Recovery Members Update January 2010

Welcome to RHA Recovery Member Update!

Can I first start by wishing all our members a Happy New Year.  I am never sure at what stage in January we should stop issuing this annual ritual, but I suppose if you bump into someone you haven’t seen since last year then it is appropriate.

As I touched on briefly in last month’s newsletter, I have now completed the first year in the post of secretary of RHA Recovery, so it is probably appropriate to give members an overview of where RHA Recovery is in the grand scheme of things.

My job is focussed on policy and membership, two very important parts of a successful trade association. The policy side of the job has occupied a big part of my working week. I don’t intend listing all the seminars and presentations that I attend on behalf of RHA Recovery, but I am particularly pleased that I have managed to get voted on to two government All Party Parliamentary Groups; the first is Freight Transport which is very relevant to the recovery industry and the second is Peak Oil which looks at the world’s depleting reserves of oil and evaluates when it is likely to peak in order to look at alternative energy sources and to provide information on future policies. As well as these government committees I have been elected on to the Survive Executive Committee and on to a Survive Working Group.

In the process of this first year I have also become a trustee of the Heavy Rescue Partnership which is now recognised as an official charity in partnership with the Red Cross. Other meetings have been coming along thick and fast to ensure that my first year in the role has been busy and, I feel, successful.

The membership side of the job has been more of a challenge. I am pleased to report that we have seen an 11% rise in membership which is encouraging, but these are challenging times for operators and some have found the cost of membership difficult to account for when the balance sheet is looking a little thin. However, RHA Recovery membership has many benefits which are free and other services that come at a price which is heavily subsidised. I still believe that being a member of a trade body is the way forward and I will be working with the sales team at Peterborough to make potential members aware of the many benefits and services that RHA Recovery has to offer.

One last point before we go into the activities of the last month. I would like to give a big vote of thanks to our chairman, Nikki King and to the rest of the RHA Recovery Committee. I have listed some of my activities but there is not a single member of the RHA Recovery Committee that does not serve on an industry committee or working group. Many of them are on several. Most of their work goes without recognition but if you would like to see what we are all up to, please visit our website and you will find all the committee work undertaken by our committee listed.

Police Vetting

I would still like to remind operators of the dangers of accepting intrusive questioning in the form of police contract documentation. I know it is difficult to challenge the police authorities on the style of questioning on their application forms, but that is what I am here for, so if you know of any activities such as the ones we have already encountered, please let me know and I will write to the relevant police authority and ACPO.

Heavy Rescue Partnership

The Heavy Rescue Partnership is still making great strides since its inception as an official charity back in late November. Funding is the biggest challenge to the newly formed charity in getting large wheel based Bedford vehicles out to operators so they can be utilised in times of crisis such as flood relief.

Tow Show 2011

Good news on this front. This year’s show goes ahead but with changes including a change of date. Details are being finalised as I write so please be patient for a little longer and we will be issuing a press release very shortly.

ERRI

The ERRI committee is now circulating stakeholders with a view to forming a committee and working groups, hopefully we will have more to report soon.

Recovering Electric Vehicles (EV)

As you know, I travelled down to the SMMT offices in London to hear a joint presentation with the IMI on dealing with the breakdown of electric vehicles. This is an issue that will touch all operators in the near future and there are risks as you would anticipate in dealing with high voltage in these new vehicles. There are less moving parts but danger in not knowing what to do. I will be releasing some information on the topic on our website soon and I know that Terry Crampton is looking at the whole issue on behalf of the IVR. Clearly there is training going to be needed, but Terry is very capable of steering us in the right direction.

Flashing Amber Lights

The Highways Agency has commissioned a private firm of consultants to look at conspicuous lighting in the haulage and vehicle recovery industry. In our last issue we asked Robin Doney to go along to help with this consultation. Robin has agreed, highlighting the point I made in our introduction of committee members working on sub-committees and working groups on our behalf. Robin has been doing some sterling work on the Survive Working Group 1 which deals with conspicuous lighting and there is no one better qualified that Robin to deals with this.

New Members

My report indicates that we signed up new members every month last year and that we grew our membership by 11%. This indicated a success story when most companies in the UK have lost something in that region in general turnover. We have two or three more companies who are about to commit to membership, so we are very upbeat about membership at the moment.

Extreme Weather Conditions

We are through a second severe weather period again, but with January only half way through, the odds are heavily in favour of yet one more before this winter finally passes through. Just a word of thanks to all our operators who once again pulled out all the stops to ensure the weather did not completely bring the UK to a standstill. Once again I think we demonstrated what a dedicated and professional job we do in supporting the major clubs and stakeholders throughout the UK.

Contact me

As you can see from this month’s newsletter, there has been a lot going on again. 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 an 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.