Coffeeholic did just such a post a year or two back
After Coffeeholic’s ride out,i offered a ride out to anybody who wanted to see EXACTLY what we do and more importantly,why we do it.Not one person took me up on the offer.
So,if Coffeeholic wants to come and get an update,he knows where i am 
I have only had HATO`s turn up to render assistance on two occaisions.
On the first occaision I had stopped on the M25 to check a problem I was having with the trailer not a good place I know but as the M25 was up to its usual speed of about 5mph not really a problem anyhow I got back in the cab and decided to clean my mirrors which was rather fortunate for one HATO as they had driven so close to the back of my truck that I had not seen their car .The said HATO had walked alongside the truck and just as i was sitting down stepped in front of me a split second later he would have been taking a trip up the hard shoulder on my Light-Bar.
On the second occaision I had broken down on a roundabout off the A120 near Stanstead . I was just getting the number for Local Plod to advise them of the problem when up pops HATO . This time I can see their car and am pleased that they have turned up . HATO asks have you broken down ■■ Can you move it ■■.
I managed to answer him politely and answered his other questions and he wandered off for a chat with his oppo.
A minute or so later he returns and asks me if I have a HI-VIS vest. After confirming that I have he tells me that I am not under their juristriction and that I should put on my HI-VIS and stand at the back of the trailer and guide the traffic around my truck. (You can imagine the response).
Local plod turned up and was horrified at what had been suggested and placed his car where at least untill he showed up theirs should have been.
I appreciate that everybody has a job to do but you can see from these two incidents that it is difficult for me to have much faith in them.
(P.S I wished I had recorded the conversation with their control center later that morning … now that was X- rated
People can i ask would you like to see the police service take control of the highways traffic officers and turn them in to an american style highway patrol with enforcement powers?
Absolutely not. We already have far too many people with minimal training authorised to issue fixed penalty tickets.eg traffic wardens (and we all know how sensible they are) Vosa, Health snoopers (smoking in the cab) and several others.
If HATSO’s were to be so authorised then they would need a firmer selection process and training to police standards.
Therefore you may as well have "proper "police in the first place.
I’m more into education and explaining why it’s a daft idea to stop unnecessarily on the H/S while some dumb hairy ■■■ trucker watching battletar galactica/reading the paper/chatting on the phone/eating a pan of pasta etc, takes them out
But that is not your job.!
Hatsos were proposed as a means to alleviate congestion.
Not to increase public awarness of road dangers.
We already have others who are paid to encourage safety on the roads.
The more that is posted about Hatso’s responsibilities, the more it is obvious that they are merely duplicating the work of other bodies…but cheaper!
Like any organisation, once it is up and running the top men try to increase their territory and lose sight of the original purpose for their existence.
Annitram,i cannot believe what the officer suggested you do.Yes,the A120 is off our patrol network,but is a HA road and if a m/bike had collided with your truck and died,the resulting incident would have affected our network,so they could,and should have fended off until local Pol arrive.But i dont know the full circumstances.Where they on a urgent shout already??
Del,you are 100% correct.If we are to get enforcement powers,just have more Police and keep us as we are.Unforunately,your second point is incorrect.
HATOs and the HA spend a lot of time promoting road safety.It is part of our role,but some officers might take it too far.We work with an Asda DC to teach children the dangers of throwing items off bridges.After all,the first part of our aim is:
‘Safe Roads’ ,Reliable Journeys,Informed Travellers
And travellers dont mean ■■■■■■ 
My tuppence worth…
Had dealings with HATO once, that was on the M42 after a tyre blowout, was seen on CCTV and the debris cleared withing minutes, HATO was a nice guy, asked if I had informed tyres etc and who had i called, they then chased them up, closed lane one while the fitter did his bit, to my mind they did a good job.
Now in 3 weeks im unemployed, have sold the truck etc and am moving to North Wales, so as an ex trucker, I for one would like to have a go at being a HATO, lets face as a trucker I ‘should’ have a very good understanding on what makes the roads tick, so should be able to put that across in the job. Quite a simple version of ‘could I do that job better’…
Bit like ■■■■■■■, dont knock it till you try it 
Coddy:
My tuppence worth…Had dealings with HATO once, that was on the M42 after a tyre blowout, was seen on CCTV and the debris cleared withing minutes, HATO was a nice guy, asked if I had informed tyres etc and who had i called, they then chased them up, closed lane one while the fitter did his bit, to my mind they did a good job.
Now in 3 weeks im unemployed, have sold the truck etc and am moving to North Wales, so as an ex trucker, I for one would like to have a go at being a HATO, lets face as a trucker I ‘should’ have a very good understanding on what makes the roads tick, so should be able to put that across in the job. Quite a simple version of ‘could I do that job better’…
Bit like ■■■■■■■, dont knock it till you try it
■■■■■■■ DONT TRY IT JUST INCASE YOU ENJOY IT!
Truck drivers usually make good motorway/road incident workers. Their awareness to spot potential danger and react to most situations is spot on.
Traumatic incidents which include injured kids, seriously injured people, lots of blood, death and body parts laying on the road well you will only know how you react this after it happens. Some people can’t handle it and leave. Anyone who hopes to apply for a HATO job be mindful you will be most of the time be1st on scene. The Ha guys, police, fire, ambulance and recovery services do an exceptional job on the motorways it is a very demanding environment one that almost took my life in the police. Luckily I have managed to continue working with the HA, trying to improving road safety and raise awareness. For you boys and girls who have had bad experiences with HATOs well I can only apologize on here behalf that’s people for you however I can say it is only a selected few you get them in any industry. Thanks to all whom as taken the time to post on this subject so far long may it continue.
I find this job very rewarding, I’ve only had words with one driver in the 2 and a half years I’ve been doing the job. It was with an ab load ■■■■■■ driver who had had words with one of the numpties who happen to wear the same uniform as me, I won’t say “colleague” as I will distance myself from any pillock that gets my profession a bad name. After I had spoken to the guy and set his fears to rest, he went away with, what I believe, a better image of the H.A. We all have to work the slab and if we can do it with the backing of the other professions that grace that unforgiving strip of tarmac then the easier my job is going to be. As long as there are numpties in all walks of life, there are going to be hackles raised by disagreeing factions. Like some of my colleagues have stated, if you have any queries, please don’t hesitate to ask, if you’ve seen an action that was carried out, by our patrols that you didn’t understand, please ask. If you fear being ridiculed by other drivers, PM us and we’ll answer your questions to the best of our abilities 
Extrucker.
you may spend a lot of time educating road users. My point was that this is not what the organisation was originally intended for.
The reason given by government at the inception of the HATSO org was simply to alleviate congestion bt dealing with minor incidents.
All rganisations develop by having “role creep”, in that they extend their remits to ensure their growth, I think that the eucation role you mention is an example of this “role creep”.
But obviousley we are going to have to agree to disagree!! 
de1949, just a minor point old bean, we are Highways Agency Traffic Officers or HATO’s there is no “S” in the acronym, many thanks THM
extrucker:
i dont know the full circumstances.Where they on a urgent shout already??:
you are souning just like the police.
The ones i have met think they are the police
dean0:
extrucker:
i dont know the full circumstances.Where they on a urgent shout already??:
you are sounding just like the police.
The ones I have met think they are the police
Please don’t tar us all with the same brush. Just for information, an “urgent shout”, as it was classified, is police speak, as we were trained by the police and a number of HATO’s are ex police, there is bound to be a fair smattering of police lingo in our everyday conversation.
Del,yes we will agree to disagree
Dean0,apologies.I should have said:‘perhaps they were responding to an immediate graded call’ as they are called now. 
hmm… HATOs on bbc1 traffic cops trying to over-ride decion by Fire brigade scene commander - they have to be a couple of your ‘muppet’ ones 
i’ve had help from them again this evening,and they really are turning into a usefull service.
for years i’ve been under trucks on the hard shoulder with no support from anyone except the odd plod if there was something interesting going on(don’t seem to see the old motorway policemen anymore).a few years ago i was the wrong side of an enforced HA tow which cost an unbelievable amount.and i must say this turned me against them.
but recently i’ve had nothing but good turns from them.tonight i had a rolling road closure while i pulled an artic off the hard shoulder very close to the next slip road(ie;no way to build up speed and join the flow of traffic).it was done very quickly ,with minimal delay to traffic(when i turned round and came back there was no traffic build up).
all in all,this is a major improvement in safety.
i would say if they can keep it up then they will become the valueable service which they wish to be,and as long as we can access the hard shoulder to rescue our customers then all well and good.
Rog,not sure why Fire were even called.Should have been a recovery job.As far as im aware,fire only take command for incidents with: fire,people trapped or large hazourdous spill.Without knowing full incident details,surely using straps would have secured remaining load?Perhaps someone can confirm?
Why move truck of h/s into lane 1/2 stopping lane three from running.Surely moving the truck just made the unstable load more unstable? Any steel drivers on here can advise?
The officers didn’t look happy 
hato = wos (waste of space) 
or…; wopm (waste of public money)
or even:… 
… 
please now fill in your own anecdote lol
pierrot 14:
hato = wos (waste of space)
or…; wopm (waste of public money)
or even:…
Thanks for your support…better than what we usually are called
Extrucker
I agree with what you are saying. Again it is difficult to see from the gogglebox, but IMHO would it not be possible to remove unsecure parts of load i.e. that that had shifted, reload it and secure it and then slow creep the truck off to a safe location for full reloading. Then all lanes are open.
If this cannot be done then get rid of all that insecure to the H/S, let ISU collect it and open the ■■■■ motorway…
I note that that the original 30 mins from fire, adjusted by the bobbie to 60 mins became 2 hours 
snaffers=HATO
extrucker:
Rog,not sure why Fire were even called.Should have been a recovery job.As far as im aware,fire only take command for incidents with: fire,people trapped or large hazourdous spill.Without knowing full incident details,surely using straps would have secured remaining load?Perhaps someone can confirm?
Why move truck of h/s into lane 1/2 stopping lane three from running.Surely moving the truck just made the unstable load more unstable? Any steel drivers on here can advise?
The officers didn’t look happy
Access was needed to both sides by the forklift to unload and restack the coils.
There was a real danger of either the coils or the tensioned steel banding going into lane 3 which the HATOs wanted kept as a live running lane.
But why not secure the remaining unstable load without moving the vehicle at all?Either way,this was never to be a fire led incident.Im sure the local recovery operator would agree It is difficult without knowing full details,or never carried a load of steel.
Any steel drivers that can advise on what the best course of action should have been?
Pierrot: What dealing did you have with HATO that your opinion is based on?
or even:… … please now fill in your own anecdote lol
The majority are hard working people who want to do a good job,just like the majority of truck drivers.