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GONG IT ALONE

More than two years have passed since English and Welsh police ceased to offer escorts for abnormal loads as a matter of routine. Tim Maughan finds out how the private escort industry is dealing with the task.

There was a time in England and Wales when the police would accompany heavy loads as a matter of course. But the electric blue lights and white cars of the traffic police no longer routinely escort outsized consignments.This duty has passed on to the private sector. Heavy operators can use their own in-house escorts or employ the services of dedicated escort companies. Avonmouth-based Kings Heavy Haulage fields 20 trucks and 49 trailers. As you would expect from a heavy haulage outfit,specialist gear features prominentlyThe trailer pool includes skeletals, triple extendible flats,34m extendible flats and Nooteboom trailers.

When managing director Steve King learnt that routine police escorts would cease, he was faced with two options: use the services of a third-party escort lirm or invest in his own van. He quickly reached his decision, and set about establishing his on facility The reasoning was simple. Some 60% of Kings' work is taken up with transporting abnormal loads; general haulage accounts for the remaining 40%.

Abnormal consignments at Kings are varied and they include fabrications ( large sculptures, silos and soon). MOD equipment and aircraft parts. Many loads are not particularly large, but they are heavy.A relatively small load can easily bring a truck and trailer's GCW up to 80 tonnes. At this weight, regardless of its size, a truck is well and truly in the world of abnormal consignments.

Technically, a vehicle enters the Special Types categories when it exceeds 44 tonnes GCW It would not automatically need an escort (see panel), but the operator would have to notify police forces before it took to the roads. The Highways Agency (HA) says that a van should accompany a load when it reaches a GCW of 130 tonnes on motorways, or 1(10 tonnes on all other roads.

"The police need two clear working days' notice. If your truck is 80 tonnes or over, you also need to give local authorities five clear working days:and they need two working days if the truck is under 80 tonnes. but carrying an abnormal-sized load," explains King. In a nutshell, the local authorities are most interested in weight (after all, it's their roads the LGV is travelling on ), whereas the police focus on the physical size of the loads.

Low priority

When the police used to provide escorts,squad cars would often be called away during escort duty to a crime or road traffic accident.This stopped the operator in his tracks until a police car could return to the truck. "We were right at the bottom of the priority list, which is understandable:the police had better things to do," says Wayne Holden. transport manager.

This is no longer a concern. Once an escort van joins an LG V. it's there to stay.

When King learnt about the impending demise of the police escorts, he immediately thought of the financial implications. Fielding his own service would mean spending money. "My first reaction was that we'd have to pass the costs on to the customer.The police escorts cost us nothing; they were free. So we knew there would be a cost — anywhere between £200 and £250 a day to put a vehicle on the road, fuel it, and put a driver in it."

Decent operators are frequently undercut by inferior transport firms and, theoretically, the same could be true for the escort market. King says:"I started to look at the figures. I knew that we would provide our own escort, but I had a concern that to do the job properly we would make ourselves uncompetitive."

In fact, King's escort is worth more than its weight in gold. If he used a third-party service, he would be picking up a £300 bill every day. So he saves at least £50 a day.And an in-house facility is supremely convenient —an operator can take to the road. happy in the knowledge that his van is on hand to escort his truck.

"Now that we escort ourselves, we can schedule the loadsand in particular the delivery time and save customers thousands of pounds in wasted labour and crariage costs. They can be an absolute fortune," says Holden, On motorways and duel carriageways, escort vans drive behind a load; on all other roads, the van leads the convoyWhile accompanying the load, a van's flashing lights must be switched on.

King's escort vehicle has been rigged up so that the flashing lights stay illuminated."We've got truck batteries in the back of the van. which are trickle-charged from the main battery. If they go flat, the driver just starts the engine and they are recharged. A lot of work has gone into our van,he explains.The batteries in the rear of the vehicle are powerful enough to jump-start an LGV.

The HA has drawn up a Code of Practice (HACP) suggesting how escort vans should be configured and equipped. Vehicles should be white, yellow, orange, or silver (see panel).

There is no doubt that professional escort providers can do a solid job, but their vans cannot carry blue flashing lightsand there is nothing like these blue beacons for catching road users' attention.

Steve Biddle, head of technical services at the Road Haulage Association (and secretary of its Eleavy Haulage Group). says the police escort services enjoyed a good reputation.

As professional as many escort providers may be, he is concerned that motorists and pedestrians do not always have sufficient respect for orange lights The general public takes notice of blue lights," he says. Escorts are also forbidden from using red lights.

The HACP is voluntary. Legally, escort operators do not have to abide by its rules, and van drivers do not have to hold any qualifications except a driving licence.

"The trouble is, there's no fixed training programme at the present time," Biddle says. Despite this things are running smoothly so far."In general, the operation is working very well -and it's quicker. because the operators do not have to wait for the police."

Biddle believes the majority of escort providers do a good, honest job. But with no legal framework in place, the industry could be vulnerable to poor practices.

Thankfully, he says, the authorities are keeping an eye on things. Police forces as well as Vosa personnel are checking escorts to see if they are complying with the HACP When the police routinely conducted escorts, the operator had two services at his disposal: not only the flashing blue lights, but also a mobile law-enforcement team. In the event of an accident, the police would be on hand to corroborate what had happened.

Imagine an incident caused by a motorist and involving a heavy haulier that had a police escort. In such a case the accompanying police could witness the situation and possibly remove the need loran investigation.

Under the spotlight

Now picture the same incident if the haulier had a private escort. Police would have to be called to the scene and an investigation would begin.The culpability of the motorist would have to be proven and the heavy haulier would come under the spotlight.

"The worry," Biddle explains,"is that abnormal-load operators may feel exposed to prosecution if a major incident occurred They felt protected when the police did it."

There are other drawbacks to the demise of police escorts, believes Chris Bennett, managing director of Chris Bennett Heavy Haulage.The Stockport firm operates 40 CVs, from four-tonne vehicles up to 150-tonners.

Bennett's initial response to the end of police escorts was favourable; his trucks would no longer need to rendezvous with Panda cars at county borders."' just thought that it would speed the jobs up," he says.

He invested in two specialist escort vans, and kitted them out to meet the requirements of the HACP. He employs one full-time escort driver, with the second drawn from I ,GV driving duties:Ibis in-house service costs him hundreds of pounds every week.

But there are operational issues disrupting Bennett's business, 'The HA's escort thresholds are purely guidelines. Individual forces decide when an abnormal load must have an escort meaning that an escort van may be required at some times, but not others.

If, for instance, one of Bennett's 150-tonne trucks leaves Cheshire for Kent some forces along the route might stipulate an escort.and others might not.This means he needs to arrange cover. We cannot afford to send a vehicle down,he complains. in situations like these, he hires a third-party escort provider.

And like Biddle, he thinks the public only respect blue flashing lights "I've heard from our escort drivers that orange lights don't mean a thing; they only take notice of blue lights. Motorists undertake our trucks on hard shoulde rs. and drivers get abuse from car drivers and even other lorries."

He says private escorts are suited to local jobs, but not long excursions. His vans lose him money because he can't pass on all the running costs to his customers. That said, he maintains the escort fleet because he knows he can mobilise it exactly when it suits him.

With the HACP not being mandatory, Bennett is concerned about unprofessional escort firms. "They are trying to make a living, hula lot of them only have a little van with an orange light on the roof,he complains.

Top-notch gear

Meanwhile, f irms like his and King's have substantially invested in top-notch gear. Among other creature comforts, he has equipped each of his vehicles with a television and a microwave oven. 'A lot of people have gone to the trouble of kitting their vans out," Bennett says.

He argues that a "level playing field" can only be attained if the escort market is controlled by laws which are enforceable.

Lanarkshire-based Cadzow Heavy I laulage runs 16 trucks. which range from 65 to 250 tonnes. Like King's and Bennett Heavy Haulage, it operates its own escort service — a fleet of seven vans, At any one time, four of the vans are on the road. says managing director Jim Macau ley.

Scottish forces continue to routinely escort abnormal loads, but when Cadzow trucks cross the border into England, they require an accompanying van. Macauley says he prices his escort into every job. But because he no longer has to wait for police escorts. operations are now quicker."Before, it could take us five days to get to the south coast of England: now we can do it in tvyp days," he says.

Like King, Macaulcy abides by the HACP saying:"The vans are all painted white, everything's done properly."

Sensible hauliers.he argues, will check on the credentials of escort providers. In this sense, the industry could regulate itself. If heavy operators insist on scrutinising escort firms, then there will he no room for un-professional contenders. •