Beds blitz on recovery loads
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by Bryan Jarvis • Bedfordshire police aim to crack down on vehicle recovery operators who dangerousely overload axles.
Bedfordshire's Accident Prevention Officer Richard Bratton, speaking at the Association of Vehicle Recovery Operators' annual conference, warned incoming AVRO President John Buckle about serious problems with the recovery industry and stressed that "axle loadings are only one area".
Referring to a fatal accident last October involving a Ford Transit carrying an Audi on the rear underframe, he said: "With little or no weight up front it developed finger-tip steering, less than effective braking and lost control."
Bratton told the recovery operators that his team will focus on the axle loadings of recovery trucks in Bedfordshire, which has the Ml, Al and other major routes running through it. He wants other police forces to follow suit.
John Rogers of the Unity group thinks this will have enormous ramifications for the industry.
Recovery operator Darren Mansfield, whose firm has recently invested £203,000 in a new heavy recoverer, believes the vehicle's design capability should be taken into account. "Most of all," he adds, "the recovery industry needs specific legislation. Then we'll have parameters that everyone can work to."
Pete Cosby, Chairman of the Road Rescue and Recovery Association, insists there should be Special Types concessions for recovery vehicles. "It's in everyone's interest, not just the DOT," he says.