Fleet 999

September/October 2007 • Issue 7

Showstoppers Latest launches and all the news from Wroughton 2007

The X-Factor has nissan’s new X-trail got star quality?

Driving change the latest thinking on blue light driver training

NEWS, VIEWS AND REVIEWS FOR THE INDUSTRY

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CONTENTS Issue 7 • September/October 2007

The tools to do the job ‘give us the right tools and we can do the job’. It’s a phrase heard often enough in many industries, and none more so than in the blue light sector, where upto-date vehicles and equipment can play a crucial part in saving lives and protecting property.

The recent NAPFM show at Wroughton underlined the commitment from vehicle manufacturers to provide the right tools, with Volvo and BMW both looking to provide a purpose-built blue light vehicle, and other manufacturers launching new vehicles for fire and paramedic services as well as the police.

But the conference also highlighted the difficult balancing act undertaken by fleet managers as the job to be done becomes more complex. Alternative fuels is a perfect example; managing competing demands such as response times with carbon footprints, add in ever-changing government objectives and initiatives, and the struggle just to get the job done becomes greater.

Two weeks after the NAPFM Exhibition, the Blue Light Users Conference focused on the issues facing emergency services drivers, and again highlighted the difficult balance between meeting targets and successfully doing the job.

While Senior Driving Instructor Owen Lower outlined some of the developments in driver training (see P2 -31), West Midlands Police Federation rep PC Robin Mouzer voiced his fears that external pressures and performance targets result in forces putting officers behind the wheel of police cars without adequate practice or training (P32-25).

The latest IPCC report relating to serious injury and fatal RTAs involving police cars suggests that the level of serious accidents involving police vehicles is increasing, and calls for stricter guidance on police pursuits.

So is the problem that officers are ignoring existing guidelines? Is it that the pressure to get arrests and improve response times leads to errors? Or is the training drivers are receiving inadequate?

Whatever the fall out from the IPCC report, it’s clear that driver training is an essential element across the emergency services, and one that needs to be suitably resourced.

‘The right tools’ doesn’t just relate to vehicles and kit, it also covers skills and resources, and whatever the pressures – be they budgetary, performance-related or time based – shortchanging blue light users is not an option.

BMW X5 front cover image courtesy of David Wright Fleet 999 Fleet 999 is published bi-monthly by Emergency Services Publishing Limited, Suite 2, Fourth Floor, Fairfax House, Causton Road, Colchester., Essex. CO1 1RJ. A company registered in England No: 565 0911

9 dsa debate

New proposals on charging and assurance standards for delegated examiners.

12 Pursuing the problem The latest IPCC report calls for compulsory guidance on police pursuits.

16 naPFM showstoppers

The latest vehicles and kit on show at Wroughton, along with a conference round-up.

22 dying for a sleep

Why those working shifts in the emergency services face real health risks from fatigue.

26 star quality

Tina Orr-Munro fi nds out if Nissan’s latest soft off-roader really has the x-factor.

30 setting the standard

Senior Police Driving Instructor Owen Lower examines the development of driving training in the service, and looks at future issues affecting all blue light drivers.

34 training change

PC Robin Mouzer of the West Midlands Police Federation believes the time is right for cultural change in driver training.

48 an ace event

Editorial Tina Orr Munro, Editor Tel: 020 404 3 25 Email: tina@fleet999.co.uk Keith Potter, Managing Editor Tel: 0120 711075 Email: keith@fleet999.co.uk

Steve Woodward of PCUK gives his verdict on the summer’s Ace Café gathering.

Ian Kerr, Consultant Editor Tel: 07973 194 Email: ian@fleet999.co.uk

Advertising

Design and production Dean Cook, Tel: 01273 4 7579 Email: dean@fleet999.co.uk

Email: richard@fleet999.co.uk

Printing and mailing Warners Midlands Ltd

Richard Place Tel: 020 404 3 25 Jacky Potter Tel: 0120 5 4045 Email: jacky@fleet999.co.uk

Product inForMation correct at time of going to press. May be subject to change. All rights reserved and is the property of the publisher. © Fleet 999 Magazine 2007.

Reprinting any part or matter appearing in Fleet 999 Magazine is strictly forbidden except by permission of the publisher. The publisher makes every effort to ensure that the magazine’s contents are correct. However, it cannot take responsibility for any effects from errors or omissions.

who are we…

advertising executive: richard Place Richard Place has a background in international sales in the telecom industry and education.

He is now managing editor of Securizine.com and recently launched a digital magazine for the private security market, called prosecurizine.com.

He also oversees advertising sales for theKBZine.com, the online magazine for the Kitchen and Bathroom industry.

The People consultant editor: ian kerr

Tel: 020 8404 3825 Mobile: 07932 607142 Email: richard@fleet999.co.uk

Eng Tech CAE

Ian Kerr completed more than 30 years in the Metropolitan Police Service, the vast majority in Traffi c Division and on traffi c and motor vehicle theft related enquiries. Apart from road safety, he specialised in post crash mechanical investigation and as a result attended numerous manufacturers’ courses as well as gaining many professional technical qualifi cations.

In addition Ian worked as a freelance journalist and photographer, and is the author and co-author of several motorcycle books. He has ridden bikes in more than 25 countries around the world and has also competed in various types of motorcycle sport in the UK, Europe and the USA.

advertising executive: Jacky Potter Jacky Potter has worked in advertising sales for the past 15 years, both with regional newspapers and national newspaper groups, and on business, charity and criminal justice sector titles.

As well as working with retailers on national campaigns, in recent years Jacky has worked with emergency services suppliers and motoring manufacturers focusing on the police and associated services markets.

Tel: 01206 564045 Mobile: 07765 153451 Email: jacky@fleet999.co.uk

Tel: 07973 666194 Email: ian@fleet999.co.uk

editor: tina orr Munro Tina Orr Munro originally trained as a Scenes of Crime Offi cer before becoming a journalist. She was a staff reporter on Police Review magazine for four years, and has worked as a freelance journalist for a range of national magazines and newspapers including: The Guardian, The New Statesman, The Weekly Telegraph, The TES and Police Professional. Tina currently edits Securizine.com, the fi rst free weekly digital magazine for the police service.

Tel: 020 8404 3825 Mobile: 07903 304319 Email: tina@fleet999.co.uk

Managing editor: keith Potter Keith Potter has 18 year’s editorial experience, having worked both as a member of staff and on a freelance basis for a range of titles.

Originally trained as a journalist, Keith’s roles have also included news editor, sub-editor, editor and publisher.

For most of the past decade he has worked as a freelance on police, criminal justice and home affairs titles, including Police Professional, Police Review, Police Magazine and Victim Support Magazine.

Tel: 01206 711075 Mobile: 07968 984048 Email: keith@fleet999.co.uk 4 4

resolution

May/June 2005 fleet999 • September/October 2007

news

Roll out of new Welsh ambulance fleet continues The Welsh Ambulance Service’s fleet replacement programme is continuing, with almost half of the 97 non-emergency transport vehicles now out on the road.

The service began to rebuild its fleet 12 months ago, with £1 m funding from the Welsh Assembly to update 7 non-emergency and 119 ambulances and emergency response vehicles. The programme received another boost in March, when a further £ .7m of funding was approved by the Assembly to pay for an additional 30 specialised patient transporters.

Senior managers and staff worked with manufacturers UV Modular to develop the specialist equipment and features for the £115,000 ambulances, which are based on the Mercedes 515 Sprinter van. All are fitted with specialist lifting equipment, satellite navigation and easy to repair and maintain features, ensuring that vehicles are off the road for as short a period as possible.

Most of the new Patient Care Services vehicles are based on the Renault Master van, and can carry up to 10 people and three wheelchairs.

Welsh Ambulance Service National Fleet Manager Tony Cowley said: “We’ve done a lot of work with our PCS and control room staff to make sure we have the right vehicles. We have to transport a lot of people every day and it’s important we do that in clean, comfortable, modern and well-equipped vehicles which are easily accessible.

“We have a duty to our patients and our staff that we give them vehicles which are fit for purpose and cater for their needs. We have an increasing number of wheelchair patients and we have provided for them with greater carrying capacity, and we have also taken into account people with sight problems by fitting handrails. And we have a radio system to provide entertainment on long journeys.

“We have used wipe-down material to avoid crosscontamination by making them easier to clean so they are much healthier for patients and for staff.”

So far, 42 of the new PCS vehicles are in service across Wales, making a difference to the everyday transport of five and a half thousand people, with more of the new fleet coming into service each week.

Essex Police team up with Ford for driver training driving skills throughout Essex Police have been enhanced this year through a unique partnership between the force and Ford’s Dunton Technical Centre near Basildon.

Dunton is the UK’s largest automotive research centre, and its test track facilities, which include a high-speed circuit, are used to develop new Ford vehicles. By granting Essex Police access to these facilities Ford has given police officers the opportunity to practice newly acquired skills before taking them onto the public road.

Sgt Paul Hooks, a police driving instructor with 1 years policing experience in Essex, said: “Working together with Ford, Essex Police can utilise some of the best facilities in the county and save money that would otherwise be spent on alternative training sites.

“Pooled together, the knowledge and expertise in road and vehicle safety from both Ford and Essex Police will ensure that our driver training courses are one of the most highly regarded across the UK.” Graham Hoare, executive director of powertrain and head of Ford Dunton, added: “Safety is a priority for us at Ford Dunton and by working with Essex Police our facilities can be used to the benefit of the community as a whole.”

DSA consults on charges for delegated examiners the driving standards Agency (DSA) is considering proposals to review the charging arrangements for delegated examiners employed by some fire brigades and police services as well as certain bus and freight logistics companies.

The suggestion is one of a number of potential changes to the way the DSA conducts its business which are contained in a recently published consultation paper.

The proposal to review charging and modernise the standards assurance arrangements for delegated examiners employed is, according to the DSA, intended to ensure that the tests conducted are to a “fair and uniform standard”, and to build on the improvements to arrangements for in-house theory testing service announced in February.

The consultation paper states that: • Existing delegated examiners will be transferred to the new scheme automatically, but they will need to meet the revised criteria for retaining approval.

• Existing delegated examiners who undertook the four-week initial training course and who wish to deliver Driver CPC tests will need to complete refresher training to take account of

September/October 2007 • fleet999

changes to the practical driving test. However, with the introduction of the 3rd Directive that requires mandatory Initial Qualification and Periodic Training for all driving examiners, the four-week driving examiner training course will increase (potentially up to six-weeks).

• Persons approved to deliver Driver CPC-related tests will be required to attend a two-day course to enhance their skills and knowledge of the new tests.

• Examiners who wish to continue to conduct licence acquisition tests only will be required to attend a one-day course to familiarise themselves with the requirements of eco-driving.

The cost of this update training will be £250 for the one-day course and £500 for the twoday course, and a series of training courses will be held at the DSA training establishment at Cardington, near Bedford.

The paper also sets out in detail new cost recovery arrangements in respect of both inhouse theory tests and practical tests, along with proposed increases in fees for a wide range of theory and practical tests.

The consultation will run until November 23, and can be found in full at www.dsa.gov.uk/ Documents/consult/cp2007paper.pdf.

5

news

Operation Mobile Cam goes forcewide

Merseyside Police has launched its first forcewide operation aimed at shaming people using a mobile phone while driving.

Operation Mobile Cam was launched as a trial in Sefton in May this year and, following its success, it has been rolled out across the force.

The operation is aimed at deterring people from using their phones while driving. It follows the introduction of new legislation in February, which increased the penalties for those caught using a hand-held mobile while driving. Despite the tougher penalties – three penalty points and a £60 fine – Merseyside Police caught 900 people breaking this law in March this year during a month-long enforcement campaign.

In response the force introduced Operation Mobile Cam, which sees offenders photographed and their images released on the Merseyside Police website as well as published in the local media. The latest one-day operation saw a total of 115 people issued with fixed penalties or summon.

Thatcham launches accreditation for fleet management systems

Inspector Dave Bell, of the Roads Policing Unit, said: “The trial in Sefton proved that there are still too many people flouting the law and putting lives at risk by using a mobile phone while driving, and the force feels this is something which needs to tackle head-on.

“Our whole aim is to reduce the number of people committing this offence and ultimately reduce road injuries and road deaths. There is extensive research that clearly demonstrates that is a dangerous offence – offenders are not only risking their safety, but the safety of innocent motorists and pedestrians too.

“This operation is not about punishing motorists but reinforcing the message that using their phone when they are behind the wheel is an offence which could have serious consequences.

“The ultimate measure of success for an operation like this would be to find very few motorists using their phones. Over the course of time, I sincerely hope this work results in a major reduction of people using their phone behind the wheel.”

Federal Signal buys ANPR specialists PIPS Technology Federal Signal Corporation has bought leading ANPR manufacturer and facial recognition software developer PIPS Technology, which has offices in both Hampshire in the UK, and in Tennessee, America.

Federal Signal CEO Robert Welding said: “This acquisition fits tightly with our plans to significantly expand our market-leading set of public safety and security solutions for emergency managers, first responders and law enforcement agencies.

“Under Alan Sefton’s leadership, PIPS has built a

commanding position in the UK and other European markets, and has established a technology leadership position in the developing US market.

Federal Signal is uniquely positioned to accelerate the technology deployment in the US, as municipal and homeland security initiatives will increasingly deploy license plate recognition technology.

“ANPR is also used for enforcing congestion tolling systems in city centres, and for the nation’s expanding toll road networks. The growth rate for this technology should approach 20 per cent per annum for the next several years.” resolution

Thatcham has launched a new criterion within its quality accreditation system specifically for the evaluation of fleet management systems.

The new Thatcham Quality Accreditation (TQA) Criteria for Telemetry – Fleet Management Systems has been developed to provide two varying levels of recognition – Fleet Management Standard, for systems providing fleet movement data and other additional information for fleet organisations, and Fleet Management Secure Systems, which provide additional alerts in the event of illegal movement.

Speaking about the new TQA Dean Lander, Thatcham’s accreditation manager, said: “This is another great development for Thatcham Quality Accreditation.

We maintain all of our usual high standards in relation to manufacturing process control evaluations, with systems tested to Thatcham’s telemetry system performance test specification ensuring that the units are robust and reliable. We then evaluate the systems user interface to ensure the system is easy to use and provides accurate and relevant information for the fleet managers.”

The centre also announced the successful accreditation of the first Fleet Management Standard systems – Mileage Management’s ‘Asset’ and ‘Live’ systems, ‘Trac Automotive’ supplied by Alphamicro Components, and ‘Tracker Reporter’ from Tracker Network UK. For more information, visit the Thatcham website at www.thatcham.org.

Websites merge for new look AmbulanceUK ParamedicUK, a web site for pre-hospital care professionals, has been re-launched under new management and merged with sister site AmbulanceUK. Those running the site say that the new-look AmbulanceUK will bring ambulance news, discussions, careers information and a whole lot more, combining the best features of the two old sites.

New features include separate discussion forums for each of the 16 UK NHS Ambulance Trusts, detailed recruitment information for each service and support, assistance and legal advice for potential ‘whistleblowers’.

The site is now operated and maintained by a group of ambulance workers located all over the UK.

May/June 2005 fleet999 • September/October 2007

news

Dutch and Dorset colleagues share good practice on bikes and community beats Five Dutch police cycle officers have been sharing their knowledge and experience with colleagues in Dorset regarding the role of bike police in neighbourhood and community policing.

The officers, ranked from Pc to chief inspector, spent four days with the force over the summer, giving Dorset officers demonstrations of their neighbourhood policing bike team and going out on patrol in Bournemouth with the force’s Community Beat Officers.

They rounded off the trip with a tour of the facilities at Dorset Police HQ, and were presented with a Dorset Police helmet and small mementoes

by Assistant Chief Constable Adrian Whiting, who said: “It’s always a pleasure to welcome officers from other forces – whether from home or abroad – to Dorset.

“Safer Neighbourhood Teams play a pivotal role in community policing and I hope that the Dutch officers will be inspired by their visit to Dorset. I’m sure that our Bournemouth officers will take on board the knowledge demonstrated by our guests, particularly of the role bike teams can have within neighbourhood policing.

“We are always keen to see how our colleagues tackle the day-to-day challenges of neighbourhood policing.

As we continue with our objective to make the neighbourhoods of Dorset safer and feel safer for everyone, the sharing of knowledge and good practice is hugely beneficial.”

New Road Safety Minister to speak at fleet conference Jim Fitzpatrick, the new Minister for Road Safety, has been confirmed as a keynote speaker at the Fleet Safety Forum’s annual Best of the Best Conference, which takes place at Birmingham’s National Motorcycle Museum in November.

The Minister will speak on Government developments on work-related road safety for the first time at this event, which will showcase innovative and effective policies and procedures to tackle

work-related road crashes.

Mr Fitzpatrick said: “I’m pleased to confirm my attendance and speaking slot at this important event. With at least one in four of all UK road deaths involving an at-work driver, work-related road safety is of vital importance.

I am sure that the Best of the Best Conference will help fleet managers implement the appropriate safety standards and ultimately help save lives.”

The event is organised by road safety charity Brake, whose head

September/October 2007 • fleet999

of education, Jools Townsend, added: “This year’s conference is set to be a great success, with many speakers having won awards for their work in fleet safety. Delegates will hear about a wide range of best practice programmes, which have succeeded in preventing deaths and injuries and saving money. Whether you are starting out in risk management or have implemented sophisticated procedures, I urge you to attend to ensure you’re doing

everything you can to reduce your company’s road risk.”

The event, which is sponsored

by Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance, takes place on Wednesday, November 21, and other speakers will include Andy Jenkins, operations training manager of CEVA Logistics, Dr Will Murray, research director at Interactive Driving Systems, and Tracey Young, fleet manager at ARVAL. More details are available from Brake’s website at www. brake.org.uk.

news

Lift off for Bedfordshire air ambulance service Anglia Two, an air ambulance operated by the East Anglian Air Ambulance (EAAA), has taken to the skies over Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire, just four months after a fund-raising appeal was launched to bring the service to the county.

Previously, Bedfordshire had no access to an air ambulance service while Cambridgeshire shared Anglia One, the charity’s existing air ambulance, with Norfolk and Suffolk. The Bedfordshire appeal was launched at Millbrook in April 2007, and now the new state-of-the-art BK 117 air ambulance is on active service.

The lifesaving team on board the new helicopter is being provided

by Magpas, the emergency medical charity, with specially trained NHS paramedics funded by the EAAA also flying aboard the helicopter.

Anglia Two is currently operating a five-day service and will move up to seven days as funds permit. Its daytime base is RAF Wyton near St Ives in Cambridgeshire.

Pictured are Pilot Neil Waller, Magpas doctor Anne Booth, Magpas paramedic Carl Stevenson and NHS Trust paramedic Tim Daniels.

Longer ambulance journeys mean more patient deaths Government plans to close local A&E departments may lead to more deaths in patients who face lifethreatening conditions but don’t need specialist care, according to research carried out by the University of Sheffield.

The study, published recently in the Emergency Medicine Journal, found that the further seriously ill patients have to travel by ambulance to reach emergency care, the more likely they are to die.

The research, based on a review of life-threatening (category A) calls to four ambulance services, found that overall patients’ risk of death rose by one per cent for every 10 kilometres (six miles) they had to travel.

Patients most likely to be affected by the distance travelled

were those with severe breathing problems. Their chances of dying were 13 per cent if the distance to hospital was between 10 and 20km, and 20 per cent if it was more than 20km.

Under the Government’s current proposals, local urgent care treatment centres will be staffed

by GPs and nurses, treating nonlife-threatening problems, while large specialist centres will focus on treating critical emergencies such as heart attacks and multiple serious injuries.

H o w e v e r, t h e r e s e a r c h highlights the fact that there is an important group of emergency patients whose conditions are life-threatening but who do not need specialist care.

Professor Jon Nicholl, Director of the Medical Care Research Unit at the University of Sheffield, who led the study, said: “Decisions

regarding reconfiguration of acute services are complex and require consideration of many conflicting factors. Our data suggests that any changes that increase journey distances to hospital for all emergency patients may lead to an increase in mortality for some.

“Patients who are in anaphylactic shock, choking, drowning, or having an acute asthma attack need urgent care that would be the same wherever it is provided. It is likely that these patients would survive by travelling a short distance to a local A&E department rather than travelling a long distance to a specialist hospital.”

The changing structure of A&E services has also highlighted the importance of air ambulance services. Responding to the Sheffield University

research, Andy Williamson, director of Warwickshire and Northamptonshire Air Ambulance said: “With the move towards bigger A&E departments in fewer hospitals, Britain is becoming ever more reliant on its network of air ambulances. Warwickshire and Northamptonshire Air Ambulance, for one, takes great pride in the close working relationship that it has with ambulance services, NHS trusts and individual doctors and paramedics, working closely to ensure lives are saved. In many cases, it is the critical care administered by a WNAA doctor at the scene of an incident and then the speed at which our helicopter can reach the most appropriate hospital (not necessarily the nearest) that makes the difference between life and death.”

Force takes to the air with hi-tech Eurocopter WEST Midlands Police have launched a new Eurocopter EC–135P2i police helicopter, to replace the force’s ageing MD 902 Explorer.

The new helicopter spent nearly six months being fitted out and uses some of the most advanced helicopter technology in the world.

It has been fitted with a HD video and thermal camera system – the latest camera and thermal imaging system available to police – and three monitors have been fitted, giving the helicopter crew greater flexibility in gathering video and thermal imagery evidence.

resolution

It also features Skyquest integrated navigation linked to a digital recording system, and Tetra radio systems.

Chief Constable Paul Scott-Lee said: “This new helicopter will be a great asset to West Midlands Police. The advances in technology will mean that we will be able to build upon our achievements and provide an even better level of service.

“The helicopter has been fitted with the most advanced equipment available, ensuring that we can get the best possible evidence and locate suspects and missing people quickly. All of this should help us reduce crime and make communities feel safer.”

May/June 2005 fleet999 • September/October 2007

news

Scottish summit on young driver deaths the association oF Chief Police Officers in Scotland (ACPOS) hosted a Young Driver Strategy Summit recently, in a bid to tackle the high number of RTAs and road deaths involving young people in Scotland over the first half of this year.

The meeting was led by Tayside Chief Constable John Vine, who explained: “I have called this summit because road policing officers throughout Scotland have been expressing concern about the high number of road traffic collisions involving young people.

“The Scottish Police Service is concerned about the worrying increase in deaths of young people under 25 during the first half of 2007 and is working together with the Scottish Executive, Road Safety Scotland and others to address the issue.”

Other agencies involved in the summit – held at the Tayside Police Divisional Headquarters in Perth – included the Driving Standards Agency, the Scottish Road Policing Officers Committee, Crown Office, a road safety expert from Napier University and the Institute of Advance Motoring.

Scottish Transport Minister Stewart Stevenson opened the meeting, and promised a “bold, new approach” to stop young people being killed on the roads. He promised to consider a raft of measures to stop young road users losing their lives, including restricting the size of cars that newly qualified young motorists are allowed to drive, and banning them from carrying passengers or driving at night until they are more experienced.

New RoSPA appointment on driver and fleet solutions a new head of Driver and Fleet Solutions has been appointed at the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents.

Simon Protano will develop RoSPA’s portfolio of training courses and resources for managing occupational road risk, as well as overseeing the RoSPA Advanced Drivers and Riders network.

He has substantial experience working within the driver training arena, starting out as a driving instructor with BSM, and has held senior positions with The Instructor College and more recently IAM Fleet.

He said: “I am delighted to join RoSPA and to have such a great opportunity to make a significant contribution to road safety. We know that driving is the most dangerous thing that the majority of people do in the course of their working lives, and I will be looking for new opportunities to help organisations of all sizes manage occupational road risk.

“It is an exciting time within the fleet industry, with preparations continuing across the EU for the introduction of the Driver Certificate of Professional Competence for bus, coach and lorry drivers. I am keen that RoSPA continues to play a major role within the sector and to be at the forefront of new developments.

“I am also keen to expand the number of volunteers involved in running local RoSPA Advanced Drivers and Riders groups which play a valuable role in road safety by improving driving and riding standards, knowledge and skill.”

September/October 2007 • fleet999

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9

news

Put the squeeze on uninsured drivers Most of you will be aware of the work of the Motor Insurers Bureau (MIB), which was set up more than 60 years ago to compensate innocent road accident victims where the third party was either uninsured or could not be traced. Over the years the cost of these accidents has grown steadily, reaching approximately £340m last year, with the fund (or levy) paid for through the premiums of honest motorists.

The size of the non-insurance problem led the insurance industry to create the Motor Insurance Database (MID), which is run by the MIB, and is used by the police to identify potentially uninsured drivers. The police have instant access to this database and the MIB supplies regular ‘hot-lists’ of vehicles that have ceased to appear on the MID. Now the MIB has launched the Police Helpline, which is designed to make checking a vehicle’s insurance status even easier. A dedicated team of call handlers take calls from officers who have stopped a vehicle on the suspicion of no insurance. Sometimes there can be a dispute at the roadside as to the validity of insurance, which previously meant the officer had to make a string of outbound 10 10

calls to an insurance company’s customer service centres to establish if a policy was in place.

All insurers must provide policy details to the MID within 14 days of any changes being made to the policy, but a phone call to the insurer or broker will establish if cover is valid immediately.

The helpline is designed to do the work for the police. The officer calls a dedicated 0845 number and leaves the rest to the MIB. The call handlers will perform the necessary checks to see if cover exists on a vehicle, and get the answer back to the officer quickly and efficiently. As a result, the Helpline can also reassure the public that accidental seizures will be prevented.

The service is currently available to 29 forces, and so far the MIB Police Helpline has taken more than 10,000 enquiries as a result of roadside stops, with almost 5,000 vehicles seized for no insurance and removed from our roads. Because of the demand the MIB is accelerating the roll out programme to provide access to all remaining forces by October this year.

Hertfordshire Chief Constable Frank Whiteley, the ACPO Lead on the ANPR project, said the Helpline had been designed to make identification of uninsured resolution

drivers “quick and accurate”.

“A phone call to the Police Helpline can save protracted negotiations at the roadside, or the embarrassment of seizing a vehicle unnecessarily,” added Mr Whiteley.

Neil Drane, the Head of the Motor Insurers Information Centre (part of the MIB), believes the roll-out of the Helpline will help to reduce the level of uninsured driving. “In 2006, more than 78,000 cars were seized by the police for no insurance,” said Neil. “Of this figure around 40 per cent are destroyed or sold at auction. This represents a significant number of uninsured cars removed from the roads.

“In the same year there was a 3.8 per cent reduction in the number of claims reported to the MIB. The Bureau is working hard to further reduce the number of uninsured vehicles on the roads and we will continue to work closely with the police with this in mind.”

According to records held by MIB, the worst area in the UK for uninsured motoring is West Gorton in Manchester, where you are six times more likely to be hit by an uninsured driver.

The other top ten areas in the UK with the worst record for uninsured driving are Newtown,

Neil Drane, the Head of the Motor Insurers Information Centre

Smethwick, Nechells Park, Hockley and Handsworth in Birmingham; Bradford; Everton and Croxteth in Liverpool; and Cheetham Hill in Manchester.

Based on population count, you are also four times more likely to be hit by an uninsured vehicle in the Tottenham, Peckham and Seven Sisters areas of London.

Susan Beck, Head of Communications at the MIB, added: “We produce useful materials to support the awareness of the Police Helpline.

Officers know at first hand the stress they feel when they come across drivers who think they are above the law and who drive without insurance. Uninsured drivers are 10 times more likely to have committed other driving offences and six times more likely to have a conviction for drink driving. By ‘putting the squeeze on the uninsured driver’ the police are making roads safer for all road users.”

May/June 2005 fleet999 • September/October 2007

news

Cleveland opt for new Unimog

Deal to cut cost of leasing vehicles A new pan-government framework worth

The Local Government Procurement Directory

up to £270m over three years has been awarded Cleveland Fire Brigade has for the lease of cars and car-derived vans. taken delivery of a new all-terrain Launched this week, the OJEU-compliant new Mercedes Benz Unimog, to deal will save significant time and money for public help firefighters to work in any LG-4231-Arval UK 27/9/07 sector 11:04 Pagewhich 1 will avoid having to organisations, environment and in all weather undertake their own procurement processes for conditions. leased vehicles.

The Unimog, which will be Developed with the help of the collaborative based at Grangetown Fire Station, procurement fleet team at the Office of Government replaces the service’s ageing Commerce (OGC) and organisations including Pinzgauer offroad vehicle.Tony Firebuy, HM Prison Service, Hertfordshire and Surrey Marwood, the Brigade’s Director County Councils and the Government Car and of Support Services said: “The All Saints House Dispatch Agency, the framework is a major advance vehicle, which can carry 1,000 23-25 All Saints Street for car leasing within the government sector. litres of water, hoses and ancillary L I M I T E D Bolton BL1 2EJ It provides the public sector with access to very equipment, has been acquired competitive terms and discounts of an average 01204with 458880 to provideTel: the Brigade the of two to three per cent on previous prices, with Fax: 01204 458881 latest technology.

It works to Euro some of the most popular models being available at 4 legislation and will enhance our www.kaltz.co.uk much greater discounts, such as the hybrid Toyota commitment to the environment. e-mail: copy@kaltz.co.uk Prius. The authority leading the framework, NHS “The Unimog increases our Purchasing and Supply Agency (NHS PASA), which capability for dealing with spate alone operates more than 30,000 vehicles, will save weather conditions such as an extra one per cent on top of its already very flooding, ice and snow and will competitive lease rates through the deal. also be used in areas where The deal combines the best elements of a access can be difficult – such as previous popular NHS PASA vehicle leasing the hills and moors, where grass contract together with innovative features available and heath fires are dealt with.”

2008

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a full interactive user website and the ability to profit share on service, maintenance and repair disposal value. More than 130 public sector organisations have already expressed an interest in the framework, and it is expected that more will join over the next few months.

All customers will be able to use this leasing deal alongside other pan-government or other contracts for vehicle purchase and glass to achieve further savings. The framework also allows customers to restrict the number of suppliers by providing for call-offs between an organisation and its selected framework supplier or suppliers. Sustainability can be addressed in the call-off selection process, which allows customers to incorporate their own policies, including environmental factors such as capped CO2 emissions, when selecting suppliers.

A flexibility option means that cars can be taken without maintenance, with alternative payment profiles (including arrears payments), and on lease terms of between one and five years.

The ten successful bidders for the framework were chosen on the basis of criteria such as price, quality, service and sustainability. The suppliers include Appleyard, Arnold Clark, Arval, Automotive Leasing, GE, Lex, Lloyds, Lombard, Masterlease and TCH. All the lease providers have signed a Government Master Hire Agreement with standard terms and conditions across the framework.

LG 4231/14-420

Client Arval UK Ltd FAO Matt Schembri / Sharon Gaskell / Louise Llewellyn-Jones (artwork part supplied as pdf) <sharon.gaskell@arval.co.uk> <louise.llewellyn-jones@arval.co.uk>

Sales Contact: Chris Hoyle

for the first time to the wider public sector, including

Cost-reducing fleet solutions for the Public Sector – Tender Free Why work with Arval?

• Benefit from over 10 years of experience working with the Public Sector.

• There is no need to tender, all products are available under existing framework agreements.

• Enjoy high levels of service from Arval’s dedicated Public Sector team.

Arval is the only fleet company that can offer you complete management of your company vehicles • Fuel Management - the exclusive Government MonitorCard is accepted at 95% of UK fuel stations, reducing and controlling your fuel costs.

• Funding - flexible, competitive and risk reducing.

• Maintenance - A quality assured comprehensive maintenance and repair service.

• Rental - quick access to thousands of vehicles, reducing downtime.

• Driver services – 24 hour contact centre, service booking, collection and delivery.

Plus – We can provide you with a detailed report on your fleets carbon footprint and give you advice on reducing this.

Email us at publicsectorteam@arval.co.uk or visit our website at www.arval.co.uk September/October 2007 • fleet999

11

news

IPCC calls for compulsory guidance and more consistency on police pursuits

The IPCC has recommended ensuring officers are made aware of the handling limitations of vans and 4x4s when travelling at high speeds, as part of its latest report on police pursuits and emergency response driving.

Guidelines on police pursuits should be made compulsory, according to a report by the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

The IPCC published its latest study into police pursuits last month. While it found that many police pursuits were short, involving split-second decisions by those officers involved, the report called for ‘strong and clear’ regulation of this area of policing.

At the report’s launch on police-related driving incidents, IPCC Chairman Nick Hardwick said the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) Guidance on pursuit driving should be compulsory, not advisory as it is at present.

The report – Police Road Traffic Incidents: A Study of Cases Involving Serious and Fatal Injuries – examined all such incidents that caused serious and fatal injuries in the two and a half years from April 2004 to September 2006.

According to the IPCC, the current ACPO guidelines are ‘sensible and provide strong 12 12

boundaries to forces within which to conduct pursuits’.

But he added the Association needed to establish the level at which forces had adopted some or all of the guidelines.

“Given the variation in pursuit practice across forces, the Home Office and ACPO should consider codification of the ACPO guidelines. This would i m p ro v e c o n s i s t e n c y a n d practice across police forces and may ultimately help to reduce the number of fatal and serious injuries arising from police pursuits,” he said.

Motorcycles The report also identified concerns that there were nine motorcycles or mini-motorcycles involved in incidents over the twoyear period. The IPCC believes that pursuits of motorcycles can be particularly dangerous as the rider is much more vulnerable than a driver or occupant of a car, and the tactical options for bringing the pursuit to an end are very limited.

“Currently the danger is that officers initiate a pursuit, and – without any tactics available resolution

to end it – simply wait until ‘something happens’,” added Mr Hardwick.

The IPCC recommends that motorcycle pursuits are limited to instances where a serious crime has been committed and that ACPO should seek to define this more clearly in future revisions to the pursuit guidelines.

“Similarly, we are concerned that the use of police motorcycles as the main vehicle in a pursuit raises significant dangers for the officer who is riding it,” he said.

Pursuit management The report also took issue with the management of many of the pursuits. It found instances where no attempt was made to contact the control room, despite ACPO guidelines stipulating that if there was no communication with the control room there should be no pursuit.

There were also limited risk assessments being conducted, if they were conducted at all.

There was either late or no consideration of any tactics to resolve the pursuit, and the pursuits in the sample most commonly ended with the

pursued vehicle losing control and colliding with a wall or tree, another vehicle, or with street furniture.

The ACPO guidelines on the type and number of police vehicles that should be involved in a pursuit should be adhered to strictly, the report said.

One third of police vehicles leading a pursuit have a ‘black box’ data recorder fitted, and the IPCC also recommended that all such police vehicles should carry data recorders, which should be regularly checked to ensure they are working accurately. Video recording cameras should also be fitted to all vehicles used by traffic officers.

The report criticised the standard of many investigators’ reports. Previous research has also criticised RTI investigation reports for lacking information about the police drivers and stated that there should be greater consistency in terms of their content. The findings of this study indicate that they have not improved since the previous research was conducted.

The IPCC recommends a checklist should be used by investigating officers to ensure the quality and consistency of all investigations conducted, and to aid the identification of lessons that can be drawn from the incidents.

Emergency response driving Emergency response incidents – when a police vehicle was responding to a call for immediate assistance – make up a small proportion of incidents examined in this study but are often more contentious, the report said.

Little research has been conducted into the nature of these incidents, as previous studies have tended to focus on police pursuits.

A total of 18 people were involved in the 13 incidents the research examined in depth.

Nine were pedestrians, seven in a vehicle, one a cyclist and one a motorcyclist. All were white and five were killed. Twelve of the 13

May/June 2005 fleet999 • September/October 2007

news police drivers were qualified to respond to emergency calls.

Three of the police vehicles were vans and one was a 4x4.

The ACPO pursuit guidelines (2004) highlight the handling limitations of vans and 4x4 vehicles, and this is especially the case when these vehicles may have to deal at high speeds with bends and unexpected obstacles in an urban setting.

The IPCC recommended ensuring officers are made aware of the handling limitations of vans and 4x4s when travelling at high speeds. The report also warns police drivers of the danger of travelling in convoy and recommends the pursuit guidelines are considered in emergency response situations.

Call grading Calls for assistance are assessed by communication room staff and prioritised as necessary.

Calls which are identified as an emergency are then graded (in some police forces) in terms of the response required and passed to officers on the ground

to respond. The decision on grading the type of response to an emergency call should rest with the communication room and should be clearly given to the police driver responding.

The current national standards determining the type of response that is necessary do not extend to emergency calls; they only provide one overarching category. But the report found some police forces have devised their own sub-categories of emergency response, meaning that there is some inconsistency across forces.

The IPCC said ACPO should consider whether to amend the current standards to provide sub-categories of emergency response and appropriate guidance as to the type of responses required.

Police Road Traffic Incidents: A Study of Cases Involving Serious and Fatal Injuries can be downloaded from the IPCC website (www.ipc.gov.uk), or is available from IPCC, 90 High Holborn, London WC1V 6BH, tel: 020-7166 3000. n

Facts and figures Police Road Traffic Incidents: A Study of Cases Involving Serious and Fatal Injuries • The report found the total number of RTIs appears to be on an upward trend, with this reflected in the annual figures for 2004/05 (101) and 2005/06 (109).

• A total of 275 incidents were referred to the IPCC between April 2004 and September 2006.

• Of these, 192 were pursuit-related, 33 were related to emergency response incidents and 50 to ‘other’ types of traffic activity.

• The incidents involved a total of 115 fatalities and 273 serious injuries, giving an average of one person killed and one person seriously injured per incident.

• Forty per cent of those killed and 10% of those seriously injured were not wearing a seatbelt.

• Of those drivers tested, three in five (60%) were over the legal alcohol limit for driving. Thirty-five drivers were tested for drugs; of these people 57% tested positive.

• The profile of the drivers shows that the average age was 24, with 100 (98%) of the 102 drivers in the sample male.

Seven in 10 of the drivers were white (69%), 9% were Asian, 5% were black and 3% were of a mixed ethnicity. Data on ethnicity was not stated for 15% of the drivers.

Your customers know how to attract attention… …do you know how to attract theirs? fleet 999 is the only publication focusing solely on the transport and associated equipment used by the emergency services.

fleet 999 is distributed to users, buyers and decision makers across all the emergency services and associated organisations.

To advertise in fleet 999, contact: Jacky Potter: 01206 564045, e-mail: jacky@fleet999.co.uk Richard Place: 0208 404 3825, e-mail: richard@fleet999.co.uk

Your customers are reading fleet 999, they could be reading about you.

health and safety

Can we speak?

As new digital Tetra (Terrestrial Trunked Radio) technology nears its completed roll out to emergency services around the UK, all appears not too well on this apparent leap forward with technology.

Steve Rands (MSc CMIOSH MIIRSM) is the Health and Safety Secretary for the Metropolitan Police Federation.

“If my mobile phone works in a multi-storey car park, why can I only expect incidental coverage on an emergency services radio network?”

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The Airwave Tetra system is already in place across the police service, and will soon be rolling out through fire and rescue and ambulance services, but Steve Rands believes there are still major concerns over coverage.

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recently published 157-page report by the London Assembly, into the emergency service response to the 7/7 London bombings in 2005, criticised the poor command and control of the incidents as they unfolded on that fateful day. We don’t appear to have come that far as similar criticisms were made back in 1987 in the aftermath of the Kings Cross fire.

One of the supposed key benefits of Tetra is that all emergency services will be able to command and control an incident, as all parties will simply switch to the same talk groups. In the past each service utilised their own systems that were incapable of being linked.

The 7/7 report revealed that the emergency services were still operating independent systems as Tetra roll out has still not fully encompassed all services, and this potentially won’t happen until at least 2008.

But is Tetra the answer? It is true to say that in the near future the plug is being pulled, literally, on analogue frequencies, and digital is being ‘sold’ as the replacement. These are governmental decisions and from a police perspective, a national organisation was tasked with the responsibility of producing the user requirement for the new communications systems.

This may be the start of where things went wrong, as we are now left with situations resolution

where I believe the safety of personnel is being compromised, because the system does not do what it says on the tin.

When we learn of a communication failure or issue such as an area of poor radio reception, I am being constantly reminded that “the coverage is within the contracted agreement”. I, like most people in today’s society, possess and regularly use a mobile phone, and I am sure that most of us can remember back in the early 1980s when not only did the mobile have the aesthetics of a house brick but coverage across the UK was very sketchy. However, on the whole my mobile phone works pretty well in all areas, from deepest central London to the extremes where I have used it on the Shetland Isles.

Why then, is this all singing, all dancing digital police radio system subject to so much unreliability? If my mobile phone works in a multi storey car park, why can I only expect incidental coverage on an emergency services radio network?

There are some rural forces and services that will sing the praise of the Tetra system because they are now receiving far more coverage than they previously had, and that has to be a good thing from a safety perspective. Sadly the same cannot be said for the experiences in major urban cities.

Are these major flaws that could expose personnel to serious dangers? Does research need to be carried out, and do we need two networks – one for urban, one for rural? I don’t know if this is even possible. What I do know is that one day the system will let us down and someone will be disadvantaged because something didn’t work as it should.

The emergency services are now playing a game with the cards that have been dealt.

Trying to resolve this national problem in isolation locally with each force or service is no more than a sticking plaster approach to something that needs surgery.

We could go back to whoever initially was tasked with the Tetra implementation for the UK, but unfortunately that organisation has now gone.

So unless somebody with ministerial influence tackles this issue, when the next major incident happens, wherever that may be, the emergency services may still not be able to talk and control the scene, because the incident happened in the wrong place, or because there was a building in the way that interfered with the signals. n May/June 2005 fleet999 • September/October 2007

napfm review

Show beat the storms Going green, corporate liability and new vehicle launches were among the highlights of this year’s NAPFM Conference and Exhibition, which was a success despite some torrential weather. Keith Potter reviews the highlights of the two days, while event organiser Mike Cripps gives his verdict on Wroughton 2007.

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i t h 3 5 0 v e h i c l e s on show, 120 exhibitors, and visitors and delegates from as far afield as Australia, America and Singapore, the National Association of Police Fleet Managers (NAPFM) Conference and Exhibition was once again the main vehicle event in the blue light calendar.

The success of this year’s event came despite the weather, as high winds and heavy showers spread across the Science Museum site at Wroughton Airfield on a regular basis. But while organisers reported that the conditions had resulted in a fall in the numbers of visitors, the quality of both the conference debates at the nearby De Vere Hotel, and the new vehicles, equipment and products on display, were as high as ever.

Delegates spent the first morning of the two-day event covering some of the key issues affecting the emergency service fleet market, and unsurprisingly the subject of alternative fuels was once again high on the Conference agenda.

Mike Waters of Arval – the company w h i c h s u p p l i e s t h e f u e l c a rd f o r government agencies, and which has worked with the NAPFM to provide carbon footprint figures for police force fleets – outlined some of the difficulties facing fleet managers in looking at fuels for the future.

Mike said that the NAPFM already 16

had a reputation as “trailblazers” when it came to the use of alternative fuels, and that vehicle and fuel technology would continue to develop, in response to both climate change and the finite resource of fossil fuels.

“Making buying decisions in this area is full of risks,” said Mike. “It’s very easy to have the wrong vehicles running in your fleet, and to pay for that in a range of ways.”

He warned that government policy decisions could make life even more difficult for fleet managers – citing the

collapse of the Powershift initiative as one example – and also voiced concerns over whether some of the carbon offset schemes currently coming onto the market were achievable.

He also highlighted the questions raised over the sustainability of bio-fuels and their impact on the global market.

While few delegates would have heard of the Mexican tortilla riots, when around 70,000 farmers and poorer citizens took to the streets in Mexico City earlier this year to protest over the sharp price increase in tortillas, the search for alternative

fleet999 • September/October 2007

napfm review

September/October 2007 • fleet999

event to unveil the latest addition to its police fleet, the all-new Volvo V70, alongside a possible vision of the future for UK fleet managers with the new Swedish version of the vehicle, a ‘turnkey’ solution built and equipped in the Volvo factory to Swedish police specification.

Volvo Special Vehicles is currently working with fleet managers in the UK to create a similar police spec vehicle which could lead to a road policing car fitted out and ready for service in around eight weeks.

The new models were unveiled at the show by Lennart Stegland, President of

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“Those are the cases that are the most difficult to defend.

“If the issue is that as managers, you were made aware of a risk, and whatever you did – or didn’t do – failed to work, the key to defence is to be able to explain what you did or didn’t do, and why.”

Conference delegates also had the opportunity to learn more about the work of MIRA – formerly the Motor Industry Research Association, and now a limited company – when senior engineer Nigel Skellern outlined the testing regime ”Our customers are for specialist and converted vehicles unique, that’s why we take carried out at the time to listen and t h e c o m p a n y ’s headquarters in understand exactly Nuneaton. And the what they need” role of VOSA in the recall of vehicles and parts suffering from Neil Piggott, Sales Engineer safety defects was also on the agenda, with a presentation from Jeffrey Sweeting, the Agency’s Head of Vehicle Safety.

W i t h t h e Conference sessions o v e r, d e l e g a t e s joined other visitors at Wroughton Airfield to see some of the All our contracts start with full, detailed latest vehicles and consultation; so our customers get the transport equipment solution that’s right for them. on the market, and the event was the Bott � the vehicle enhancement specialists. focus for some significant launches PRIDE and new products PASSION from manufacturers. www.bottltd.co.uk PEOPLE Volvo chose the CONSULTATION

fuels was one of the underlying causes of the problem. With corn being a key ingredient in ethanol – which the US, the UK and many other countries are looking to in an effort to overcome reliance on oil – farmers in both the US and Mexico have begun to grow industrial rather than edible corn. As a result, the price paid by Mexicans for corn flour, one of the main sources of food for the country’s poorer citizens, had increased by 400 per cent.

Mike also claimed that low residual values and lack of infrastructure for fuels such as LPG made them an unlikely option, although not all forces and manufacturers would agree; Humberside Police’s partnership with Proton for dual fuel vehicles continues to thrive, and the company was again among the line-up of manufacturers displaying vehicles at the show.

But Mike’s overall message for delegates was clear. With the continuing improvements in both engine technology and cleaner oil-based fuels, petrol and diesel remained “the best fuel for now”, while looking ahead “it’s a fuel cell future” as manufacturers including GM Vauxhall, BMW and Honda are all in the race to get an economically viable fuel cell vehicle into commercial production.

While going green is understandably an important topic for fleet managers, so to is the legislation surrounding corporate manslaughter and liability, and a presentation from Solicitor Advocate Mark Scoggins of Fisher Scoggins LLP brought home the need for managers to document their decisions and their reasons why they made them.

Drawing on his experience successfully defending individuals and organisations in a number of high profile cases – most notably Met Police Commissioners Sir John Stevens and Lord Condon against HSE charges relating to roof falls suffered by patrolling officers, and Balfour Beatty in the Hatfield train derailment trial – Mark gave delegates an insight into the realities of facing a judge and jury on charges arising from Health and Safety and Corporate Manslaughter issues.

He underlined the “benefits and bonuses of documentation and records” for managers at all levels, so that in a worst case scenario a manager could show how he or she had reached a particular decision, and the reasoning behind it, even if that decision had proved to be the wrong one.

“The majority of cases we get are not where people have done positive things that have gone wrong, but where they have failed to do anything, where they have omitted to act,” explained Mark.

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napfm review Volvo Special Vehicles, who highlighted some of the improvements to this latest model. These include an increased 724kg payload (modified from the 539kg for standard production) in the D5 diesel model, larger rear load space and underfloor storage area, a reduced turning circle (from 11.9m to 11.2m) to improve manoeuvrability, and increased leg and shoulder room as part of the new intelligent cabin design.

Speaking at the show Sarah Tottle, Special Vehicles Manager, Volvo Car UK, said: “The Volvo V70 has always been much in demand by police forces across the UK, particularly among road policing units. The new model can only enhance its reputation as an essential police vehicle.”

While visitors to the Volvo stand learnt more about the Swedish turnkey policing solution, BMW used the show to launch its first concept Authorities production vehicle. Based on the 530d Authorities Touring model, the vehicle has been developed through meetings with police fleet managers, and as Andrew Buxton, the company’s National Operations Manager for the police sector explained, the car could be ready from the production line as early as 2008.

“The list of things that fleet managers

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fleet999 • September/October 2007

napfm review want to see on a production version of a police traffic vehicle was very close to where we are now with this concept,” explained Andrew. “We are having another meeting with police users in November, and at the moment we are taking things step by step, but if we were to go for type approval it’s possible that the vehicle could be in production in the New Year.”

The event also provided a debut for BMW’s new police spec X5, although unfortunately the vehicle fell victim to the bad weather, when a flag pole broke in the high winds and smashed through the X5’s rear windscreen. But while visitors may not have been able to get a closer look at the popular 4x4 on the BMW stand, the company’s ‘green credentials’ – and in particular the new EfficientDynamics system – are already proving to be a big selling point.

“With many police fleet managers being targeted on CO2 emissions, the fact that the new X5 emits just 203g/km of CO2 is key for many of them,” added Andrew.

Wroughton was also the first opportunity that GM UK had to talk about the launch of its new Special Vehicle Division based at the famous Millbrook Proving Ground in Bedfordshire, which

Image courtesy of David Wright

will be able to produce up to 20 vehicles a day – handling Saab, Vauxhall and Chevrolet models – for the emergency services.

Vehicles will be delivered straight from the factory to Millbrook, where conversion

work is carried out in a ‘production line’ style environment in one of 11 drivethrough build stations.

As well as traditional emergency services vehicles such as the Corsa, Astra and Vectra, the Division will handle

”We manage and schedule our customer’s fleet to make sure their vehicles are on time, every time”

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Melanie Hoxha, Scheduling Administrator

Whether it’s one lone vehicle or an entire fleet, they’ll be back on the road before you can say ‘downtime’.

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0845 330 10 90 www.bottltd.co.uk September/October 2007 • fleet999

PRIDE PASSION PEOPLE 19

napfm review a growing number of special conversions such as the Vivaro prison cell panel van, and the newly-launched Chevrolet Captiva SUV. With ‘bolt-on, bolt-off’ fittings being used as part of the new set-up, and new design and production methods, GM UK estimates a labour cost saving of 30-40 per cent on all decommissioning work.

Dick Ellam, Vehicle Conversions Manager at GM UK, said the new division offered emergency services customers a “whole life service” that would give them “complete peace of mind”.

“This industry-leading package has very much been tailored to meet the needs of our fleet customers in every aspect.

Delivery on time, less administration, and reduced commissioning and decommissioning times are all benefits that fleet managers will welcome, and we are backing up this service with the most comprehensive aftersales service and support,” he said.

Among other vehicles attracting attention at the show were the new Ford Mondeo, along with conversions of the C-Max and S-Max in full livery, Nissan’s new Qashqai, and three new versions of Peugeot’s Expert Van – a dog unit, an incident unit (complete with telescopic lighting mast) and a cell van.

Working Together to Make it Happen

By Mike Cripps, NAPFM Event Manager Following several years of warm summer weather at the National Association of Police Fleet Managers Conference & Exhibition at Swindon, the event was hit by high winds and heavy rain, in keeping with most of this summer. Despite the best efforts of the weather to disrupt the event I am pleased to report that this was one of best conferences to date and many exhibitors have re p o r t e d e x c e l l e n t e n q u i r i e s a n d o rd e r s f o r v e h i c l e s a n d equipment. This was just another occasion to see the emergency services and others working together, this time to save the day for outside exhibitors savaged by the storm.

Whilst the weather kept the numbers of day visitors down on day one, they returned on day two in bumper numbers to give exhibitors a busy time. Once again, members of the emergency services have recognised that the show is one

20

not to be missed. There was the opportunity to see the latest vehicles and equipment on display, and in total 120 exhibitors with 350 vehicles which attracted a lot attention.

Volvo had used the show to launch the all new V70 Police Patrol Car, a vehicle with its pleasing looks attracting a lot of attention from delegates and visitors alike. BMW was showing the latest police version of the 530 Touring which allows forces to almost ‘plug and go’.

The event has in recent years become very much an international occasion and this year was no exception with delegates flying in from Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, USA, Barbados, Trinidad & Tobago, Gibraltar and Ireland.

These overseas delegates joined others representing all of the UK police forces along with colleagues from some ambulance and fire and rescue services. The delegates at the Conference held in the De Vere

Hotel, Swindon heard a top class line up of speakers on a wide variety of subjects. The subjects covered at the conference included fuels for the future, safety of vehicles and vehicle testing along with corporate and individual liability.

The last subject was presented by Mark Scoggins a Solicitor Advocate specialising in the defence of health and safety cases. For an hour Mark had the delegates on the edge of their seats, with tales of horror, practical advice and amusing experiences of the High Court.

Many suppliers are now choosing to use the NAPFM event as their main shop window to target all of the blue light industry. Whilst police vehicles remain the highest percentage on display, a substantial number of ambulance and fire and rescue vehicles were also on show.

This unique event has no shortage of exhibitors on the waiting list for an invite to attend the event.

fleet999 • September/October 2007

napfm review And underlining the multi-service nature of the event, there was also a lot of interest in two paramedic vehicles â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a MINI Cooper S and the new Skoda Scout. The MINI has been designed as a concept car by South Central Ambulance Service for its new Community Health Practitioner (CHP) role, making the vehicle ideal for the solo response role with a high level of visibility. The car was built by MacNeillie, and has a 600-litre cargo volume enabling it to carry the same equipment as frontline ambulance response cars.

A spokesman for South Central Ambulance Service explained: â&#x20AC;&#x153;The CHP MINI is the focal point for the delivery of health promotion and community safety, playing an integral part in the role of CHPs. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The visual impact of the MINI is especially important in promoting and developing proactive engagement with young people, helping the CHPs to interact more effectively and build dialogue within the diverse communities they serve. â&#x20AC;&#x153;MINI have recently launched a new Cooper diesel model, which is ideally suited to fleet applications.â&#x20AC;?

The Skoda Scout is the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first purpose-built medical car, developed according to Skoda in response to the

high demand for the Octavia Estate 4x4, launched in the UK last year.

Martin Burke, Head of Business Sales at Skoda, explained: â&#x20AC;&#x153;We have been inundated with orders from the emergency services in the last few months. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Releasing a purpose-built, partequipped car like the Scout Paramedic allows us to meet the needs of our clients quickly and accurately. â&#x20AC;&#x153;With its off-road ability, the 4x4 Octavia Scout Paramedic is particularly suited to emergency situations in places of limited access such as country roads, flooded fields and rocky hills. We decided

to unveil the vehicle at the NAPFM exhibition to showcase the clear benefits the Scout can bring to the police forces in light of the ever-increasing challenges they face.â&#x20AC;?

For a full review of some of the other new products launched at this yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s NAPFM show, turn to the Fleet 999 Product and Suppliers Directory, starting on P41. n For more information

For more information about the NAPFM Conference & Exhibition please contact the NAPFM Event Office on 01380 734199 and talk to Mike Cripps or Val Brockie, or visit the website www.wiltshire.police.uk/napfm.

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20/09/2007 16:27:29

fatigue

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Managing fatigue risk in the emergency services Long and irregular work hours are part of the job for the emergency services, but there is ample research to show that work performance, health and general well being all suffer as a result of working shifts. Dr Paul Jackson of Fatigue Risk Management specialists Clockwork Research looks at the problems caused by shiftwork and offers suggestions for how organisations could more effectively manage the problem.

Image: istockphoto.com 22

t t h e r e c e n t National Blue Light Users Conference one delegate remarked that, while emergency services workers undoubtedly suffer a high level of fatigue, when a call comes in the rush of adrenaline overrides any fatigue you may be experiencing and you are soon fully alert. It’s true that adrenaline, the hormone that prepares us for ‘fight or flight’, has an alerting effect. Indeed, as an ambulance, fire or police officer attending an emergency scene your adrenaline levels will be pumping; the rush you get in those minutes is undoubtedly powerful, some would say addictive.

But research has also shown that this spike in adrenaline is followed by a dramatic rebound slump in alertness which can cause profound sleepiness.

What happens when the emergency is over and you are driving home after an adrenaline-charged shift? And crucially, where does the responsibility lie should the unthinkable happen, and you fall asleep at the wheel on your way home?

Even when you are not experiencing a post-adrenaline slump, if you work irregular hours, or at times of the day when most people are in bed, you will almost certainly have experienced levels of fatigue that most office workers can only have nightmares about.

Nevertheless, it is highly unlikely that your organisation is doing enough to manage this fatigue at the time when it most needs managing. Organisations with employees involved in safety-critical tasks will undoubtedly have in place a range of controls to mitigate the risks to which their employees are exposed while at work. Yet, for most organisations their responsibility for managing risk begins and ends when employees are at work – not on their way to/from the workplace.

But for shiftworkers, the drive home after a long shift, particularly one that finishes in the early hours of the morning, is precisely when they will be at most risk. At this time they are likely to be impaired by a perilous combination of factors: fatigue resulting from physically demanding work; fatigue resulting from having been awake for a considerable length of time (and having gone without sleep for many hours); and the effect of being awake at a time when natural alertness is at its lowest (due to circadian rhythms). While informal controls, such as the presence of other team members, may help to reduce the risk in the workplace, at the time when you are most fatigued, when you can barely keep your eyes open on the road ahead, you will most likely be doing so alone. fleet999 • September/October 2007

fatigue Shiftwork promotes sleep loss Over the last 30 years there has been increasing research and interest into the consequences of shiftwork. The most consistent finding of this research has been that shiftwork reduces sleep quality and quantity. Shiftwork promotes sleep loss because it schedules sleep for the daytime, when our body is programmed for wakefulness.

Shiftworkers have to try to sleep when the circadian drive for sleep is low and work when the circadian drive for sleep is high. It is no surprise that shiftworkers report reduced sleep length, difficulty falling asleep and waking up feeling unrefreshed.

The amount of sleep lost depends on the shift schedule being worked, but it is generally greatest when working at night or starting work in the early morning.

Sleep is likely to be shortened prior to early shifts, while the individual strategies employed, combined with social/ environmental issues, may cause sleep to be reduced or even omitted prior to night shifts – particularly where day/night shifts alternate within 24 hours. Research has also shown that, following a night shift, the major sleep period may be shortened by as much as four hours.

Shiftwork also promotes sleep loss by causing a mismatch between the daily schedules of the worker and their family and friends. Shiftworkers will often forego sleep to spend time with their children, to attend to day-to-day responsibilities and to participate in leisure activities. As many will know from personal experience, shiftworkers also suffer from sleep loss because sleep during the day is likely to be disrupted by light, heat and other environmental factors such as traffic noise.

An increased accident risk Sleep loss isn’t just an unfortunate side effect of shiftwork: it has a wide range of effects for alertness, performance, health and wellbeing. Sleep loss results in slowed reaction times and impairs our memory, co-ordination, judgement and problem solving ability. How many times during a night shift have you filled in a form incorrectly, left something behind, or forgotten to do something that would normally be straightforward? Lapses in concentration and memory happen for all sorts of reasons, but more commonly than we probably realise, they are caused by fatigue.

Research has shown that the effects of fatigue are comparable with the effects of alcohol. After going without sleep for 23 hours, performance is impaired to a level September/October 2007 • fleet999

similar to that associated with a blood alcohol concentration of 80mg/100mL (0.08 per cent), the legal limit for drivers in the UK. In other words, if you haven’t slept during the day prior to a night shift, by the time you drive home in the morning, your driving will be comparable to that of a drunk driver.

Shiftworkers are not only prone to sleep loss, but also to a number of negative health outcomes, including cardiovascular and gastrointestinal disease. Research has demonstrated that, compared to people working standard hours, shiftworkers suffer a 40 per cent increased risk of cardiovascular disease. This estimate was calculated by a well-designed study that controlled for the confounding effects of age, smoking and family status. Furthermore, the study found that the longer someone was employed in shiftwork the greater their risk of cardiovascular disease.

It has been estimated that shiftworkers are more than twice as likely to suffer from peptic ulcers as day workers. In fact, one study has shown that, on average, workers on permanent shifts develop peptic ulcers after about five years. Shiftworkers experience a high incidence of digestive difficulties for four main reasons: • Digestive activity varies in a circadian rhythm and food eaten at night is not metabolised as well as food eaten during the day; • Shiftworkers eat at irregular times, a factor known to increase digestive irritability; • Shiftworkers use vending machines selling unhealthy snack foods because shops and canteens are closed when they are working;

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• Large amounts of coffee drunk to increase alertness can promote stomach ulcers.

There is also evidence that female shiftworkers are more likely to have adverse pregnancy outcomes, including premature births and miscarriage. For this reason, shiftwork should be considered a risk factor during pregnancy.

What are you doing?

Given that shiftworkers are more likely to make mistakes at work, are at significantly increased risk of having road accidents (both while at work and on the way to/from work) as well as suffering a range of shiftwork-related illnesses, what is your organisation doing to manage the fatigue caused by shiftwork?

At the National Blue Light Users Conference I put this question to the audience of around 160 emergency services personnel. First, I asked them all to stand up. Then I asked them: • To remain standing if their organisation has a policy on alcohol; everybody remained standing.

• To remain standing if their organisation has a policy on drugs; everybody

Research on sleep and the effects of fatigue has taught us that: • On average humans need about eight hours of sleep each night to be able to function effectively (the range is usually considered to be between six and 10 hours); • The effects of sleep loss are cumulative: if an individual needs eight hours sleep per night and goes four consecutive nights with only six hours sleep, then on the fifth day they will have a sleep debt of eight hours, and their performance will be as bad as if they had had no sleep the night before; • Humans are notoriously bad at identifying when they are too tired and will consistently underestimate how badly affected they are by fatigue.

If an individual is allowed 10 hours off between shifts, once commuting to and from the workplace, interacting with family members, eating meals, unwinding, washing and preparing for bed/preparing for work are taken into account, they will find it difficult to obtain much more than six hours of sleep. The sleep opportunity provided to employees needs to take into account the realities of having a life outside of work, to ensure they have sufficient opportunity to obtain eight hours sleep.

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fatigue

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remained standing.

• To remain standing if their organisation has a policy on mobile phone use while driving; about 95 per cent were still standing.

• To remain standing if their organisation has a policy on fatigue; all but six people sat down, and four of these were from the same organisation.

The message was clear: while the work practices typically employed by the emergency services mean that fatigue is inevitable, very few organisations are taking the steps necessary to manage the associated risks. As a consequence these organisations, the employees that work for them, and the people with whom they interact, are regularly exposed to a level of risk that should be considered unacceptable.

The conventional approach for managing employee fatigue is through prescriptive regulations (collectively known as ‘hours of work limitations’) such as the Working Time Directive, and for drivers, the EU Drivers’ Hours Rules.

Many of those involved in emergency or rescue services are exempt from these latter rules, but even where prescriptive limits are in place, these are relatively inflexible and are not based on scientific principles.

Such restrictions also only address one part of the problem – hours spent working – with no consideration of circadian rhythm influences (i.e. the timing of these work periods), or the amount of sleep that an individual obtains during their nonwork period.

While hours of work limitations try to provide simple rules that will cover all individuals and all work situations, the 24

reality is that the same hours of work will cause varying levels of fatigue in different individuals due to personal circumstances, social activities and responsibilities, workload and the different tasks each individual is performing. Consequently, a ‘one size fits all’ approach to managing fatigue can never hope to successfully manage the risks associated with fatigue.

Another problem with this approach is that, by relying on regulations for managing fatigue, valuable data on the extent to which the problem is impacting on the health, effectiveness and wellbeing of employees and of the organisation is lost. The fatigue risks that may impact on the organisation go undetected and remain unknown.

More worryingly, by relying on hours of work limitations to dictate when an individual should and should not work, schedulers may assume that if a shift pattern is legal, then it will be safe. For the reasons discussed above, however, this is not necessarily the case.

New approach to managing fatigue The reliance on ‘legal’ rosters as a fatigue countermeasure has tended to place the responsibility for managing the problem on the individual; the roster is legal, so therefore it must be safe, and it is left up to

the individual to ensure he/she uses their off-duty time to obtain adequate sleep.

Recently, however, a more dynamic approach to managing fatigue has been proposed. The aviation industry, for long at the forefront of the battle to manage fatigue, has shown considerable interest in what are known as Fatigue Risk Management Systems (FRMS), a process of managing fatigue so that it does not become a source of potential harm.

Clockwork works with clients to develop and implement FRMS, and we have learnt valuable lessons for setting up, monitoring and maintaining such systems: • Management need to understand the principles of the FRMS and demonstrate their commitment to managing fatigue risk.

• Ownership of the FRMS needs to be shared between all members of the organisation.

• The development and design of the FRMS will be enhanced if baseline data is collected on the effect that fatigue is having on the organisation.

• The workforce, including all levels of management, should receive education to inform them of the dangers of fatigue, effective fatigue countermeasures they can put in place both at home and at work, and their responsibilities with regard to reporting fatigue.

• A confidential, non-jeopardy Fatigue Reporting System that enables the workforce to report fatigue concerns, or actual incidents related to fatigue, should be set up.

• Shift patterns should be designed with rostering best practices in mind.

Management need to be openly committed to the design, development and upkeep of the FRMS, a commitment which is reflected in the organisation’s statement of fatigue policy. This sets out the responsibilities of both the organisation and of the individual, and while components of the policy may vary, they could include: • Management has a duty of care to provide a roster that allows adequate breaks to enable the workforce to recover between shifts, bearing in mind that life consists of more than just work and sleep.

A Fatigue Risk Management System is an evidence-based and dynamic approach for managing the possibility of loss of people, property, profit and production due to fatigue. In short, it is a system put in place by an organisation to manage: a) the risk of employees becoming fatigued; and b) the consequences arising should they do so.

CASA (Civil Aviation Safety Authority), Australia

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fatigue • Management also has a responsibility to provide employees with information and tools to enable them to manage their personal fatigue risk (e.g. fatigue awareness and countermeasures training).

• Management has a responsibility to treat seriously all reports of fatigue brought to their attention by employees.

Employees also have responsibilities, to use their time off to obtain adequate sleep between shifts, to manage their out-of-hours activities so that they do not adversely affect work performance, and to report operational or personal factors that could increase their fatigue risk.

A sensible first step towards developing an FRMS is to consult with the workforce by implementing a fatigue survey, to gain a better understanding of how and in what ways fatigue is impacting on the organisation. It’s an economical way of raising awareness of fatigue, highlighting risks that may readily be addressed, and provides baseline data against which the future performance of the FRMS can be monitored and assessed.

For employees to be able to make informed decisions about how best to manage out-of-work activities and the impact these may have on alertness, training should be provided on the causes and consequences of fatigue, and strategies that can be implemented to reduce the risk of fatigue-related errors.

Fatigue Awareness and Countermeasures Training (FACT) programmes also enable the principles of the FRMS, the responsibilities of management and the

workforce, and the fatigue reporting system to be explained.

Typically, the operational consequences of fatigue and the performance of the FRMS are assessed through a fatigue reporting system. A confidential reporting system provides an auditable paper trail, and captures data on fatigue that would otherwise be lost. Analysis of this data enables early identification of fatigue risks, as well as trends and seasonal variations to be monitored.

Shift pattern design One of the criticisms of prescriptive approaches to fatigue management is that the variability that exists between individuals means that one size doesn’t fit all. For similar reasons there is no perfect roster that will suit everyone, but by paying attention to some of the basic principles of good roster design it is possible to reduce the harmful effects of shiftwork.

The first of these is to ensure that employees are provided with adequate opportunities for sleep, giving them sufficient time for recovery from both short term and accumulated sleep debt.

To ensure staff morale is maintained it’s also important to recognise the need for work-life balance: a shift worker’s life needs to consist of more than just work and sleep. Roster patterns need to be designed with sufficient time built in for employees to engage in outside-work interests and time to interact with their family. Failure to do so is likely to result in employees sacrificing their sleep in order to participate in these extra-mural activities.

Tips for shiftworkers • Use your time off to sleep. To improve your sleep, ensure that your bedroom is dark and quiet. Heavy curtains or a sleep mask will help.

• Get some exercise before you go to work. Exercise has well-known health benefits and can help you stay awake. A brisk 20 minute walk is well worth the effort.

• Keep your family informed of your shift-schedule so that they know when to expect you home and when to be quiet because you are sleeping. Make a habit of writing your shifts on a kitchen calendar.

• Keep hydrated and avoid foods high in sugar or fats. These foods contribute to gastrointestinal problems and increase sleepiness.

Avoid using vending machines and bring a supply of foods with you.

Pasta, salad or yoghurt are good alternatives, and cheaper too.

• During breaks from work, if appropriate, try to take a brief nap. A 15-minute nap will improve your alertness for the next few hours.

• Where possible, try to avoid shift schedules that are irregular and involve consecutive night shifts. These schedules are the hardest for your body to cope with.

• Use caffeine strategically, saving it for when you really need it. To reduce your caffeine whilst avoiding the negative side effects, try mixing your normal instant coffee with decaffeinated coffee.

September/October 2007 • fleet999

The extent to which a roster pattern is fatiguing will be influenced by the timing of the shifts, i.e. the effect of circadian rhythms. These dictate how our alertness varies across the 24-hour day. As a consequence, our ability to work and to obtain sleep is not equal at all times of the day and night.

Consideration should be given to the varying demands and workloads associated with different types of work, and different working environments.

A range of additional measures may help to minimise the onset of fatigue or mitigate the effects of fatigue, including: • The provision of a designated area to enable employees to obtain sleep (e.g. a 20 minute power nap) prior to driving home – especially important where employees have been involved in emergency situations that are likely to cause a rush of adrenaline, to be followed by an inevitable slump in alertness.

• The provision of alternative forms of transport, or a car-sharing scheme, for occasions when it would be dangerous for severely fatigued individuals to drive themselves home.

• Ensuring that those working night shifts have access to catering facilities.

• Ensuring that adequate support staff are available for the night shift.

The way forward For too long fatigue has been viewed as an inevitability of shiftwork, or as a rite of passage – “I had to put up with it, so why shouldn’t you.” But there is now ample evidence to show that shiftwork and the fatigue that it causes are known, manageable risks.

Those responsible for the health and safety of their employees have a duty of care to take the necessary steps to manage these risks as effectively as they would any other workplace risk.

Establishing an FRMS doesn’t have to be an expensive process, and when weighed against the benefits of reduced absenteeism, improved staff retention and morale, not to mention a safer workforce, these costs are trivial. n Dr Paul Jackson is Managing Director of fatigue risk management company Clockwork Research Ltd, and works as an expert witness in cases where fatigue was suspected as a factor. He has developed guidance for police investigators on how to identify and investigate fatigue-related crashes.

For more information

Web: www.clockworkconsultants.com Email: paul@clockworkconsultants.com

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nissan x-trail

Star quality

Tina Orr-Munro gets behind the wheel of the latest offering from Nissan, the new X-Trail, to find out if this 4x4 has a real future with the emergency services.

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nissan x-trail

t

he tiMe: 2.00PM. The Place: The Spread Eagle Hotel in West Sussex. The mission: To discover if the X-Trail, Nissan’s latest soft off-roader, has the X-factor where the emergency services are concerned.

Having only just arrived in the country in September, following the official launch at the Geneva Motor Show, Nissan has yet to put any of the new X-Trails into emergency services livery. But make no mistake, there is no doubting the company’s keenness to break into the UK market, and its revamped X-Trail series could be the vehicles to do it.

First things first: there are three grades to choose from – Trek, Sport and Aventura – as well as four engine variations, with three of the power units being new to X-Trail.

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Prospective buyers are offered two petrol engines, a 139bhp 2.0-litre and a 1 bhp 2.5-litre, as well as a 2.0-litre turbo diesel.

For the more economically minded, Nissan’s latest 2.0-litre dCi diesel is available with 14 bhp or 170bhp, returning 39. mpg and 3 .2mpg respectively; an improvement on the outgoing 2.2dCi which chalked up 37.2mpg.

Combined economy for the diesel may be good, but this decreases considerably for the petrol alternatives which are 32.5mpg for the 2.0-litre version and just under 30mpg for the 2.5-litre petrol engine.

Having said that, retained values for the vehicle should be promising; the old model was impressive in this respect, and the much-improved current model is

expected to show an improvement.

For the test drive, I was given the X-Trail 2.0dCi Aventura in cream.

Outwardly, it’s surprisingly similar to the first generation car originally launched in 2001. The company says it opted to retain its robust shape due to customer demand. But there the similarity ends, and there should be enough changes to encourage most to take a closer look and please fans of original. For a start, it features a new chassis and body, an expanded range of more powerful engines (which the company promises will provide better performance and economy), more equipment, enhanced comfort and a greater interior space, all of which are intensely relevant to the emergency services.

Highly pleasing sand-coloured leather upholstery graced the interior of my vehicle. The model also boasts heated and powered front seats, intelligent key and electric folding door mirrors with chrome exterior.

The fully adjustable seat and wheel should suit even the most ungainly of frames and offered plenty of back support, which is a must for anyone expected to spend long periods of time in the vehicle. How resilient this system would be with continuous use is, of course, difficult to say.

The dash is upmarket, but simply laid out with chunky, easily readable dials. Practical features such as six cup holders, a generous glove box and dashtop cubby are also pleasing additions.

The new X-Trail is slightly larger 27

nissan x-trail

than before; its wheelbase has increased by 5mm to 2630mm, while overall length has risen by 175mm to 4630mm. Much of this extra length can be found in the luggage area which has increased dramatically in size.

This has been achieved by rerouting the exhaust silencer from its original transverse position under the boot floor to a north/south location alongside the rear wheel well. This has allowed the creation of an innovative double deck trunk, with space for a sliding drawer under the floor.

Unglamourous as it may sound, the biggest selling point of the X-Trail to the emergency services could well be its copious boot. At 603 litres it’s quite simply massive for an SUV, up 193 litres on its predecessor. Leg room in the back has been slightly sacrificed to provide this space, but it’s a small price to pay.

With the rear seats folded down, the new X-Trail also provides a best-in-class luggage space of 1649 litres, rising to 28

fleet999 • September/October 2007

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1773 litres with the floor removed. Its removable false floor and sliding drawer were impressive, while a low load lip and wipe-clean trim added further to the practicality. Given the amount of kit all the emergency services have a tendency to carry around and add to on a regular basis, this spacious offering will certainly add to the X-Trail’s appeal.

To ensure maximum practicality, the floor has been finished in a tough, easy to clean plastic surface in response to customer research which pointed to the X-Trail being used to carry heavy outdoor equipment and dogs! Raised ribs have been placed at unequal distances apart to help prevent loads shifting when the vehicle is on the move.

All X-Trails are equipped with Nissan’s All-Mode 4x4 system which operates in two-wheel drive only to minimise fuel consumption and helpfully transfers into four-wheel drive mode as and when the vehicle detects it is needed or manually selected by the driver. Sport and Aventura, however, get the very latest September/October 2007 • fleet999

intelligent edition known as All-Mode 4x4-I incorporating Electronic Stability Program (ESP), Uphill Start Support (USS) and Downhill Drive Support (DDS).

In terms of its handling, the 2.0dCi Aventura fared exceptionally well in the narrow streets of Midhurst, squeezing comfortably through the tightest of gaps which would have seen a lesser rival having to admit defeat and back up. On the open roads, it was equally at home on the twisty country lanes of Sussex as it was on the busy A27 dual carriageway from Chichester to Brighton.

It may possess excellent off-road credentials, but on tarmac the X-Trail has all the finesse of a car to it. It had ample power coming out of bends. Overall, it had an unimposing presence which may deter some police forces keen to raise their game in the visibility stakes. But it holds the roads exceptionally well and certainly doesn’t share the bulky feel of other 4x4s. It offers the necessary

versatility and certainly earns the title of a satisfying all-rounder.

So does it have a future in the highly demanding emergency services sector?

For the police service, it’s almost too much of an all-rounder to appeal as it is neither a high performance vehicle nor a standard patrol car. Unless a force’s terrain or the car’s function means it must switch repeatedly from off to on-road. If that is the case, then this is definitely a contender.

Its natural home may well be with one of the other emergency services. Its ample boot space and versatility could make it very appealing, especially to paramedics covering urban and rural areas. If versatility and unparalleled boot space are top of you priorities, then few will be able to match the Nissan X-Trail.

Does it have the X-factor? Well, to paraphrase X-factor judge, Louis Walsh, it certainly has a future in the emergency services industry. n

Nissan X-Trail 2.0 dCI Acentura list Price otr £24,043 ENgINE Engine ... Diesel 4-cyclinder 16-valve Capacity .................................1995cc Max power PS(kW)/rpm ..73(127)/2750 Max torque Nm/rpm ..........360/2000

PERFORMANCE Maximum speed ................. 124mph Acceleration 0-62mph ......... 10.0sec CO2 emissions ................... 198g/km FuEL CONSuMPTION Urban cycle ......................... 30.4mpg Extra urban ......................... 44.8mpg Combined ........................... 38.2mpg Gearbox ................ 6-speed manual Insurance Group .........................34E

OTHER FEATuRES Intelligent key, Leather upholstery, Power, heated front seats, Chrome exterior door handles, Tailgate entry guard, Titanium finish centre console, All-mode 4x4i – ESP with Down Drive Support and Uphill Start Support, 17” alloy wheels, Front fog lamps, Cruise control, Panoramic sunroof, Privacy glass, 6 CD auto changer with 6 speakers, Remote audio control, Auto headlamps, Rain sensing wipers, Ski hatch, Heated door mirrors, Bluetooth phone integration, Climate control air conditioning, Split level boot removable drawer.

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police driver training

Setting the standard The latest IPCC report on police vehicle accidents is the latest in a long line of research and guidance on driving standards for police and other emergency services. OWEN LOWER, Senior Driving Instructor for Suffolk Constabulary, explains the development of driver training to date, and some of the key issues for the future of all blue light drivers.

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he Provision within the Road Safety Act 2006 relating to the exemption from speed limits for emergency service drivers is really quite simple; in short, no training – no exemption.

The drafters of the legislation have also attempted to avoid any confusion by describing the training required as ‘a course of training in the driving of vehicles at high speed.’ This says exactly what it means rather than using loose descriptions which would be open to misinterpretation.

The devil of course is in the detail, and a group of people drawn from the emergency services and other driver training groups are currently looking into the design and content of the new course and the arrangements for the registration of trainers.

For the benefit of the Ambulance and Fire and Rescue services, or indeed any external training provider, account really needs to be taken of the very credible driver/rider training ‘manual of guidance’ currently being used by the police service, and which would serve as an excellent starting point in course design. The 30

origins of this go back to 199 when the then Police Complaints Authority (PCA) expressed disquiet at the high number of police vehicle collisions that resulted in death or serious injuries to the public.

They requested that the service conduct a thorough review of police driver training, and pursuit training in particular.

Two years later the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) produced their response in a report entitled Police Pursuit Driver Training. The report contained many and various recommendations and I only need to refer to a few in particular. Suffice to say that the working group had carried a very full and thorough review of all aspects of police driving, looking at training, operations, technology and administration.

One of the recommendations concerned setting a national standard for all police driver training. This is not to say that what had gone on before was seriously defective in any way, but there were differences throughout the country, mainly involving course content and length.

I think it’s important to emphasise at this stage that while this 199 report instigated a major change, there had been many previous reports on different aspects

of police driver training and pursuit management over several years, but this was the first one instigated from outside of the service. Much of the previous work was either overseen by or carried out by practitioners in a group called the National Police Driving Schools Conference. This group has been in existence for many years and I’ll refer in greater detail later.

Another recommendation was that there should be national guidance on Police Pursuit Management. While previous reports had perhaps nibbled at the edges of this important subject, and many areas of best practice had been circulated, the actual detail of the subject was left largely to individual forces to implement, dependent upon the level of the problem in their particular area.

During the autumn of 2000, National Police Training produced a new police driver training guide, and for the first time there was a formal common standard of course content and assessment for the whole country. Three main levels of driver training were set – Basic, Standard and Advanced.

In practice, application of the Basic level can vary throughout the country, fleet999 • September/October 2007

driver training

but the main aim is to assess safety and competency to allow a police vehicle to be driven to carry out enquiries or for other routine purposes. This infers that the driving is primarily for transportation purposes and certainly not to include the use of emergency response equipment or any legal exemption.

The Standard driving course, often referred to as the Standard Response course, is generally a three-week course where the principles of Roadcraft are taught. The Advanced driving course is mainly delivered to officers deployed in specialist roles requiring this level of training, and course lengths can vary depending on the student-trainer ratio, but a typical duration is four weeks.

CENTREX, the successor to National Police Training, later took on the responsibility of amending and updating this publication on guidance from the National Police Driving Schools Conference. Subsequently new training guidelines for police motorcycle riding courses were issued and for the first time, guidelines for police instructor training. This new training package was competency-based with extra training September/October 2007 • fleet999

modules to complement the main driving and riding courses, for example van and personnel carrier training, off-road training, and skid avoidance and correction. In 2004 the guide was amended to reflect the National Occupational Standards that had been set for all policing roles.

Of interest is the fact that within the training package we had for the first time an ‘emergency response’ training module.

While such training had previously been carried out on a fairly ad hoc basis there was no common standard. In fact, it’s only in the last 10-12 years or so that our smaller ‘beat’ patrol vehicles have all been equipped with sirens, a requirement no doubt brought about by the everincreasing volume of traffic and the Police performance target culture that started during the mid 1990s.

Perhaps the most controversial aspect for some trainers with the introduction of the new training guidelines was the loss of a marking system to recognise a driver’s classification / authorisation level.

Following quickly on from receipt of the new training guidelines came the first national guidelines on the management of police pursuits. The authors had carried out very detailed work resulting in extremely comprehensive guidelines, both to address the concerns of the PCA and to enable an effective training and operational reference document. To be critical, the guidelines were perhaps far too detailed.

So we had national training guidelines and new pursuit management guidelines in place when in 2002 the PCA produced a second damming report, Fatal Pursuit, which again focused on the continuing high level of police vehicle collisions that resulted in death and serious injuries during the period 1998-2001. Publicity on these issues has been – and remains – very topical on the media agenda.

ACPO’s response to the report was that the new procedures were still settling in, but the PCA were critical of a fragmented, non-teamwork approach to the management of police pursuits, and highlighted that investigating officers were regularly trying to lessen the problem by stating that the police were not actually ‘in pursuit’ but only ‘following’ the fleeing vehicle. The PCA strongly recommended that the word ‘follow’ be removed from police vocabulary in respect of pursuits, stating that if we were trying to stop a fleeing vehicle, in whatever circumstances, then the incident was always to be classified as a pursuit. The author of the report, Dr David Best, also said that the UK police service was not particularly good at recording details of pursuits,

and accepted that some of his research had necessarily been based on data from the USA. Clearly the service could not ignore ongoing criticism and work commenced on redrafting the already adequate Pursuit Management Guidelines. April 2004 saw the publication of yet another PCA report, Following Fatal Pursuit, again examining collisions but over the period 2001-02.

This time the PCA additionally sent a copy to the Chairs of police authorities, perhaps in the belief that chief officers rarely saw, or were not being adequately briefed, on the content of such reports! New, updated Pursuit Management Guidelines were also circulated to coincide with the publication of the PCA report.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), which succeeded the PCA in 2004, has – since 2005 – been conducting an ongoing major study into the whole issue of serious police vehicle collisions, with the full co-operation of the police service; its report was published on September 18 (see P12-13).

In 2005 ACPO, working in conjunction with the IPCC, highlighted to chief constables that in the vast majority of collisions involving pursuits it was not the trained advanced police driver that was really the problem, it was those officers trained to standard level who were more regularly involved in those day-to-day short time and distance pursuits, usually having commenced with a simple ‘fail to stop’.

Pursuit management training is now being delivered to all standard trained drivers.

Another of the recommendations of the 1998 ACPO report was that all police drivers attending courses should receive attitudinal training, based upon the work of Dr Gordon Sharp, author of a book entitled Human Aspects of Police Driving.

This work was originally pioneered at the Scottish Police College. Dr Sharp has a background in aviation medicine, and while he wrote the book specifically for the police driver he hoped it would also prove useful to members of the other emergency services, as well as the private motorist who sought information on how the mind and body react in the complex driving environment.

Inappropriate attitude can occasionally impact on driver training, as can what I will loosely describe as human rights issues, mainly those concerning grievance in its various forms. For example, some officers are very quick to cry ‘unfair’ these days should a course result or training decision not go in their favour.

Basic authorised drivers can adopt a ‘noble cause’ attitude by responding to incidents using blue lights and wailers in 31

driver training

Photo: NewsPics

the mistaken belief that it is their duty and right to do so, despite not being trained and authorised. ‘Mission Creep’ can also be a problem – wanting to do more beyond the level of driving authorisation and without the appropriate training. It’s an issue common throughout the country and one unfortunately – and occasionally misguidedly – condoned by some police managers.

One of my colleagues recently described his own force’s driving policy as like a rag, constantly being pulled and tugged in all directions by everyone wanting a piece to suit their own agenda.

The PCA report of 2004 highlighted that some constabularies seemed to operate a culture that supported the risky decision making of officers, even when policy has clearly been breached. They warned that without appropriate guidance, with safety highlighted, these ‘unwritten’ messages would be likely to result in increasing numbers of collisions in the future. Furthermore, the report identified that if officers regularly engaged in actions that were not consistent with policy, it was the organisational culture that must be addressed rather than the individual driving behaviour.

In an attempt to help address attitudinal issues, a majority of forces have, over the last few years, been working with Dr Lisa Dorn and her team at Cranfield University by providing data to assist in developing the Police Driver Risk Index, an online driver risk assessment process.

Recently the Metropolitan Police Service commissioned research into how training and stress impact on an officer’s attentional system. The Policing the Mind report was presented to the Met late last year and subsequently circulated to all forces.

Some constabularies do take these issues very seriously, if only being concerned with the high cost implications of collisions, but the bottom line is safety and protection of our constabulary 32

position, should an unfortunate incident occur. While the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Bill was marking time due to various amendments, it was finally enacted in July, and chief officers need to be aware of its implications should our policies and procedures in respect of our drivers and training not be complied with. Similarly with the relevant Health and Safety guidelines; safety has to be paramount and this should always take precedence over any other issue.

In respect of police vehicle collisions we do have a few officers who let forces and their trainers down by causing collisions, or damage to vehicles, that in most cases are avoidable. For example, some drivers are not very good at reversing vehicles, even after recent changes to the DSA driving test. If we took the reverse gear out of our vehicles then we would immediately save £28,000 – that being the cost of repairing Suffolk Constabulary vehicles that were damaged last year going backwards!

Reversing does not seem to be a skill practised much after passing the driving test. This concern is echoed around the country, to what are seen as very unnecessary collisions, so reversing and manoeuvring exercises now form part of our driver training.

Our relatively small force operates just

over 400 vehicles and the total cost of all our blameworthy collisions/damage last year was £152,000. The total figure nationwide is probably approaching £10m, but an account should also be taken of the very high mileages travelled by police vehicles. Like many of my colleagues who supervise driver training units, I am also involved in the monitoring of police vehicle collisions and dealing with erring drivers. Again, while some operational battle damage is expected, such incidents are by far in the minority.

Similarly, we fully recognise the pressures of the police workplace, the dangers faced and the need to attend some incidents quickly. A very professional and balanced evaluation is therefore always carried out when reviewing incidents of police vehicle damage or collisions. Where appropriate, use is also made of data in the vehicles’ ‘black box’ recorder, in whatever form it may be fitted.

The ACPO report of 1998 emphasised the need for constabularies to be vigorous in the supervision and audit of police vehicle collisions, and I think that we would all like the time to be more proactive in a preventative role, such as carrying out unannounced spot checks on drivers to ensure that standards were being maintained. It has to be appreciated that when dealing with some offenders – from the yob element to the serious career criminal or perhaps terrorist – who engage us in pursuits, there is always going to be an element of danger; either a dogged determination to evade arrest, or knowing that arrest is inevitable, continuing the pursuit just to cause the greatest damage to our vehicles.

On a positive note, I don’t think that there can be a greater feeling of pride for a trainer than to witness one of their past students going professionally about their business in a police vehicle – looking and acting the part and creating an excellent public image. Knowledge that a skilled

Photo: istockphoto.com

fleet999 • September/October 2007

driver training and competent driver or rider has been trained, developed and is well equipped for their duty, is indeed very satisfying.

So how does the service pull all this together and ensure best practice and common standards? I referred earlier to the National Police Driving Schools Conference.

This is a body of driver and rider training experts drawn from different forces to advise the service on such matters, and which has been in existence for many years. The conference meets formally twice a year and a regional chairman represents every force in the country. They also chair Regional meetings that usually take place twice a year. In recent years a representative from the Driving Standards Agency has also been an integral member of the national group.

Recently in some ACPO quarters, the National Police Driving Schools Conference was seen as being unnecessary, and a 2006 review of ACPO committees and responsibilities unfortunately endorsed this view – in short, as the Conference was not an approved ACPO forum, then its deliberations and decisions had no formal ACPO endorsement, despite it having worked very effectively for many years.

After some debate, the requirement for such a group was acknowledged, but

it was also recognised that the structure of the group was in need of review. In response to this perceived need, a smaller steering group has been established, the National Police Driving Standards Group.

It has a remit encompassing three broad aims: • The setting and maintaining of national standards for police driver/rider training.

• The management of ACPO driver/rider related projects.

• The identification of and research into emerging issues in the field of police driver/rider training.

The Driving Schools Conference will remain in existence as a practitioners’ body and consultation forum for the new Standards Group.

The issues facing police driver/rider training are significant at the present time. Considering the implications of and responding to the long awaited report from the IPCC, another review of the Pursuit Policy, the impact of the Road Safety Act on emergency service drivers, Skills for Justice, the accreditation of training and the move of all police training issues to the National Policing Improvement Agency, following the cessation of CENTREX earlier this year, are only a few of these issues.

Photo: NewsPics

Work is currently being developed nationally with an online police driver training forum, possibly linked to relevant e-learning courses. The new Roadcraft – due to be published later this year – should also be available to the service online as a pre-read for students, and a project investigating simulators for some aspects of police driver training is also ongoing.

In conclusion we have, as a service, been very fortunate in having a national forum on driver and rider training for many years, and this will continue. Many of the practitioner members (past or present) also have a day job and their commitment to this extra curricular, strategic task is acknowledged and certainly not underestimated. The service is indebted to their past and continuing professionalism and enthusiasm. n

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driver training

Time for training change PC Robin Mouzer of the West Midlands Police Federation believes the time has come for major changes in driver training. In the first of two articles, he looks at the problems facing today’s facing today’s police drivers, and the dangers of putting inadequately trained officers behind the wheel.

I

t doesn’t seem so long ago, on a cold winters day in 1970, that I asked my senior Police Constable: “When will I get a driving course, Roy?” He looked at me curiously as I had just a few months in the job. “You may get one son, but first learn to be patient,” he replied. “Driving police cars isn’t something anybody can do. There’s a lot of training and you have to keep practicing.”

He explained that before I got a basic course I would have to have a driving assessment; 12 months later the assessment day arrived, along with a Wolesley 16/60, complete with a gleaming electrically-operated bell on the bumper. The Driving School sergeant got in, and with two other students in the rear I drove first… I was off!

I’m still not sure where the humped back bridge came from, just around the back of HQ. We took off into the air in two and a half tonnes of metal, with no power steering, drum brakes and me hanging onto a steering wheel so big it looked September/October 2007 • fleet999

like it was meant for an ocean liner. We landed with a crash, and the electric bell sounded loudly as we hit the road, but I was in full flow and careered onward until I heard a calm voice say: “Just pull over here Mouzer.”

We had only gone two miles. I could still hear the sound of the bell ringing in my ears, but I had taught myself to drive in a three-wheeled Bond Bug on a motor cycle licence, and passed my car test just months before, so I knew I must be good.

The Driving School sergeant didn’t agree. “That was a frightening piece of driving. You will not drive until you have passed a selection for a three-week course and you need some training.”

The sergeant’s voice was level and never wavered. “I’m going to drive you back to HQ and show you how it should have been done.” We glided back at speeds I couldn’t imagine without a tremor from the chassis or grumble from the engine.

How did he do that? He made it look so simple.

After some local driver training the day

came for my assessment. The Driving School sergeant emerged to take us out. “When I saw it was you Mouzer I dressed for the occasion,” he explained.

He was resplendent in motorcycle helmet and gloves, cricket pads and a metal breastplate he had taken off the armour that was kept in HQ. I looked up and saw numerous heads looking out of the windows of the building smiling and laughing.

He took me out and I passed the assessment and waited for my basic course. I had started a process that led to me joining the ranks of advanced police drivers. Of course ‘training’ and ‘practice’ were the key. The courses were tough, and I practiced my driving skill when I got back to division with other advanced drivers. It is fundamental to the whole concept of police driving and those haven’t changed, albeit the mechanics and technology have.

I’ll always remember the words we heard in the classroom: “When you get in that car with the word ‘Police’ 35

driver training emblazoned on it, the public have an expectation that the officer has the highest standards of training, and expect uniform officers in particular to respond in a positive and professional manner.

They expect us to do something and react when things happen, so we have to be sure that the first thing we don’t do is run one of them over!” How true those words are.

When a police driver kills or injures an innocent member of the public, the emotion and distress caused is always enormous. We always say that we as an organisation will learn lessons; we appear to have learnt some but ignored others. We have ‘pursuit policies’ and far better Health & Safety protocols in place designed to protect everyone, but some things have not improved. Managers expect too much from young officers, who drive police vehicles with very little or no training. How are they supposed to practice? What is there in place to support drivers between courses?

Large numbers of young police officers now drive marked police cars around after just a one-day assessment. I now see Police Community Support Officers driving marked police vehicles around, again with limited training. They are all drivers who have had no more training than your average driver – the same as me on that day in 1970. I believed I could cope with all the pressure of police driving; how wrong I was, and I believe that many of our police drivers are in that position today.

How did a one-day assessment suddenly become a one-day ‘course’?

Pressures on resources and finances, and some poor management decisions taken in haste, have led to a situation that needs to be addressed urgently and with vigour. Brave decisions have to be taken by senior managers to right what has gone wrong. Telling officers they may have to ‘walk the beat’ for longer before they drive may not be popular but I see no other way. To get all of the current ‘one-day assessment’ drivers in my own force trained on an appropriate course would take about seven years at our current levels of expenditure and staffing on driver training.

After saying we would no longer use Financial Year 2002/03 2003/04 2004/05 2005/6 Total

36

the Unit Beat Vehicle one-day course, we have now returned to it with a vengeance because of the pressures placed on our organisation by society and government.

Our force budgets are being cut again and managers have no choice but to prioritise. I don’t envy the decisions they have to take, but our primary obligation is to save life.

We put a uniformed officer in a marked patrol car with a blue light and horns and say to them: “You can drive this police vehicle from A to B but you must not activate the equipment. We are going to send you to many jobs – thefts, robberies and the like – every day that sound urgent, but you must not rush or panic and keep within the protocols.

Even if you see a serious incident happening in front of you, you must NOT activate the equipment and not pursue, and keep within the limits of the average every day driver.”

All of those members of the public looking in through the window of the vehicle and pointing at you expect a little bit more. I’ve been there when the shouting starts: “You’re supposed to be doing something,” and “Are you a coward? Why don’t you follow them?” It’s a huge pressure situation that takes real courage and discipline to deal with; some times officers waver and pay the price.

I am sure that many people will say this example is unfair and extreme, but I say it’s not. When an incident happens in front of an officer, every eye is on them.

Every member of the public looks their way, and expects that police officer to do what they perceive to be their duty. Most of the public only know what they see on The Bill and expect the tyres to scream and the chase to start. Imagine putting a young police officer under that pressure – who would do that? Well, we the police forces of England and Wales do many times a day. Then we wonder why we have fatalities and so many injuries and so much damage to our police vehicles.

A car is a lethal weapon. Vehicles kill more than 3,200 people every year, we all know and acknowledge that. Around 80 people are killed by firearms every year.

I know there are probably more people with cars than with guns on the streets, but the numbers are still horrific.

Pursuit Emergency related response 26 3 18 9 23 6 32 4 99 22

‘Other incidents’ 11 9 15 12 47

Total fatalities 40 36 44 48 168

So would we give a young uniformed officer a gun with one day’s training, and send them onto the streets with the instructions: “It’s loaded but you have to keep the safety catch on, and never fire it – even if you see a person’s life in danger.” We wouldn’t even contemplate it. The blue light and siren is the safety catch on a police vehicle, and officers driving unmarked vehicles can be even more lethal because you can’t see them coming.

If my analogy is unfair, let’s go back to the figures. In 2005/6, 48 people were killed by police officers driving cars on our roads, only four of whom were answering 999 calls; 32 were killed in police pursuits and 12 in ‘other road incidents’, so at least a quarter of those poor souls were killed for non-emergency calls. Everything I see suggests that at least half of the fatalities are needless. We are killing the people we are supposed to protect, because the majority of our drivers are not trained to a standard which allows them to cope with the pressures of police driving in the modern roads environment.

According to a previous report from the Police Complaints Authority (PCA), the number of people killed and injured during police chases has more than tripled in recent years with a 60 per cent yearon-year increase in 2004/2005. Research conducted by the authority found that the police are continuing to put the public at risk by engaging in unnecessary and dangerous high-speed chases.

The report recommended that police chases should be authorised from the control rooms, that unmarked police cars should be banned from taking part in high-speed chases altogether and that drivers’ discretion to chase be reduced by increasing management control on the evolution of pursuits. The report suggested that officers should not be able to pursue cars unless they had a “clear, centrally agreed strategy for attempting to stop the vehicle safely” and indicates that the police continue to engage in too many pursuits that endanger public safety.

The IPCC later released the figures as shown in the table below (left).

If these figures are projected, unless we do something urgently by the end of 2007 more than 200 innocent lives will have been lost in incidents relating to police driving in the past five years. That would project to 500 killed in a decade, just in police road incidents. I say we must delay that figure at all costs. It’s a target that is well worth achieving and fighting for. That would be a reduction welcomed by everyone. fleet999 • September/October 2007

driver training My contention is that a lot of those officers should not have been driving those vehicles in the first place. I believe the figures support that argument, and I don’t intend to go into the damage and injury figures because they would take us into orbit.

Home Office Minister Hazel Blears has been quoted as saying: “Everything that can be done, must be done to minimise accidents with police vehicles.” So why has police driver training progressed so little? At the very best it is stagnant.

L i t t l e t h a t I h a v e re a d addresses the sad lack of training for police drivers.

The rush to get officers out in vehicles as quickly as possible to address operational needs, with almost no realistic training and protocols that are difficult to comply with is the cause. Young and inexperienced officers are put under impossible pressure time and again in the general course of their duty, often in the public glare.

When it all goes wrong it is the police driver, the deceased and the families involved who bear the suffering, not the employer. The corporate face is intangible and vague and cannot shed tears, unlike the wives, husbands and children of loved ones who have been killed or maimed. The police drivers who have been convicted or languish in prison with careers in ruins and their families destroyed nearly always feel betrayed.

Police officers chasing work targets have to attend more jobs within shorter timescales, often after a one-day assessment and with an over reliance on protocols. Even the recognised basic courses have failed to keep pace with changes in our driving environment and culture. The Advanced Driving Course is still a pinnacle to be attained but by fewer and fewer officers, and its high speed driving element needs to be updated again to take into account technology changes and their uses.

Even after a recognised police driving course the expectations on the police driver are now greater than ever. With the road environment increasingly crowded and stressful, how is it that the standard course has changed little and in effect reduced over the years? The cockpit of the vehicle now has multiple radios and Tracker mobiles, and the radio chatter never stops. It’s recognised that a driver has to be exceptional to cope with all of the distractions in a family car, but on top of this police drivers are using advanced road observation skills, the observation September/October 2007 • fleet999

Photo: istockphoto.com

of suspects and crimes, and commentary – all at the same time. These are not even addressed on most of the courses. Some forces do not see a need to teach officers to engage in a commentary while they drive any more, something that to many of us would seem essential.

We all know the pressure on our services to reduce costs and reach targets, but I believe the time is right to change a culture that has gone astray.

We should lead the way in training police – the public expect police and emergency drivers to excel at all levels. It’s not just the driving, but all of the associated communications and observations skills they have to apply.

No matter what the operational pressures for managers, chief constables and government, let’s not put any more people behind the wheel of a marked

police vehicle today who may have been adequate Sunday drivers or even boy racers yesterday. We cannot expect them to perform safely without giving them more than a one-day assessment and improved basic, standard and highspeed courses. Police driver training needs to be placed back on the pinnacle it once was. It has to be improved and updated, and it has to be given the resources that it requires and deserves to save lives.

The car is lethal on our roads; put a blue light and air horns on it and it can be a weapon of mass destruction. Without the best training that is continually improved and resourced in a realistic way, we will reach 500 deaths in police vehicle incidents by 2010, when someone will say: “We have to learn the lessons.” Let’s not wait – start the classes today. n

Photo: NewsPics

37

pcuk

An Ace day for all There’s always a danger when you build something up that it might fall flat on its face. As Saturday, August 4 drew closer I started to wonder if I had over-hyped this whole Ace Café event, and that maybe I might be left a little red faced.

Photos: Christopher Taylor

h

ad i been foolish in billing it as the event of the year?

Would the romantic side of this nostalgic trip be worth the effort?

Would it rain? Could I even find the place, as I’d never been there before?

All these questions trundled through my mind as we set off towards London.

In case some of you aren’t aware (with apologies to those of you that are), here is a very brief history lesson. It’s the late 1950s and Britain’s youth have got a little bit of money and some freedom. Teddy Boys are on the way out, Rockers are in

3

and with that came motorcycles. Add a new age of rock music played loudly in public on a jukebox and it became an intoxicating mixture. Young folk like gathering together, and where better to listen to the music, show off your bike and your new girl than down at the local café?

Its origins aren’t specifically known, but the new craze of café racing started at this time. A record would be spun on the jukebox and lads on bikes would race from the café along a fixed circuit and back again before the record finished. Needless to say a lot of them never returned, the accident statistics went through the roof

and it was headline news. The police were virtually powerless against the custombuilt café racer bikes and their standard issue Wolseleys and Austin A110s were no match. Prosecutions were almost nonexistent and the ‘ton-up boys’ were having a field day.

The solution came with the introduction of a light weight, fibreglassbodied sports car with a 2.5-litre V engine capable of some 120mph – very impressive when compared with the Wolseleys that were lucky if they topped 95mph. Cue the Daimler SP250 Dart, an open topped two-seater that was a real match for the Triumphs, BSAs and Nortons. They came fully equipped with a calibrated speedometer and crews that were determined to outlaw this new breed of outlaws!

Slowly but surely it worked; prosecutions were up, fatalities were down. The Darts became almost as famous as the bikers and the venues themselves, and the officers lucky enough to drive them reached almost celebrity status. It’s fair to say that of the thousands of photographs in my personal collection I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many photos taken of one particular make of car from around this era. The Met Police employed 2 of them, and all but a couple were either photographed officially by the force, or by officers themselves. fleet999 • September/October 2007

pcuk

The cars were held in very high esteem by their crews and are remembered today with extreme fondness. They were later replaced by the mighty Sunbeam Tiger 5.0 litre V , and then by the S Type Jaguars. But by the early 1970s, as the British bike industry collapsed and other distractions interested the next generation of youths, so the café culture declined.

One of the most famous of these cafés was the Ace Café on London’s north circular road, close to Wembley stadium. As the café racing era died off, so too did the café itself. However in the mid-1990s the Ace was purchased by a retired Met Police officer who restored both the building and the whole Ace Café adventure. It’s fair to say that he has built himself a gold mine and there are organised car and bike meetings there most nights of the week and every weekend. Bikers flock to the venue from all over the world. The Fifth Gear TV program is filmed there, it has its own website, sells its own Ace Café merchandise and serves the most fantastic food. In fact it’s probably more popular now – and more famous – than it was in its supposed heyday.

There had never been an organised police event at the Ace and when I came up with the idea several months ago I didn’t know how much it would capture the imagination. The staff at the Ace were very interested, so all we needed to do was attract the right vehicles. I only knew of two Daimler Darts and thought they were probably the only ones left. I contacted the owners – Alf September/October 2007 • fleet999

Pulfer and Mick Oxberry – and things just snowballed from there. Between them they put me in touch with no fewer than three more ex-Met Police Dart owners, who all wanted to attend. Two Sunbeam Tigers were tracked down and two S Type Jaguars, while the cars from the Met museum were promised together with cars from PC-UK and motorcycles from our friends at the HPMG. So it was all building up into quite an event.

So were my fears founded? You must be joking! Wow, what a great day, it was simply the best by far. In the end we mustered three Darts, one Tiger and the two Jags, together with the following; two Rover P V s (including an armoured Special Branch version) two Rover SD1s, Landrover SETAC unit, Morris Minor panda car and a Triumph Herald panda.

Others included a Hampshire Humber Super Snipe estate lined up next to the Volvo 121 Amazon, a Wolseley /110, Jaguar 340, Jaguar XJ , MK3 Ford Transit multi-role and MK3 Ford Zephyr . Steve Kinch drove his stunning Riley 2.5-litre RMF down from Norfolk, while Noel Bowman arrived in his Chevrolet Malibu. My Volvo 240 made the trip, as did Simon Dwyer’s gorgeous MGA 1 00. The bikes included a stunning looking Triumph Thunderbird (that won the classic vehicle of the day award) plus Triumph Saints, BMWs and a Moto Guzzi T3.

The weather was looking good, and after marshalling all the vehicles into some semblance of order (ably assisted by the car parking guru!) they looked fantastic.

Pride of place had to go to the Darts, which were lined up right outside the café doors. Assembled next to them came the Jags and the Rovers and, just as we had got everything sorted, the Tiger arrived. We managed to squeeze him in and the Met line up looked magnificent.

I couldn’t help but notice the bemused look on the faces of some of the younger bikers who were now turning up in large numbers. I suspect that most of them had no idea of the historical significance of the occasion, but among the older bikers I started to hear comments like “Christ

I haven’t seen one of them for years,” and “I remember being chased by one of those on the north circular”.

Car parking formalities over, we settled down to the day’s events, and I think all of us who indulged in the huge platter of a full English breakfast were suitably impressed. As the car park became busier I started to see groups of people gathered around our vehicles. The exMet cars were obviously going to be very popular today, as this was their old manor. I had managed to persuade a TV camera crew to pop along and film the event for us, and they were kept busy interviewing vehicle owners and some of the retired Met officers who had turned up having seen the event advertised in various publications. Some of their stories were hilarious and they were all so pleased to see their old cars being kept in tip-top condition.

During the day I found myself chatting to John Dorset from the Met museum and was very pleased to learn that he had recently purchased a Daimler Dart, taking the total known survivors to six, which is quite incredible really. John’s car needs full restoration and he could be seen taking a very close look at the three Darts on offer at the Ace to see the sort of standard he would have to achieve.

As the day drew to a close I was asked by many if I thought it had been a successful day, and would we be doing it again. The simple answer to both those questions is a very large YES. How can we not do it again? And I can see it becoming an annual fixture and growing in popularity year on year. Why? We can all go to a car/ bike event and show off our vehicles.

But to get the historical aspect thrown in just added something extra to it all.

To see those retirees and some of those older bikers exchanging war stories was exactly what I was hoping for.

At the end we all posed for a group photo, and as we gathered together a sports bike flew past the Ace Café pulling the biggest wheelie I’ve ever seen. I think even the Daimler Darts might have had trouble catching that one! n Steve Woodward, Police Car UK For more information Web: www.policecaruk.com

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hpmg

The original ‘Noddy’ bike Following on from a recent article in this magazine about the use of smaller bikes, PAUL HARCUS, from the Historic Police Motocycle Group, takes a closer look at the LE Velocette.

t

he le velocette was first introduced in 1948 and had a 149cc water-cooled boxer engine with shaft drive. Early models also had a hand gear change, which was later replaced with a foot change.

From 1951 it went into police service and the engine was increased to 192cc.

Favoured by the police for its quiet 40

running and low maintenance, the bike was never sold in great quantity to the general public.

The above picture shows a special LE, one used by the fingerprint office of New Scotland Yard – note the extra large pannier for carrying the equipment. The LE was nicknamed the ‘Noddy’ bike.

One suggestion for this name was that

officers had to salute a senior officer when riding past them therefore having to remove a hand from the controls.

On one occasion, a sergeant saluted, lost control of his motorcycle and fell off. Afterwards, it was suggested that officers should nod their heads instead, thus keeping proper control of the vehicle. n fleet999 • September/October 2007

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fleet999 • September/October 2007

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Called ActivSign, the LED Matrix Messaging System has an onboard memory that allows the sign to retain up to 80 user-programmed messages alongside the factory programmed traffic director and hazard warning function.

Available in red or amber signage, ActivSign can be programmed at site by means of a detachable keyboard, enabling up-to-the-minute information to be displayed in a variety of formats. Predetermined messages can also be displayed using either hard-wired switches or the keyboard.

Also including a built-in arrow director, warning strobe functions and dimming function for night use, the ActivSign’s solid LED design aims to ensure durability against road shock and vibration, providing

low maintenance and an extended lifespan. While the high density LEDs are rated at 100,000 hours, they also have an extremely low current draw which ensures a minimal battery drain even if the vehicle ignition is turned off.

Available in 508mm and 1016mm widths, ActivSign is sealed against dust and moisture enabling it to be installed to the exterior of the vehicle as well as internally. An optional auto-rise bracket is also available for covert use.

For more information, contact Venta on 01962 884444, or email sales@ventauk.com.

MacNeillie acquisition adds advanced composites capability Emergency vehicle specialists MacNeillie has acquired EPM Technology’s advanced composite materials production facility at Coalville, Leicestershire, including its current business and workforce.

Announcing the deal, MacNeillie’s Commercial Director, Nigel Rowley said: “We have been at the forefront of composite materials use in specialist vehicle build for some time. As we grow our activities and market share in the important sectors we serve, acquiring our own in-house capability is a very logical step.

“We recognise that the operational requirements of the emergency, security and defence sectors now demand the ability to carry ever increasing amounts of equipment and payload, while remaining within tightly defined gross vehicle weight limits. The use of advanced composite materials provides a viable solution with significant additional advantages – such as high impact resistance, energy absorbing characteristics, exceptional strength and durability in service.”

MacNeillie was one of the first vehicle developers to use advanced composites in ambulances, where a substantially increased on-board equipment inventory was required without compromising gross weight, speed or performance.

A spokesman for the company said that some of the engineering practice which has been integrated into MacNeillie’s frontline ambulance design will be incorporated 44 44

into the new Metropolitan Police Tactical Support Group (TSG) units, currently entering production. “Much of the material development and technology used is derived directly from the top levels of motor and rally sport, including Formula 1,” explained the spokesman. “One area where we will look at the use of composites for special applications is lightweight, air-portable military vehicles and equipment. For normal duties, composite materials offer strength and durability equal to – if not better than – traditional alternatives.

There are also some significant benefits, such as low signature. resolution

“However, given a need for a level of increased protection, the base composite structure is more than capable of supporting an appliqué armour kit or other operational equipment whilst in action or in theatre.”

MacNeillies will retain the plant’s capability to produce componentry and product for external third parties. The Coalville operation will be known as MacNeillie Composites, while EPM Technology will retain and continue its niche market motorsport and automotive activities, which will be concentrated at its development centre at Draycott in Derbyshire.

May/June 2005 fleet999 • September/October 2007

new products

Bucks FRS select Miquest software Swindon-based Miquest Limited has secured the contract to implement its Asset Management systems to Buckinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service (BFRS).

The company will deliver and support its fully integrated solution to address all BFRS asset management and tracking requirements including equipment, ICT, inventory, maintenance and service management.

Technologies employed under this contract include identification and marking employing RFID and barcode methodologies, with flexible options for mobile computing, creating portable data standards with access to common information and centralised reporting.

The contract is available to other fire and rescue services, fire training schools, airport services, port authorities, other emergency services, local authorities and other appropriate services within the UK and partner services at the request of the fire and rescue services under the bluelight portal.

For more information contact Miquest on 0870 774 1555, or visit the company’s website at www.miquest.co.uk.

Premier Hazard launch two vehicle-mounted cameras P r e M i e r hazard has launched two vehicle-mounted cameras – a dome camera that is integrated into a roof mounted light bar, and a fixed camera for mounting inside a vehicle.

Both bring distinct operating advantages to the table, the choice enabling utilities and branches of the emergency and security services to specify and fit a system that meets their precise requirements.

The fixed camera is compact, fixes to the to the back of the rear view mirror and includes a 4in monitor that is incorporated into a section of the mirror lens. The camera is compact ( 5m x 50mm x 50mm) and, as it fits behind the rear view mirror, it comfortably fulfils VOSA’s requirement of allowing unimpeded vision through the arc otherwise swept by the windscreen wipers on the front screen.

The dome is the first fully functional camera to be integrated into a vehicle’s roof mounted light bar to provide security and emergency services with high performance, all around surveillance.

It is supplied with a 22:1 optical zoom lens, the output signal being able to read and record a standard UK vehicle number plate from at least 100m in normal daylight. The dome camera pans through 3 0˚, can tilt between 12˚ below and 45˚ above the horizontal, is capable of operating in all levels of bright light above 1 Lux and can record in realistic, high definition colour – the camera automatically switches between colour and monochrome operation depending on prevailing light levels.

For more information, contact Premier Hazard on 0113 2391111, or visit the company’s website at www.premierhazard.co.uk.

+44 (0)113 239 1111

www.premierhazard.co.uk September/October 2007 • fleet999

info@premierhazard.co.uk 45

risk frisk

Police fleet risk profiling John Stevens, Managing Director of Risk Frisk Ltd, and Les Owen, the company’s head of fleet risk management (and a former Met Police Traffic Commander), outline the latest developments in fleet risk management for the police service.

W

ithin the police service, organisation-wide risk management and dynamic risk management are processes that have been ‘fully adopted’ across the service. However, has fleet risk management been considered in a similar consistent and holistic manner?

Ideally fleet risk management should involve an organisational process for integration at strategic, management and operational levels, and across the full range of the policing ‘business’, operational and support functions.

The demand for policing services has substantially increased over the last ten years, and pressure on vehicles and traffic mileages has grown significantly, along with the demand to reduce costs.

So where does fleet risk management sit in this scenario, and how can it contribute to maximising opportunities for the service, while minimising risks?

Fleet risk management is often viewed as a pure operational level activity, while other organisational functions – such as patrol and operations, finance and crime reduction – are considered in their departmental silos and not fully integrated with fleet activities.

Rarely does fleet management receive a high level of management attention, and very rarely is it considered as a strategically important corporate risk. Yet with the importance of fleet transport ever increasing, it’s a risk area that cannot be ignored.

Initiatives typically deal with driver re c r u i t m e n t a n d t r a i n i n g , h u m a n resources, vehicle procurement, fuel cons u m p t i o n , a c c i d e n t d a t a a n d post accident management, but all organisations including the police service are looking to identify how they create risks across their total operations – whether directly or indirectly managed – and how risk management can add value to organisational objectives and success.

Force risk management enables a police force to develop and implement a consistent approach to managing risks across its entire organisation.

Corporate governance requires the service to identify all its risks and prepare 46

a strategy to reduce the impact on the force and its stakeholders. By integrating fleet risk management within the overall policing process, the service can set a risk appetite for the management of its fleet and related risks, managing i m p ro v e m e n t s a n d o p p o r t u n i t i e s accordingly, and elevate fleet risk management to a strategic level activity.

Research Our research has shown that organisations with fleet and related operations need a sustainable reduction in overall fleet risks and costs, vehicle and personal injury accidents, insurance claims and costs, and diverted management time and resources.

They also need tools and techniques to improve the management of a broad range of fleet and related risks and to assist the process of integration with normal organisational processes.

The ability to benchmark internally and externally is a key requirement, and it’s important that any approach identifies the underlying causes of risk and also opportunities to improve controls.

The research highlights that current interventions are mostly compliancebased, operationally focused, dealing with a specific fleet management process and often use a ‘tick-the-box’ approach.

Those management systems that are in place mainly focus on a compliance approach (such as health and safety) and they vary greatly in effectiveness, business relevance and added value.

There’s clearly a need for a holistic approach to cover a full range of fleet and related operations as part of every organisation’s risk management system, and any approach has to include a full range of risks at strategic, management and operational levels, cover all functions, be linked to the overall performance measurement process and provide benchmarking. It is therefore time for a real step change

Fleet and related operations In terms of fleet management and related operations, we allocate organisations to two broad categories: • Customer organisations – those that use fleet and related services as a supporting activity, such as a food

or clothing retailer, utility company or emergency service. In policing terms this incorporates emergency response, patrol, investigative and community visits.

• Supplier organisations – those where fleet and related operations are their main business activity, such as contract logistics, supply chain partner or vehicle supplier. In the policing context these are organisations to which a force has sub-contracted out functions such as management, repair and disposal of its vehicle fleet.

These types of organisation produce different risk profiles, different risks and risk management needs, requiring a specific mix of strategic, management and operational risk managing activities.

A logical starting point to create a valid and effective methodology is to build on an existing proven process. Our approach was developed using a combined total of more than 100 years of international experience in the development and implementation of risk management systems, and responds to the need for a process with a business-wide focus that is comprehensive, commercially relevant and risk-based. The process has three steps: • Determine the risk profile of an organisation, identifying how it creates risks and the implications for fleet and related operations.

• Evaluate existing fleet risk management systems to determine their relevance and effectiveness.

• Identify opportunities and develop new management systems – which can be integrated into normal business processes – to improve fleet risk management controls.

Fleet risk profiling The corporate risk assessment process provided significant benefits over traditional risk assessment methods, but to meet a complete range of needs further development was required.

The key objective was to produce an online comprehensive risk profiling, risk assessment and benchmarking process which uses valid risk management methodologies, produces consistent added value outputs and covers all fleet999 • September/October 2007

risk frisk types of fleet and related operations. The process needed to be flexible, adaptable, and usable for a corporate level review, on a site-by-site basis for organisations with multiple sites, and for an organisation’s supply chain. With the growth in multinational organisations the process needed to use generic content that did not relate to specific legal requirements and was therefore usable worldwide.

The online process that was developed uses the following steps: • Appoint an administrator to manage the use of fleet risk profiler, including the allocation of users to undertake the process.

• The main user identifies the operational risk profile of the organisation or site being assessed. More than 10 operational risk factors are used to identify an overall level of risk.

• The user(s) undertake the risk assessment process via risk areas, risk elements, risk managing status factors and performance metrics, using more than 00 data elements. The user(s) only selects the risk areas and elements relevant to their organisation or site, ensuring that the organisation is only assessed against relevant criteria.

• Automatic reports are produced

providing a strategic overview, management information, detailed analysis and action plan guidance.

• Benchmarking options provide a full range of internal and external comparisons to be used for action plan development.

• A regular repeat review is used to identify action plan status and improvements in risk managing performance.

A police force or agency can consider customising the content to make it more relevant for their fleet and related operations, including the development of their own internal standard.

Fleet risk profiling generates a wide range of benefits for police forces. The setting of a relevant risk managing target, rather than an artificially imposed

target, enables the force to focus on its relevant risks. Automatic reports provide a strategic overview, management information, detailed analysis and flexible non-prescriptive action planning guidance. Benchmarking options provide internal and external comparisons to enable a force to set a specific risk managing control level and associated resource allocations. The development of a risk-based focused action plan to achieve a relevant risk control level leads to reduced risk exposures and costs, resulting in major benefits for the force and its insurers. n For more information Web: www.riskfrisk.com Tel: 0845 456136

The magazine for the emergency services

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September/October 2007 • fleet999

47

napfm product news

Manufacturers and suppliers weather the storms at Swindon Even the wind and driving rain could not detract from an impressive line up of exhibitors at the 33rd annual NAPFM show near Swindon.

T

h i s y e a r ’ s g at h e r i n g saw the launch of a number of new products which will appeal to those working across all the emergency services.

Stahlwille Tools, makers of hand tools, torque measurement, tool storage and tool control solution, were demonstrating their new 730D torque wrench. Its selling point was that the Germanbased manufacturer has been able to combine the familiar ‘clicking’ torque wrench with the added benefits of the electronic versions in one single tool.

Once the preset torque for the joint has been reached, which is electronically monitored, the tool responds by providing the usual tactile feedback.

Outside the Pro-tect stand was well worth braving the storms for. In between trying to recover one of their marquees after a strong gust of wind blew it down,

48

fleet999 • September/October 2007

napfm product news the company demonstrated it was keeping apace with new technology with its new secure online ordering system which can be found on www.pro-tectsafetysigns. com. It was also promoting its electronic stock management systems and dedicated stock holding and product sourcing system.

Suppliers increasingly understand the need to respond to the market and this was demonstrated by Ricardo UK and their ISOFIX mounted Gunbox which, since its launch last year, has already sold five units to Sussex police. The appeal of this product lies in the ability to adapt it to fit any vehicle that has ISOFIX child seat anchorages. It takes just ten minutes to fit or remove and can carry all firearms in use, as well as the Taser. While initially marketed to securely carry police firearms, there are clear applications in the transportation of pharmaceuticals and other valuable items.

Ramar Ltd had also made considerable headway in terms of in vehicle storage and security systems.

They have just developed a gun box that is 40 per cent lighter than its predecessor.

Traka Ltd, the electronic key management manufacturers, displayed their iFob and range of electronic key cabinets which control who may take a key, which keys a user may take and automatically record the transaction activity by date and time both on the cabinet and on the support software. This electronic key security

September/October 2007 • fleet999

makes users accountable for the keys, reducing management risk and improving efficiency.

According to the company’s publicity, one force cut accidental damage to vehicles by 50 per cent after implementing the Key Management System. The same principle is now also being applied to airwave cabinets.

3M were showing their new Diamond Grade TM DG3 reflective sheeting for emergency vehicles, incorporating full cube optics. It comes with a new sealing edge to prevent the ingress of dirt and

water. And a newly designed inflatable Airelight for huge scene illumination was just one of the products on show from Airegroup Ltd. Carnation Designs Ltd are specialist manufacturers of Auxilliary Electrical Management Systems. The show provided them with the venue for the launch of genisys; the management for the next generation of specialist vehicles.

There were also a number of newcomers to the show, including Chambers Vehicle Conversions (CVC) who offer a ‘one-stop shop’ solution for vehicle conversions.

49

napfm product news

Crown Conversions also made their presence felt with a wide range of specialist vehicle conversions for the emergency vehicle market and in particular, they have just added CCTV vehicles to the stable.

The all-new 2007 Harley Davidson ‘police specification Road King’ FLPH also attracted some attention.

The Road King has been designed to stay planted to the road in the event of an incident with independent operating ABS braking system and specially-designed Dunlop ‘bead retention’ tyres.

While no-one can do anything about British weather, one thing is certain; the show continues to provide one of the best avenues for fleet managers from all the emergency services to catch up on what’s available to them. n

50

fleet999 • September/October 2007

suppliers directory AES Ltd AES Ltd design, build and install integrated electrical and communication systems for specialist vehicles for police, fire, ambulance, military forces, security organisations and government agencies.

Web: www.autoelec.co.uk Tel: 0161 777 6262 Audi uK Audi UK are able to provide covert vehicles in a variety of models and derivatives for the police service, as well as vehicles for other emergency services.

Tel: 01908 601107 Auto Matters Ltd Auto Matters Ltd produces PriorityStart, which monitors battery voltage and automatically disconnects any undesired drain as the voltage reduces.

Web: www.noflatbatteries.com Tel: 01926 885286 Bluelite graphics Ltd Bluelite Graphics Ltd supplies high visibility livery and markings to the emergency services and other highway users.

Web: www.bluelitegraphics.com Tel: 01444 232366 BMW (uK) Ltd BMW UK supplies PITO Framework-approved high performance cars and motorcycles for marked and unmarked traffic roles, covert duties, ballistic resistant vehicles and senior officer vehicles.

Tel: 0207 318 9336 (cars) / 01344 480348 (bikes) Crown Conversions Ltd Specialist van convertors to the Emergency Services.

Web: www.crownconversions.com Tel: 01236 608380 Drive Alive uK Ltd Providing risk assessment and training for the company driver/emergency driver services. Our consultants are all retired advanced trained police drivers with the skill set to assess and develop the delegates abilities. We also provide numerous services including fleet audit, road collision reconstruction and NVQ’s.

Web: www.drivealive.co.uk Tel: 01379 651044 Drivershields uK Ltd Drivershields are tough transparent polycarbonate shields moulded to the full length of the vehicle seat.

A pair of Drivershields creates a separate rear cell in which to hold a detainee without loss of audio visual contact.

1026 London Road, Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, SS9 3NE Web: www.drivershields.co.uk Tel: 01702 479872 Fax: 01702 476020 Email: info@drivershields.co.uk September/October 2007 • fleet999

Furneaux Riddall & Co. Ltd Furneaux Riddall & Co. Ltd supply rechargeable flashlights, torches, handlamps, lanterns, worklamps and signalling lamps.

Web: www.furneauxriddall.com Walker Scott Ltd – Handistep Handistep Safety Rear Van System helps maintain officer/fleet safety and helps reduce accidents, claims and van repair costs.

Web: www.handistep.com Tel: 01939 260707 Email: sales@handistep.com Honda (uK) Web: www.honda.co.uk Tel: 01753 590410 Jaguar Web: www.jaguar.com Tel: 01926 649450 Land Rover Web: www.landrover.com Tel: 01926 649449 Lexus (gB) Ltd An increasing number of police forces across the UK are choosing Lexus cars for both overt and covert operations. All models are Home Office and PITO approved, and brake and performance tested.

Web: www.lexus.co.uk Ludo Mcgurk Transport Equipment Ltd Ludo McGurk Transport Equipment Ltd are the makers of Auto-Eject and a comprehensive range of charging and battery management systems.

Web: www.ludomcgurk.co.uk Tel: 01625 527673 Mercedes-Benz Web: www.mercedes-benz.co.uk Tel: 01908 245934 Micromill Electronics Ltd Micromill specialise in covert vehicle installations aimed at providing integrated solutions for Law Enforcement, Defence and Government Agencies.

web: www.micromill.com Tel: 023 9236 6600 Mitsubishi Motors Web: www.mistubishi-cars.co.uk Tel: 01285 655777 Nightsearcher Ltd Nightsearcher manufacture professional lighting equipment, including searchlights, floodlights, headlamps, flashlights and torches; their products are exported to a number of countries, and clients include police forces, military, railways, utilities, environment agencies, contractors and many more.

Web: www.nightsearcher.co.uk Tel: 01243 370222 Nissan Motor gB Ltd Web: www.nissan.co.uk Tel: 01923 899999

Peugeot Motor Co. Plc Peugeot have a vehicle to meet the huge demands made on the emergency services, with a wide range of vans including the rugged Partner, the adaptable Expert and the sturdy Boxer.

Web: www.peugeot.co.uk Tel: 02476 884000 Ramar Ltd Ramar Ltd; Designers and manufacturers of vehicle load carrying systems and ARV Gunboxes.

Manufacturers of the vehicle ignition Devil (run lock).

Renowned for reliability, cost effectiveness and customer support.

Tel: 01277 373331 fax: 01277 374470 Ricardo uK Ltd Ricardo is Europe’s largest independent automotive consultancy, building high quality covert, surveillance, traffic ARV and other specialist vehicle solutions.

The company also specialises in vehicle dynamics, suspension, braking and thermal; enhancement kits, and electronic system integration.

Web: www.ricardo.com Tel: 01273 455611 Seat uK Web: www.seat.co.uk Tel: 01908 548041 Skoda Web: www.skoda.co.uk Tel: 01908 548043 Ssang Yong uK Web: www.syukcars.co.uk Tel: 01252 619100 Stirling EVP Limited Stirling EVP supply an extensive range of equipment & accessories to provide a comprehensive service to the Emergency Service Industry, products include sirens, reversing alarm kits, solid state flasher units, relay packs, switch panels and much more.

Tel: 01702 300999 fax:01702 303039 Email: sales@stirlingevp.com Subaru uK Ltd Web: www.subaru.co.uk Tel: 01908 622748 Vauxhall & SAAB SVO Web: www.vauxhall.co.uk Email: mike.roberts@uk.gm.com or dick.bishuty@uk.gm.com Volkswagen uK Web: www.vw.co.uk Tel: 01908 548335 Volvo Car uK Ltd Volvo’s range of emergency vehicles provides bespoke specification cars designed for rapid response use for all three emergency services.

Web: www.volvocars.com Tel: 07889 428222 Yamaha Motor uK Ltd Web: www.yamaha-motor.co.uk Tel: 01932 358000 51

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