When HGVs break down they need the assistance of specialist recovery firms.
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But, as Pat Hagan reports, many hauliers say they are paying too much for this essential service.
f truck drivers ever get too hung up about their public image, they need only to glance at their cousins in the vehicle recovery industry. In one particularly controversial advertising cam
gn for a leading motoring nanisation a few years ago, they vere portrayed as a band of ruthless tandits, poised to exploit the v-ulnerble motorist stranded helpless by he roadside. Needless to say, the notoring club's own recovery man vas the knight in shining armour. Today's well-equipped, mostly cry professional breakdown i ndusry differs greatly from its less than Jamorous origins. Legend has it hat some operators, equipped with .and Rover and humble winch, nade it into the business by tuning a to police radio wavebands for tews of road accidents. In those ays, so it's said, a punch up with our rivals at the scene was often art of the job description.
ugh standards
low the recovery industry, for the aost part, prides itself on high stanards, safe working practices and ood equipment. Regular inspecons are carried out of vehicles, quiprnent and documentation, and le organisations that oversee it ave codes of practice, which operaifs are expected to abide by. And gget the old-fashioned Land Rover ad winch—the outlay for a compreensive fleet of recovery vehicles quipped for all types of work can in into millions of pounds.
Yet the industry continues to be agged by allegations of rogue oper:ors ripping off customers. necdotal reports suggest a sizeable rinority of recovery companies are iarging hauliers extortionate prices tr. relatively simple rescue jobs. Although it is insurance companies who usually pick up the bill, hauliers fear there could be serious repercussions on their costs.
There is bitter in-fighting within the industry over the way potentially lucrative police contracts are awarded. In addition there are fears that a small number of unscrupulous firms are undermining the good efforts of the majority.
-Some of the prices quoted are out of this world," says Bill Fussey, a recovery operator from Driffield, East Yorkshire. "There was one example where a haulier was quoted nearly Li,000 to move a 7.5-tonner about five miles. It should have been no more than /25o.”
Fussey believes that such blatant exploitation tars the reputation of others in the industry and feels part of the problem is that there is no fixed market rate. The price depends on a whole host of circumstances, he says, such as how difficult the job is, how much time it takes and what kind of equipment is needed.
"For cars, if it's a straightforward job of just putting it on a flatbed, I charge /95 call-out. But if it's in a field and requires a crane and two men I charge /125. Then storage is /8 a day for cars and fiz a day for commercial vehicles.
"The other day I spoke to an insurance company in London who asked me for my rates. When I told them what they were, they asked if I would move down to London and work for them. They had just had a bill for zi car recovery of /300 plus /85 a day storage."
But the issue is complicated greatly by the systems used by police forces up and down the country to move damaged vehicles from the road. When the police are called after an accident, in most cases they decide which recovery 0 operator will carry out the rescue. Historically, the distribution of this was always determined by a relatively simple system of rotas. Local breakdown firms that had the appropriate expertise and equipment were signed up to the rota and whoever was at the top of the list that day got the job.
In recent years, however, some forces have turned this arrangement on its head and instead appointed exclusive contracts to either a single operator or a handful of firms on the grounds of cost effectiveness. Many lost out on valuable police recovery work when arrangements were changed.
But in some parts of the country, this approach has created a great deal of controversy. Gwent Police Authority, for example, is currently carrying out an internal investiga tion into the appointment of local firm Walls Truck Services as the sole police contractor, after a report by the District Auditor ruled that the initial letting of the contract was "flawed". There have also been allegations by rival recovery firms that Walls has been overcharging.
Dean Smith, the company's vehicle disposal manager, strongly denies the company has been ripping customers off and is confident the police inquiry will vindicate the firm.
"The basic call-out rate iS L25 plus L5 a day parking. But different rates apply depending on whether a vehicle is loaded, on its side or gone down a bank. If we use a specialist vehicle it's L75 for a call-out.
"Our retail rates are very competitive. We are certainly not ripping people off and we have not deliberately overcharged anyone. We have been to court with a coach operator, who alleged we overcharged him, but the judge found against him."
One of the anomalies of the allocation system is that hauliers have little or no choice over which recovery firm is used.
There are even examples of companies with their own low-loading vehicles to retrieve stricken vans or trucks that are not allowed by the police to deploy them. Instead, a specialist firm—sometimes located 30 or 40 miles away—is called in.
Fussey alleges that: "People are being ripped off," and that the police insist that recovery operators' rates are nothing to do with them. "We need a complete review of the way the system works," he says.
Fussey recommends stranded hauliers should find out from the police how far their chosen recovery operator has to travel, what their recovery rates are per hour and what type of equipment they are using.
Peter Cosby, chairman of the Road Rescue Recovery Association (RRRA), which has around 500 members, admits overcharging is a problem that is difficult to deal with because there is no "market rate".
"It's down to individuals. There are meetings between the industry and insurance companies to negotiate rates, but it's difficult because each job varies so much. But a minority of operators are going over the top and giving the industry a bad name."
Settling disputes
Licit spots for overcharging, says Cosby, include major cities ak
motorways. The RRRA does have at arbitration service, which haulien can fall back on if they want to con test a member's rates. But Cost)) claims it has never been formal].) called into service because the fey; complaints the association ha received—five or six in a to-yea: period—have mostly been settlec through informal negotiations.
The Association of Vehick Recovery Operators (AVRO), whict has around 4,500 members, has ; similar system.
"The outcome is usually satisfac tory on both sides," says spokesmat George Graham. "In some case: there's been a genuine mistake it overcharging. On the other harts we've also had cases where the cus tomer complained they were over charged and when we sat down ts look at the figures we found they's been undercharged."
For routine breakdowns, man hauliers rely on fleet rescue service provided by vehicle manufacturers Those that don't often specify a maJ, imum credit limit, which the drive is allowed to authorise, before he o she must refer to base for advice.
But with road traffic accident some believe the only beneficiarie of the current system are the polict who get the road cleared quickly.
It should be up to the compan to specify the operator that is used, says Alastair Barclay of Fife-base firm Barclay Bros. "The police war the road emptied quickly and ar not fussy about who they use, bc they should still give the haulier chance to appoint a recovery open tor who is in the area."