MIDHURST ENGINEERING CAN TRACE ITS HISTORY BACK TO THE DAWN OF THE MOTOR AGE. BUT DESPITE BEING A TRADITIONAL, FAMILY- OWNED BUSINESS, IT IS ALWAYS MOVING FORWARD AND INVESTING IN NEW AREAS OF THE RECOVERY SECTOR, AS ON SCENE FINDS OUT.
You don’t get to be in business for more than 130 years without moving with the times. While Midhurst Engineering can trace its history back to the 19th century, its business has continually evolved, from repairing agricultural machinery at its outset to moving much more recently into heavy commercial vehicle recovery, in addition to its wider recovery and general vehicle repair services.
Based in Midhurst in West Sussex, Midhurst Engineering’s move into commercial vehicle recovery has been driven by Jordan Morgan, who heads up the recovery side of the business. “Heavy recovery is a passion of mine, and I wanted to move into it,” he says. However, to do that, he had to convince his dad, Guy, and grandad, Brian – the firm’s managing director and chairman respectively – that the investment was worth it.
AS EVER GREATER ENFORCEMENT IS BROUGHT TO BEAR ON THE ABNORMAL LOADS SECTOR, ON SCENE SUGGESTS THE RECOVERY INDUSTRY NEEDS TO READY ITSELF FOR A SIMILAR UPTICK IN SCRUTINY.
As a matter of necessity, most heavy recovery operators forge strong and effective working relationships with the traffic police in their areas, in many instances working both for and alongside the police and other regulatory authorities when dealing with accidents, immobilised vehicles and other incidents.
Obviously, however, recovery operators are only in possession of the basic details of an incident until they arrive on scene.
Planning for the worst-case scenario has long been a hallmark of heavy recovery and fortunately, most modern heavy recovery vehicles are based on heavy-duty chassis that are specified with axles and chassis components that are also used in heavy haulage applications. This ensures the chassis have sufficient GVW/GTW and axle weight capacity to cope with most situations.
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ON SCENE MEETS THE THIRD GENERATION AT COUNTY DURHAM-BASED ROCHFORDS GARAGES, WHICH HAS BROUGHT FRESH FOCUS BACK TO THE FIRM'S ROADSIDE ASSISTANCE AND RECOVERY OPERATION AFTER YEARS OF IT MAJORING ON ITS WORKSHOP ACTIVITIES.
When you drive into the old mining village of Esh Winning in County Durham, one of the first businesses you encounter is Rochfords Garages. At first glance, it just looks like a well-established and well-presented village garage serving the local community, and you could be forgiven for thinking it runs a small fleet of recovery and roadside assistance vehicles for the local area and occasional longer-distance trips.
But you would be wrong. The company actually operates over 80 vehicles, from fully equipped service vans to a 6×6 heavy wrecker. And it has a purpose-built heavy commercial vehicle workshop just a short distance from the original premises that provides full maintenance and repair services to many large fleets in the area.
NORTHAMPTONSHIRE’S K2 RECOVERY HAS BUILT A SOLID REPUTATION, PROVIDING A 24/7 SERVICE FROM ITS CONTROL ROOM IN KETTERING AS WELL AS A WORKSHOP THAT OPERATES AROUND THE CLOCK. ON SCENE REPORTS.
It’s the second highest mountain on earth, but it’s the most dangerous to ascend and even today it remains the preserve of only the most experienced climbers. So one of the first questions On Scene asks Dave Bown, owner of Kettering-based K2 Recovery, is why the vehicle recovery and repair company bears the same as what is often referred to as the ‘Savage Mountain’.
It’s an apt moniker in more ways than one. As well as symbolising toughness, perseverance and the risk of death in a challenging environment, the mountain was so-named simply because it was the second peak in the Karakoram range to be mapped by the Great Trigonometrical Survey in the 19th century. For Dave, 2012 was also base camp; the start of a journey he might have thought twice about undertaking, had he known just how much resilience and grit was required to survive in this game.
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IF YOUR EXCAVATOR HAS ENDED UP ON ITS SIDE AT THE BOTTOM OF A STEEP EMBANKMENT, YOUR BULLDOZER IS STUCK IN AN AWKWARD PART OF A QUARRY, OR YOUR COMBINE HARVESTER HAS SUNK INTO A QUAGMIRE, WHO ARE YOU GOING TO CALL? ODDS ARE IT'LL BE J&R MILLINGTON, WRITES ON SCENE
Based just outside Whitchurch in Shropshire, J&R Millington specialises in handling the most difficult off-road recovery tasks imaginable – and it does so all over the country and elsewhere in Europe. Recent jobs have included recovering a 60-tonne crusher which had suffered an engine fire from the top of a mountain of stones.
The company’s roots go back as far as 1898, explains Robert Millington, who runs the business alongside his son Joe. “My grandad Henry, who was always known as Harry, had a team of horses which was used to help pull portable steam engines,” he says.
The heavy engines were used to power threshing machines used by farmers and had to be moved across the countryside; by no means an easy task if the land was muddy or if the engine had to cross a peat bog. If the farmer’s own horses couldn’t cope, then Harry’s team was ready to help.
