Recovery firm charges Cleared on drugs /100 for second rescue jailed for cigarettes
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by Guy Sheppard A recovery operator has been criticised for the second time this year for charging £700 to tow a broken-down truck less than 10 miles.
Farmer John Woolley claims Mansfield Group charged him almost as much as his Dreg Mercedes 814 is worth after it broke down less than a mile from his home in Sudbury, Derbyshire.
He was forced to stop on the 150 because the cab started tilting forward. "I finished up 18 inches off the floor," he says. "There was a two-mile tail-back so I left it up to the police to get some
body to recover it. I just could not believe ft when they presented me with a bill for £705."
He adds that another recovery operator in the county has since quoted him less than half this figure for the same job.
Buxton-based Mansfield Group says it could not take the vehicle to his home because it was a police call out. Instead, it took the truck to its depot in Ashbourne.
Chief executive Darrell Mansfield says two recovery vehicles were needed; one to put the cab back in place and one to tow the truck away. He points out that the investment in equipment, time and training needed to provide the service is very heavy.
To operate specifically on a police contract we have to have two heavy and two light recovery vehicles sitting in permanent readiness because we are contracted to give a 30-minute response time," he explains. "These vehicles can't be used for any other job, Earlier this year (CM 25 Feb-3 Mar) CM reported on a driver for Manchester-based Stretford Haulage charged £700 by Mansfield to tow his stranded truck three miles after It broke down on the AB.
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