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Reviewed recovery charges will still be unfair to good operators
Page 32
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IN YOUR FEATURE on recovery charges headed On the road to recovery' (CM 5 April), you said: "Like the emergency services, recovery operators used to be exempt from the drivers' hours rules." Untrue. While recovery operators have been exempt from EU drivers' hours regulations, they have been subject to the domestic hours regulations (10 hours' driving), which unfortunately did not seem to be recorded and were therefore almost unenforceable.
The EU regulations provide an exclusion for operators that remain within 100km of base.
While agree that the authorities have failed to take everything into account when moving the goalposts (no change there, then), the new legislation will improve working conditions for many vehicle recovery operators' employees.
A number of the larger motoring organisations may have to reconsider what they promise their members (off the backs of the independent recovery operators working for poor rates).
Statutory fees are a bone of contention for everyone, except the police forces.
If my memory is correct. following an Audit Commission best-value review a number of years ago they introduced new Vehicle Removal Contracts which outsourced management of the scheme to "managing agents"— another group taking a slice from the independent recovery operators, which also left the independent recovery industry holding the baby by not being paid for all jobs and being paid uneconomic charges for vehicles which the police authority had to settle. I am amazed at everyone mentioning the fee as £105. I, as a small independent recovery operator, not on a police scheme, recover vehicles from police contractors (cars and light CVs), frequently on behalf of body repairer clients, paying for add-ons which on occasions have taken fees up to over £400 including VAT This is before storage is added.
The insurance companies (I submitted a discussion document in 2003 to the AB1 demonstrating ways for them to save money, bearing in mind it is the driver who ultimately pays) could solve all this within 12 months by including an additional premium for recovery and entering into agreements with all reasonable recovery operators.
When the fee is eventually reviewed it will still be unfair because operators that reinvest in new equipment and those that do not will receive the same fee.
Last but not least, van drivers deserve credit. Never mind speed limiters— why are drivers who use a vehicle for their business excluded from recording their hours of work?
James Riley By e-mail • Specialist breakdown vehicles are exempt from the EU drivers' hours regulations if their journey from base does not exceed 1001m. However, they are covered, as Mr Riley says, by British domestic hours rules and they must keep a record if they travel more than 50km from base or drive for more than four hours. In the context of this feature, our writer was referring to the EU regulations — Ed.