Too many operators for the good of recovery
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Cowboys plague this vital section of the industry and their inadequacies are usually painfully clear once they have lassoed the unsuspecting. Mike Rutherford has been talking to two men who are desperate to put things right
tE CAN be few people who r more about the problems e vehicle recovery industry John Rogers and Brian — respectively, past and -sent chairmen of the ciation of Vehicle Recovery ators (Avro).
)th men have strong, ipoken views about the stry they help represent and are willing to make these vn.
le of the biggest threats y established, law-abiding very operators face in the )nt economic climate comes their industry's less than )st colleagues — the newlyalished "cowboy" operators arm themselves with little ?, than a car and trailer and almost obligatory equate insurance policy.
lese small-time recovery (for simplicity's sake I, too, refer to them as cowboys) lot seriously affecting those ) recover commercial ricles, but they are
• easingly impairing the -ts — and the profits — of respectable recovery -ators who rely heavily on
• ecovery.
)hn Rogers of Leicester's ty Garage Breakdown rice is one such operator is trying to combat the at from the cowboys. Who they and how are they able to survive if they are as unscrupulous as he claims?
"They're more on the car than the commercial vehicle side — often people that have lost their engineering job, been made redundant and invest in, say, a Ford Granada and trailer. They cruise up and down the motorways looking for work and they're willing to cut rates to the bone.
"Many of their 'trailers' are just caravan chassis, and they'll usually only have third party insurance. They're trying to muscle in on the trade. For dealers, they're even willing to work with a Transit for under £10 an hour, and they're able to undercut us by 50-60 per cent."
They can afford to do that because they have few overheads, says John, whose own 20-strong vehicle fleet costs around £8,000 a year to insure. It uses expensive, licensed twoway radios (not CBs) and, unlike the cowboys, has a standard rate structure that it sticks to.
The cowboys are also paid cash in hand usually and, John believes, conveniently forget such things as vat.
He recognises that dealers must be tempted by the cheap rates they are offered but he says that, as is so often the case, absurdly low rates are often related to an absurdly poor service.
A main dealer recently switched from Unity to a cowboy operator who was offering a 40 to. 50 per cent discount on Unity's rates. It was only after the cheaper, inexperienced operator severely damaged the back end of a vehicle during a rear-suspended tow that the dealer returned to John's company.
"We've been in business since 1949. Since that time we've seen 35 to 40 operators come and go in this area," says John.
The methods used by some of the cowboy operators in order to get work are also despised. They literally cruise up and down motorways plying for trade, and will even stop at the scene of a breakdown and lead a driver to believe that they are from the recovery company he has just called out.
Shortly after driver and vehicle have been towed away the legitimate operator will arrive, and obviously lose out on the job.
The unfortunate unsuspecting driver of the broken down vehicle is unaware that such anomalies exist. But worse still, he is probably unaware that his vehicle is being towed by a cowboy operator whose methods are (a) illegal and (b) who probably has inadequate insurance cover.
The harsh reality of the matter is that the cowboys, regardless of the methods they might use to win jobs, can be attractive to customers (including dealers) simply because of the rates they charge.
And John Rogers is honest enough to admit that with simple jobs — when a vehicle just has to be moved from A to B, for instance — the customer is usually safe.
It is only when something goes wrong that he regrets what he has done and wishes that he had instead gone to a reputable recovery operator.
John Rogers is also keen to point out that his own staff receive specialist mechanical training and also have some first-aid knowledge. Their extensive Construction and Use knowledge also means that they can assist the fire brigade when there has been a severe accident — something that the cowboys would not want to know about (even if they had the knowledge) unless there were some financial reward for them.
John's views have won him friends and enemies in the past. But it is worth noting that he does more than just voice his opinions. With more than a little help from CM, John Rogers is the man who can be thanked for actually forming Avro.
"You can't hide the facts," he says. "I believe that you should stand and be counted, I'm proud about my strong views."
Brian Drury succeeded John Rogers as Avro chairman earlier this year. Like John, he has some strong feelings about the recovery industry's unfastidious elements.
Brian is managing director of Winters Recovery Services (formerly Winters of Strood), which has been established as a recovery company since 1967. The company has been based on the Kingsnorth Industrial Estate, Hoo, near Rochester, Kent, for just 13 months, having spent its first dozen or so years at nearby Strood.
The move from Strood to Kingsnorth was largely due to Foden-dealer Barry Wiggins, which had no recovery facilities at its new, purpose-built Kingsnorth premises. But now that it is literally around the corner from Berry Wiggins, Winters is ideally placed to serve the dealer's needs. (Berry Wiggins, incidentally, has recently parted company with Foden and is now an lveco dealer.) Winters has heavy, medium and light lifting vehicles, plus two transporters. A further two vehicles are also due to join the fleet in the near future. The company concentrates on all types of recovery work, with the emphasis on heavy vehicle recovery.
"It's mainly cars at the weekend and practically all commercial vehicles during the week. Apart from the work we do for local garages we don't do many cars in the week. Just odd jobs.
"Our bread and butter work is with the long-serving people. We recover for all the major oil companies (the only one we don't do is Amoco), cement companies, local garages, and we also do all the main recovery clubs."
I asked Brian what, in his experience, he considers to be the most common faults on vehicles stranded at the roadside.
"The classic problems are to do with back-axles or gearboxes. Transmission problems one way or another cause most of the breakdowns. And, of course, there has been a lot of overheating with the recent bout of hot weather.
"We manage to repair about 25 per cent of the vehicles we get called out to at the roadside. But, of course, many of the commercial vehicles we see are on site rather than on the road."
I can vouch for that having flipped through the photo album in Brian's office. From what I could gather, an all-too-common problem exists when cement lorries park on unstable ground at construction sites.
Thanks largely to the efforts of Avro, the recovery industry now has a healthier attitude than before. But, I asked Brian, what is the general state of the industry in 1983?
"The guys operating cars and trailers are getting more common and although they're not a threat to us, they are to the industry as a whole. They'll get everything they can.
"They've got no overheads, no goods-in-transit insurance and they're giving the industry a bad name. The police can prosecute them if they see them plying for hire, and if we see them we make a note of their vehicle registration numbers and pass them on to the police who then write them a warning letter.
"They also work on the principle that if you don't tax and properly insure a vehicle you can get more miles to the pound out of that vehicle, if you see what I mean. That's why they can offer such low rates."
The recovery industry is currently saturated with too many operators chasing too little work (a familiar cry, that,) reckons Brian Drury, who echoes John Roger's sentiments.
"At the moment there are too many people in it. There are a lot of people who have received redundancy money and — because there is no legislation to prevent them — have gone out and bought a recovery vehicle." There is also an additional worry for recovery operators — the car drivers who break down and, frightened at the cost of being professionally helped, attempt diy recovery.
"They get their next door out and get him to tow them home using a soft rope. The number of people who do it is amazing."
Brian admits that for all its faults, he once attempted the soft-tow method. He will not, he assures me, try it again in a hurry.
"I once towed my wife's car with a rope and it was the most hair-raising journey I've ever had. If people insist on having their car towed by a friend or whoever, they should at least use a collapsable tow bar."
Soft-tows are illegal in some countries — rightly so according to both Brian Drury and John Rogers. Both men have done their best to have soft-tow ropes banned in the UK.
John points out that there is not even a law that prevents a car being towed by a motorcycle. He is also unhappy with the AA and RAC which allegedly encourage soft-tows by towing stranded customers (without knowing how experienced they are as drivers) and by selling soft ropes to their members.
Brian Drury reckons that hauliers faced with economic troubles are, like some private motorists, also turning to diy recovery. Some hauliers' vehicles and staff are less busy than they used to be and , therefore, because they have more time and idle vehicles on their hands they often carry out their recovery work themselves, he says.
"The haulage companies often handle their own recovery now, whereas in the past they would have always used companies like ours," Brian claims.
The hauliers' cost-cutting exercises can go too far, though, he says.
"I know of a vehicle that was recently in a dangerous position at the roadside while a fitter trying to change a clutch. ran into difficulties, couldn' the gearbox back in and, the vehicle was at the roar for 18 hours, they event called us out."
It is because of the econ climate that such incid occur, reckons Brian.
"Everybody is now tryir cut costs. The first que anyone asks when they con the phone is 'How much?'
"Some recovery operE might over-quote knowing they might run into tir expensive problems and a other hand, there's the oper who might under quote. f. of them can do that bec they're not insured properl, instance."
Avro has helped bring responsible hauliers cl together, reckons Brian. Sor the antiquaited attitudes o past have now been taken by a new, positive approac says.
"One thing that Avro has is help get people together. rely on my fellow recc operators in the area and I that we will help each othe when necessary."
Brian Drury says that fi professional recovery oper in the Kent area charge bn the same rates as he does.
But although there regional Avro meeting or month there is no price fixir I asked Brian what he v most like to see happen.
"As an operator, I'd like t the industry licensed so people have to meet cc standards. A haulier needs licence but a recovery OE doesn't need a licence doesn't even need his vet tested.
"If you have an hgv ic and you go out and buy a vehicle, you're in business industry has got to be licenE one way or another."