London contracts cancelled as Bells closes.
Bells of Richmond, the company contracted to handle vehicle removals for the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), closed in early July. It owners, Vinci, have put the company into provisional liquidation. The closure saw 280 jobs being lost. The Metropolitan Police Authority's internal audit department had been conducting an audit review of the operation of the contract following concerns expressed by the MPS.

Keith Luck, director of resources for the MPS said: "Removal of vehicles is not core business for the MPS and that's why the contract was tendered. The MPS has found itself in a less than satisfactory situation surrounding costs, customer services and charges for the removal and retention of vehicles.

"We have been working very hard with Bells over the last few months to resolve these problems. However in the interest of their shareholders the parent company has decided that they can no longer support Bells and have put the company into liquidation.

"This decision is extremely regrettable as it will undoubtedly lead to inconvenience for some motorists. The Metropolitan Police will work with the liquidator to seek early resolution to any problems that may arise. "We have put in place well-developed contingency plans to take vehicle removals back in-house for the time being.

"Although today's decision will obviously cause us considerable inconvenience, our plans will allow us to continue to provide an effective and efficient service for Londoners." Keith Austin of Vinci told Professional Recovery: "Over a period of time we had difficulties operationally at Bells, especially with our major contract with the Metropolitan Police. We had been trying to turn the situation round, but suffered heavy trading losses."

Austin indicated that delays in paying invoices by the Metropolitan Police and other local authorities had contributed to Bells' problems, and said that the MPS had been reviewing the way they were paying when the closure decision was made. The Metropolitan Police contract accounted for between 75 and 80 per cent of Bells' business. The company also had an operation in Edinburgh, which closed at the same time as the rest of the business.

The contract for vehicle removals in the MPS area was awarded to Bells in 1999, and the MPS says that every year approximately 44,500 vehicles are removed. These include vehicles illegally parked, involved in accidents or in need of forensic examination.

The MPS contingency plan involves an unspecified number of operators in the London area, and all the police will say about a new contract for vehicle removal is that it will "retender the contract at an appropriate time in the future".

However rumours that the insurance industry was planning to sue the Metropolitan Police because of the allegedly high charges made by Bells are flatly denied by the Association of British Insurers. "We let the police know that we were not satisfied with Bells' performance," says the ABI's Richard Allen, "but that was all."Professional Recovery has learnt that the MPS telephoned recovery operators five days before Bells went into liquidation to ascertain whether these companies would be able to assist if the contract was taken in-house. Industry sources also suggest that the MPS terminated Bells' contract at close of business on Thursday 5 July; Bells was put into provisional liquidation the following day. The MPS has not denied that the ring-round of operators took place earlier that week but would not elaborate on whether it had terminated the contract unilaterally.It is believed that recovery operators are owed around £1.2million by Bells in connection with the London contract.

Forty five members of the London Association of Recovery Operators supplied services to Bells for the police contract.It is believed that the contract suffered from earlier underestimates of the numbers of vehicles that would be involved. In particular, the police implemented a number of crackdowns on stolen vehicles which led to much higher number of vehicles requiring removal.Liquidators have been apointed for Bells of Richmond: Kroll Buchler and Philips, 84 Grosvenor Street, London W1K 3LN. Tel: 020 7518 2215.

New contracts at Gwent.
Following complaints by recovery operators the Gwent Police Authority has issued new temporary contracts to eight business to be operated on two new rotas. Gwent had previously been using Walls Truck Services - but aspects of the contract between Gwent and Walls have been criticised by the district auditor. The district auditor's investigations are on hold while the police carry out a criminal investigation, as reported in last month's Professional Recovery.

The temporary contracts have been awarded to: B T Motors, County Motor Services, Dragon Rescue, Hillcroft Garage, Chris Spiteri & Son, W G Lane & Sons, Walls Truck Services and Western Valley Recovery.

The contracts came into force on 1 July and the new scheme is described by Gwent Police as "a short-term emergency measure of indeterminate duration not exceeding six months". This covers the anticipated duration of the current police investigation.

Under the new arrangements a light recovery rota controls the recovery of vehicles up to 3.5 tonnes and applies to motorcycles, cars and car-derived vans. A heavy recovery rota controls the recovery of vehicles over 3.5 tonnes. Where both heavy and light recovery are required at the same incident, the heavy recovery operator will be used to remove all vehicles.

Each of the selected operators has indicated the areas of recovery they can accommodate. Some are covering the whole of the Gwent police force area, while others are operating in specific areas. For motorway recovery three operators are being used - Dragon Rescue, Hillcroft Garage and Walls Truck Services.

Gwent police say that each operator's premises have been examined to ensure compliance with minimum standards of security and the availability of facilities.

A cracker from Tracker.
Tracker, the stolen vehicle locating system, is not infallible. And while the company quite justifiably trumpets its considerable number of successes, one recovery operator is less than happy with its failure.

Roger Dawson is the operator - he runs Rogers Rescue at Stourport-on-Severn - and he had the misfortune to have one of his trucks stolen last month. The truck, a Leyland DAF 45 with Roger Dyson slide-back body, was one of nine in his fleet which are fitted with Tracker equipment - so when the theft was discovered Roger rang Tracker and sat back to wait for the call telling him his missing vehicle had been found. He waited to no avail. A week after the theft he got a phone call late in the evening from someone who had spotted his truck in an industrial estate in Dudley. They had seen the vehicle with the Rogers Recovery name painted over and had looked inside and discovered that the dashboard had been ripped off and the steering lock was damaged.

"I called the police and asked them to meet me at the truck," says Roger. "The engine was still warm and the paint was still wet."

But the rest of the news was bad. The thieves had taken the body off the truck, and all the specialist equipment which went with it - tools, chains, first-aid kit. Inside, the steering wheel and gear-lever were covered in grease - eliminating the possibility of getting fingerprints. The police reckoned there was nothing they could do, so Roger recovered the truck to his premises.

Having done that, he then phoned Tracker to ask how their search was progressing. "We're still looking for it," he was told.

Roger checked the vehicle out and located the Tracker device. It had not been tampered with and it still had power, he says. Subsequent discussions with Tracker have left Roger less than convinced of the system's value. He hasn't yet had an explanation for the system's failure to locate his stolen truck.

"I've got eight other vehicles fitted with Tracker and I want proof that the system works on them," he says. And he asks how any Tracker user can be sure that their systems work as vehicles age. "How can they be tested?"

"We do have cases of non-recovery," admits Colin Paterson, marketing manager of Tracker UK, "and I'm very sorry that Mr Dawson's truck is one of them. We are sending out an engineer to inspect the vehicle and to audit the rest of the fleet."

Colin Paterson adds that Tracker doesn't claim to be infallible, and that its recovery rate is in the region of 90 per cent. The greater the time which elapses between the theft and the report being received by Tracker, the greater the risk that the thieves may have stripped the vehicle and disabled the system. Until Roger's Leyland DAF has been inspected Tracker is, understandably, reluctant to speculate about the cause of the system's failure to locate the truck.

Tracker does provide a test facility for its installations. "At the point of installation we test the unit," Colin Paterson explains, "and we recommend that the unit is audited every three years, primarily to make sure the back-up battery is still functioning."

An audit costs £50 including VAT and the replacement of the back-up battery if necessary.

Roger has complained to his insurer about their requirement that he go to the expense of fitting Tracker when it has let him down, and on two new vehicles has declined to have Tracker installed and has instead fitted an immobliser at a cost of £200 per vehicle. Stopping theft now appears a better option.

And, to add to Roger's woes, he can't get a replacement chassis until October.

Powertec links with Talbert Manufacturing.
Powertec Vehicle Engineering of Huddersfield is now the sole European distributor for specialist US trailer maker Talbert Manufacturing Inc. Talbert had been producing the sliding-axle trailers being sold in Britain under the National Equipment name - and Powertec's Stuart Crowther stresses that the new direct link between Talbert and Powertec streamlines Talbert's European operations and ensures continuity for both companies' customers.

"I would like to assure customers that any difficulties National Equipment of America may be experiencing are in no way related to Talbert Manufacturing or Powertec," says Stuart, who now has responsibility for direct Talbert sales and for setting up a dealer network across Europe.

Warranty issues relating to Talbert trailers - and to National Equipment products sold prior to July this year - are being handled by Powertec.

Operators seeking further information should contact Stuart Crowther at Powertec or can get in touch with Talbert by e-mail at rodle@talbertmfg.com
01484 842293

Home Office meets on statutory charges.
A Home Office meeting to consider the question of statutory charges for vehicle recovery is scheduled to take place later this month, involving interested parties from the recovery industry, the motoring organisations and the insurance industry.

It follows a meeting held earlier this year, where discussion centred around raising the present £105 recovery fee to a figure of around £155 - a move reportedly supported by the recovery industry representatives at the meeting, but opposed by the motoring clubs and the Association of British Insurers.

The question of recovery charges for HGVs, and of storage charges, was not addressed at the last meeting - but is likely to be aired at this month's discussions.

We will have a report in the next issue of Professional Recovery.

Surviving the hard shoulder
SURVIVE, the group set up two years ago to look at ways of improving hard shoulder safety for roadside workers as well as motorists, is issuing cards to help motorists survive the dangers they are exposed to if forced to stop on the hard shoulder of the motorway.

Those dangers were graphically illustrated in last month's court case where a truck driver was jailed for killing six people after ploughing into them and their cars on the A1 in Yorkshire last year.

SURVIVE - Safe Use of Roads and Verges In Vehicular Emergencies - is issuing 300,000 cards following the group's report issued just over 12 months ago which recommended, among other things, a public education programme on the use of hard shoulders.

The advice focuses on the role motorists themselves can play in reducing death and injury to themselves and to those attending them in an emergency. "About 250 people are killed or injured on motorway hard shoulders every year, many because they are unaware of the appropriate action to take in such circumstances," says Sir Peter Baldwin, chairman of SURVIVE.

A recent report shows that 50 per cent of women and 29 per cent of men believe it is safer to stay inside their cars in the event of a breakdown. In fact the risk of being killed is seven times greater for those staying in their cars than it is for those who get to a place of safety. Research conducted by the police last year showed that it could take as little as 10 seconds after stopping on the hard shoulder for a vehicle to be hit by passing traffic. The SURVIVE advice is to motorists it to leave their cars.

SURVIVE also reminds motorists that the hard shoulder should only be used in an emergency and should not be used for a toilet stop, to make a mobile phone call, or to check a route or a map. It advises drivers who do have to stop that they should pull as far over to the left as possible, turn their front wheels towards the kerb and use their hazard warning lights. They and their passengers should get out using the nearside doors.

The SURVIVE cards tell drivers that the safest places to wait for assistance are behind a crash barrier, on a bank or verge, or on adjacent land. And it repeats a piece of advice often ignored - to use the hard shoulder as an acceleration lane when merging with traffic after the vehicle has been repaired.

The cards are being issued by AA and RAC patrols when attending breakdowns, and by police forces, road safety groups, other rescue and recovery organisations and motorway service areas.

User group keeps TD on track
Seven years on from its launch Turbo Dispatch has become an essential tool throughout the recovery industry. A user group meets three to four times a year, to monitor the progress of Turbo Dispatch and to look for ways of improving its use. "Many older hands will remember the days before Turbo Dispatch of non-stop ringing telephones, hours of manually writing the jobs down and then re-keying them into the computer," says MTS' Andy Lambert.User group meetings are regularly attended by the four major motoring organisations and most of the smaller ones. Police forces are also represented, as are Motor Trade Software the inventors of the product and Transcomm (formally RAM) the network provider. The recovery industry itself is also represented by Terry Palfrey of Queens Motors - one of the four founder users (the others being Groves, National Rescue and Southbank).For more information on Turbo Dispatch contact MTS on 01489 571500. The Turbo Dispatch user group includes representatives from the AA, Britannia, CARE, DAS, Europe Assistance, IPA, MTS, Queens, and RAC, as well as from the Thames Valley and Metropolitan police forces.

Stolen 6 wheel Cargo.
A stolen 6-wheel Cargo is still missing after disappearing eight weeks earlier from MJB Commercials in Flintshire. The 17-21 Cargo had a 13tonne metre crane and heavy duty 10 tonne slidebed. MJB's Mark Brown says that there is evidence that the gang who stole his vehicle tried to get away with other Hiab vehicles in the area at the same time.The vehicle has a white cab and blue body with 28foot deck. If you see the vehicle or have any information, please contact mark Brown on 01244 288451.