Police asked to help in RAC row
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• The long-running row between the RAC and vehicle recovery operators in North Yorkshire is hotting up with calls for the police to intervene. Recovery operators are demanding discussions with the North Yorkshire Police Authority over its decision to award road clearance work throughout the county to the RAC.
And the operators claim the RAC is unreasonably demanding a "strong element of unilateral control over prices" as it tries to negotiate subcontracting of the work.
But the RAC says last week's meeting was called by the Retail Motor Industry Federation and consultants Bailey Toon, who together failed to win the North Yorkshire contract, to "cause trouble..., to be better placed in the future for other tenders".
North Yorkshire is seen as a crucial precedent for the future of road clearance work for police thoughout England and Wales.
"The operators are being required to invest in very expensive equipment and training and are then being asked for a rate that is uneconomical," says recovery industry consultant Bob loon. "We hope the police will look at the proposals and discuss the difficulties with the RAC."
This month the recovery giant took over the work after running a controversial pilot scheme which involved slashing independent operator numbers in some areas. Until then, 400 operators across Yorkshire had worked directly for the police.