Recovery Members Update November 2011

Welcome to RHA Recovery Member Update!

Hello everyone and welcome to the latest issue of the RHA Recovery Member Update.

The RHA now has a dedicated team to assist our Recovery Members.

Frank Taylor will be the Rescue and Recovery industries dedicated Liaison Manager and is available to assist in day to day business queries..

Naomi Hirst will be the Rescue & Recovery administrator and can be contacted regarding any membership enquiries.

Dave Gregory will continue to act as Secretary for the RHA recovery members committee.

Contact Telephone numbers are as follows;

Frank Taylor: 07968 409 202

Naomi Hirst: 01733 842 775

Dave Gregory: 07976 829927

Green Flag Contract

Everyone will know by now that, despite our best efforts to persuade them differently, Green Flag have gone down the route predicted and reduced drastically the amount of operators they will use, particularly in England.

They have taken a ground-breaking step of using just five operators to cover huge areas of England, although Scotland, Wales and parts of Devon and Cornwall have been left largely intact. They have appointed nine operators as Tier 2 contractors to support the ‘super five’.

RHA Recovery wrote several letters to the executives of RBS, three by Dave Gregory and one from Nikki King, but although we had one response, they have stuck by their original decision. RHA Recovery contacted all the other trade associations and urged them to write to RBS.

This decision will hit operators hard and there will almost certainly be redundancies and possible company closures as a result of the RBS decision.

LEZ

RHA Recovery has been to the fore in lobbying Transport for London over the proposed LEZ compliance which comes into place in January. We have visited TfL in conjunction with LARO but they have told us that they cannot make exceptions for any sector as they have to meet EU targets on emissions.

ERRI met with a Croydon operator, Phil Elliot, and agreed to put a team together to seek a meeting with Boris Johnson. The Mayor has declined to meet us, so as small team which included RHA Recovery, LARO, AVRO, Lawrence Gale (Mayoral candidate for UKIP) and Phil Elliot, visited City Hall in London and handed over letters and an ERRI commissioned report on LEZ to Boris Johnson.

We only have seven weeks left to influence a decision.

Click on the link below for further information:

Vehicle recovery operators call for special dispensation as London low emission zone rules tighten

Coroner’s Report on Terry Booth

The Survive Executive has released a response to the Coroner’s Report on the death of Terry Booth.

Mr Booth died in a hard shoulder accident on the South Coast last year. He was responding to a call-out whilst working for Boarhunt Garage.

The Coroner made observations about Mr Booth’s vehicle not being in the fend position, but Survive point out that it is not possible to always locate a recovery vehicle in the fend position. Survive Working Group 1, who oversees the technical issues of vehicle recovery, suggests that when it is not possible to locate a vehicle in this position, the operator should seek support from the police or Highways Agency.

Both these parties were present at the meeting and they both felt that this was almost unworkable because of lack of resources.

SURVIVE Response to the matters raised by the Coroner in the inquest into the death of Terence Booth

RHA Recovery Committee

Nikki King, chairman of RHA Recovery, has come to the end of her two year term as chairman of RHA Recovery and she has decided, because of work commitments, not to seek re-election.

Firstly The RHA would like to thank Nikki on behalf of the committee for her dedication to the post and the great work she has done. She is one of the founder members of ERRI and through her position as chairman of RHA Recovery has initiated talks on R Licences. She will be sadly missed. The committee have approached someone as her replacement.

We are however, seeking three new members to join our committee. We have lost three people in the past six months for varying reasons and need to build up the strength of the committee back up to around 12.

This is a great opportunity for someone who can spare half a day six times a year to help influence the direction of our industry. Anyone interested should contact the RHA Recovery desk on 01733 842775.

Emergency Services Show

From international incidents to natural disasters, unprecedented events have taken place around the world over the past year. The Emergency Services Show and Conference 2011 remains the key event for anyone involved in emergency planning, response or recovery, both in the UK and abroad, to unite and address these threats and challenges.

Now in its sixth year, this firmly established show allows a key gathering of emergency and resilience professionals to discuss multi-agency collaboration, best practice, ideas and initiatives.

From Wednesday 23 to Thursday 24 November 2011, a wide variety of professional, government and voluntary response organisations and personnel will be making their way to Stoneleigh Park, to learn about the latest equipment and innovations, network and listen to industry experts. Attendees will also be able to explore how they can make vital cost saving efficiencies with equipment and service suppliers.

With over 350 exhibitors and 4000 visitors attending the successful show last year, this year’s show is set to be the biggest and best yet!

Click on the following link to visit the website at www.emergencyuk.com/rha

Fuel Petition

On November 1st 2011 The RHA influenced a back bench committee into holding a parliamentary debate on fuel - This is a result of heavy campaigning by Fair fuel UK (of which the RHA are a partner) and the success of reaching more than 100 thousand signatures on the petition. A debate is being held on Tuesday 15th November in parliament. There is a public gallery should anyone wish to attend. Updates will be provided in further newsletters and on the RHA Website.

Contact Us

As you can see from this month’s newsletter, there has been a lot going on again. If you have any concerns, need advice or support, please do not hesitate to contact us on f.taylor@rha.uk.net or n.hirst@rha.uk.net

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 Road Haulage Association infrastructure.

If you are interested in joining RHA Recovery or would like information on what we can offer, please contact us at our Peterborough office. Naomi Hirst will deal with your enquiry, she can be contacted on 01733 842775. Alternately you can call Frank Taylor on 07968 409202.

Next edition of the Rescue and Recovery Member Update

The next edition of your dedicated newsletter will be sent on Thursday 1st December. If you have anything you wish to be submitted into the next edition please contact Naomi Hirst or Frank Taylor on the numbers above.