monkeybusiness

This is exactly my thought process too, but the enforcement officer appears to see it differently...

Thanks for the reply. What is it a change of use to do you know? If it were an agricultural crop (spuds for example) would it still be change of use?

Hi - I know it’s been kind of covered in the past but does anyone know definitively the rules regarding the storage on agricultural land of unprocessed timber generated through forestry operations? The timber is stored for further forwarding/delivery to end user, no processing takes place. The agricultural land does not adjoin the forestry land from where the timber originates, it is brought in for resale to end users. This is in England. Should there be change of use, and if so what to?! Cheers!

Was that Volvo for sale on here up in Scotland? I wish I’d bought that at the time, give me a shout if you ever move it on...

Why does it seem to happen with such relative frequency on that contract when compared to elsewhere? Time pressure? Inexperienced operatives? Too experienced/complacent operatives? Is there a drug/alcohol culture amongst the workforce? Long hours with a lot of travelling leading to tiredness? Too many hoops to jump through so corners are cut when nobody is looking? Climbers having to use different work methods/systems that they aren't necessarily familiar with leading to mistakes being made? Poor/inadequate PPE stipulations leading to lack of proper control of work tools/karabiner function/fatigue etc? Hazard reporting not being acted upon? It isn't that large a contract in reality, and yet there appears to have been continuous problems with people falling out of trees/getting injured in various ways. There seems to be something very wrong somewhere - it would be interesting to know exactly what and why.

I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the falls have been down to weak regrowth attachment points failing. Fountains constantly revisit the same trees again and again and again and then only cut the smallest amount the contract will allow off to do the work as cheaply as possible. They should be aiming to fell and subsequently replace more trees - it would be safer than sending climbers back up badly topped/sided carbuncles year after year IMO, no matter how many times the oppos are tied in.

A mate had a van nicked in March and hasn’t had a payout yet - he’s insured with Trust...

Chorley Nissan and Bristol Street Motors both came up as offering the cheapest deals when I bought mine.

I don’t think you can title a thread ‘Pikeys’, but I get the impression that’s what is meant here. Obviously there are any number of travellers out there with different backgrounds/reasons/beliefs in law and order - some good and some bad. Unfortunately there seems to be a disproportionately large group of scumbags who fall under the ‘traveller’ label who are actual living breathing theiving horrible bastards that seem to live outside the law and are protected by their ilk. The way our politically correct society works means that they are categorised as travellers in exactly the same way that hippies, itinerants, those that chose to lead that life and everyone else with no fixed abode is - it is seemingly impossible to refer to these theiving travelling criminal gangs in any way which doesn’t pose offence! The problem seems to be compounded by the rest of the travelling fraternity doing nothing to distance themselves from the bad’uns (I would imagine there are many ‘good’ travellers turning a blind eye to what they know is going on right under their noses). Maybe a better thread title would be ‘Naughty Travellers’ - it would then allow us non-travelling folk to discuss such matters without causing offence possibly?

I’m interested in this - is it a special build or an off-the-peg jobby? 20kw is a big old stove, and they don’t appear to offer anything of that size on their website.

Very sad, he seemed a decent chap. I feel really sorry for his poor family, what horrible news.

I’d imagine they wear in the v - can you swap the blades to double their use before sharpening (ie are all 4 blades the same)?

Don't know tbh - I guess they aren't really built primarily for road work and they want as little to get ripped off in the woods as possible!

Just do your big drives at the weekend when DVSA are in the pub...

I don’t know anything about the Forst machines tbh - is that the hydraulic tank it’s welded to? From the pic I guessed it was the bottom of the rotor housing (hence my confusion).

How/where is the oil leaking from - surely not out of the crack as it just looks like a support bracket?

I’ve got an 11 tonne KTS with an extendable rear bunk (when shortened it finishes immediately behind rear axle). There hasn’t ever been a situation where I’ve thought it is too big (occasionally wish it was bigger, but wouldn’t want the pay-off in usability tbh), and I use it almost exclusively for arb jobs (drives, lawns, side of houses, basically anywhere we can get it!). Steering drawbar is essential - once you’ve had one you won’t believe how you could ever manage without. As already said, get the widest tyres you can. I’ve only got 2 wheel braking and it’s fine on 99% of what we do, but I have had a couple of scary moments coming downhill loaded in the woods with everything locked up and no sign of slowing down/stopping!... (back on the power and keep it going where pointed - far from ideal and very scary!). I’m not sure if the second axle’s brakes would stop that occurence, but it can’t hurt (I will get 4 wheel braking next time). If using for arb I would suggest getting extra bunks/bolsters (as we don’t tend to deal in uniform pieces, and a short bay would be very useful!), with lift out pins (it’s amazing what you can drag on with a crane!). Get the biggest crane you can afford (reach and lift), and if you aren’t in the production forwarding game don’t worry about speed - it will be fast enough through your spools. My crane can be mounted on the 3pl (and at purchase that was a box ticked) - in reality I doubt it will ever be taken off the trailer though, as it would be a really cumbersome lump and I’m not sure where the spool block would go in that application. Driven axle(s) are the only real upgrade I’d go for on mine - I came very close to swapping for a different make with drive but it had fixed pins and that wouldn’t work for me so the KTS is still here grafting (and is well worth considering IME).

It’s all about the geometry - I’ll bet it’s fine once it gets started? Not really much you can do in terms of raising pump pressure on those 12v power packs AFAIK - all you can really do is move the base or top of the ram’s position to give it better leverage to get things moving (but you will subsequently lose tip angle).

What year/engines/gearboxes? When/have the clutches been replaced? Which spec?

Intentionally or recklessly - let's not forget those words too. I'm sure the best paid lawyer on either side would win if it came to court - (not that the law in this country can be bought off of course).....

I'll give you a goldfish and 4 cans of beer Pete!

Doesn’t look too bad - my lads have brought them back from jobs looking like that apparently without having a crash!...

How long had it been a killer tree, and how many people did it kill?

I did ask but the owner wasn’t keen!!

This was yesterday’s job - 3 trees (including a mature oak) to be removed and one reduced in an immaculate garden with relatively tricky access into the property from the road. Obviously no mess to be left anywhere in the garden/on the drive. There is a stack yard at the property that is rough and ready and is where the logs were to be stacked As ever, first thoughts turn to a crane (this is our second crane job since I was called out as a fibber on this thread, but hey ho!). Where can we safely position a crane? Where are we landing the material? How big a crane can we actually get to the job? All of these questions need answering to be able to understand if a crane can be deployed safely, and a lift plan subsequently drawn up. The only suitable crane pad was the gravel drive - the Indian stone driveway behind the crane wouldn’t have taken the weight (well, it might have but I certainly wasn’t willing to find out definitively one way or the other...). It was possible to position the crane’s slew ring 40m from the centre of the furthest tree (we would need more than that for the far side of the crown) providing the crane was backed in to position and also right over to one of the lawn edges. No problem - bogmats and crane pads on the lawn to allow outrigger deployment on that side. (This crane wouldn’t have reached if centralised on the gravel, but we knew that before the booking was made as the crane specs were referenced during planning). We were limited to this particular 100 tonne Tadano due to its size (it’s only 4 axle and is basically an 80 tonner on steroids) - nothing bigger would have got in the drive. So - we got our site measured up, our lift plan drawn up, the site prepared, the crane positioned and rigged, the trees removed to the stack yard and processed (70m from the furthest tree to the stack yard incidentally - a pretty decent lift) and everything packed down and away, with only minimal sawdust to tidy up from around the trees. Zero mess, zero fuss. And the whole purpose of me telling you this is because we had a decent sized crane working on its absolute limit and not once did the alarm go off (which I put solely down to correct planning and execution). Oh yeah, and there was a helicopter too (which is the real reason I wanted to put this pic up!).