THE TIR trickle is becoming a flood and British haulage
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vehicles now reach out into almost every corner of the Continent. With the new generation of cabs, British heavies can hold their own with the foreign opposition, and most of them are at least equal in performance and engineering. But how much help can you expect on the Continent if something breaks?
To try to give some idea of the nature of the assistance that a driver from Britain can expect, I approached British manufacturers of heavies, and of the two imported artics most widely in use, to see what the service arrangements were and what routine had to be adopted in the case of a breakdown.
To make the thing more "real" I posed the hypothetical case of a heavy tractive unit breaking a half-shaft in Frankfurt, and asked how long a driver might have to wait for a replacement. This is a summary of the answers from the manufacturers I contacted: BEDFORD said that if a breakdown occurred in Frankfurt the driver would consult his Euroservice Guide which is supplied with the vehicle. This would indicate two Bedford dealers in Frankfurt—Auto Adam KG and Autohaus Gg. von Opel KG, who should have the necessary part in stock, but if not the dealer would telephone Adam Opel AG (Vauxhall's sister GM company in
Germany) who are responsible for sales and service for Bed fords in that territory. Their hq plant and warehouse is at Russelsheim, only a few miles from Frankfurt, and assuming they had stock of the part it could easily be collected by the dealer or delivered by Opel, If Opel had not got the item in stock they would immediately telex or telephone Vauxhall Motors' Service Parts Centre. If the call was received •by Vauxhall before noon the item would be shipped to Heathrow Airport the same day; flight details relayed to Opel who would liaise with Frankfurt customs authorities to gain quick release of the part.
This could all be done in the same day; an emergency order received at Vauxhall Motors in the afternoon would be shipped to London Airport the next morning. They also included a copy of their Euroservice Handbook, a comprehensive publication containing a useful five-language motor phrase book.
BRITISH LEYLAND referred me to •their booklet Europa. A call to Lew Brookes Deutsche Leyland, the nearest point to Frankfurt, would trigger off the "VOR (Vehicle Off Road) Europa" parts supply system, through which the half-shaft could be flown from their Aldenham UK Depot and, in normal circumstances, be with the customer within 24 hours, (They telephoned me shortly afterwards asking if I required any further details.) CHRYSLER said, with reference
to my hypothetical question, the following would be the procedure. First the driver would need to contact his head office in England who would in turn have to contact Chrysler Truck Services headquarters in Coventry and the part would come from either UK dealers' stock or Chrysler UK Parts Division at Birmingham. Depending on the components involved the material would come from Chrysler France, Chrysler UK or ultimately Chrysler Madrid. The heavy tractive units are, of course, produced in Spain. If the part came from England it would he sent by urgent road transport and the target would be 48 hours. Chrysler have coverage for parts on TIR runs to, say, Holland, Belgium, Germany and France. There are some parts in inventory at Chrysler Belgique, Chrysler France and the Chrysler Distributors in Holland. The truck Barreiras-based unit only became available in '74 and techniques are still being developed. Progress has been made in establishing quality Chrysler truck sales and service distributors in more areas of Europe such as Holland, Switzerland, Denmark, Norway. They said their continuing programme of appointing Chrysler truck sales and service distributors on the Continent will result in more facilities being available and faster service given. Additionally, discussions are taking place for a limited number of nonChrysler dealers to carry out repairs near major TIR routes.
ERF informed me that they had appointed three main distributors
in Europe, namely Best Truck Import BV, in Holland, Cummins Distributor Belgium SA, and Societe MABO, who are supported by a number of registered repairers throughout France. A new edition of their Service Gazetteer, listing ERF distributors in the UK and Europe, was in the hands of their printers when I wrote. The dealers and registered repairers throughout Europe are directly responsible to the main distributor in that particular territory, who in turn are responsible directly to .ERF Ltd in the UK.
They also have service representatives/engineers whose job it is to liaise with the European distributors and registered repairers. There is also a procedure to deal with VOR repairs and they offer, in conjunction with a private air company, a direct link to any part of Europe should that service be required. In addition they are negotiating with the IRU a credit card scheme so that they can offer this facility to both European and UK operators.
They say they have a list of all UK operators operating ERF vehicles to and from the Continent and offer a service repair facility for any model of ERF vehicle in the form of a "first aid" repair kit. ERF say they are continually adding to •their list of outlets throughout Europe and, as their number of vehicles is still relatively small, are able to give a first class service even to areas such as Frankfurt if required.
FODENS reported that they had a reciprocal marketing and servicing arrangement with FaunWerke, of Germany, who have an extensive service network. They have established a centralised TIR service repair facility in Hilden near Dusseldorf, and under normal circumstances they could have an experienced fitter in attendance upon "our" breakdown within two hours or receiving instructions. They say they have the back-up of experienced Foden personnel and a large stock of Foden spare parts to suit the United Kingdom specification vehicle. They are also in the process of establishing distributors In each of the major European countries, who in turn would appoint sub-dealers. They have dealers in Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany and Holland, and have a service engineer ready to fly anywhere on the Continent at a moment's notice. This they claim will give them the necessary ,service coverage to commence their Continental sales programme and cover the present number of Fad-en TIR operators found on the Continent. They gave me the telephone number of the Hilden Service Depot, during normal working hours, as 02103 58058. After working hours it is 02173 51787. The telex number is 858 1596, FORD said the breakdown procedure would be for the driver to go to the local Ford dealer in Frankfurt (they didn't say how). If that dealer did not have the part he could draw it on a VOR request from the Cologne warehouse. If in turn the Cologne -warehouse did not hold the part, they could call on the part direct from Daventry. This system, they claim, enables any Ford dealer anywhere in Europe to provide any part within 48 hours. They are represented through their truck specialist dealer network in all European countries except Spain, and have a total of 609. It is interesting to note that their booklet Ford Service in Europe outlines no procedure to follow, just main dealer-addresses and details of the service available. The booklet has no telex numbers and the Daventry spares depot address and telex number is not mentioned. But there's a new supplement telling Transcontinental operators where they can get specialist attention.
SCANIA said a straightforward replacement of a half-shaft should not take more than half an hour. In the event that there should be a lock-up in the diff the case might be more complicated and the time of approximately six to seven hours should be allocated for 'this replacement. A great piece of oneupmanship and I do not doubt that they can do it! Their booklet Europe Service 1974-1975 is written in six languages and includes distributors in 22 midEuropean countries, Commendable for (probably) the youngest commercial vehicle manufacturer in Europe. The extensive Scania network includes 37 dealers in W. Germany—one of them in Frankfurt.
SEDDON ATKINSON were lucky enough to have been asked a similar hypothetical question just previously and therefore sent me the answer to that other question! However, it would appear that a driver finding himself in trouble must first notify his own company in the UK and they would then contact the field service manager at SA's service headquarters, Seddon Atkinson Spares and Service Ltd, for information and assistance. Following authorisation for the work from the operator they would then carry out the normal credit check in cases where the operator had no previous arrangement with them. Initially their service organisation would contact a specialist commercial vehicle repairer in Nancy. The vehicle could be towed into Nancy if necessary. The driver would sign for the work carried out but would not pay. The invoice for the work would be sent to the operator by their service organisation for payment in sterling.
Finally, they could, if necessary, send out a field engineer with the necessary parts direct from the UK. This latter operation had been undertaken twice during the past 12 months. On the subject of European distributor cover they have firm arrangements covering Belgium, Holland, Switzerland and Denmark.
VOLVO (actually Ailsa) said a half-shaft was a normal stocking part and the time taken to inspect the truck. -locate the fault and fit a new half-shaft should not exceed one working day. The nearest Volvo service point is just five miles from Frankfurt. The driver would locate his nearest service point from the service guide which gives the name, address, and telephone number, and a map enables him to identify the nearest point of assistance. If the driver has insufficient cash or credit facilities to pay for the repair and his company has no German agent to arrange payment, the driver telephones or telexes his home base, The British company then arranges guarantee of payment and this guarantee is telexed through to Germany by Ailsa Trucks Ltd. The Volvo Service Guide goes one further and is written in seven 'languages. Not surprisingly they appear to have an incredible service set-up and include countries like Tunisia, Morocco, Libya and the Soviet Union.
From all this it would appear that a British-registered TIR vehicle operator has little to fear, and where the facilities look a bit thin, most of the British manufacturers have said that they are making plans to extend their networks this year.
Still, it's nicer if the halfshaft doesn't break!