# most damage ever done(accidently) while plowing



## paul soccodato (Nov 9, 2002)

just to start up a new topic
what is the most damage (to a customers property)you guys ever did while cleaning snow(accidently of course).not being a yahoo! you always try to be carefull, go slow, etc...., but sometimes it just happens. 
for me, when i first started plowing i was cleaning a driveway, pushing the snow towards the garages then turning off to stack it on the side of the building.i was about 10 feet away when i saw the garage door buckle and fall off. the snow had moved in one big chunk pushed the door over. cost me a bit to repair it.
just wanted to hear some horror stories.


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## Snoworks (Jan 22, 2002)

O.K. - Since no one else will fess up I will. Well the funnyest damage story belongs to my brother! 

My brother has plowed for me since I started my buisness. He is the most reliable person when it comes to plowing, I can always count on him to be there when I need him. However, he has severe snowplowing tendencys.

1.) When he plows, he seems to get angry at everyone else who is plowing with him. Nobody else is ever plowing the right way.

2.) Even though he has plowed for me, going on 9 years now. He always forgets what properties we are sopposed to plow and where they are located. (Even with the job book in hand, he still seems to have a hard time.)

Well to make a long story short, he and a shoveler were plowing a residential route that he had done for the last 5 years. There had been no changes made from the previous year, with regards to new customers on this route. The only difference was, I had given the shoveler instructions to help all drivers with directions and plowing instructions. My brother came accross two houses that we plow that are next to each other. One was a straight driveway and one was a large circular driveway. 

He plows the circular driveway with no proplems and moves to the neighbors house. Picture the scene: the lot is 200 by 300 and there is 10" of snow on the ground. My brother askes the shoveler what type of driveway it is, and the shoveler replies, a circular driveway. The shoveler made the mistake of not flipping the driver route form, and my brother can't remember the shape of driveway(Even though there are 10 markers showing the perimeters of the driveway & the fact that he has plowed this same driveway for 5 years.)

Well he aims the truck straight towards the garage door at about 10 miles per hour and makes a quick right about 50 feet before the house. While making the turn he hits five evergreen bushes(about 3 feet tall), one ceramic turtle, and cuts a 8' x 50' x 3" hole in the ground before he realizes that this must not be a circular driveway.

You should have heard the verbal assault that was going on after our work was complete. Now I can look back and laugh, but when it happened I was preaty po'd. 

Note worth mentioning; when my brother backed up out of the driveway, just after he distroyed the lawn, he ran into the customers light post and ran it over!

He had a rough nite. CGB


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## Mike 97 SS (Aug 11, 2002)

Did the evergreens survive? HAHAHAHA   Good story, keep em coming! Mike


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## ChicagoSnow (Oct 29, 2001)

Well................................ it was a 4-6" plow, about 6:30am., a small commercial lot that I serviced about 4 years ago. The property owner walks out to my truck and asks me if I can plow the area that his car was parked in..............I said of course!

He starts his Infiniti j30, and moves out of the area for me to work in but stays in the car, waiting for me to finish the plow so he can reclaim his soon to be "clear" parking stall.

Just as I agreed to plow the area his car was parked in, my cell phone rang with a very important snow customer/property manager(another site) that had issues that must be handled right then and there.

So, being the "time maximizer" that I try to be?????, I proceed talking to the somewhat upset property manager on my cell phone, while plowing the remainder of the snow covered lot. Not to mention that I talk with my hands, but as I backed up near the "idling" Infiniti, I assumed he would have seen me backing and also backed up to give me more space to work with.................HE DID NOT MOVE!

I hit his front end of the car, while still trying to satisfy the "articulate" property manager on the cell phone. I was so embarassed and pissed off....... at myself! Nevertheless, the Infiniti owner stood outside of my drivers side window awaiting me to complete my "more important call" and hear my dumb a$$ excuse for hitting his car. 

From that time on, I do not plow snow while talking on the cell phone....................I only have two hands!

ChicagoSnow


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## paul soccodato (Nov 9, 2002)

thats a tough one! ouch


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## digger242j (Nov 22, 2001)

Great stories...  

Worst damage I ever did was to a building. 

It's an L shaped lot with a steep slope down into it. You have to plow the top of the slope going uphill because the plow won't touch the pavement at the top of the hill if you're facing downhill.

It was the last place I was doing at the end of about an 18 hour run. I was kind of anxious to be done (read "in a hurry"). I made my last pass up the hill and was backing down it with the intention turning to my right and backing into the "base" of the L. Only mistake I made was making my turn about 25 feet too soon. (Looking into my driver's side mirror and turning toward the passenger side.)  

It's a concrete block building (corduroy block) and I caught two of the blocks with the rear bumper. Fortunately it was just the right height that I only hit one course of block. A couple inches lower or higher and I'd have had to replace four blocks instead of just two. He didn't make me fix the drywall inside, even though I offered.

Worst part (aside from having to tell the customer), (and having to go back and fix the building), (and the damage to the truck),was when all the stuff that normally rides on my dashboard came flying at me. It woke me up for the drive home though...


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## Mick (May 19, 2001)

Ouch(es). When people ask why they need insurance, they should get linked to this thread.


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## SDlawndawg (Oct 9, 2002)

I accidently slid into a customer's garage door. He claimed it went up and down better after I hit it. It was an old garage so I got away with one.


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## ceaman (Sep 19, 2001)

I was 16 my father asked me to go plow a new customer of His. He told me, "Push it way back off of the lot a ways to leave room for more of the snow we have coming".... 

I went out and plowed the lot 5" or 6 " of snow. I thought that this one pile that was already there was too close to the lot so I should move it..... I put the plow to it and pushed but went no where..... Hmmm must be frozen.... Guess I will have to hit it harder. So I backed up and really wacked it a good one. 

It only took 12 hours of welding to put that plow back together....  

.... How was I to know thats where the flower bed was????


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## likestoshovel (Nov 12, 2002)

I used to shovel for a company that had a bank chain as one of its customers. 
Every now and then I saw the guy who ran the bank at one of the branches. We usually exchanged greetings or talked for a couple minutes. 

One morning as I was shoveling the employee entrance the big honcho came out for some fresh air. We talked as I shoveled and then I headed off to continue work. When I got in my truck and started to back up I noticed that I had dried toothpaste running from the side of my mouth and down my chin. I must have spat my toothpaste out carelessly when I rushed out for work in at four in the morning. Man I felt stupid - I looked like I had had some epileptic attack or rabies. And worst of all, it was already 9am and a bunch of other people must have seen me. oh well.


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## paul soccodato (Nov 9, 2002)

i know its happend to everbody at least once, you get a call for a new driveway, start pushing and realize somethings wrong. so you get out to take a look and realize the driveway's gravel.


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## Mike 97 SS (Aug 11, 2002)

Hahahaha, these stories are great guys. I laughed like hell after reading ceamans story. Keep em coming if you have more! SDlawndawg, yours was funny too! Mike


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## copandplower (Feb 2, 2002)

Likestoshovel,
That was hilarious......thanks 4 the laugh.


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## Bonzai (Oct 28, 2002)

One time backdragging a driveway at night I noticed the last 3 Christmas lights coming off the eavestrough. The owner had plugged them into an extension cord and left it on the driveway under the snow. It looked quite funny, and when I told the owner he laughed and said I had saved him from removing them. Luckily it was after Christmas and there was not to much damage.
Bonzai


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## Snoworks (Jan 22, 2002)

likestoshovel 

Hands down the winner. My wife, my son and I could not stop laughing. LOL.  

CGB


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## Snoworks (Jan 22, 2002)

Banzi - This is not uncommon, I thought this kind of thing only happend to me. I did not notice anything was wrong until I fueled up at the gas station and saw 15' of extension cord behind my truck. 

CGB


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## paul soccodato (Nov 9, 2002)

the extension cord bit has happend to me too. its just as common as getting the sunday new york times stuck in the snowthrower.


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## Bonzai (Oct 28, 2002)

Snoworks- Now that is funny, it`s amazing what we don`t notice after 20 hrs of plowing.


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## speedracer241 (Oct 13, 2001)

Truely some good reading here 
Thank's fellas for the laffs.
Just glad nobodys really tore too much up yet,
Mark K


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## Mick (May 19, 2001)

The extension cord reminded me of last year. Our son lives in a house we have on the property so I'd plow his driveway. Where I piled the snow he'd run the cable for the TV. Yep - I got it. Twice. . This year we marked it.


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## Bonzai (Oct 28, 2002)

During an ice storm I drove into a site at about 3:00am and stopped to do my paper work but the truck slid sideways and bumped a car parked in the driveway. I barely hit the bumper so there was no damage but the car had slid on the ice and was now sideways on the driveway. I got out braced my feet against the curb and pushed the car back into place. Called the manager in the morning and told him what had happened and he said not to worry no one had called. Got lucky that time.


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## Nailit1954 (Mar 6, 2002)

*toothpaste*

Hey liketoshovel
I'm still laughing about that toothpaste! I guess we all have found ourselfs in some pretty funny situtations!


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## Pelican (Nov 16, 2001)

I was working my route through a blizzard and was making the second round after about 18 hours in the truck. It was about 2:00 am and I was pushing out one account, nothing special, a straight driveway with a parking area in front of the garage.

I had cleared the parking area and was backing in to push out the driveway and *WHAM!*, I backed into the railroad tie retaining wall that had been there since I started that account.

I pushed out that pass and backed in for the second and *WHAM!*, I backed into the retaining wall again! It was about then I decided it would be a good time for a nap. The only thing damaged was my pride.


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## GreginAlaska (Sep 14, 2002)

Our driver had backdragged away from a garage and then turned around to push it out of the driveway. It was really coming down and he was using a fence post along the driveway as a reference point to stop. He lost sight of the fencepost and ran right through the garage door and pushed a jeep into the wall going into the house. He hit it hard enough that it buckled the wall and did $8000 damage to the jeep. He was hauling ***! Thank God for insurance.


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## greenquestlawn (Feb 1, 2001)

Ok this was ALL when I worked for a snow plowing company, before I started my own. This was in the course of 7 years.

The first was quite a few years back, we had an ice storm and were out plowing. The layer of ice was slush underneath so if you could break through it you could plow it. Well as I was going I jumped up on top of it right as I headed down a hill. As I gained speen I dropped both blades but kept going. Of course if the van had not gotten stuck going up the hill I would have just drove into the grass but no luck. Hit the van in the front quarter panel. I believe about 2500 in damage.

The second was worse:

I was running a back plow that extended out 8'-16' (I posted pics once) I had two flags in the middle so I could see in the rear view mirror if it was all the way closed. Well it was about 11:00 am (we started at 10pm the night before) I was on the first pass at a big commercial lot, as I came around the corner I saw the truck, no problem I will head twords it and just zig zag around it, well the drivers wing was extended about 6" out. Thats exactly how much of the truck I caught. This would have not been TOO bad but the minute I felt it hit, I slammed on the brakes to stop, but it was too late, I dragged the back of the truck around and into the car next to it  . Ahh what a day that was. 

Then to add to it when I went in to tell the people (These were not the owners of the business only tennants) I though they were going to hog tie me till the cops got there. I explaned to them that this was private property so there would be no report but they did not listen. They locked me in the office and proceded to call the cops.

Well they called the local, city, and state police and got the same answer from them all. Just as I had said no cops. I finally had to call the boss (he is a huge guy) to come get me out of there. I thought next was the FBI, CIA, EPA....whatever.

They just could not understand that the companies insurance would take good care of them. Well the boss got there and broke me out of jail (the office)with some very nasty things being said about how they would not let me go. I can say some of the stupid things we did as employees he would always stick up for us when called for. Of course all was handled, thank goodness for ins.


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## ceaman (Sep 19, 2001)

likestoshovel

That is the best "first post" anyone has ever made...
Welcome to Plowsite. Lots of information here, plenty of answers, and sometimes a little humor. 

Welcome


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## snowplowjay (Aug 26, 2002)

probably the worst one ive seen was a tandem axle private contractors dump plowin my street. He plowed my whole street fine but the problem is that i live on a dead end and all the streets to get outta mine are hills. so he proceeds to plow his way up the hill. Well he wanted to go up hill, the plow and truck wanted to go up the hill. But the sander just didnt want any part of going up the hill. His Chains broke and he was throwin sparks up the hill while digging a gouge about an inch and a half deep in the pavement with his spinner and throwning sand outta the top of the freshly filled sander. Needless to say that was a rough winter and all that sand kept that hill nice and good with traction for the rest of that winter. The Gouge is still very visible on the hill today. I sorta get a reminder of how great snow storms are everyday when i drive up the hill.



Jay


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## long0 (Jul 11, 2002)

Some people about 1/2 mile from me called one year about a week before Christmas. They were coming into town for the holiday, and wanted to know if I could plow out there driveway. 
Sure no problem, let me go look at it and I will call you back with a price. I get to their drive, and it had not been plowed all season. The drive is 1/4 mile long, and buried in 4' - 6' drifts. I call them back, saying that I am going to have to push it out with the dozer. We agree on a price per hour, and I head up there.

It takes a couple of hours, no problems and I am finished. I get a call Christmas Eve morning from these people asking where I moved there truck and trailer to. "Truck and trailer, what are you talking about" 

When they had left in the fall, they had parked a little 6' flatbed trailer hooked to an 74 Chevy blocking the drive to act as a gate. I never saw either one of them. Totaled the truck, and there was not much left of the trailer. The owners were actually pretty nice about the whole ordeal.

I now carry an avalanche pole on the dozer in the winter.

Andy


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## Clean Cut Lawns (Oct 11, 2002)

long0,

by far the best one yet!


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## NoStockBikes!! (Oct 29, 2002)

I was waiting for one of those "there was a car in that pile of snow?" stories...


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## likestoshovel (Nov 12, 2002)

ceaman and everyone else,

thanks for welcoming me. Definately a great site.

Here's another one. not so funny... but...

My ac/heater fan broke on my truck and so when I drove it the window would fog up real bad. I was going to a church in mid morning and it was snowing sideways so I couldn't keep the window open. Visibility was fine but I couldn't see a thing. I remembered the entrance of the lot being right after the church's mailbox. So with out slowing down I decisively turned into the lot. But, of course, the entrance was before the mailbox and I crashed down hard into the 4 foot ditch leaving truck pirched up with my back wheels off the ground. When I got out this older woman ran up to me to make sure I was ok. She said it looked crazy and that I must have hit a icy spot and lost control. I told her I was ok and that I hadn't hit any ice and that, yes, I had ment to to do that.

Peter


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## THREE W (Jan 18, 2002)

What's that noise.........

Was plowing a business that I had done several times before, has a real low overhang on a drive up window....

Truck always went underneath but only had about 2-3" of
clearance.....

Installed new lightbar on top of truck, forgot about that extra
2-3" Brand New Whelen Strobe lightbar, worked good for about
30 minutes.


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## ultimate lawns (Aug 28, 2002)

well.... i dont think i really have ever made a mistake besides 
going on the grass and tearing it up a little. But when i hit a something like a pot hole or eneything thats in the ground sticking up, I will prob say every word in the book. And i get pissed!   i have screwed up my truck a cupple of times.
but nothing major like hitting a car or building.

http://hometown.aol.com/whippo89/page2.html


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## landman (Dec 2, 2001)

1st time- about 7 years ago we had a blizzard here a local car dealer called a friend of mine and said we have 30"+ of snow on our lot and drifts of 8' near our buildings. our plow truck can't handle it can you come over with your loader and move the snow? Buddy says sure $300.00 per hour minimum 5 hours. Buddy asks where were the cars parked? dealer says all lined up behind the building, buddy says ok, need less to say buddy has a CAT loader with a 4 yard bucket, starts pushing no problem, makes large pile of snow 5 passes along he hits some "rough asphalt" dealer says thats about where the lot trasistions to diffrent pavement, buddy says ok kepps pushing guess what?? as he is pushing this mountain of snow he starts seeing multiple colors blue,black,red all pieces then the infamous "OH S#!T" guess what he just wiped out a row of about 10 brand new Corvettes, and about a dozen other cars. Dealer wrote it off paid him for the job and said thanks. feel sorry for the salesman who said the cars were parked behind the building. Good thing he had a contract with the company with a clause that said he was not responsible for items buried in the snow that were not properly marked.
2nd time- 2 years ago after plowing about 28 hours get to the last account (didn't wanna plow this one) but said might as well don't want it to freeze and cause myself more problems later. Made 3 passes in finished went to back out and turn around and BANG hit the house ripped the mirror off the truck, shingles off the house crushed the garbage can and ripped the flood light off the house. Now when all the cursing was done I left and went home to go to sleep. not even in bed yet home phone is ringing and my mother is telling me I have some nerve wrecking the corner of her house and not even telling her I told her don't worry I wrecked my truck too and I'll fix the house when I can now you see why I didn't want to plow that last one. It figures the places you plow for free are always the first to complain.


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## Big Todd (Dec 8, 2001)

The first couple of snows last winter came before the ground completely froze up. We were plowing an apartment complex and there is one small lot where you have to put all of the snow to one end. (You experienced guys know what's coming... ) Well, thinking ahead, as this was probably the first or second snow of the season, when I got to the end of the pavement, I lifted the blade a hair and drove a good two truck lengths into the lawn and piled the snow. Well, by about the third pass, I'd churned up the turf quite a bit and as soon as I stoped to put her into reverse... yup, down I sank. To the axles. 

Didn't take much to pull me out, but I take a lot of pride in the fact that I am a very carefu plower, so that one bruised the ol' ego a bit.

By the way, the apartment maitanance people fixed the damage in the spring with out saying a word to us about it, and we got them back this year.:waving:


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## PetalsandPines (Mar 26, 2001)

*IF I CAN'T SEE THE HOUSES THEY CAN'T SEE ME*

I guess enough time has passed for me to admit this one, but about 6 years ago I was driving down a narrow side street during one of buffalo's infamous pummelings and all of a sudden CRASH!!! It was snowing so hard that you could barely see the markers on your plow. I got out of my truck and realized that I had put the bumper of someones car into their back seat!! ( It was one of those big jalopies from the 1970's so I didn't feel too bad, (an obvious $100 winter car) As I came to my senses I said, Hey...If I can't see the houses because of the snow, then certainly nobody saw me....Turns out I was on a one way street and I was driving along the curb instead of the middle of the road. Needless to say I found an alternate route for the rest of the winter! PS, nothing but a scratch in my plow paint


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## Ohiosnow (Sep 20, 2001)

*Never hit anything but*

I was plowing a 6 acre lot full of 2" deep slush at 3:00 AM a few yrs ago. There were 2 of us plowing 1000' rows of flying slush when all of a sudden ALL the lights went OUT   & at the same time there was a BIG FLASH & BOOM  . Here we found out the electrican forgot to put the cover back on the main electrical juction box the day before. It cost the electrican over $30,000.00 in damages, they tried to sue us but the Judge said we had no way of knowing he left the cover off so we weren't at fault.

The only bad thing was we had to plow the lot in the dark for almost a month till they got everything fixed.


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## snowplowjay (Aug 26, 2002)

anyone ever accidentally take out the drunk owner of a bar lot that you are plowing. Every year me and my father get a little bit closer to doing it. We cover a few jobs for a buddy when he goes away to florida for a few weeks in addition to our regular jobs. And one of the buildings the guy owns has a strip mall and apartments in it and also iniside is a bar. Every year no fail the friggin owner of the bar has to come out drunk as hell yelling where the F*** have you been I have to serve my customers and I can't if the lots not plowed. This usually results in us leaving him standing in the middle of the lot all alone with tons of snow to deal with on his own because he does the same thing to the guy who owns the property and he leaves the guy with a lot full of snow too. I swear onea these days that guys gonna become united with a fisher or western blade to his grill lol. 


Jay


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## SCL (Jul 27, 2000)

3 Years ago I'm plowing a motel lot. 4 AM and snowing. This is a great account and I always look after them well. Look down and see that some moron ran over one of their spireas. DON'T do this while you are backing up with a one ton. Just then I remember the carport entrance and look in the mirror in time to slam on the breaks and hit the port pole dead in the middle. Totaled out my 2 week old tailgate spreader, bade it about 4" wide, broke all the fascia on the pole, but the 15" diameter concrete center was just fine. Insurance is agreat thing!!! I figured the cust. would be mad as hell but they were great. It's still the subject of a lot of yuck-yucks every year.


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## RidgeCon (Jan 3, 2001)

The tales are great guys, have two to let you know of (one mine and one my buddy)

1. mine - was plowing a church lot and was coming around the rear of the church just as a car was coming the same way. I have to get a good speed to clear away all the slush. Well when it was over the corner of my blade was inside the back seat and the trunk was pretty much ripped off entirely.

2. my buddy - he plows a driveay that slopes downward and he has to back into push it up and out. Well we had a bad ice storm last yesr and he backs down and can't get stopped. The customer wound up with his truck sitting inside their sunroom which was all glass so the twisting of the impact broke all the glass in the whole room, they had big screen, hot tub, pool table the works in this room and it was all ruined because it was raining at the time. Big insurance claim for him.

Man I love the winter......


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## Pelican (Nov 16, 2001)

Sonjaab, you don't have a place in Meridan, do you?


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## Alan (Mar 2, 2000)

*Not big $$ but FUNNY!*

I was plowing one place that I hadn't been to before. Owner had his own beater truck and it broke so I got the call. I was pushing a pile into an existing bank, with one of those tin toolsheds straight ahead. I thought I saw the shed doors 'quiver" and then there was this huge CRASH and the doors imploded. There was a hasp and padlock holding them together, so the 12 foot 2x4 that was buried in the snow took them both out when I got the plow against the other end. No damage except for the doors. I didn't look close but it must have torn them right out of that chintzy roller track at the top. I never mentioned it and neither did the owner.


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## snowplowjay (Aug 26, 2002)

HEHEHE

Jay


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## Mick (May 19, 2001)

No actual damage, but...

When I first bought my plow, a neighbor lady called and asked if I'd plow her driveway. I'd never plowed before that year and only my own driveway a couple of times up to that point. She'd asked before that, but I hadn't gotten insurance then and she wouldn't let me plow without commercial liability. I got the insurance and told her about it, so she said go ahead and plow her drive. One car was in the garage, but another was in the driveway. I said I'd work around it.

I made the first run and backed up to get the second run. I was planning where I was going to put it and not paying enough attention behind as I backed up. I glanced into the side mirror to get my bearings just in time to see her car reflected in the mirror and about fifteen feet from the driver side rear corner of the pickup.  . Slammed the brakes and cramped the wheel to the right. Barely missed the car - If I hadn't cramped the wheel, I'd have gotten it. I didn't ask if she saw it, I just got paid. She's never called me back, though.

That was my first plow for pay. Now, I insist on no cars in the driveway whether they put them in the garage, move them while I'm there. Whatever - I won't just work around them.


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## gordyo (Feb 12, 2002)

oops


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## gordyo (Feb 12, 2002)

Ok here goes:

In 1986, My first year at the college, I had been plowing for about 30 hours. My boss asked me to go down behind the Administrative building and clear spots with the backhoe as people left. Going along pretty good until I got into a real tight area. No problem I thought, I will just swing the backhoe boom to the left gain about 6 more feet to back up and when I continue forward I will swing the backhoe boom back to the middle. Worked slick for quite a while until the one spot that I forgot to swing it back and the backhoe bucket hit the rear windsheild of an Oldsmobile Cutlass, rode up the post and across the roof causing $3800 worth of damage to the car. I went up to tell the professor what I had done to her car and she told me she had just bought it the week before and it had a mere 800 miles on it. The worst part was that she took it back to the dealer to get it fixed and they gave her back her old car to drive. Since taking over Snow Removal I have a policy that we do not work around cars. They get towed first before any equipment starts to work.


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## Snoworks (Jan 22, 2002)

I thought this would be a good time to bring this thread back!

Chuck B.


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## Santo (Sep 3, 2003)

A Stealth (the first year the car came out , they were a big deal)suddenly pulled out of an ally without stopping or looking and I plowed it into a snow bank . As luck would have it the blade was full of snow. A buckled fender and some tears. Gave the drunken little lady a ride home .


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## Santo (Sep 3, 2003)

A Stealth (the first year the car came out , they were a big deal)suddenly pulled out of an ally without stopping or looking and I plowed it into a snow bank . As luck would have it the blade was full of snow. A buckled fender and some tears. Gave the drunken little lady a ride home . Now we have strobes and nextels.


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## snowplowjay (Aug 26, 2002)

> _Originally posted by Santo _
> *A Stealth (the first year the car came out , they were a big deal)suddenly pulled out of an ally without stopping or looking and I plowed it into a snow bank . As luck would have it the blade was full of snow. A buckled fender and some tears. Gave the drunken little lady a ride home . Now we have strobes and nextels. *





> _Originally posted by Santo _
> *A Stealth (the first year the car came out , they were a big deal)suddenly pulled out of an ally without stopping or looking and I plowed it into a snow bank . As luck would have it the blade was full of snow. A buckled fender and some tears. Gave the drunken little lady a ride home . Now we have strobes and nextels. *


WOW you did it to two little old ladies (humor)

Jay


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## CT18fireman (Nov 30, 2000)

I was going to edit one of them out until I saw Jay's post. Got to leave it for the humor factor.


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## sonjaab (Jul 29, 2001)

Two years ago I was plowing across the front
of my lot. While backing up and not paying
attention and a gust of blowing snow.
I backed over the banks ATM kiosk enclosure !

SMASH.........took it out !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Luckly they were gonna remove it anyway to
relocate the ATM to the front of the building!

LUCKY ME !~!!!..............geo


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## Clean Cut Lawns (Oct 11, 2002)

SonJaab

you should have charged them a demo fee


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## SnowMizer (Sep 28, 2003)

About 5 years ago we had a 28" snow. I was plowing at a large Industrial account. There is nowhere to stack large amounts of snow so we use a front end loader to move snow piles.
I had been there about 20 hours and was extremely tired and it looked like we would not be finished for some time.
I thought I would speed things up a bit and start plowing with the loader. (it was a very large one, don't remember exact size)
Things seemed to be progressing very well when one of the guys I was working with stopped me and asked what had happened to all of the manhole covers.
I was puzzled for a moment. Then I realized that I had ripped them up with the Loader. 14 of them.
The repair bill was around $22,000. Luckily the customer did not make us pay for the repairs. They said it was partly their fault because they were sticking up out of the pavement a bit.
Spring arrived, the snow melted, I also found out that I had ripped up about 15' of asphalt curb. No one said anything about that so I remained silent.
They must not have been too upset over the whole ordeal. We still have the account and I have never heard anyone at the plant ever mention a word about it.
I will never again plow snow with a loader.


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## wyldman (Jan 18, 2001)

I'll never forget the time Wal-mart decided to install those bolted down type speed bumps in the main travel lanes.Never notified use.Didn't figure it out until they started showing up in the piles.A 5 ton with a big road blade peels them up like nothing.Cost me $3800.00 to put them back in.


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## Mike 97 SS (Aug 11, 2002)

Wow, this SnowMizer guy is deadly with that loader.  Im surprised you didnt feel the loader hitting stuff and tearing it all up.  Well anyway, my story wont seem all that bad after reading all of these. Me and my brother went to our shop to plow it all out after that blizzard we had last year. I was doing the plowing and he was shoveling around the pumps. I was pushing alot of snow up to the fence that is to the left of the garage door. The snow was starting to stick out kind of far from the fence and was ending up in front of the garage door partially. I told my brother to go open up the garage and Ill back in and push it out and towards the street. He opens up the garage and we had a car up on the lift from the day before. I told him Ill back up as much as possible and then plow it out. I wanted to back in just enough so the bed of the truck was in the garage under the car on the lift. Hes watching me back up, getting me as close as possible without hitting the cab of my truck into the car on the lift. Im going slowly, he says ok, thats good there, so I stop. I turn around in my seat so Im facing forward, angle and drop the plow and give it gas. What did I forget to do fellas??? Forgot to switch from REVERSE to DRIVE!! :realmad: I backed up into the muffler of the car on the lift and put a decent size ding/dent in the cab of my truck, right above the back window. I was so pissed off at myself, I never make stupid mistakes like that, but I guess I did that time. The damage to my truck is hardly noticeable, but it still annoys me, knowing it could have been avoided. The car on the lift got no damage done to it at all. Now if my truck was a brand new truck and I did that, I would have been 100 times more pissed off. Mike


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## Santo (Sep 3, 2003)

> _Originally posted by Santo _
> *A Stealth (the first year the car came out , they were a big deal)suddenly pulled out of an ally without stopping or looking and I plowed it into a snow bank . As luck would have it the blade was full of snow. A buckled fender and some tears. Gave the drunken little lady a ride home . Now we have strobes and nextels. *


Ill be a moderator someday.


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## griffithtlc (Jul 24, 2003)

This one just happened a couple of days ago plowing out an apartment complex. We just pulled in and theold manager was outsite.  stopped and talked with him for a few minutes about the last outfit that plowed the lot since it was our first time doing this lot. After we got done talking I started pulling back the snow by the garages. Well here comes a lady flying around the corner and Bang! She glances off my back bumber. Her right front fender was gone, front right light, signal and scrape in her door. Only had a couple of scratches on the rear bumper of the plow truck that a little spit will take care of. (no dents) I asked her if she was ok and she said yes and that she was yelling at her kids and not paying attention! The ex manager was also there as a witness to it all so that should help. Great start to the first plowing of the season!


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## PROPJCKEY (Nov 19, 2003)

*Drives clean!*

Hard to believe, but true.

Was plowing a 120 single family upscale garden home community (closely built) with a skid loader and 8'0 Western blade. Every diveway was only 40'-50' or so long but they were all side load garages which meant they all took a 90 degree turn in the middle. Mostly older retired rich people, you know the kind....my drive first people, I saw this guy standing four houses away and prepared myself for the fury I assumed I was going to get. When I got there I relized he was putting those net type Christmas lights on his bushes. He waved, I waved, I backdragged, plow caught net, dragged customer with foot in netting 15' down the driveway! I jumped out of the skidloader, hit head on rollcage (6'5" tall) landed on driveway near customer and laughed our asses off!
-Jeff-


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## kipcom (Feb 3, 2001)

WE use to plow the abandon vehicle lot here in indy. Factor in a bunch of junk non-running cars all lined in rows and my old beater plow truck that if you put a scratch or dent in it, it was like shooting down a kamakazi pilot  They wanted us to just clear out the rows in between the cars so the tow trucks could get around. We use to just banzi down those rows, bouncing off of cars on each side  It was always fun to push the snow up onto the cars at the end of a row and pack them full of snow .


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## smwmarc (Sep 27, 2003)

> PROPJCKEY Hard to believe, but true.
> 
> Was plowing a 120 single family upscale garden home community (closely built) with a skid loader and 8'0 Western blade. Every diveway was only 40'-50' or so long but they were all side load garages which meant they all took a 90 degree turn in the middle. Mostly older retired rich people, you know the kind....my drive first people, I saw this guy standing four houses away and prepared myself for the fury I assumed I was going to get. When I got there I relized he was putting those net type Christmas lights on his bushes. He waved, I waved, I backdragged, plow caught net, dragged customer with foot in netting 15' down the driveway! I jumped out of the skidloader, hit head on rollcage (6'5" tall) landed on driveway near customer and laughed our asses off!
> -Jeff-


All stories that can be laughed at now since damage that was done was to objects and maybe a few ego's, but definitely a few hilarious ones like this from PROPJCKEY. I wish somehow that was on video. It just sounds like a typical foul weather situation mixed with a bit of "man this ain't my day!". Too funny!


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## easthavenplower (Aug 21, 2003)

last year some jack a$$ parked right in back of me as i was plowing a parking lot. it was a ford lincoln continnetal.i hit somthing but i thought it was a curb until the lincoln was in my driversside window. i said oh darn that bites.i got out to look at the damage.i tore off all the molding both door handles and their trim the antenna plus he had the trim around the tires that was now missing. he pretty:realmad: so i said lets call the cops fill out the accident report my insurrence will cover it.he said cant do that im not registard or insured he wanted me to pay cash i said no way why are you even out in that unregistard anyway i just left nothing my insurace would do he was unregistard.i gave him like 500 dollars and he was happy but i didnt have any further problems with him


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## Luppy (Oct 6, 2003)

Propjckey's story is by far the funniest!!!!!! LMAO


Well guys I have a few mishap stories, but nothing even close to some of these. My first season plowing I ripped some shingles off the side of a customers garage, and as if that wasn't bad enough, I then took out a basement window as I angled the plow.

Another time a few years later a customer claimed I hit his garage door. Total BS because I left a good 3 feet off snow in front of his garage and we shoveled it by hand because up near the garage there was no place to safely put the snow. He refused to pay me, I said fine I'm done with you sir, and later that week we had yet another 1 footer storm and I went back there and totally buried the end of his driveway with a nice mountain which was filled with the 1 ft of snow. (don't mess with plow girls!)

Got a couple stories from my brother. He used to plow the streets of Boston back in the 70's and during one storm that dumped approx. 28 inches of snow, he ripped off the side of some poor guys bright yellow Corvette which was buried underneath a huge drift on the side of the road. 

Another time in the early 90's he was plowing a residential and while backdragging downhill he saw some sort of geyser gushing out of the side of the house. Gets out of his truck to find the customer had left the garden hose in the driveway under all that snow and when Richie backdragged the plow must have gotten hung up on the hose and ripped the faucet right off the house.

Michele


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## PROPJCKEY (Nov 19, 2003)

Luppy,
good to hear some of our better halves (female) are plowing snow! As much as it sometimes sucks, we live for 3 am plows with nobody on the roads! Problem is, never fails, I always get "the big snow" on garbage day and three papers on the drive.........lose, lose situation all around. You can be the best guy all year round but, you mangle a morning paper, your'e an a$$holle!
-Jeff-


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## imasnowpro (Apr 8, 2003)

Worst one was when I was driving home after working a big storm. One block away from home the road curved to the right. Streets were icy so I was going no more than 20 mph. I turned the steering wheel but the truck kept going straight. Would have been ok except there was another car coming the opposite way that I smashed. Wrong place...wrong time. Everyone was fine at the time. Later when he had to deal with the insurance companies he suddenly developed a bad case of whiplash and got a 4 figure settlement out of it. Hate when that happens.


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## mylawn03 (Nov 5, 2003)

Last year, I was plowin' for my buddy with one of his trucks (a 2001 Ford F-350 diesel with a Boss V-plow; man I felt cool!), I had just finished plowing a large circular drive when the little old lady next door came out and asked if I would plow her driveway. I agreed I would do it for 10 bucks as the driveway looked easy enough.... After I had backdragged the snow away from the garage, I turned the truck around and started pushing the snow down the driveway, it seemed to take a little more gas to get the truck moving then usual...little did I realize that the drive way had a grass median...or, at least it used to... I backed up and raised the plow and drove away without charging the lady... I drove by the house in the spring to see the damage...turns out when I backed up it rolled the grass back down and it looked like nothing had ever happened.... and that was only the first driveway I did that to...


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## Little Jay (Dec 12, 2001)

So we're out plowing at the end of a long storm. You know the kind when you plow and plow and plow. Three days later your too tired to be out there but still plugging along.
The last night starts out with one employee (wife) backing her truck with back blade into a Lincoln. As it turns out the owner was an elderly lady who has run her car into everything on the planet and didnt care about any additional dents. Whew! Then I'm going along and see elves (the santa kind) dancing on my blade. I slap myself in the face and swig down some caffine. I get to the end of the row and squeeze the pile between a dumpster and an old s-10. As I back up I turn the wheel and catch the front of the truck with my blade and end up moving it a space and a half before it stops. I wake up the guy, he comes out, looks at it, and doesnt care. "its my winter beater". I bought him a new tire as I popped one.
So the night is done. The sun is actually setting, a whole day after I started. I finish the last account and head home. As I drive down the two lane road, not any traffic, sun setting behind the trees, radio cranked, the window cracked (partly to keep me awake and partly because my truck now smells like ass), my heart skips. Off to my right, coming through the trees-I'm terrified. I slam on the brakes, veer to the dirt shoulder, and look for a place to escape. Coming through the trees, knocking them down, ripping them up by the roots, flame shooting from his mouth is...godzilla. I catch my breath, blink a few times, I know its not real, but I still see it. He's getting closer. Finally after a few minutes, I get out of my truck and godzilla is gone. I run a few laps around the truck before my last 10 minute drive home. I quietly vowed to myself as I drifted asleep to never plow for that long of a duration again.


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## Rappa (Dec 2, 2003)

PROPJCKEY, that was a riot...

And Little Jay, the Godzilla thing had me rollin...


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## imasnowpro (Apr 8, 2003)

My Lawn 03-
That's what you get for charging her only 10 bucks.


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## Kent Lawn Care (Apr 16, 2001)

*sprinkler in the winter?!?*

Well this was the first year i was plowing, it was a rather large snow fall dont remember how much, i had a call from a lady to plow her drive, now not knowing what the drive looked like, i had her describe it when i was there and if anything was laying on the driveway(key thing). no biggy, nothing special

well we ere going to town on it, making good time, my dad was with me and cleaning off her steps, so i backdragged like crazy, then all of a sudden my dad starts haulin a$$ at me, as i look back up, theres a nice stream of water shooting out from the side of the house, well apparently there WAS something laying in the drive, the peoples garden hose!

I ended up ripping the faucet off the house and broke the pipes in the basement as well. luckily she was there and we got the water shut off, at least it wasnt a major loss of money!


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## Kent Lawn Care (Apr 16, 2001)

*sprinkler in the winter?!?*

Well this was the first year i was plowing, it was a rather large snow fall dont remember how much, i had a call from a lady to plow her drive, now not knowing what the drive looked like, i had her describe it when i was there and if anything was laying on the driveway(key thing). no biggy, nothing special

well we ere going to town on it, making good time, my dad was with me and cleaning off her steps, so i backdragged like crazy, then all of a sudden my dad starts haulin a$$ at me, as i look back up, theres a nice stream of water shooting out from the side of the house, well apparently there WAS something laying in the drive, the peoples garden hose!

I ended up ripping the faucet off the house and broke the pipes in the basement as well. luckily she was there and we got the water shut off, at least it wasnt a major loss of money!


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## Radguy (Nov 6, 2003)

Those are some good stories!!!

Can't wait to post my first mishap...well I almost took out a 8' retaining wall while backing up. It's just that I was moving pretty quick and went to put on the brakes and it was all ice. 

That would have sucked on my first day out:waving: 

Keep the stories coming


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## NYRookie (Mar 22, 2003)

Just did my first woops. Went back to an office building to plow out were they park the company cars. Should only take about five minutes, unless you back into a Hyndai that is so small it fits between your mirrors. Blew out the rear window, bent a little metal on the hatch and put my hitch threw the bumper. The worst is that the guy who owns the car is out of town till tomorrow. I covered it with a tarp and left a message for him. Oh well, been driving for 14 years and plowing for 4 and it is the first thing I ever hit. Gotta love insurance.


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## Radguy (Nov 6, 2003)

> _Originally posted by NYRookie _
> *Just did my first woops. Went back to an office building to plow out were they park the company cars.  *


Sorry but Bwuahahahahaha

I was just talking to NYRookie at work today about this thread and he just had to go and run into something so he had a story to tell

Sorry but this is just too funny


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## ford250LDMaster (Dec 3, 2003)

contact easthavenplower he smashed up 3 cars in one night.he subs for me now and he took out a sign this past sunday lol lol


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## jsaunders (Jan 28, 2003)

Last winter was my worst in 10 YEARS. slid my 00 f350 off a corner in the beginning of dec -didn't get it back till feb 10k+ worth of damage- didn't even scratch the telephone pole:realmad:


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## slowpoke (Nov 18, 2003)

Okay I've been reading this thread for a bit and I guess I can fess up. 

1987 brand new truck / brand new plow. End of the season and nowhere to PLAY 
Then the lightbulb came on, my folks had gone south for the winter and their drive was loaded with snow. Big FROZEN snow. 

Funny shapped drive with a 90 degree angle then a parking area in front of the garage. Well I labored with that pile for about 40 minutes and it looked great when I finished, Until..... I looked at the garage and one door was laying inside on my mothers 83 Olds convertable... 

Called my brother and we fixed the door and buffed out the trunk of the car. Dad ( a contractor) made a comment about 3 months later he couldn't figure out what happened to his door. Seems the door opener was busted when he left and we fixed it after repairing the door. He never caught on until I fessed up years later

Some years later, I don't remember how long I had been up, but I know I had seen 2 sunrises and it was now past midnight of day 2. I just finished up a large lot and was heading to the next job. Looked up in the big pine trees along the roadside and swore I saw 2 large polar bears looking down on me. I drove straight home and slept for a few hours... Not as good as Godzilla, but it's amazing what a tired mind will do


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## NYRookie (Mar 22, 2003)

Radguy, yuck you.:waving: :crying:


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## theholycow (Nov 29, 2002)

Not funny or spectacular, but large storm last year, plowing exit ramps and bits of highway between, I was going 45 mph when an expansion joint tore off my cutting edges. I didn't realize exactly what happened, just wondered why it didn't seem to be scraping well. So, I finished the next ramp and looked, and my cutting edges were off. I went back to the expansion joint and had to do my frogger impression pickup up the pieces and throwing them in the back of the truck...

Last weekend, same assignment, same expansion joint, I thought from previous runs that day that it had levelled out; this time, only lost two or three bolts from the cutting edge. They may possibly have been gone already, at that. I guess I need to use an air impact wrench and loctite...is loctite effective on such large bolts?


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## jp7220 (Dec 11, 2003)

Wouldn't call it severe damage, but it was my most memorable experience will moving snow. Our lane drifts shut and is impassable with 2" of snow and any wind at all, requiring the use of our loader tractor or snowblower to clear. It was the middle of a blizzard two years ago, and every hour or so I'd have to hit the lane again with the blower to try and keep it open. Got down towards the road and was going through the mound from the state trucks, running the hydraulic valves to keep the snow away from the road. Decided to clear out around the mail and newspaper box. Got a little too close and must have knocked the one month old mailbox loose with the dual hub, couldn't tell from the seat. On my next pass an hour later, I got down to the end and noticed it was just a wood post sticking out, no box. Right when I went "Hmm, wonder where it is" to myself, I heard a TWUMP, and saw the piece in question sailing out of the blower. It landed 35 yards in the neighbors beanfield. Sure scared the heck out of me, but it was no match for 190hp, the shear bolts didn't even go. The box, however, could not be saved.


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## MickiRig1 (Dec 5, 2003)

Not a Damage story but is funny. 
(I wrote in a report type style to keep it shorter)
Had a great lake effect event going, plowed a buddy's drive.
Had amber strobe going,went around the block, passed a Sheriff explorer parked on the street, a City guy leaves a trailer as he rounded corner. I drop RT angled plow and clean it up. I stop at stop sign,turn right. Suddenly Blues n Reds with siren in back window. I pull over,the deputy gets out swearing like a sailor at me. Threatens me with arrest 4 times for plowing a City street. 
Claims I threw snow on explorer and his drive. (was 20 feet past)
States my amber light not on, his word against mine he says.
He leaves,I notice no weapon,no radio,No cuffs,no time to call out stop,treats unknown citizen like low life.
I work as a Paramedic on an ambulance,had a 6 hour shift to go to,snow still going,not worth pissing contest with an idiot!
I tell City Fire crew and Police officers about incident while on a call with them,they say report the idiot! I tell them about plowing station 11 out on the way to a contracted place. They say dang we lucky to get plowed in the same week! I told them hey I plow ya first tonight.Leave my card on your windshields. They say SURE your B/S's us. Shift ends I do their station. Leave cards. Plow 8 more hours,just got asleep,son says fire dept on phone. The guy starts yelling about plowing,cards stuck to windshields,threatens arrest at least 4 times. Damn what the ? No more free plows!
I go to the station 2 days later same shift, The guy in charge looks at me as I walk in and says"What a ***** threatened with arrest 8 times in 24 hours for doing a public service" 
That's when I knew I had been had,they called,the caller never did say name or rank!
The best part is I know a guy 2 guys below the Sheriff in rank!
Sent him an E-mail, he thanked me for not making it an official messy complaint.
Would have loved to be a fly on the wall when the Idiot was called in. Bob was not happy when I gave him the whole story and my observations of No weapon,No cuffs,No radio,No call out stop, treats me like low life.
Don't get mad, Get even!
-HarHarHar Idiot!


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## Mebes (Feb 7, 2004)

> _Originally posted by Little Jay _
> * Off to my right, coming through the trees-I'm terrified. I slam on the brakes, veer to the dirt shoulder, and look for a place to escape. Coming through the trees, knocking them down, ripping them up by the roots, flame shooting from his mouth is...godzilla. I catch my breath, blink a few times, I know its not real, but I still see it. He's getting closer. Finally after a few minutes, I get out of my truck and godzilla is gone. I run a few laps around the truck before my last 10 minute drive home *


Ill get him 4 ya


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## Kevo98 (Jan 20, 2004)

This didn't happen when plowing (but could have) but actually the day after a full day of plowing, while backing out of MY driveway (the same one I have been backing out of for 24 years). My neighbors driveway across the street is (when backing up) one full driveway width to the left which puts his mailbox directly accross from my driveway. While rushing to get my truck out of the driveway and temporarily across the street into his driveway so my wife (who is due home any minute) can park in first when she gets home, a friend of hers pulls in behind me. I get out quick and tell her to back out in front of the house which she does. Well I start backing out, see the driveway across the street in my mirrors and head for it. As I look to my right for traffic I get blinded by her brights, lose my sense of direction but still think I am on target and guess what, I am on target for a direct hit (actually if I was 6 inches over I would have missed it). Yes I did knock it over, snapped it off at the base. Cursed a lot, dug a new hole through the snow and frozen ground and popped it back in for now. And this my friends shows how we can hit just about anything when backing up no matter how well we think we know the area.
For now, till warmer weather, the mailbox is 2 feet shorter


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## RamesesSnow23 (Jan 4, 2004)

I never "shoulder check" (as they say in drivers ed) in non plowing situations like merging onto highways you can see fine with the mirrors. When i back up i usually use the mirrors to but a situation like the one that kevo described is the result of relying way too much on mirrors while backing you have to be real good to do it safely. I backed through a galss door because i misjuged where it was in my mirror. I still don't turn my head as much as i should while backing but i am more careful.


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## elite1 (Dec 30, 2003)

I have been lucky- no damage caused by me or my crews.

But I know a guy- here is his story.

While plowing for a hospital, in the middle of a major storm (12 yrs ago), visiblity was 0, and he hit what he thought was a snow bank and parking bumper. Turns out that a doc had a brand new white BMW M3 stolen that night as well. 3 weeks later that stolen BMW turned up in the ditch, up side down- take a guess how it got there.


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## 04superduty (Jan 9, 2004)

Last year i was plowing out a friends drive. We had about 6" of snow with some freezing rain. I was backing in the drive after i had back dragged away from the garage. Slowly backing up i hit the brakes, and nothing. Slid back and put my hitch through there garage door. It was an old fiberglass door so you couldn't get any parts for it. In the spring we installed a new door which didn't cost to much.   And the best part, this winter they had another friend come over and plow, and he slid into the door also. Knocked it off the track and put a dent in the aluminum door.


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## tree33 (Jan 17, 2004)

one year i was plowing at a gas station and had to make a circle around back where they had diesels parked and had them plugged in and the ext cords were across the drive that i plowed . i did not know any thing about the ext cords . i cut them many times and one my last time around the building i saw a guy holding a small pieace of ext cord . i felt very dumb


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