So I’ve been planning a two week trip to the far North West of Scotland for a year now. All the sites booked and routes planned etc.

We left home from the far South of England early Saturday morning for the first leg to Penrith.....a 6.5 hours journey all being well? Well.....not! M11 accident and A14 road closures along with a bad sat nav divert through a bus only area.....don’t ask! Nine and a half hours later we eventually arrive at our stop over at Woodhead Farm, Penrith. Nice site with friendly owner.

Next morning we head towards our next stop over, Bunree caravan site near Fort William. A 3.5 hours journey all being well? Well.....not. All fine until we set along the A82 just after Tarbert skirting Loch Lomond. A few miles down we are overtaken by a police car with all lights blazing. Finding ourselves in a queue of traffic backing up around Inveruglas. A motorcyclist, a pregnant lady, had a serious accident a hundred metres or so ahead of us. We waited for a couple of hours to see if the road would be opened but a policeman told all in the queue in turn that they would not be opening the road until they knew the outcome of the ladies injuries. If it was fatal then they would not be opening the road for some time. A bad sign was the ambulance passing us without flashing lights. No sense of urgency.

We had to turn round and find another way to Bunree. We eventually arrived at the site 3 hours late after they closed but were luckily allowed on the site. First night it rained.......next day it rained. Second night it sheeted it down until 7am. Yellow weather warnings were in place for our next site at Ardmair Point, Ullapool. Should we do it or not? We were up most of the night wondering if it was a good idea to carry on as the short term forecast was pretty much constant rain for at least the next week. Our mind was made up for us when, after placing our Troll in the attaching position I noticed that the left wheel was bowing in very slightly at the top. On closer inspection I saw that the gap between the top of the tyre and the body work was so close I couldn’t put my finger between them. The other side was ok. Enough room to fit my whole wrist under. There was no way I was going to chance moving the van any further so our mind had been made up for us. Luckily I had just taken out the Mayday breakdown a few days before just in case. Thank goodness I did. One phone call and the wheels were in motion. We just decided to return home to East Sussex and get the van transported back home. Hopefully we will see it here in a couple of days as the winds are too high today to attempt any move.

The recovery guy turned up to view the damage and he confirmed that it could not be driven in that state. He said it looked like an axle bearing collapse? Maybe from hitting a pothole during our journey down. Planning ahead as I do, I called Kool Classics who are very local to us and they had not heard of that happening before so I then called AL and spoke to Paul the tech guy and he hadn’t heard of it either so I am in the dark as to what has happened. I measured the shock extension both sides and they are identical so I am assuming that it is some sort of bearing collapse in the axle area. Has anybody here heard of this sort of damage? There was no mechanical noise at all during our drive up so it’s a mystery how/when it occurred.

After chatting to the recovery guy about our travel issues he confirmed that the young lady rider had succumbed to her injuries so it puts all our problems into perspective. At least we did not add ourselves to any road incidents.

Ahah. That was exactly the info I was looking for. Thank you. I was just on the phone to Jandi who had a similar thing happen to another van that hit a pothole unknowingly and it was a £2000 + repair bill. I am an optimist however so will certainly look at this bearing when it gets back. I don’t suppose you have any idea how it can be removed/replaced and where it can be obtained?

October C&CC mag. Page 100.......

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Thank you

135362C4-9935-4BE0-B8A5-E0A06E03AEB7.jpeg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)I called Jandi yesterday for some extra advice and during our conversation(extremely long!) I received this info about Fraser Brown Engineering. I sent the info to Sandy as he had not heard of them before. He did say that it was very likely that the axle bushes were the cause of my problem and that he would always just replace the whole axle with a new one and not a recon. I totally understand that and that would be my preference anyway. I am waiting for Towergate to get back to me as I have put in a claim for the damage. I will keep everyone posted how I get on because I have not made a claim before so will see how Towergate perform. I see no reason why they would not pay out on pothole damage.

This is an image of the dropped side. Still in Fort William on the trailer.:-(

Hi Mike A sad tale especially the young girl. it sounds like you have a solution that will work and lets hope the insurance stump up.

We were away this week in York but all of us on site were effected by the Scottish weather problems. A couple in a BWB next to us on site were on their way to a three week tour of Scotland, similar to yours. They heard about the weather warnings further north and decided to hitch up and leave at 1.30 in the morning waking most of us on site up. Several of us got up as we thought some rogue was trying to steal one of the seasonal vans on the site.

They then had to get the site owner out of his bed in a house nearby to open the security barrier. He was blazing when they told him that they were leaving early to try to get into Scotland before the weather broke. He had thought they had had some kind of family emergency. I don't think he will be accepting another booking from them anytime soon.. Unbelievable. MikeT

Oh and strangely we did not see another Eriba all week!

I hate it when that happens.

Trolly will finally be with me tomorrow afternoon. Can you believe the recovery company on the last leg had an accident with the trailer truck and had no spare vehicles. What else can go wrong?

So just an update. After speaking to Sandy at Jandi he is pretty certain that the torsion bar has busted the inner bushes as there is no visible damage external to see part from the wheel bowing in at the top.

Towergate are the insurers of my Troll and I called them the morning after I arrived back home (Wednesday 19th) and cutting a long story short they FINALLY contacted me on the following Monday 24th. This to me is totally unacceptable! Anyway they sent a loss adjuster to look at the van and he agreed yesterday that it was covered and they would cover the cost within reason. Good news? Yes sort of if I can find someone who is actually interested in doing the repairs. I first called AL who just were not interested and even said that they are just not up to doing repairs like axles etc. They suggested Western Towing as have others on this forum. They are in the process of getting a quote from Hymer for a new axle etc as are Jandi. Both, however mentioned the possible delays from Hymer for a quote as said it could be weeks until I even get an estimate for the insurance company. So it certainly doesn’t look as if it will be ready before the end of the year at the earliest . Very frustrating.

The loss adjuster even mentioned that it could be written off as it was probably worth more as spare parts than fixing it. What the hell!!

Feeling rather peed off as you can imagine. Me and wifey have a real attachment to Trolly as I’m sure other feel towards their vans here. It’s not just a white box, it’s a way of life and a home away from home.

Just crying into my milk now 😂

Hi Mike

Keep waiting for your tale to have a happier outcome...................!.

Stick with it and you might have a better start to 2019 .MikeT