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The good news is that, overall, the picture has improved

4th August 2005, Page 65
4th August 2005
Page 65
Page 65, 4th August 2005 — The good news is that, overall, the picture has improved
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

since last year. Most calls were answered after one ring and the slowest took just five -a reassuring statistic when you're sitting In a dead truck. Obviously the more information you can give the call handlers, the faster they can do their job. But some of the systems seem to work better with a postcode, which is no help when you've ground to a halt on the roadside.

It was Interesting to note that to a man, all our breakdown technicians cited the growing impact of traffic congestion and accident-induced jams as a problem when trying to reach stranded drivers within the manufacturers' promised response times. As UK roads get ever more overcrowded we wouldn't be surprised if the truck makers were forced to revise their nationally quoted average time-to-breakdown figures simply to allow for these blockages.

Perhaps more worrying is the fact that al I-toomany drivers are still showing scant Interest in their trucks and then they wonder why they give up the ghost, usually in the middle of the rush hour in the middle of a roundabout. All our breakdown technicians bemoaned the lack of decent vehicle handovers, proper daily checks and the failure of drivers to even read their vehicle handbooks, which would allow problems to be either nipped in the bud or resolved a damn sight quicker.

Given the cost of unscheduled downtime a large number of the nation's truck operators are still far too happy wasting money that could otherwise end up on their bottom line. Last but not least, considering how many HGV emergency call-outs are caused by torn Call handling (minutes suzies, CM'S message to artic Scania operators is simple: "Give your Foden drivers a spare set!" And the MAN moral to truck and to trailer Daf manufacturers is: "Isn't it about Volvo time you solved the problem of Mercedes snagging suzies?" Renault Our thanks go to Becker Iveco Transport, Mike Beer Transport and John Mitchell Volvo Haulage for providing; the Foden trucks; to Exel and Argos for Iveco the use of their RDC; and to Dal all the fitters for putting up Scania with us during this test. Renault


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