Morning I have a question regarding one of the deliveries that sometimes comes on to site. The delivery is a pallet of chargers, each pallet weighing approximately 350kg. The problem is they sometimes arrive to site double stacked in the trailer and as we have not got a loading bay, we have to unload via the side curtain. The curtain runner along the top of the trailer often means the FLT driver often needs a lot of tiny movements in order to get the pallets out. I have put in the procedure that it is the FLT driver's decision whether they unload the delivery or not but we have now had situations where there is only 1 FLT driver on site at a time and they are getting pressured into unloading the shipment by some managers. I would just like to know if anyone else has this problem, what you have done to resolve the issue and what advice you can give me please. The purchasing department have frequently told the shipping company that we will not accept double stacked pallets but they sometimes still arrive to us double stacked. My view is that we should refuse all double stacked loads. Thanks

We have refused deliveries before- we also charge them for turning it away or the time and extra cost (if we have the manpower) to safely unload. They seem to learn.

Had a similar problem with unsuitable delivery vehicles in to a loading bay, again despite documented instruction on our purchase orders and specified in the supply contract terms and conditions. Went down the route of communicating with the haulier by raising supplier complaints and then ensured with senior management buy in we implemented an absolute rule of refusing delivery regardless of how desperate the needs of production were. Two claims for production down time later the supplier and their haulier finally got the message.

Getting your FLT driver to make a judgement call is all well and good in principle. However; what happens when it goes wrong? Would you (or the haulier) hold the FLT driver responsible? What if said driver (or another person in the vicinity) was injured? Speaking from a former FLT driver that was pressured into just such a situation (didn't stay there long, it has to be said); this is an accident waiting to happen.