MP fights for recovery operators' safety
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AN 1VIP has said he wants to raise the problem of roadside injuries and fatalities involving breakdown recovery operators with the transport secretary.
Labour MP Rob Flello said the issue cropped up "again and again" with haulage firms he has spoken to, and he is keen to push it up the government's agenda. However, he stepped back from offering his full support to calls for recovery vehicles to use red flashing lights.
Flello spoke to CM after asking the transport secretary to provide him with fatality and injury figures for the last 12 months.
In response, transport minister Stephen Hammond admitted that the Department for Transport does not collect this data.
When asked if he backed the use of red flashing lights by recovery operators, Flello said: "I have mixed views. There are lots of emergency service people injured while using reds and blues. It's one area where more works needs to be done to test it. I am certainly in favour of it being piloted and tested."
Derek Firminger, chair of the Road Haulage Association's rescue and recovery group, said the use of red lights was still on the agenda: "It's being looked at again. We are hoping to get a university involved in the work [to help prove] how [people's] reactions [differ] to different coloured lights."