Before you leave your vehicle, make sure the engine has stopped, the ignition system is switched off and the parking brake is on.

When you’re parking on a hill, you can use the wheels and the engine to make sure your HGV cannot roll away in case the parking brake fails. Although in a distant second place compared to fifth wheels, drawbar couplings are used in the UK and must be properly cared for to continue to serve in the long term, finds Steve Banner Bear in mind that if a drawbar combination is involved in an accident, and the cause appears to be a fault in the link between the prime mover and the trailer, then the enforcement authorities will want to see evidence that inspection and maintenance procedures were adhered to. The operator will be in hot water if no such evidence can be produced.A drawbar is a solid coupling between a hauling vehicle and its hauled load. Drawbars are in common use with rail transport, road trailers, both large and small, industrial and recreational, and with agricultural equipment. use the equipment provided to avoid working at height; if you cannot avoid it, use fall arrest systems, especially when roping and sheeting If you’re parking at night on a road, you must use the parking lights on your vehicle. You do not need to use lights if you’re parked off-road, eg in a lorry park. If you’re stopping overnight in a lorry park, it’s a good idea to park with the rear doors close to another lorry to keep the load safe. Always park in a secure, well-lit, reputable lorry park or designated parking area if possible. Agricultural equipment is hauled by a tractor-mounted drawbar. Specialist agricultural tools such as ploughs are attached to specialist drawbars which have functions in addition to transmitting tractive force. This was partly made redundant with Ferguson's development of the three-point linkage in his famous TE20.

UK operators of drawbar combinations include animal feed supplier Harbro. It has acquired an IVECO S-Way 6x2 rigid equipped with a 7.9m curtainsider body and fitted with a VBG coupling which it uses to haul a tri-axle curtainsider trailer. When deliveries have to be made to farms that are difficult to access, the driver uncouples the trailer and takes the feed in using the rigid. It has a rear-steer third axle to aid manoeuvrability. The drawbar should not be confused with the fifth wheel coupling. The drawbar requires a trailer which either loads the drawbar lightly (for example a small boat trailer, or caravan, or the load is the weight of the coupling components only (larger trailers, usually but not always with a steerable hauled axle, front or rear). By contrast, the fifth wheel is designed to transmit a proportion of the load's weight to the hauling vehicle. Drawbar configuration is mostly seen on hydraulic modular trailer and ballast tractor combination to haul oversize loads which require special trailer and tractor.Turning to the couplings themselves, V.Orlandi is now supplying them with a cast steel rather than a cast iron jaw. “Cast steel is standard on the 57mm coupling and optional on the 50mm model,” says Walton. “It’s harder to break than cast iron.” Howard Ostle does not mince his words. “We’re terrible at drawbar coupling maintenance in Britain,” he states; and as UK sales and marketing manager at VBG Group Sales, he has seen the consequences of a lax approach taken by too many operators. convenient – you’re more likely to cause damage, either to your vehicle or another vehicle, if it’s an awkward spot In foggy weather you should avoid parking on the road; if you must park on the road, leave your parking lights on. Parking on a hill The direction of haulage may be push or pull, though pushing tends to be for a pair of ballast tractors working together, one pulling and the other pushing an exceptional load on a specialist trailer. The most common drawbar configuration for heavy vehicles is an A-frame drawbar at the front of a full trailer that connects to a tow coupling on a hauling vehicle [1]