I would much prefer the whole HATO’s scheme to be scrapped, and the budget allocated to the HATO’s to be spent entirely on putting more traffic police/motorway cops on the roads.
Not scrap the HA maintenance lads mind, the ISU’s and the like. They are more than capable of doing what the HATO’s do now.
Just sack the HATO’s off and spend the money on more traffic cops.
If I was broken down in a car, I’d much prefer an 18ton crash cushion behind me than a 2 ton 4x4.
I’ve seen first hand (recovered one) what a crash cushion looks like when an artic on it’s limiter has slammed it up the bracket.
The real Biffo:
The larger recovery companies will call the RCC if a driver has called them to arrange his recovery, but the recovery operator believes that it’s not straight forward and there could be a requirement for a patrol to attend, this could be due to the location, disabilities, young children, no lights during darkness etc.
Aye, righto, I did this last week. The customer told me where he was. I know that particular stretch of road very well, there’s no hard shoulder, just a narrow gravel track alongside lane 1.
I rang the RCC and told them where the car was, and that I couldn’t recover it from the hard shoulder, as my truck is wider than the hard shoulder. I told them my ETA to scene and asked that they arranged a lane 1 closure. They rang back 2 mins later, told me they’d spoke to the customer and he was in a layby, not on the hard shoulder.
Marvellous, I thought. A much safer job then.
Get on scene, here’s the car on the hard shoulder. Nearside wing mirror in the hedge, offside wing mirror on the white line for lane 1 
I couldn’t stop, had to do a loop around. Pulled up the slip road and rang the police for assistance. They told me to ring the HA, I explained I already had and assistance was not forthcoming.
Had a traffic car there in under 5 mins, temporary lane 1 closure for me to load up and go.
Nice one. I know who to ring next time.
trux:
green456:
i dont want my taxes spent paying people to sit in laybyes, might as well make hatos redundant and get rid of the vehicles too 
Does that apply to fast response paramedics & fire as well 
trux:
Speaking to one of them wombly geezers the other day, and they said they are now told when -where- and how + what'.Something said along the lines to them : " Get with the new program - ship up or ship out - or face disciplinary ". Seems they are clearly *guided* from levels above and on strict instructions . So guess you cant really blame the workers on the ground’.
Have you read the ‘new’ ‘policy’ document as well then
I completely see Cierac’s point,but they’ll always be a moan then, ‘to many coppers enforcing everything’ (where’s Limey when you need him 
) just one thing what gives you the impression that Isu’s & ‘crash cushions’ are staying in their present format ?
And why should you bother what a rear mashed up car looks like, surely you’d be out & up the banking watching.
Anyway enjoy your hardshoulders while you have them, soon be gone when MM2 (managed motorways 2) is rolled out
Meathauler:
Broke down on the M4 with a snapped fan belt pulled on hard shoulder and within a few minutes they were behind me , gave me water to top the rad up advised me to creep along hard shoulder with them at my rear with their hazards on and to pull off at next Junct . These guys were more than helpfull .
Not that helpful, he could have lent you his tights to fix your fanbelt 
.
Is this the 2012-2013 business plan you’re referring to?
Page 11, new towing kits and training for HATO patrols to clear obstructions ?
Presumeably that training will be to IVR standard, since this is the industry standard for vehicle recovery?
You’ll need modules 1,2 and 3, as they’re the very basics, then a specific module for towing, probably module 4 which covers ancilliary equipment for light recovery vehicle.
Can’t see the government being able to afford all that training.
They can 
, & it isn’t .
It will be for ‘carriageway clearance’ not ‘towing’, according to the legal beagle dept, unless all vehicles may have to have towing boards etc as well, and how many people passed their test after 97 (i think) and ‘clear’ 
the carriageway ?
cieranc, If the driver said he was in a layby, it’s not our fault he doesn’t know his arse from his elbow. We often get people saying “in a dangerous location” when the patrol gets there, it on one of the widest H/S you can find.
If you’d have passed it, then called us with the location saying that you can’t get the recovery truck at the vehicle due to the narrow H/S, we would certainly have attended, and informed you of the patrols ETA.
In the distant past we’ve sent patrols to vehicles “because recovery/ tyre fitter etc may need a lane closure” only for them to sit there for an hour or more waiting for said to turn up. We now only go when the recovery / tyre fitter has arrived on scene and confirmed that assistance will be needed.
We often get these calls from tyre fitters, we let the patrol know so that they’ll be in the area if not on another job. Sometimes they may find similar to what you’ve said, and limping the vehicle forward 100 yds to a wider location means no need for a lane closure. In fact, tyre fitters especially will do this with the vehicle themselves.
Providing a driver has recovery on route, the vehicle is as safe as it can be ie. on a full sized H/S, there are no issues with the occupants, then NO-ONE will sit behind it! and certainly an ISU will not be called to a BDV. HATO’s and ISU’s are not a baby-sitting service.
I agree, put more police on the motorway, but it was because the police had systematically been taken off the motorways for other police work, and small incidents were causing horrendous gridlock etc that the government decided on another uniformed force to deal with non-enforcement issues and traffic management. So now the police that are on the motorway are able to deal with POLICE matters instead of nurse-maiding drivers.
cieranc:
If I was broken down in a car, I’d much prefer an 18ton crash cushion behind me than a 2 ton 4x4.
I’ve seen first hand (recovered one) what a crash cushion looks like when an artic on it’s limiter has slammed it up the bracket.
Isu’s are doing away with them and starting to use 7 1/2 ton flatbeds. You’ll only get a crash cushion in extreme circumstances and the bosses have okayed the drain on the budget!! 
im surprised that nobody has yet mentioned the enourmous bill they send your insurance company for “clearing the carrageway” without mention to the driver or tm that they charge for closing lane 1 and picking up a couple of bits of wire and pipe when a bloody great net blows in from the side on the m6 ,wraps around the prop and rips off all the electrics and air pipes, dont know how much it was for but the boss decided to put the repair through the insurance with their bill as well whereas before he was gonna pay for it ,garage bill was £4500 so how much were they charging 
That wasn’t you on Metal bridge with the skip wagon was it?
was it your dinner i interupted?
Harry Monk:
I’ve had three or four dealings with them and they have been helpful on every occasion.
Had a blow out on the M11 a couple of weeks ago and they came out twice to make sure I was o/k and came back and closed the lane for the fitter.
They are welcome to that job, the amount of car drivers that never saw the cones was unreal.
Sound guys in my book and girls, nice wee blonde lassie. lol
mezzzz1211:
was it your dinner i interupted?
Not at all. I’d popped in the station to use the loo and top my thermas mug up with tea. Sorry to hear the recovery was so expensive. Us lads on the ground have nothing to do with that side of things we just start the ball rolling. If you’d have been fully on the hard shoulder we would have let you sort your own recovery out. You were sticking out into lane 1 and my boss was breathing down my neck to get the lane reopened.
no worries from me mate ,you lads probably stopped a nasty accident cos im sure they all drive with their eyes wide shut
You don’t know the half of it! That same stretch you were on was shut for a couple of hours during the last cold snap, we had a multi vehicle pile up involving 20+vehicles as people weren’t driving to the weather conditions!
speedyguy:
They can , & it isn’t .
It will be for ‘carriageway clearance’ not ‘towing’, according to the legal beagle dept, unless all vehicles may have to have towing boards etc as well, and how many people passed their test after 97 (i think) and ‘clear’ the carriageway ?
So what you meaning, just towing/dragging a casualty vehicle out of lane 1/2 and onto the hard shoulder?
Basically yes, we attach our nylon tow strap, if it can be safely dragged without damaging the road surface, it gets cleared to the hard shoulder to enable the running lanes to be reopened.
