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TOW THE
Page 63
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If recovery is your business then Telford was the place to be on 26-28th May. Andy Salter went along to take a look at the Tow Show.
Living only a couple of miles down the road, it's difficult to turn down a job at the Telford International Conference centre. So now that the European Tow Show has moved into the recently refurbished exhibition venue, it seemed only good manners to take a look.
Most of the visitors on the first morning were attending the Green Flag Agents Seminar which attracted more than 320 delegates (50% more than expected) which did leave the exhibition halls a bit on the empty side. Once the seminar broke up, however, the stands became much busier and all the exhibitors were reporting good enquiry levels.
Show organisers Frank McAllister and Roy Jones, who are both involved in the recovery sector, started the show in 2003 at Donington Park ;this was its first year at Telford: "It's been a big leap forward moving to this venue," says McAllister. It was a big gamble which appears to have paid off.
"We've got over 50 exhibitors, the number of delegates to the conference is bigger than expected and the visitor numbers are looking good.This show has far outweighed our expectations." Iveco. Isuzu and DaitnlerChrysler were in attendance; all promoting their range of chassis for the car recovery work.They were located among the outdoor exhibits, which appeared to focus on the lightweight car recovery sector. Here, the tilt-and-slide body appears very much in the ascendancy, proving more popular than the traditional spec-lift arrangement.
Isuzu has traditionally taken a strong role in this sector, where its lightweight chassis and unrivalled reliability have attracted plenty of custom.The company claims market leadership in the sector and is preparing for the launch of a new model later this year.The new range looks set to carry on where the outgoing model left off.
The new Mitsubishi Canter was representing the DaimlerChrysler empire; updates to the range appear to have addressed many of the original criticisms of the marque.
Mitsubishi's Phillip Chance reports that the company sells about 100 units a year into the recovery market, roughly 10% of the Canter's UK sales, and it's expecting the improvements to give the model a bigger slice of the action.
The heavier truck recovery bodybuilders were based inside the exhibition centre, with Boniface Engineering taking the biggest stand of the lot. The Norfolk-based company was unveiling a number of innovations including the Recoverer Trident 50-tonne, two-stage extending boom with 4.5m reach: and the new MkVI lnterstater 33-tonne lift and Euro-spec body.
Ready for service Roger Dyson Group rivalled Boniface with a huge indoor stand featuring a new MAN TGA in the colours of Richard Read of Gloucester and equipped with a rotator winch. Also on the stand was an example of the new Iveco Eurocargo and a Renault Midlum; both of them bodied and ready for service.
Elsewhere in the show Mastemaut was unveiling the result of its recent collaboration with Laser Byte.The new system combines Laser Byte's well-known VTRAK vehicle recovery system with Masternaut's web-based mobile resource management system.
This offers recovery operators a means of managing their operations from receiving and allocating jobs, transmitting to the recovery vehicle via GPRS and receiving completion information, including customer signatures.
Other stands of note included the RHA's Rescue and Recovery Group which was on the look-out for new recruits; the Highways Agency was on hand to offer help and advice to operators as well. m