RECOVERY IS A JOB FOE
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'IPECIALISTS. but THE motor trade is a permanent target for criticism from motoring correspondents, and vehicle recovery services have had more than their fair share— though some, no doubt, is justified. It should be remembered, however, that motor vehicles—including commercials—end up in rather peculiar positions at times after being involved in accidents or breakdowns. They may be inverted (with or without the load still on), sunk in soft ground, rivers, ditches or even Electricity Board manholes with high voltage dangers awaiting the unwary recovery team. They may bejammed in alleyways, hanging on railings (usually suspended over a deep basement), down (or up) steps, embedded in buildings or left on a site until builders—with a sense of humour, no doubt---have built around them. (I have actually had an example of this!)
I have also come across a vehicle in the centre of a deep pond, surrounded by very ill-tempered swans who, if their actions were anything to go by, objected to their sleep being disturbed at 2 a.m. on a February morning. More often than not, vehicles involved in accidents have had to be recovered less steering, brakes, transmission, wheels and engine power, or the radiators have boiled over, or have been frozen up. Sometimes vehicles have been burned out.
A full 24-hour recovery service operated solely as a business proposition bears very little comparison with a service operated by a repair garage as a backing to its repair facilities. In effect, if the service is designed to bring in repair work—and is successful in doing so—then the stage is soon reached where one side of the business must suffer. Either the repair side must be slowed down, or breakdown calls refused and, in my opinion, it is impossible to equip and staff to strike a balance between the two. The ideal is for an all-emergency service to be undertaken by the specialists; the repairs likewise. In effect, fitters are fitters, and recovery vehicle crews are just that--and "never the twain shall meet ".
eft One therefore arrives at a position where, for 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, certain men and vehicles are on standby for instant turn-out. As a consequence, overheads, particularly with regard to wages, are heavy.
To get anywhere near the ideal in efficiency in equipment, three recovery vehicles—light, medium and heavy— must be on call throughout the 24-hour period, together, of course, with experienced crews. For obvious reasons at least one of these vehicles, and preferably the heavy one, must be fitted with a power winch. Each vehicle must be equipped with a suitable jib, lifting tackle, a bar, a rigid bar (and all attachments), blocks, jacks, certain essential tools and a host of other items, all maintained in serviceable condition and constantly modified or replaced, with the advent of new chassis layouts.
For commercial use, these vehicles must be tractor types. They must be over-powered; be heavy in themselves (for drawbar traction); have 100 per cent braking efficiency at all times; have 100 per cent starting efficiency at all times and, accordingly, must be under constant maintenance. Wear and tear on brakes, transmissions and cooling systems is extremely heavy; fuel consumption is extremely high in relation to mileage covered, and repairs must be undertaken with the speed factor overriding that of economy. Because of this, vehicle operating costs are heavy in relation to actual mileage covered.
Heavy Lifting More nonsense is talked and more chaos created, together with more controversy, on the subject of heavy lifting than on any other. There is a certain well-known scale (supplied by .a manufacturer of recovery equipment) by which • one can determine the "tipping weight" of a recovery vehicle—the point, at which the vehicle will "sit up and beg ". My experience is that the weight arrived at by this scale is not s'afe weight for suspended towing, and is very far removed from it.
The kind of vehicle that is considered heavy " is the loaded sixor eight-wheeler, running at a gross vehicle weight of from 18 to 25 tons. A load ranging from eight to 14 tons will be imposed on the jib of the recovery vehicle according to whether the lift is to the front or the rear and depending on the type of body, axle layout• and the 'way the vehicle is loaded.
If the jib of the recovery vehicle has been fitted by an expert (and, in my experience, very few are) the distance from the centre of the rear axle (the swivelling point) to the centre of the jib pulley blocks will be a minimum of 60 in. The majority that I have seen are much farther back than this and thus the tipping weight is decreased accordingly. I estimate that about 90 per cent of the heavy recovery vehicles in the country—that have been con structed correctly will, if not rigged for static lifting, sus tain no more than 5 tons deadweight on the jib. Those incorrectly constructed range down to one ton.
Taking the 5-ton limit recovery as an example, we arrive at the position where. some 5 ft. behind the centre of the rear axle, we are hanging 5 tons, and it is possible to lift the front end of the towing vehicle into the air (1 have done this to our Scammell, which has a tare weight of 11 tons). In this condition the damaged vehicle can be towed back to the 'repair shop only if the road has a perfect surface and the vehicle is driven very gently. As these conditions seldom exist, the recovery vehicle cannot undertake a suspended tow of five tons.
In practice I find that an average of four tons can be obtained on the jib, but on a wet, bumpy surface, where turns up to 90° are required, three tons is the limit if the safety of the general public is to be studied.
The fact that a heavy recovery vehicle's main use is as a drawbar tractor means that it must have a double-drive rear bogie, and anyone who has driven a vehicle of this type on a wet road surface (either empty or rear loaded) will know the result of making a sharp turn under powet.
Any attempts to add to the lifting weight by use of ballast are doomed to failure from the start. Once the jib and all necessary equipment are on the vehicle, the bulk of bal last required within the body to give even 1 ton increase is formidable, and anyone, even with the assistance of power steering, who can put more than 7 cwt. on the most desired point (the front end) legally will be a genius! Dealing with heavy-duty ambulance bogies, I do not
believe that an ambulance that will sustain an imposed load of 10 tons and will not repeatedly sustain bearing or tyre failure over distances exceeding three miles exists— but perhaps I have been unlucky. Additionally, an ambulance is only legal—there have been successful prosecutions by the police on this subject—if it is placed under the axle beam or case and the springs of the vehicle being towed are operative. At least 50 per cent of vehicles requiring " wheel up recovery." do so because an axle has been knocked out. If one is forced to rig an axle for legal use with an ambulance, then one might as well take the extra trouble and repair the vehicle on the spot to enable it to roll and steer.
The prospects for really heavy recovery .are already very gloomy. But the subject does not end here. With all the care in the world and with equipment made specifically for the task, lifting a heavy vehicle at one end and towing it in this manner can inflict heavy damage. On motorways and trunk roads it is possible that room to manceuvre the two vehicles may exist. But in most large towns the suspended towing or " wheel-up " method (with the use of an ambulance) of any large vehicle is virtually impossible. Double parking (legally allowed for or otherwise), one-way systems, forbidden turns, detours through roadworks, and so on, will soon bring the recovery to a permanent halt. Police assistance is not forthcoming because the escort of " awkward " loads can he provided only by prior appointment, and how one can make appointments for accidents or breakdowns is not known!
By very heavy expenditure it would be possible to acquire and modify a recovery vehicle that would carry out the suspended towing of a fully loaded sixor eightwheeler. But such a vehicle would not be practical as a tractor for flat towing and, if used to clear the road of an obstruction, it would (in city areas at least) promptly become an even worse obstruction. The initial cost and subsequent maintenance would make the charges accruing from its use quite fantastic, particularly if it inflicted further damage to the vehicle being towed. At any hour of the day and night a recovery organization must be on call. It is usually requested, by the driver or the police, to send out expensive equipment and labour —and sometimes expensive spares—to a vehicle owned by a person or company who, until the telephone rang, the recovery man has never heard of. The best service that recovery specialists can give, obviously, is to rectify the fault on the spot and get the vehicle back to its task of earning money for its operator.
Before a recovery vehicle can be sent out, the amount of information required must be considerable if the service is to be efficient. The location of the breakdown, the number of the telephone box that the driver has used, telephone number of the, owners, make and type of vehicle, chassis layout, whether it is a rigid or articulated vehicle and the gross vehicle weight, the nature of the breakdown or type of damage, and the owner's instructions with regard to what repair arrangements are desired. In the case of a repair to be attempted at the roadside, the chassis number, engine number and details of any modifications must be given, Auto (Recovery) Services has its own breakdown repOrts so made out as to give all the above information and, on many occasions, receives very sarcastic remarks when requesting it.
Despite all these precautions, however, one job in five attended has had the wrong location given and one in three has other incorrect information. Added to this are the fairly common cases where, after giving all this information and being told the estimated time of arrival of the recovery crew, the driver or his firm have the vehicle moved. In the London area seven years ago, to go out to a job within 10 miles, fit rigid bar and tow to location within the radius, repack equipment and return to base was, on average, a three-hour -job. Nowadays, because of varying traffic conditions including one-way systems, diversions and the like, the average time is four-and-a-half hours. All this adds up to wasted time and journeys, higher operating costs and, obviously, higher charges.
Tyre Registration A tyre registration service should need no explaining to commercial vehicle operators, yet not a week goes by without an urgent plea from some driver to come out and fit anything up to £120 worth of rubber to his vehicle on his instructions and signature. My organization cannot and will not do this. It is akin to stopping a complete stranger in the street and demanding a loan on the spot!
• About a year ago Auto (Recovery) Services tried an t-xperiment in which 1.000 circulars were drawn tip and t
despatched to transport operators, some of whom we had dealt with in previous years. It was made quite clear that all that was being offered was an emergency service. All that was required was their registration with Auto (Recovery) Services and the recording (in appropriate places) of our telephone number for emergency services. The cost to the would-be applicant for this cover was one billheaded sheet of paper, one .envelope and a threepenny stamp. At the same time we contacted by personal letter some 30 operators of recovery services suggesting that a loose tie-up be established with a possible closer tie in the future. it was hoped to establish—if the response from both sides were promising—a similar organization for commercial operators to that which exists for private cars, along the lines of the A.A. and R.A.C. One registration and two inquiries were forthcoming from the transport operators, while two of the 30-vehicle recovery operators replied, it would appear that both sides prefer the present haphazard system to continue.
One part of the scheme described above was for all recovery operators to contribute to a full page advertise
ment in The Commercial Motor, listing their addresses and
telephone numbers—after all, what could be simpler than for the fleet operator with a vehicle in trouble to look in the list for the nearest firm to assist? Additionally, if his firm was registered with the recovery operators on the list he would be 90 per cent of the way towards credit facilities being granted.
In conclusion I offer the following points for commercial operators:— Do not leave your drivers to fend for themselves. Accept the fact that your vehicles can, and will, get into trouble
after working hours and make the required arrangements.
Impress on your drivers that information given to the breakdown service must be accurate and, once given, not to do anything that will make that information inaccurate (such as moving the vehicle). Register with a recovery service operator and make sure your drivers know where to telephone.
When heavy lifting is involved, do not ask for the impossible. The recovery operator has no desire to break his own vehicle, or yours—so let him deal with the matter in his own way.
It would be simple for a recovery service operator to tow, your vehicle in for repair (which, incidentally, increases the cost to you) and hold it for cash settlement. So if he chooses to grant you credit, do not abuse it. It is not merely a question of "you may want it again "; if you operate commercial vehicles, you will want it again.