Dull Croydon????

Well after the exiting delivery to Ann Summers, it was actually a very boring 70's distribution centre but full of scantily dressed lady's working in the warehouse. Yeah, I made the last bit up, my dreams didn't materialise unfortunately. Instead it was your normal warehouseman who couldn't give a flying monkeys what was in the brown boxes that were being unloaded. 

Ann Summers Warehouse

Anyway, back to today. I'm in Croydon. I know, not the most glamorous of places, or dull as my better half puts it, but it was certainly challenging. Having said that, Croydon Airport has a fantastic terminal and hotel, both of which are Grade II listed buildings, so maybe not that dull. Made doubly so by me being late to start, which therefore, made me hit all the rush hour traffic coming up the A23. So when I got to Factory Lane, eventually, I was none too impressed when I came across another one of our wagons parked on the side of the road. He'd made the same mistake that I had and sailed passed the tiny entrance which was our delivery point. Now conjure up in your mind a picture of old style London industrial areas that are all twisty, tight and not designed for modern 44 tonne artics and you're probably not a million miles away from what Factory Lane is like. 

Croydon Airport Terminal

Factory Lane with a tight reverse

After some questioning of the locals we discovered that the delivery point was behind us and there was nowhere ahead of us to turn around. Cue some rather tight blind side reversing into a waste disposal site with lots of irate commuters, who obviously use this road as a rat run, queued up behind me. Bad enough with one wagon, but there were two of us, so doubly annoyed commuters. Secretly I did have a slight smile inside at their frustration.

Tight squeeze

So, we about turned and set off around the corner to where we'd been told the gate was. And we sailed right passed it again. Screaming to a halt as we realised our mistake, the other driver jumped out to investigate and discovered that their "yard" was only big enough for one vehicle to reverse into at a time. So, another about turn and we lined up for the assault into the yard. My problem was that the other chap had go in front of me, so my tip time of 0730, it was now 0900, was going to be well and truly missed. Oh well, nothing to do but wait, which is why you find me typing this whilst parked on double yellows in a very dodgy and tight London industrial estate.

Double Yellows ready for a parked artic

If anything, it has taught me one thing though, maybe it's time to invest in a truck sat nav. I've always resisted them before, relying on my trusty map and a lorry drivers instinct, with the odd bit of help from google maps on my phone, to get where I need to go. But today I went the long way round to get to Factory Lane, while the young chap in the other wagon who was behind me coming up the A23, followed his sat nav and got her before I did. So if I invest in one, maybe it'll be sat getting tipped first next time instead of taking angry looks and car horn beeps because of my parking.