Death of the trailer

OK so what happened, will try and keep it short.

When we visited the UK we left the trailer at my mates in north wales while we visited Ireland. Lui, my mate being who he is, went over the trailer as if he was going to buy it, when we got back he complemented me on how good and solid it was, couldn't find any faults other than the brakes didn't work, I knew that. He said he had spoken to a friend and when I was ready to sell to let him know.

So, we set of for Manchester and to visit the various places we had stored the last of our belongings, eventually heading south to Felixstowe later that day.

We left the trailer at the rear of a friends house while in Felixstowe, one wheel, drivers side, tight against another trailer. We left Felixstowe and headed for the 14.15 hr. ferry at Dover at 09.30 hrs. the Tuesday, easy non stop drive, arrived on time, didn't leave the trailer for one moment, we boarded the boat and set sail, 1.5 hrs later we rejoined the trailer and headed down to Belonga Mick.

About 70/80 miles in to the trip I heard a flapping sound, looked in rear view mirrors and noticed the over size tarpaulin flapping on my side, we stopped at the next service station and I  tucked the offending tarp in, we set off, the noise seemed to have stopped so we continued on our way.

As we exited Rouen and entered the on ramp for the short stretch of auto-route I again heard the noise, looked in mirrors and noticed tarp flapping away on both sides, I stopped at the services again after the toll road and tucked it in.

As we entered Blois I again heard the noise, this time a lot loader and more like a thud than a flap, checked mirrors and lowered windows, taup wasn't flapping but we had this thud thud coming from both sides of the trailer, more my side than Julies but non the less both sides. We stopped as soon as we were off the motorway in a car park.

I got out and had a look around the trailer, first inspection, in the dark all looked well, bent down and tugged at a wheel, it was loose, first thought was bearing, but as I looked closer I noticed the wheel nuts appeared to be loose, I went and inspected the other side and sure enough they too were not tight, WTH?

So, I got the wheel brace out and, well it being for a modern Volvo and the trailer wheel being from an older English car you guessed, it didn't fit. 

I remembered we had brakdown cover and I had taken premier cover that covered trailers and caravan, so I found the number and called, didn't take them long to confirm I wasn't covered for trailer in France only car, but they could arrange a recovery service for a one off fee of £400, I put the phone down, start rescue, wont be renewing with them next year.

At midnight there wasn't anyone about so had no choice but to unhook the trailer and go and collect my tools from Belonga Mick, some 80 miles away, remember most roads I use are back roads, so 1.5 hrs each way.

When we got to the cottage we emptied the car, loaded the tools and headed back, I tightened the wheel nuts but wasn't overly pleased with the one on my side, so I took the wheel off, the nut holes were egg shaped and the wheel stud bolts were beginning to wear thru, best bet was to put the spare wheel on, at least the mounting holes were round, I did that and gently tightened the bolts, as I did the last one it snapped clean off.

We decided we'd stop every 10 miles and check all was still good, first 10 miles, we stop, only one bolt holding wheel on, 3 now sheared off, decision made, the trailer was going no further. we quickly decided to get as much in the car and get as much as we could the last 70 miles that way. Now unloading the trailer and trying to fit as much as we could on to the back seat and in the boot of a Volvo C70 wasn't fun, did I tell you it was raining? No? it was raining. First load back to the house and unload, returned to trailer for second load. I am now getting very tired, eyes not working so good and MJ poking me to keep me away. that was when she was awake, I had a feeling this wasn't going to end well but could not see an option other than leave our stuff to the mercy of any passing vultures, I was sure if we had left the trailer there it would have been emptied before long.

I think we did another couple of trips, on the last one about 09.30 hrs. we decided to call at our neighbours, Paul and Carol, they had a hatchback and we had a couple of things left in the trailer that would not fit in our car, main one being a new oak door I had purchased in the UK. Thankfully they said they would come with us and bring a load back, Julie rode in Carol's car, Paul came with me and boy are we glad he did. I have to admit I nodded off a couple of times, if it wasn't for Paul chatting on and giving me the odd nudge I wouldn't be here now, we stopped for a coffee about half way back, first break Julie and I had had since leaving the boat. Back at the trailer and we managed to get everything loaded in to the two cars, left nothing behind other than a now useless trailer, we finally arrived home at 15.00 hrs to empty the last load into the house.

Again on the final leg Paul managed to keep me awake. Now you may ask why didn't Paul drive? he is recovering from a badly broken arm, just had pins removed so he couldn't take over. At one stage when my eyes closed I heard him say "white line" as I crossed over the centre line, I opened my eyes to see a white van fast approaching, like I said, if we had done this last trip on our own it would have been our last.

So, why did the wheels come undone? I don't know, I do know that last February, 2017 I serviced the trailer greased the bearings and replaced the wheels, since then it has done at least 10 trips to France, each trip being about 1500 miles, I had no issues with any aspect of the trailer, I'm sure you will agree, if the wheels were going to come loose on their own, they would have done so long before now.

I have tried to figure what and how, even excepting the possibility of one wheel maybe coming loose on its own accord, but both wheels at the same time, sorry, this was no accident.

I have contacted the ferry company and asked re possible cctv on car deck as that was the only time the trailer was left unattended, we await their response.

I missed my trailer the day after, I'd forgotten I'd bought a stove and had to collect it, I'm sure I am going to miss it a lot more in the future until I can get sorted with a replacement.
Pictures, first is the wheel on my side, 2nd is the other wheel, you can see that the bolts are/have been loosened on that wheel also.