I am delighted to advise that the our first issue of 2022 is now in the capable hands of our printers.
We are advised to sit tight however, as not only are the printers operating on skeleton staff, but they are also badly hit by COVID. Therefore, we expect to have the magazines back around the 13th January.
Rest assured you lovely lot, that as soon as they land with us, they will be out in the post!
AYRSHIRE’S BARRY DEVLIN SERVICES IS A THREE-GENERATION FAMILY-OWNED FIRM WHOSE MOTTO IS ‘ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS’. ON SCENE VISITS KILMARNOCK TO VISIT A UNIQUE BUSINESS THAT’S GROWN ORGANICALLY BY SUPPLYING EXACTLY WHAT THE EVER-CHANGING VEHICLE RECOVERY INDUSTRY REQUIRES.
Established in 1972, Barry Devlin Services is a well-known and respected provider of vehicle recovery and vehicle recycling services in the west of Scotland. The firm’s headquarters in Knockentiber, close to Kilmarnock, is supplemented by a satellite depot at Prestwick Airport. With few other recovery operators in the area, Barry Devlin Services covers a massive geographical area that includes Ayrshire, Strathclyde and the Dumfries and Galloway region, in addition to Scotland’s central belt, besides the islands of Arran and Great Cumbrae.
‘Varied’ is the best word to describe this operation’s recovery vehicle fleet and five of the 15 full-time employees are family members. That high ratio ensures customers receive complete accountability and direct, effective communication. There are few, if any, jobs that Barry Devlin Services won’t undertake and its current capabilities include just any type of vehicle – up to and including the occasional Boeing 737 aircraft…
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IN THE FIRST OF A SERIES OF FOUR ARTICLES ABOUT THE LATE BILL JACKSON, ON SCENE LOOKS AT HIS EARLY INVOLVEMENT IN THE UK MARKET AND HOW HE CHANGED THE FACE OF VEHICLE RECOVERY.
Every industry has its leaders, characters and visionaries, and the recovery sector certainly has all three – but only a few have changed the industry forever, introducing new thinking that makes things better for everybody.
The late Bill Jackson of Chaseside Motor Company, Dial Holmes, Wreckers International and International Wrecker Inc was one of them, playing a huge part in creating the modern-day recovery industry.
For many older readers, he will be remembered as the man who brought twin-boom Holmes wreckers to the UK and many other markets outside North America, via his company Dial Holmes. But he did more than just import American-built recovery equipment; he played a key role in the design and development of the air cushion for heavy recovery, starting in the UK and elsewhere in Europe and then introducing what was a revolutionary new concept at the time to the USA and Canada…
WHETHER IT’S AN UNEXPECTED BREAKDOWN OR A PLANNED HEAVY PLANT MOVEMENT, MILTON KEYNES-BASED CMG HAS THE TASK OF TRANSPORTING VEHICLES OF ALL SORTS WELL COVERED, AS ON SCENE REPORTS.
Just how many recovery companies can trace their origins back to a Land Rover equipped with a Harvey Frost crane? That is certainly the case for CMG whose founder, Mike Cowan, saw a gap in the market in his local area and began providing a 24-hour breakdown and recovery service for cars and light vans in the late 1960s.
“The Land Rover was bought with a loan from his father,” explains his son Mark, now operations director at CMG. The loan came with a condition, however: Mike had to promise his father that if his “hair-brained scheme for a business” didn’t work out, he would return home to Scotland and get a ‘proper’ job.
The business was initially based in Hemel Hempstead. “He started to build the business in stages with an ex-Army Austin K9, a Bedford TK beavertail and a Ford Escort van, working from lock-ups on a council carpark,” says Mark…
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THE MACRAE FAMILY HAS PROVIDED A WIDE RANGE OF GARAGE SERVICES ON THE ISLE OF SKYE FOR OVER 65 YEARS. ON SCENE TALKS TO THIRD AND FOURTH GENERATION DONNIE AND GRANT MACRAE TO FIND OUT HOW THE BUSINESS CONTINUES TO REACH NEW HEIGHTS.
The Isle of Skye has been one of Scotland’s most popular tourist destinations for decades – so much so that in the summers before the Covid-19 pandemic, the island became overcrowded on several occasions. Police set up checkpoints on the Skye Bridge, admitting only those who had pre-booked accommodation.
“Back then during peak season, our resident population of 12,000 jumped to 75,000 with all the visitors. It’s difficult getting around on the road network when that happens and journey times can easily double,” reports Grant MacRae, the fourth generation of the MacRae family involved in Ewen MacRae (West End Garage).
Since the 2020 lockdown, visitor numbers have not been so high as overseas travel has been restricted, of course. “The tourist cars have been replaced by staycation camper vans this year,” Grant notes. And at the time of our interview on a cold, wet November day, there were still plenty of camper vans in evidence on the island…
ON SCENE VISITS BESPOKE RECOVERY AND TRANSPORT BODYBUILDER DAVE BLAND ENGINEERING AT ITS FULL SUTTON BASE TO MEET THE MAN BEHIND THE FIRM AND FIND OUT HOW THE OPERATION HAS EVOLVED.
In days gone by, when operators required a bespoke transporter body to meet their exact operational requirements, a great many built their own, as there were few specialist companies who could produce what was required. And that is exactly what East Yorkshire-based Dave Bland did when he was looking for a body to fit a 3.5-tonne chassis to transport damaged and salvage cars for a local customer. But in Dave’s case, it led to the development of a full-time business designing, building and supplying transporter and recovery bodies, along with recovery equipment and other specialist vehicles.
Those early transporter bodies caught the attention of others and Dave soon found himself being asked to design and build bodies for other operators. In time, this led to a complete change of focus and he gave up the transporter/recovery work to concentrate on building and supplying equipment…
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OXFORDSHIRE RECOVERY SPECIALIST ISIS RESCUE HAS TAKEN SOME BOLD DECISIONS, ABANDONING MUCH OF ITS MOTORING CLUB WORK TO RESHAPE ITSELF INTO A MORE PROFITABLE ENTERPRISE. ON SCENE REPORTS.
Making big decisions with far-reaching implications is something no business should do in a hurry. But there also comes a point where a decision simply has to be taken, as James Weedon, MD of Oxfordshire based Isis Rescue, knows very well.
In James’ case, however, it was not just a single decision that needed taking but a whole raft of them – decisions that would entirely change the direction and future of this long-established family business. Once the first change was implemented, the process became a lot easier, of course. But it was tough, because the first decision he had to make was to turn his back on several traditional and historical sources of work for his recovery business that were no longer worth making the investment for…
SINCE ITS HUMBLE BEGINNINGS IN 1971, KD BROS HAS GROWN INTO ONE OF THE BIGGEST BREAKDOWN RECOVERY SERVICES IN YORKSHIRE. ON SCENE HAS BEEN TO VISIT DAL SINGH (THE ‘D’ IN KD BROS) TO FIND OUT HOW THE COMPANY HAS EXPANDED AND ADAPTED TO THE EVER-CHANGING BREAKDOWN SECTOR
Dal Singh was just a teenager when he started working with his older brother Karl at his small garage in the Chapeltown area of Leeds more than 50 years ago. “We could just about fit four cars into the workshop,” Dal remembers with a smile. “We did bodywork, engine repairs, gearboxes, and so on. We were working 24 hours a day from the start, and not only on breakdowns: we realised that many commercial operators were keen to find a garage that could do overnight servicing of vehicles to reduce their downtime, so that’s what we started doing.
“After two or three years we bought our current premises in Hope Road in the centre of Leeds, and expanded into contract work and servicing for local authorities and the NHS, as well as beginning to work with insurance companies and the motoring clubs, including the AA and RAC. We’ve got about an acre of storage space down at Hope Road. Then about five years ago we opened our second premises here on Armley Road. It’s a 2.5-acre site with purpose-built workshops, which means we can offer MOTs, servicing and repairs. We also have several undercover bays and secure outside storage…
With over 140+ pages of first class recovery content, what more could you wish for? Click the appropriate link below to purchase your annual subscription, or individual copy.
TRACEY BRITTON HAS PROVED WITHOUT A SHADOW OF A DOUBT THAT BEING FEMALE IS NO BARRIER TO SUCCESS IN THE RECOVERY INDUSTRY. TRACEYS RECOVERY IS GROWING, AND IS BY NO MEANS SHORT OF INNOVATIVE IDEAS. ON SCENE FINDS OUT MORE
The recovery industry is often viewed as a man’s world, and one that even in the 21st century is still only too willing to erect barriers to the participation of women in what is without doubt a vital emergency service. That has not stopped Tracey Britton from entering the sector however – and doing so with determination and a remarkable degree of success.
She and husband Dave run Traceys Recovery Ltd out of Unit 6 on Portsmouth’s Claybank Road. It was Tracey who started the business she owns, and found the necessary funding. The biggest vehicle they operate is an open-backed Ford Transit 3.5-tonner. Fitted with a winch and ramp, and ready to be deployed with skates and snatch blocks, it is well-equipped. Unfortunately its gross weight means it is restricted to handling cars and light vans, and both Tracey and Dave are sticklers for ensuring the company’s vehicles are not overloaded…
ON SCENE’S UNDERCOVER REPORTER RON SEEN ASKS HOW THE RECOVERY SECTOR CAN POSSIBLY SUSTAIN THE LOW RATES THAT MOTORING CLUBS EXPECT THEIR SUBCONTRACTORS TO WORK FOR
As we all know, the independent recovery clubs provide a considerable amount of work for recovery companies. There are larger clubs and smaller clubs, and all supply recovery operators with work. But some recovery operators do not take on this work, as they see it as unprofitable and time-consuming, given the rates clubs pay.
Some time ago in a meeting between recovery operators and one of the leading recovery clubs, the representative of the club suggested that the benefits for recovery firms of working for the organisation included quick payment and continuous work. Some of the recovery firms who already worked for that club were nodding along in agreement, but others, who did not, expressed some concerns about the low call-out rates and the free mileage the club expected.
This was 20 years ago, when the club in question paid around £40 for a call-out with some free mileage, while fuel costs were approximately 75-80p/litre (including VAT) and a club-criteria truck cost around £50,000-£65,000…
