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'There are many honest recovery firms
Page 17
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I REFER TO your article (`Statutory truck recovery charges poised to soar', CM 7 February) on the statutory LGV recovery cost. As an operations manager for a recovery company that has been in operation for more than 40 years, 1 feel your article was somewhat unfair. There are many honest recovery firms around the UK that are not in the business of abusing the haulage industry In its time as a recovery company, Boleyn Transport has attended the scene on numerous serious RTCs and recovered many rollovers. In none of these instances have we ever invoiced extortionate costs as stated in your article.
Boleyn Transport is based in East London and carries out recovery operations for customers such as the London Fire Brigade, Metropolitan Police and London Ambulance Service, as well as many main commercial dealers, and has an extensive customer base.
As a company, we feel that if a customer has the misfortune of a road traffic incident, we are here to help and resolve the situation. We are not in the business of sending all our recovery vehicles to the scene and charging an absurd hourly rate for each one. When an incident is reported to us, we gain as much information as possible to enable us to send the most appropriate vehicle. At the scene, our recovery driver conducts a risk assessment, and from these findings we will then evaluate if further vehicles are required.
At the moment, it's the police who contact one of the recovery companies from an approved list. The main issue for the police is for the situation to be resolved and cleared as quickly as possible; the cost of the recovery has no significance to them whatsoever.
We feel a solution that may stop exorbitant rates being charged would be for insurance companies to form a consortium and work with recovery companies to develop and compile an approved recovery operators' directory. These companies will cover different areas and comply with terms and conditions agreed with the insurance companies. Therefore when an accident does occur, the insurer can feel assured that the price they will be charged is reasonable and have a clearer understanding of the service they receive. At the moment, when a vehicle is recovered the insurance company may not discover this until several days later, by which time not only will the recovery be charged but also storage, again at a price that has not been agreed so it is charged as the recovery company sees fit. The vehicle will not be released until the bill is paid.
As a respectable and honest recovery company, we feel the solution we propose will reduce the risk of exorbitant recovery charges, benefiting insurance companies and the parties involved.
Darren Coot Operations manager Boleyn Transport Barking, Essex