Job of the month

Serious RTA on the A50 Stoke

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About this job:

We were called by Staffordshire Police to attend a serious road traffic collision on the east bound carriageway A50 Stoke-on-Trent.

Upon arrival we found a M.A.N tractor unit with a Schmitz tipping tank had collided with the centre armco barrier and then veered severely to the nearside causing the vehicle to overturn coming to rest with the trailer blocking both lanes of the dual carriageway.

The tractor unit had come to rest facing up the embankment at a severe angle to the road.

To make matters worse the tank had detached from the chassis on the tipping ram and had fell with the tank on the rear of a large concrete sign structure, the tractor cab on the opposite side in a scissor like fashion.

An initial risk assessment of the scene also revealed damage to a council light unit which meant bare live wires were in evidence.

The product inside the tank was low hazard [fly ash] but very dense and would require specialist pumping equipment to remove it in its current position.

After further assessment it was decided the safest method of recovery was to discharge as much cargo as was possible then rig our Volvo FH16 with Boniface Recoverer system to initially haul the tank cylinder back to the trailer chassis and then assist with the initial lift.

Our Scania Topliner equipped with a Century 1060 would be rigged to lift on one cable and lower on the other with all cables rigged by snatch blocks back to respective mastheads.

There then followed a lengthy delay whilst the pumping vehicle arrived and eventually removed the product from within the tank by means of the man hatch.

Lifting then commenced and the vehicle was righted without problem, both machines were de rigged and the Volvo was then rigged to winch the tractor unit down the bank into a position where it could be made ready for suspend tow to our Stoke-on-trent operations.