Middle East's first salvage run arrives back in London
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THE FIRST fully operational run of Middle East Salvage and Recovery Services Ltd, of Bermondsey, London SE16, was completed this week when this Mercedes 1418 and 50 ft low-loader trailer returned from Yugoslavia with three damaged tractive units. Two of the units, a DAF 2600 and a Scania 140, had been involved in accidents and the Volvo F86 had broken down in Austria.
This is a new service set up by the company, which is an associate of Trailer Hire and Repair Ltd; it is designed to cater for insurance and hire-purchase companies and finance houses as well as operators. Mr E. C. Goddard, the md, told CM that it had
developed out of necessity when, as one of the creditors of the bankrupt Turkish Trading and Transport Company, he had purchased all of the other creditors' claims from the liquidator. The transaction had meant his collecting vehicles from almost every country in Europe.
"The deal is almost complete now except for seven vehicles and 30 trailers worth £125,000 held by Customs officials in Turkey which look like being almost impossible to reclaim," he said.
As Mr Goddard and his Continental driver, Mr R. G. Inns, travelled around Europe reclaiming the "had debt" vehicles, he learned that a recovery service from Southern Europe and the Middle East was an unfilled necessity for British operators working in and out of that area.
His Mercedes outfit is manned by Mr Inns and Mr A. Bayliff, a fitter who carries out such repairs as are necessary to load the vehicle on to the semi-trailer. On this first run, in addition to the semi-trailer load, they drove a Scania 110 back to the UK after running repairs had been carried out.
Before a vehicle is moved on to the semi-trailer, the driver takes photographs from various angles showing any damage that it has sustained either in the accident or as a result of vandalism.
This first trip took three weeks to complete and in drivers' expenses alone cost more than £2,000. Within the next six weeks another outfit will be added to the service.
The ,company will undertake recovery under full TIR coverage from Yugoslavia, Greece, Bulgaria, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Eastern Bloc countries as well as Northern Europe.
Each recovery is separately costed. Mr Goddard said that in his experience the different circumstances attached to each recovery exercise could vary the costs substantially. The DAF vehicle recovered on this first run had been parked behind a cottage in Yugoslavia, and with some encouragement from a young commercially minded neighbour, the elderly resident had asked for a £1,000 garage rental. He finally settled for £40.