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ALWAYS ASK THE EXPERTS
Page 3
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The government has just closed its consultation on revised recovery charges and we await the industry's response with interest. Clearly a system that sees police-contracted recovery firms paid only £105 regardless of the seventy of the situation they are called to is ridiculous.
Recovery is a high-investment game, with expensive kit, long periods of vehicle downtime and a great deal of skill required. Conversely recoverees must be protected from unexpected and sometimes unjustified charges and something reeds to be done.
The proposed table of charges breaks down over vehicle type and the severity of the situation, but there is one glaring oversight that suggests it was compiled by someone with lithe understanding of the road transport industry. The top weight category is 18 tonnes-plus — and so doesn't differentiate between a rigid, a drawbar unit or atop-weight heavy haulage rig.
This is baffling: who can take a good idea then implement it without being guided by the experts in the field? The Freight Transport Association and the Road Haulage Association have both said this classification is absurd.
"Who can take a good idea then implement it without being guided by the expert?"
And brace yourselves, because the numbers in the new price table are frightening. If the vehicle is overturned and the load shed on the road, you are looking at £5,000. Make sure your insurance policy is set up to cover recovery costs as well as load damage and write-off.
• On another tack, Dixons drivers are alleging that they are being asked to perform plumbing and installation of goods without training or extra payment. Pushing delivery drivers into doing more, without support or incentive, will surely lose you drivers, and possibly customers. Road transport is not the charity arm of the commercial world and as retailers increasingly offer free services to sweeten their deals, transport operators and employed drivers need to be careful that they do not pick up the cost.