The Heaviest Paper Round in the East Midlands
A 23-tonne rigid, curtains full of paper and a working day that carried me across the East Midlands before finishing out towards Wisbech.
Today’s job was a paper round—but not the sort involving a bicycle, a canvas bag and twenty copies of the local news. I was out in a 23-tonne rigid delivering great palletised stacks of paper around the East Midlands, before the road eventually carried me east towards Wisbech. Same basic principle as the traditional round, really: put the paper in the right place and try not to annoy anybody on the way. The scale was just a little different.
JUST A LITTLE RIGID
The vehicle for the day was a Denmaur 23-tonne rigid curtainsider. After plenty of artic work, a rigid can feel comparatively compact—until you remember it is still a substantial six-wheeler carrying industrial quantities of paper. It is not exactly something you tuck under your arm before breakfast.
A rigid suits this kind of multidrop work well. There is no trailer to worry about, access can be a little more forgiving and the curtains open quickly when the next pallet is ready to come off. That does not make the job casual. The width, tail swing, weight and blind spots still deserve respect, particularly when industrial estates and delivery yards were apparently designed by somebody with a much smaller vehicle in mind.
Under a bright blue sky the truck looked almost cheerful, its curtains splashed with colour and the words paper, carton board and trade. My own contribution was rather simpler: checks done, load secure, paperwork ready and wheels turning. Old-fashioned basics still get the job done.
WHAT A PALLET OF PAPER REALLY LOOKS LIKE
Open the curtains and paper stops looking light immediately. These were large, immaculate white stacks, wrapped tightly, strapped and sitting squarely on timber pallets. A single sheet may flutter away in the breeze; several thousand of them together have all the delicacy of a garden wall.
The load has to remain clean, dry and undamaged. Corners matter, straps matter and smooth driving matters. A sharp bend or heavy brake application does not improve anybody’s day, least of all the warehouse team waiting for a neat, usable pallet rather than an ambitious piece of modern sculpture.
There is something satisfying about pulling back the curtain and seeing everything still sitting exactly as it was loaded. It is quiet evidence that the checks, restraint and driving have all done their job.
Calling it a paper round is technically accurate. The 23-tonne rigid makes it sound slightly less innocent.
AROUND THE EAST MIDLANDS
The first part of the day was spent working around the East Midlands: stretches of main road broken up by industrial estates, gatehouses, delivery instructions and the familiar little hunt for the correct entrance. Sat-nav can take you to the postcode; it cannot always persuade the goods-in door to be on the sensible side of the building.
Multidrop work gives the day a proper rhythm. Arrive, report in, find the bay, open the curtains, get the correct pallets off, secure what remains and move on. Every stop makes the truck lighter and the load space more generous, although the next set of directions usually arrives before there is time to admire it.
It is the practical side of HGV work that I enjoy: a route to solve, people to deal with and a clear result at every stop. Another customer has what they need, another section of curtain closes and the paper round rolls onward.
THEN EAST TO WISBECH
After the East Midlands calls, the day stretched out towards Wisbech. The scenery changes as the road runs into the Fens: broader skies, flatter land and long views that make the truck feel as if it is travelling across a very large billiard table.
Wisbech gave the run a proper final chapter. By then I had spent the day watching pallets disappear from behind the curtains and keeping the remaining load tidy between stops. There is a particular satisfaction in reaching that last part of a multidrop route, when the plan that began as addresses and paperwork has become a row of completed deliveries.
No epic expedition, no flashing beacons and no drama required—just a useful day’s work completed properly. Sometimes that is more satisfying than a story involving breakdown trucks and heroic improvisation.
PAPERWORK DELIVERING PAPER
Naturally, delivering paper also involves carrying paperwork about the paper. Transport has a fine sense of humour like that. The sheets tell you what goes where; the pallets prove that somebody has taken the instruction extremely literally.
Behind every print job, box, leaflet and piece of packaging is a supply chain most people never see. Mills, merchants, warehouses, printers and drivers all form part of it. Today my place in that chain was the cab of a 23-tonne rigid, linking one collection of loading bays to another across a sizeable chunk of England.
So that was today’s NIX road story: the East Midlands, Wisbech, a colourful Denmaur truck and the heaviest paper round I have ever done. No letterbox was harmed—and fortunately nobody asked me to fold the Sunday supplements.