insuflo]

Vladi, you are wrong. The single wheel tag axle is fitted at the rearmost, behind the twin wheel, driven axle. This is obvious from photos of the upturned vehicle.

[Sue]

50 minutes ago, kford said:

More aftermath photos when it had been righted. The driver was there, with a bandaged up finger. All the crew were ok. 

That's amazing nobody was seriously hurt, but good, obviously!

[CPR Dave]

Amazing clean up job done too.

You wouldn't know this had happened if you walked past today.

All credit to Veolia for doing what they do best I suppose!!!

[Dogkennelhillbilly]

On 13/04/2025 at 11:33, Spartacus said:

Wow 

So many armchair accident investigators putting forward their theorys. My thoughts are that we should wait for an official investigation to tell us what actually happened. 

I'm really enjoying this episode of CSI: Dulwich. 

[vladi]

6 hours ago, Insuflo said:

Vladi, you are wrong. The single wheel tag axle is fitted at the rearmost, behind the twin wheel, driven axle. This is obvious from photos of the upturned vehicle.

I could not discern that from the photo , nonetheless I stand corrected. Yes, the rear rearmost axle is the tag axle on this model as evidenced by the orientation of the dishing of the wheels. Violia obviously have a mix of different axle arrangements. See my photo above. 

The biggest one they have is a 8x4 with a full 8 wheel rear bogie as showm below.

 

[David Peckham]

3 hours ago, CPR Dave said:

Amazing clean up job done too.

The truck has come out of it pretty unscathed as well.

They could've righted it, T Cut out the damage and left it back at the depot, parked with the nearside next to a wall - let the next shift explain it.

Either that or say it was hijacked by a bunch of insurgent Brummie council tax payers.

[Penguin68]

16 hours ago, Sue said:

More aftermath photos when it had been righted.

This photo does not show the lorry wearing the livery those which collect in our bit of Southwark wear, which suggests it was not a lorry in use on a Southwark contract, which might explain why the council appeared to have no knowledge of it. It could have been running empty which may mean it was top heavy and more vulnerable at any speed if cornering, even legal speeds if the corner was tight. No rubbish seems to have come out of it in the incident. 

[Dogkennelhillbilly]

Maybe you can get around there and sniff some of the bin juice residue, tell us if it smells more like Southwark or Lambeth or maybe Lewisham.

[Penguin68]

I was implying that it might have been a completely empty lorry being transferred somewhere and therefore being top heavy. As it has no council livery.  Indeed I pretty much said that. 

Edited April 15, 2025 by Penguin68

[kford]

23 hours ago, Penguin68 said:

This photo does not show the lorry wearing the livery those which collect in our bit of Southwark wear, which suggests it was not a lorry in use on a Southwark contract, which might explain why the council appeared to have no knowledge of it. It could have been running empty which may mean it was top heavy and more vulnerable at any speed if cornering, even legal speeds if the corner was tight. No rubbish seems to have come out of it in the incident. 

When I spoke to the driver, he suggested it was 'quite full' 

 

[Sue]

34 minutes ago, kford said:

When I spoke to the driver, he suggested it was 'quite full' 

 

Did he say why it had overturned?

[Kipper_1972]

..... had a habit of going at bit too fast and learned his lesson.... he's not going to say that though

[vladi]

On 15/04/2025 at 07:57, Penguin68 said:

This photo does not show the lorry wearing the livery those which collect in our bit of Southwark wear, which suggests it was not a lorry in use on a Southwark contract, which might explain why the council appeared to have no knowledge of it. It could have been running empty which may mean it was top heavy and more vulnerable at any speed if cornering, even legal speeds if the corner was tight. No rubbish seems to have come out of it in the incident. 

Running empty would mean that the centre pf gravity would be at its lowest possible and less likely to flip over. No rubbish would come out as the compactor mechanism keeps the rear "shovel" closed when the truck is in motion

[Sue]

9 minutes ago, Kipper_1972 said:

..... had a habit of going at bit too fast and learned his lesson.... he's not going to say that though

Is this just an assumption, or did you also speak to the driver?

[Kipper_1972]

I'm afraid the driver isn't able to escape the laws of physics which were laid down a few moments after the Big Bang

[Sue]

1 hour ago, Kipper_1972 said:

I'm afraid the driver isn't able to escape the laws of physics which were laid down a few moments after the Big Bang

So it's an assumption, then? You haven't spoken to the driver?!