Recovery Members Update October 2010
Welcome to RHA Recovery Member Update!
Early with the last newsletter and a day late with this one shows how life can be fairly hectic! My job as secretary of RHA Recovery involves me hitting the road or the rails quite regularly and sometimes that involves dropping behind with certain jobs. But the monthly newsletter is very important because it gives me and Nikki King, our chairman, the opportunity to keep you all informed on what we have been doing month on month. Here goes . . .
Police Vetting
My predecessor, Nick Dyer, was asked by members to write to ACPO in relation to Essex and Kent Constabularies who had both been requesting intrusive and personal information on their police vetting application forms. On close examination the information requested from operators was far too intrusive and asked for personal financial information on company owners and their wives or partners, personal savings, financial history and personal loans going back ten years.
Our members felt this was intrusive and Nick Dyer wrote to Kent and Essex Police. We have not had a satisfactory answer but both Constabularies withdrew some of the requests following Nick’s letter. My committee asked me to seek assurances that this sort of information would not be part of future applications and accordingly I wrote to ACPO. Initially I did not receive a reply so I wrote, this time to the Professional Standards Headquarters at Essex Police. Their Corporate Vetting Manager, a DCI Harrison, has confirmed that the requests are consistent with their overall vetting programme. I have written back saying that our members have to meet the highest health and safety and training standards and must have PAS 43:2010 certification to even apply for a police contract. Personal information such as demanded by the police was far too intrusive.
As I have stated Essex Police have rescinded these requests but they have informed me that they will be reviewed in 2011. Good news and we thank Essex Police for their co-operation in this matter. We will monitor the situation, but since this letter arrived from Essex Police, it has come to my notice that a similar vetting application form has been sent out by Derbyshire Police. I will write to Derbyshire Constabulary and ask to see the form on behalf of our members and take the appropriate action.
Freight Transport APPG
Yesterday I attended the Freight Transport All Party Parliamentary Group in Westminster. Members should know that I have been asked to perform the task of being secretary to this group which I have duly agreed to do. Vehicle recovery forms a large part of the discussion group with MID (Motor Insurers Database) being a hot subject.
The insurance industry feel that the government should encourage the police and the NVRM to use MID. It would speed up owner’s choice and reduce the burden of cost in recovery and vehicle storage.
Clearly there is a long way to go with this one because the Insurance Forum is championing this move and it would involve all the insurance companies, not just the Insurance Forum, agreeing to it. The use of MID would make vehicle recovery more transparent if adopted.
The APPG also discussed other topics such as the Staffordshire Heavy Rescue Partnership which becomes a full entity at a launch in November. There are still concerns in Staffordshire that the Staffordshire Constabulary have not fully ‘bought’ into the scheme yet but once the Partnership has gone public in November, they will look to promote it in other counties.
In my role as secretary of RHA Recovery I have been asked to become a trustee of the Heavy Rescue Partnership and I have agreed. It is an initiative that I support very strongly and I will do my utmost to assist in the rolling out of the initiative nationally.
Emergency Services Show
More positive news for our members is that RHA Recovery has been invited to exhibit at the Emergency Services Show this year. The show takes place at Stoneleigh Park, near Coventry on 24-25 November. The exhibition and two day conference is free to enter and I have tickets available if anyone wishes to attend or you can register by visiting www.ess201.com
Participation at the show will offer us the opportunity to show the emergency services what we have to offer in terms of equipment and technique. We will also be profiling the work of the Heavy Rescue Partnership which is an initiative of the independent recovery industry.
We will be on stand 444 at the show so if any operators want to come along they are very welcome - it should be of great interest to everyone.
AVRO-EX 2010
I received an invitation to visit the AVRO-EX 2010 from my old friend John Rogers of Unity Recovery. My company, Professional Recovery decided to exhibit and I went along in my capacity as secretary of RHA Recovery to meet and greet a lot of old friends.
The way I see it, we should all be working for the same end product – the good of our industry. I was immensely pleased that AVRO rejoined ERRI and I saw this show as an opportunity to underline our support for their decision to rejoin the initiative.
Nikki King attended the Lady President Gala Evening on the Saturday Night as guest of the AVRO President.
Emergency Services Forum
RHA Recovery member, Derek Firminger, attended the Emergency Services Forum this month. The Forum met for the first time to discuss emergency measures affecting the northern section of the M25.
The meeting has been called by the Highways Agency and they intend holding another meeting later in the month regarding the southern section. It is the first meeting of its kind and Derek will report its findings back to the RHA Recovery committee.
We thank Derek for taking time out of his busy schedule to attend this meeting. It is good to have good technically-based people at these working groups representing our interests and our members should realise that just about every member on the RHA Recovery committee is also a member of some form of working group, whether it be Survive, HA, NVRM or IVR. It isn’t all about the work of the secretary and chairman.
ERRI
ERRI has now circulated minutes from the Stakeholders Meeting and the Industry Meeting, both held at the RHA owned European Tow Show earlier this year. Brian Hagan, chairman of ERRI, has written personally to each attendee and he has also sent out a Working Document on Strategy.
The document shows that the number of independent recovery operators in the UK has fallen in the past ten years from 2,400 to 1,600 but that there are a further estimated 45,000 independent garages in the UK* most of who have some form of vehicle transportation. The Strategic Document stresses the need for a united industry under the banner of ERRI, working for the independent operators.
The scope of ERRI will be PR – dealing with the public and government; the introduction of an ‘R’ Licence; and Health and Safety. ERRI is now supported by all the industry trade associations with the exception of RRRA and SVRA.
* Figures supplied by Professional Recovery and The Garage.
European Tow Show
We are keen for next year’s European Tow Show to be back up to the size of two years ago, utilising more exhibition space and encouraging as many of our suppliers and stakeholders to be a part of it as possible.
I have visited various venues and we have proposals from these venues to stage next year’s show. With this in mind, we are not yet in a position to publish a venue and date, but I am sure by the time next month’s newsletter comes around we will have made an announcement. So, watch this space.
New Members
Once again I can report two more new members this month and have received further requests for information from others which myself and the RHA sales team will be following up.
There is a growing awareness amongst operators of the work being done by Nikki King and our committee and also an overwhelming support for the ERRI initiative which RHA Recovery is proud to support.
Contact me
As you can see from this month’s newsletter, there has been a lot going on. If you have any concerns and need advice or support, please do not hesitate in contacting me, I might not have all the answers but at RHA we have the infrastructure to give you and informed response.
We are still very much looking for new members. The benefits of RHA Recovery membership are stronger than most other trade associations because we are part of the massive Road Haulage Association infrastructure. We also have the RHA Rescue benefit where members will be invited to join that organisation which will open up other work opportunities. Over 100,000 HGV’s are part of RHA Rescue and our members have exclusive opportunities to tap into that work source.
If you are interested in joining RHA Recovery or would like information on what we can offer, please contact us at our Peterborough office. Janice Wadsworth will deal with your enquiry, she can be contacted on 01733 261131. Alternately you can call me direct, my mobile number is 07976 829927.