In the Pipeline - Issue 1 2013

Quarter 1 2013

In the pipeline

Every one a winner The fastest emergency hose replacement service there is

Contents

A Brighter Future As one year draws to a close and a new one begins, it is tempting to look back; to reminisce; to relive the ups and downs; and to regret the missed opportunities and the might-have-beens.

But, as the expression goes, the past is for reference, not for residence.

And so, as 2013 begins, Pirtek is gearing up for what promises to be another challenging yet exciting year.

Although the recession still grips large parts of the economy, there is a very real sense that its teeth have blunted and its bite has become less severe. Indeed, there are actually reasons for optimism.

The news that oil exploration in the Mariner Field in the North

Sea not only helps safeguard UK energy supplies, it also helps safeguard thousands of jobs linked directly and indirectly to the offshore sector. The Hinkley B nuclear power station building programme, the HS2 rail link, and the demand for more airport space will provide the UK construction industry with a much-needed and longoverdue boost. And news that Nissan’s new luxury car will be built here in the UK and that JCB has just rewarded all its staff with an unexpected festive bonus suggests a good deal more positivity in the engineering and manufacturing sectors.

Of course, the climb back to pre-recessionary levels of activity and profitability will be

long, slow and arduous. And even those economists that favour rose-tinted spectacles are not anticipating any sudden upsurge during 2013 or even 2014.

But it does – at long last – appear that the worst is over.

And those companies and industry sectors that have scaled back, grown leaner and meaner, will be among the first to emerge from the financial doldrums.

So we wish all our customers a happy and hopefully prosperous New Year.

Best regards

Kelvin Roberts Chairman, Pirtek Europe

The Coldest Journey

In the last issue ITP, Sir Ranulph Fiennes was featured in the last great polar challenge, crossing Antarctica in winter. After years of preparation, the expedition is now underway.

On 6th December, the icebreaker SA Agulhas set off from London for the Antarctic, carrying more than 100 tonnes of kit required for the world's first ever attempt to cross the continent in winter.

Pirtek Wolverhampton helped with the preparation of the sledges and received a personal thank you from Sir Ranulph himself. “Very many

thanks indeed to Pirtek and to your great colleagues for your vital help and support for Martin, Brian and for the Expedition without which we’d have been in a tricky position at the last moment before the off. Hopefully our website www.thecoldestjourney.org will keep you up to date on our progress in 2013/14 (assuming we do progress!) 1,000 Thanks and Very Best Wishes, Ran”

The Coldest Journey aims to raise US$10 million for Seeing is Believing, an international initiative that is tackling avoidable blindness. You can help make a real difference by making a donation today, which will be matched by Standard Chartered. Learn more about Seeing is Believing - the projects, the people, the impact - by visiting www.seeingisbelieving.org.

2 Lots of Bottle 3 Flying High 4 Life’s a Gas 5 Piling on the Pressure 6 Quick Thinking 6 Road to Recovery 7 Uplifting Service 7 Merry waves of Windsor 8 Flight of Fancy 10 Pump up the volume 12 Paint it White 13 Clean Sweep 14 All Change 15 Bucket List 15 Retiring Type 16 Hardcore Service 18 Hair Today 18 Playing Safe 19 Competition 19 BTCC 20 Colest Journey

Published by Pirtek (UK) Limited 35 Acton Park Estate, The Vale, Acton, London W3 7QE Tel 020 8749 8444 Fax 020 8749 8333 E-mail info@pirtek.co.uk

In the pipeline 3

Lots of Bottle In recent years, recycling by the general public has become more wide spread, but industry has been on the reclamation bandwagon for many years. One company in particular stands out in the field of glass recycling.

The UK produces some 8 billion bottles and jars a year. If just over two thirds were recycled, it would save over 1.8 million tonnes of raw material and approximately 500,000 Megawatt hours of energy. The UK glass industry has the ability to use over 1.55 million tonnes of recycled bottles and jars a year, the equivalent to 4 billion bottles and jars.

For nearly 90 years Berryman, the UK’s largest purchaser and recycler of waste glass, has been the leading company in buying and recycling all types of glass. It has pioneered new methods of collection and treatment to make sure that glass can be put to useful second life, from closed loop systems to make new bottles and jars to construction products, insulation and many other useful products.

Berryman works closely with local authorities and waste management companies to ensure efficient transportation and fair pricing in glass recycling. The company also operates cullet treatment plants in Knottingley, Doncaster, London, Kent and South Kirkby near Wakefield.

Berryman also recycles some of the more unusual glass products. Rolled and polished glass contains few impurities, and is used in the manufacture of mirrors, windows and the automotive industry. In fact glass from car windows and screens, despite being laminated with plastics or as in building products, where it is reinforced with metal, are highly sought after. The glass is crushed and plastic impurities removed by vacuum.

Even glass that cannot be reused for domestic products is recycled in the construction industry, where it is crushed to Type 1 and 2 and used as a mix in tarmac sub-base and surfacing.

The Berryman glass waste transfer near Dagenham is a key part of a nationwide collection service that handles 600,000 tonnes of glass waste for recycling. Glass from the depot's eight trucks is sorted by type before going to Yorkshire for reprocessing or being exported to Portugal via Ridham Docks in Kent.

Pat Honeywell, one of the site operators had called Pirtek Thurrock in to replace the hydraulic hoses on a replacement bucket for his Volvo wheel loader. "This is typical of one of the many little jobs that we constantly call Pirtek out for,” he explains.

“They help keep this depot running smoothly."

This is a sentiment echoed by depot manager, Keith Sendall.

"We've used Pirtek Thurrock since it opened but we've been a Pirtek customer for many years simply because of the excellent service they give,” he concludes. “If we have a hydraulic failure anywhere in the country, one phone call to Pirtek Thurrock solves it.”

Quarter 1 2013

Flying High

There is something wonderfully evocative, not to mention loud, about the sound of a 27 litre Rolls Royce Merlin engine. But when you see it attached to a Mk9 Supermarine Spitfire that is doing a high speed, low level pass followed by a victory roll over the iconic Biggin Hill airfield, it is impossible not to smile at such a beautiful sight.

Biggin Hill is home to a remarkably high number of privately owned historic aircraft from the Second World War, with the Biggin Hill Heritage Hanger Ltd housing some of the most noteworthy and indeed airworthy examples.

There are two examples of a Mk9 Spitfire, a Mk 16 and a rare Mk1 that took eight years and £2 million to restore. These sit alongside one of only two airworthy Hurricanes in the UK, whilst a tiny 1943 Piper Cub and a massive 1941 Harvard trainer at rest on the apron outside.

Pirtek has had a long association with the Spitfire through owner Peter Monk, who's operations and restoration work at Duxford brought him into contact with Pirtek Cambridge. When Monk moved operations to Biggin Hill in 2011, Pirtek Erith was approached to provide hydraulic and fuel lines for the ongoing restoration work on the Mk1.

"We knew we could ask Pirtek to supply the high tech parts required to bring the aircraft back to an airworthy condition. Their work on the Mk1 was excellent so we knew they were the right people to call in for the Mk9. They take a lot of care when working on the airframe, knowing that the majority of the parts are original. We called them in on this occasion to provide 1.5" stainless steel fuel lines from the engine and the main tank, a process that entails one of the guys working inside the cramped cockpit, we also needed small 3/4" SCV hoses for the fuel filters," says engineer Paul Agger. "With a restoration taking two people, on average one and a half years to build the airframe and a further one and a half years to fit out, you have to get it right. Each of these planes is worth £2.75 - £3 million and a huge amount of time and effort is poured into each one to bring them back to airworthiness. We specify the best for each aircraft knowing that with the hoses, they won't need to be pressure tested inside the regulation six-year period. We have just had a new Spitfire airframe delivered for our next project. We will start the rebuild after this one is completed and I am sure Pirtek will be involved in the refurbishment."

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Above a Mk9 about to go off on on a test flight from Biggin Hill Left The joys of connecting a Spitfire fuel tank, Pirtek’s Darren Edenborough & Gary Woodhouse with BHHH engineer Paul Agger.

Below right Peter Monk (left)

In the pipeline 5

Life's a Gas

Pirtek Basildon’s Stuart Willis giving a sense of scale at the newly capped site

With natural resources dwindling, recycling has never been more relevant or important. Modern reclamation policies make the wasteful landfill programmes of the past look appalling. Not only are vast areas filled with material that could have been recycled, but the landfill site is often of little industrial or agricultural use because of escaping greenhouse gases generated from the rotting material deep underground.

Where a landfill site has reached this stage it is comforting to find there companies who can turn this situation to good use. At the 341 hectare Cory Environmental Mucking landfill site, close to Stanford-le-Hope in Essex, the Australian company Energy Development is currently extracting the methane and converting it into electricity.

Up until 2011, the former gravel pit was a convenient dumping ground for Central London's waste. Convoys of barges would make the 30 mile trip down the Thames to empty Westminster's rubbish in the neighbouring county's countryside. Tipping has now ceased and the majority of the site has been capped with 1.2 million m3 of soil in preparation for full restoration as a countryside park. However the material dumped over the years has been decomposing with dire environmental side effects.

Landfill gas (LFG) is generated by decomposing organic matter in refuse tips. It consists of greenhouse gases - methane and carbon dioxide - mixed with water vapour and organic compounds.

However, the substantial methane content of landfill gas enables it to be used as a power generation fuel. The commercial use of landfill gas as a fuel requires LFG to be extracted at a reasonablyconsistent flow and quality.

Energy Developments has achieved this by drilling a pattern of vertical gas extraction wells linked by underground pipes to a gas collection facility. The entire system is maintained under a vacuum, inducing landfill gas to flow into the collection

facility where gas processing reduces moisture and filters out fine particles. The processed landfill gas is then used as a fuel in either gas engines or gas turbine generators. The power generation facilities are connected to a power grid to enable the sale of any electricity produced. It is estimated there is enough gas being generated at Mucking to keep the plant on line until 2029.

Tucked away in a corner of the site, the Energy Development facility, consisting of 18 gas turbine engines, works 24/7, 365 days a year converting the methane to 20 MW of electricity. The massive V20 and V16 engines are all independently housed in sound-insulated containers. There are Ten Deutz and two Caterpillar units on site with the rest made by General Electrics' Jenbacher division, each generating ÂŁ8,000 worth of electricity each every day.

The Mucking site is under the supervision of site supervisor Jeff Thursden. "We are really proud of this site and the environmental work it does. But maintaining it is a major concern as any unit that is off line is a major financial loss for the company. It is imperative to ensure everything works to its maximum efficiency.

We have scheduled preventative maintenance programmes in place, with all the engines undergoing a monthly service, with a 750 litre oil change every three to four weeks. At 4,000 operating hours the engines undergo a major service and decoke. To ensure everything works we have to have a good suppliers to provide the back up for the company," he explains. "Pirtek certainly falls into the category of preferred supplier. We have a superb working relationship with the company with both Colin May and Greg Foxon at Pirtek Basildon bending over backwards to provide an excellent service. I would think just about every hydraulic hose replacement on site has been done by Pirtek. They also supply all our stainless steel hose work. As I've got to know them over the years I've come to realise just how big their range of materials really is. They have supplied me with all sorts of fixtures and fittings down to the more mundane things such as jet washes, and concrete detergents. Whatever I ask for, Pirtek will source it. They even brought me out a bucket and mop recently!"

Quarter 1 2013

Quick Thinking

Piling on the Pressure As one of the UK's leading piling contractors, Rock & Alluvium now part of the GallifordTry group - has offered construction piling solutions since 1963. It has a policy of using specialist computerised Soilmec piling rigs rather than adaptations of existing excavators.

Although a Pirtek national customer, the company’s London maintenance depot handles breakdowns and servicing throughout the country, through Pirtek Thurrock. "It's an easy option," says plant and yard foreman, Chris Howell. "I get a hydraulic failure on a rig at the other end of the country - I simply phone Pirtek Thurrock who arrange to get it fixed from one of Pirtek's 90 dedicated nationwide Centres. What could have been a logistical problem for me is now a problem for Pirtek, but they always come up trumps, so I don't feel that guilty."

Howell says that his company’s relationship with Pirtek stretches back some two decades. "We have worked with Pirtek for over 20 years and it's great to see how they provide such good back up for our company,” he continues. “We have a broad spectrum of machines, ranging from 30 to 56 tonnes, with some very smart new rotary pilers that can go down to 32 metres. These will drill through most soils but in London and the surrounding areas it's mostly London clay and you need to go down a long way to get a stable foundation. And we have the right machines for the job, including a brand new Soilmec CR30."

Despite operating a methodical preventive maintenance programme, Howell says there is always unforeseen wear, tear and damage to deal with. “Where we could get a real problem is if the rig goes down, sitting alongside it, is a lorry filled with 8 m3 of setting concrete in its drum. It can't be tipped on site and you can't just dump it, it has to be poured. I can't afford to have a machine down. At £4,000 an hour, it's simply not an option,” Chris Howell concludes. “Pirtek is an excellent company to have on hand to provide parts, replacements and general hydraulic service.

They provide all the usual fixtures, fittings and hoses we get through on general servicing, plus they now supply our hydraulic oil and have even designed pump valves for our concrete agitator lorries. But where they really score is on service. I'm sure that if I tried hard enough I could beat them on price but I have never in 20 years found a company that comes close to Pirtek on service and commitment. We trust Pirtek to get things right. And they do!”

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The success of the Pirtek BTCC race team has obviously rubbed off on Pirtek Ellesmere Port, as the Centre have taken a new delivery vehicle, but kitted out in the same livery as Andrew Jordan's independent title-winning Honda.

"The Centre thought we should use the BTCC car to help publicise the company. Especially as Andrew and the team have often taken the BTCC car to Pirtek events, exhibitions and openings where Pirtek and the team have gained a lot of useful publicity. We have just emulated the BTCC effect,” says Centre Manager Paul Johnston. “Our car is every bit as much a sales tool as the proper thing. Although the car looks splendid decked out in the Pirtek racing colours, it is intended as a practical vehicle. We purchased a standard 2.2 Honda with a diesel engine, so that it could be used on sites to negate the possibility of 'sparking' that might occur with a petrol engine, and it's powerful enough to negotiate most sites."

Pirtek Ellesmere Port is already famous for its “Team Gorgeous” publicity stunts but says the BTCC-style car has attracted even greater levels of interest. "The eye-catching livery certainly turns heads wherever it goes. We showed it off at the last BTCC meeting of the season at Brands Hatch and it had a brilliant reception. Even Andrew Jordan said it was 'absolutely mega'. Customer reaction has been superb.

We are, of course, aware of the safety aspects of showing off what appears to be a racing car on suburban roads. The police have been made aware of its existence and it has been checked to ensure it is totally street legal. But that doesn’t stop the occasional boy racer who would like a race. We have to make it clear that this is a normal car on a delivery run, and besides, we would be at a distinct disadvantage anyway with a boot full of fittings and hoses!”

In thepipeline 7

Road to Recovery Making claims about a product can often be dismissed as marketing speak. But having those claims proved is perhaps the best endorsement it can receive. A case in point proved the value of a vehicle marking campaign being carried out by Pirtek Belfast.

Although fitted with a Datatag system, thieves chanced their arm when they recently stole a digger at Ballymena. Although the vehicle was recovered at Pomeroy, proving it was the same vehicle was extremely difficult.

It was only the Datatag system that finally proved that it was indeed the stolen vehicle, as PSNI Autocrime Officer Martin A Kerr explained. "The worrying thing about this was the lengths the criminals went to in order to clone the identity of the machine. Even JCB struggled to differentiate the labels as the quality of the stampings were fantastic. Fair to say that this would have passed even a thorough roadside examination,� he says. “As the lead examiner in the case, I can attest that the Cesar system certainly made my job easier. I can't go into too much detail as the case is still 'live' but the digger has now been positively identified."

The Datatag system consists of high visibility tamper-proof deterrent signs on the vehicle, one of which covers a transponder. There is another transponder hidden on the vehicle plus the vehicle is literally randomly covered in unique microdot markers. The microdots can identify the vehicle even if it is cloned or broken down into spare parts. Cesar can be, as in this case, fitted retrospectively, to protect anything from a quad bike to an excavator. Customers should also take heart from the fact that Datatag have a 100% prosecution record.

Uplifting Service

Having a Pirtek national agreement means that no matter whenever or wherever a hydraulic fault occurs on a piece of equipment, there will always be a Pirtek centre nearby to rescue the ailing vehicle.

Such is the case with American giant Briggs Equipment, which seems to have forklifts on hire in every corner and environment possible in the UK. The forklift in question this time was a Cat 16 working at the PTS Plumbing Warehouse in Dagenham, Essex. The operator had noticed wear on the main lift hose and had called in Pirtek Thurrock to replace the hose before it failed. MSST Lee Stead arrived on site and agreed the hose had already shed its outer cover and would have to come off. Although a fairly long hose it wasn't a long job, the only problem being that the end fitting wouldn't fit over the guide rollers. After a session with a hacksaw, the offending hose was removed and new hose manufactured. However the same problem would obviously be encountered when refitting the new hose, so only one end had the ferrule fitted. Stead had the forklift driven as close as possible to the back of the service van so that the hose could be put into position and the other end fitted. "Thank goodness these are long hoses, there was just enough slack in the hose to get it to the crimper in the van," Stead says. Half an hour later the hose was fitted, tested and signed off much to the delight of the warehouse manager who had been looking at an ever growing pile of bathroom fittings that would have had to have been moved by hand, had the repair not been carried out quickly.

Quarter 1 2013

Merry Waves of Windsor According to the old adage, “there is nothing new under the sun�. That may be so, but taking an old idea and putting it to a new use qualifies as original thinking. Even if Prince Phillip doesn't think it will work!

Southeast Power Engineering has designed and constructed a hydro-electric power generation scheme consisting of a pair of hydroelectric turbines installed in the Romney Weir below Windsor Castle, between Eton and Windsor, with the Castle its primary customer.

Hydropower generation at the Romney weir has been investigated by a number of companies over the years. But until Southeast Power Engineering stepped in, no-one had been able to make such a scheme economically viable.

The company is using a new design and construction concept using two Archimedes screw turbines. These turbines will be capable of generating more power than designs previously considered and be the first of their type in southeast England. It is hoped that they will, in fact, be the first of three similar projects earmarked for the Thames.

The scheme consists of two, 4 metre diameter Archimedes screw type turbines, each weighing 70 tonnes.

Occupying two bays in the weir, they were installed in December 2011, and will be producing electricity at the end of 2012/early 2013. However the 1 km long 11,000-volt cable connecting the system transformer to the castle installation transformer had its own logistical problems, requiring two environmentally sensitive 15 cm diameter horizontal tunnels to be drilled up to 10 metres below the surface, under the river bed and the nearby railway line,.

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Above, the 70tonne screws being installed and the compound where Pirtek first spotted them after work for Jackson Civils.

Left the screws awaiting the final hydraulic connection but showing the newly repaired and extended piers Below, Royal customer - Windsor Castle

In the pipeline 9 The project saw the two end pillars of the weir rebuilt to house the control rooms and 12 metre long Archimedes screws. This had to be done as part of repairs to the weir made by the Environment Agency. The screws were lifted into position using a barge mounted crane. To safeguard the 12 varieties of fish in the Thames, the screws will have rubber edges and turn at 22 revs a minute. Alongside the screws is a new £100,000 fish tube to allow salmon, trout and eels to migrate to the upper reaches of the river.

When completed, the scheme will produce two million kilowatt hours a year, which is enough to power 500 homes. When Windsor Castle shuts down during the night, the ‘spare’ energy will be pumped into the National Grid. It is estimated that the complex will save 790,000 kilos of CO2 a year and provide a stable cost of generating the energy needed by the Castle.

The idea to generate electricity from the flow of the Thames was first suggested 20 years ago. And although a planning application was first submitted six years ago David Dechambeau, managing director of Southeast Power Engineering, recalled an exchange with Prince Philip just a year ago. “When I told him I was the one putting in the hydropower system for Windsor Castle, he looked at me and said, 'No you're not,’ I realised this is an argument I can't win.' So I said, ‘I don't understand’ and he said, ‘No you don't understand, people have been trying to do this for 20 years, you'll never get it done’. I said, ‘I understand sir, but I can tell you I will put that hydropower system in this year no matter what. I'll promise you’."

True to his word, the £1.7 million project has been installed and is being piped up by Pirtek Slough under the supervision of project manager Tim Spring of Romney Hydropower (the project vehicle of Southeast Power Engineering).

Although Jackson Civils constructed the major elements of the hydro-electric plant, Romney Hydropower called in hydraulic specialists Pirtek to provide the hydraulic connections from the five on-site power packs that operate the sluice gates, the control room screw braking systems, and the positioning rams operating the main screws.

Pirtek Slough had already been providing hydraulic support services to Jacksons when they were asked to provide practical and design assistance on the installation of the hydraulic operating system.

"They were so helpful. They have already provided a major part of the stainless steel hydraulic installation during June and July where the sluice gate rams were piped up and connected to the power house power packs supplied by Hydrapower,” Spring recounts. “Their MSST Andre Bishop installed 70 metres of 18 mm pfm stainless steel pipework that was fitted inside the girder framework holding the rams, over 7 days."

There is however a small matter of access to the site. Andre Bishop had to manually carry every component and tool the mile along a muddy footpath before starting work. It was suggested that the service van could be loaded by crane onto a barge and floated to the site, but Bishop didn't like the idea of the van being marooned on the river at night. As a result, every pipe of the first phase was designed, cut and manufactured on site to ensure extreme accuracy in every component.

Pirtek Slough is now completing the final phase of the project which will see the last power pack manhandled onto position onto a rebuilt plinth between the two screws. The power pack will be dismantled, as the smallest component weighs 80 kg, and moved into place where it will be reconstructed, bolted into place and filled with oil. This will then be connected at one end to the powerhouse, and on the other to the two sets of screw rams. This will entail removing the steel flooring panels and lowering the power packs by rope pulleys.

For the final installation, Andre Bishop will have to work above the river whilst connecting the 60 metres of 10 mm of stainless steel tube for the positioning screw rams. He will have to be harnessed to the sluice gates and every tool will have to be tied on to avoid losing any of them in the four metre deep river which passes through the sluice gates at a rate of 104 m3 a second. Andre will have the added disadvantage of wearing a life jacket as well as the usual PPE kit.

“Because this installation had to be constructed around constraints of the repair work on the weir, it is possibly not the most efficient layout of the equipment, something Pirtek are investigating” Tim Spring concludes. “Pirtek has been incredibly helpful, and that has been proved by their attitude with the final installation. They are prepared to manhandle the two power packs at the control room, build plinths for them both, connect them up and fill them with over 200 litres of oil. They are then prepared to build a structure around these to make them

Below, some of the 70m of stainless steel pipework, all carried to the site by hand over a mile of muddy track. Right, the as yet unconnected ram that controls the position of the screw in the river, and the new ‘fish tube’ .The gangway to be removed and the sluice gates already piped in

Quarter 1 2013

Flight of Fancy We treat flying to a distant destination with such nonchalance today that we often forget the sheer logistics required to maintain a modern fleet of passenger jets. It is not until you see the British Airways critical engineering facilities at the Speedmarque Centre in Hayes in Middlesex, that you get an inkling of the expertise involved in keeping the fleet in the air.

Generator test rig, IDG test rig for 25,000 flying hours (4-5 years flying)

Hose test rig

747 wheels to 221 psi filled with nitrogen to reduce fire risk

Test rig that may use x20 hoses at any one time

To gain some idea of the scale of the facilities at Hayes, there are 150 technicians on site with about 50 support staff. Between them they handle 400-450 components per week and cope with a 5,000 unit component range.

The facilities consist of a machine and process centre, workshops, paint shop, non-destructive testing department, flow testing for drive generators, hydraulics and rams, a fuel shop that deals with valves and caps to the PAG FMU (Pump and Governor & Fuel Metering Unit) for the gas turbines, a section that refurbishes the oxygen and nitrogen bottles for the emergency slides, emergency drop down masks and portable first aid gas bottles, and finally the wheels, brakes and tyres department - once described as a giant Kwik-Fit centre - which deals with these units for the entire BA fleet.

Components can be removed from anywhere in the world and sent to Hayes for repair or refurbishment. To ensure the company doesn't operate with massive overheads caused by components sitting on shelves, the facility has its own Inventory Management that determines the parts flow path. They keep stringent control of the parts flow ensuring a high turn round to ensure less spares are held on site.Every week the facility will handle between ÂŁ200300,000 worth of work on generators, ÂŁ250,000 on pneumatic spares, together with work on 30 brake assemblies and 150 wheels (which are replaced after 700 landings). Each 747 tyre is

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Stuart Moon

Nitrogen bottles for testing

Rig for starter motors

Shane Randall

Oxygen bottles

Refurbished engine mounts

In the pipeline 11

Low pressure high flow test unit working at 500lb/minute, fill an average living room in a second to 400 degrees C RB211 test unit

valued at around £1,000.

BA's Component Technical Engineer, Stuart Moon, has worked with Pirtek Slough for many years. "We have a very good working relationship with Pirtek Slough and our day-to-day reactive work with them is great,” he says. “However, to capitalise on a completely different aspect of their service, we recently used Pirtek to prepare a proactive total hose management programme for our hydraulic and pneumatic testing facilities. Pirtek's Shane Randall produced an extremely detailed survey of the hoses used at present, and has presented me with a 16-page programme that will see close on 500 hoses replaced during an 18-month period on the test rigs used at Hayes. As we have a good relationship with Pirtek, they were the obvious place to go. This is very much an evolutionary rather than revolutionary safety programme."

Stuart says that one of the first challenges facing the Pirtek team was the painstaking task of identifying and replacing the existing assemblies entirely. "Because the testing department has run for so long, there was little indication of the age of some of the pneumatic hoses, so it was decided to identify and then replace the entire hose assemblies,” he explains. “The range of hoses used will in future be reduced to just four common lengths, all fitted with quick release ferrules so that extended lengths could be produced without the need to keep excessive amounts of hoses in stock. The element of safety has played a large role in the decision to replace the hoses, especially as they often operate at 3000 psi. The need for the sheer number of existing test hoses is

Total refurbishment

Non Destructive UV testing rig

Left Leading edge drive , there are 16 per jumbo at £25,000each

RB211 test unit

because we can be simultaneously testing on up to five rigs, each requiring in excess of 20 hoses."

Although BA has a lot of long serving staff who know the safety parameters of the equipment, new staff have to be taught the dangers of working with highly pressurised airlines. The company has an excellent safety culture that is reinforced throughout the facility. Again, Pirtek has supported BA's safety programme by supplying teaching DVDs and Martyn Smart from Pirtek's National Training Centre at Digbeth will shortly be instigating a hydraulic safety training scheme for new staff. To date Pirtek has replaced just about every pneumatic and hydraulic hose in the wheel section and is currently looking at redesigning the tyre inflation cage hose mountings to increase safety margins and reduce turn round times.

"We could replace every component on an aircraft except the data plate! We can supply a complete nose to tail service. At present we would like to expand the facilities and take on more work from outside parties. Certainly no other MRO has our depth of commercial expertise combined with our truly global capabilities.

We know the job inside out. We already provide mechanical overhaul facilities for more than 20 OEMs and offer a preferential service for Airbus and Boeing operators,” Stuart Moon concludes.

“Pirtek is a vital link in our business. I couldn't wish for anything better from a supplier. We get about 95 percent of the call-outs answered within the 1 hour ETA by our regular MSST Steve. As soon as we call him, he's here and the job's done. Everything is off the shelf from the service van. He knows our requirements and always comes fully-equipped.”

Wing flat screws

Quarter 1 2013

Pump up the Volume

Below What Andy had to contend with Left A somewhat neater solution Pumping fuel from a bowser to a vehicle should be simple enough.

However Pirtek provided a much simpler, neater and safer solution for H&B Drainage of Basildon by replacing a real tangle of hoses.

H&B is a specialist drainage contractor that subcontracts to water boards, providing jet vans for clean ups, council works, grit bins, drain covers and ground works. The company runs a fleet of tippers with Hiab loaders, Terex backhoes and numerous smaller items of specialist kit. The vehicles are fuelled from two bowsers at the maintenance depot at Basildon. Pirtek was asked to provide a fuel reel and hose to replace the existing hoses, allowing the fuel hose to be rolled separately from the tank, providing a much neater and cleaner method of fuelling the vehicles.

However, things don't always run as scheduled. Having collected a specially fabricated wall-mount for the reel, Pirtek Basildon MSST Andy Rosson was diverted to repair an Indeco hydraulic breaker on a Takeuchi TB125 that was being used by subcontractor Littlewoods, on the Birse project for the A130/A13 interchange improvements. With sparse location instructions, Rossen found and repaired the breaker within the hour so it could continue to install safety barriers on the new road.

Arriving on H&B's site, Rosson discovered that the reel had to be dismantled and the hose feed turned round to enable a clean hose feed. Working in extremely cramped conditions and balanced on the fuel tank, the wall bracket was affixed to the soft cinder block internal wall with some impressive bolts that went right through the wall. The modified reel was then mounted and bolted in place, no mean feat considering the weight of the unit. A 10 metre 3/4"fuel hose was then fitted and the pump nozzle attached. The bowser was then cut through and a two metre hose from the pump to the reel attached. The end result delighted the customer, especially when Pirtek managed to negotiate ÂŁ150 off the retail price. With a job well done Andy prepared to return to base and home but even then he was asked to rescue a Doosan DX80R working for Bellway Housing. The main bucket feed hose had sprung a leak and they were desperate to finish their project before the end of the day. It turned out to be a routine replacement and Andy eventually returned with three happy customers instead of just the one.

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In the pipeline 13

Paint it White Faced with Government cuts and austerity measures, Chelmsford City Council has been looking at news ways to make a limited budget go further.

Street Care and Performance manager Tim Eaton-Fearne

excellent engineering as well as hydraulic service. I know I can pick up the phone and they will provide the solution. It's not unusual to see Andy in here two or three times a day. Pirtek enables me to do all of the hydraulic repairs without keeping an enormous stock of hoses and fittings. We have been a longstanding customer of Pirtek; they simply provide a service I cannot better. Which is just as well because the phone would melt from complaints if we didn't pick the bins up."

Eaton-Fearne reports that the Pirtek back-up service integrates seamlessly with his own in-house operations. “We have four HGV bays and four light goods vehicle bays in the workshops, plus the MoT testing facility. This tests our own vehicles as well as the city's taxis and we are now testing outside company vehicles to improve our income. Every council vehicle is serviced every eight weeks, 13 for the smaller sweepers. That means 10 vehicles a day will come through the doors, and they are all dealt with by just six engineers.

These guys are the real heroes; it's just a shame their hard work isn't more widely recognised. It is imperative that vehicles are turned round quickly and that is where Pirtek are so efficient,” he continues. “All the vehicles are given a daily visual check but Andy also does a total hose management check when a vehicle comes in

Terry Barfield Workshop manager Street Care and Performance manager Tim Eaton-Fearne said there were some obvious and fairly simple things that helped his budget go further, "Not painting the corporation vehicles for a start.

Instead of spending £800 per vehicle we left them white. They still look smart but we saved a lot of money. With a zero budget increase this year, questions had to asked about expenditure with cheaper and more efficient ways of doing things had to be found."

The Council use the Government buying framework to purchase vehicles. They are kept as long as possible and are leased to avoid capital expenditure, but only until they become unviable on spares, when they are disposed of. Most of the council’s 100+ vehicles are relatively new which reduces maintenance. These range from 2.5 tonne compact sweeper to a 32 tonne refuse vehicle. The council street care vehicles now operate on a four-day week but work longer hours; the sweepers now start at 4 am! The fifth day is given over to maintenance work and repairs.

A rigorous preventive maintenance programme ensures the vehicles are well maintained which has reduced the number of unexpected failures and enabled the contingency in the refuse fleet to be reduced to just two vehicles.

However when a vehicle failure does occur, the exceptional response from Pirtek Basildon has greatly helped keep the council fleet on the road as Eaton-Fearne explains. “It is not unusual to have a response in 10 minutes from our MSST Andy Rossen. I like Pirtek's reliability and the speed with which they sort things out,” he says. “They often think outside the box and provide an

for servicing or repair. He will inspect the hoses while the vehicle is off the road, makes recommendations or replaces any suspect hose that might have been damaged or is showing excess wear."

In addition to these regular Pirtek services, Eaton-Fearne says that Pirtek has also been involved in the council’s environmental efforts.

“Rather than landfill domestic refuse, Chelmsford City Council has its own four hectare recycling centre,” he asserts. "We achieved a 51.8 percent recycling rate, processing 37,000 tonnes from 15,000,000 collections last year. The council recycles plastics, glass, metal, paper, card and textiles. The machinery in the yard leads a punishing existence but we know that if anything goes down we can rely on Andy to put it right.”

Quarter 1 2013

Left, the road sweeper assembly made from Pirtek hoses Above left , new quick hitch fittings, part of an ongoing refurbishment programme of the Komatsu road /rail excavators Above right, be it a dozer or a mini sweeper, Quattro will have one

Clean Sweep Pirtek products are tough, ask anyone. But when Pirtek Medway was asked to supply some tough hydraulic hoses for a road sweeper, even they were amazed at the novel use the hoses were put to.

Medway MSST Pete Russell is well-versed in supplying odd components, fittings and hoses to London-based national account Quattro Plant.

Founded in 1989, the Quattro Group is now one of the largest operated-plant companies in the UK, with a turnover in excess of £50 million. The company’s policy of organic growth saw them move into the rail market place in 1998, and waste management and civils hire in 2003. The company further strengthened its position with the acquisition of BCL Rail Services in 2008 and Kent Sweepers in 2009. The 10 national depots mean that they are never more than two hours away from delivery to a customer in England by low loader. There are a further two depots in Scotland.

The company’s Kent depot, based at Rochester, is just a few streets away from the Pirtek Centre and is a regular port of call.

Although that makes the 1-hour ETA easy to stick to, the road/rail vehicles present more of a challenge, as Quattro’s manager Gary Youseman explains. “There is an interesting array

Gary Youseman

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of kit in our yard at any one time: road sweepers; gritting lorries; dozers; access platforms; and road/rail excavators. And the variety doesn’t stop there. For the road/rail machines alone, we operate units from Mecalac, JCB, Neuson, Case, Komatsu, Terex, Doosan or Philmore conversions. And the number of unique attachments they use is extraordinary. That’s why we use Pirtek to meet our hydraulic needs. I’m quite happy for them to have the logistical nightmare of keeping all those components,” he says. “But, even by our standards, I did set them a challenge recently with a rotary sweeper array. The OEM brushes simply wore through in no time. So Pirtek replaced the brushes with lengths of hydraulic hose and it works a treat. I’m sure Pete thought I was bonkers at the time, but I couldn’t think of anything that was as flexible and as strong as the Pirtek hoses.”

Youseman reports that this “can do” approach typifies his company’s experience of working with Pirtek. “It’s not just the day-to-day repairs they are good at. They constantly source all the odd ball rail bits, and on one occasion recently - when we wanted a part for a trailer and the lead-time was weeks – Pirtek simply went away and made it for me. At the moment we are undertaking a conversion of the Komatsu excavators to take quick release hoses, which has meant replacing all the ends on the machine’s ridged hydraulic system. However swapping from one attachment to another is now faster and more efficient, so it’s well worth the effort,” he concludes. “Pirtek Medway act as our national contact point. We use them for all our local work and deal with about eight other Pirtek Centres for the rest of the country. The rail side of the business is often conducted at night and at weekends, and it’s good to know that I can phone Pirtek Medway and get a machine repaired in Manchester or Bristol 24/7. They simply get it sorted. We never have any problems with Pirtek, and they really put themselves out. They have never let me down.”

In the pipeline 15

Bucket List

All Change

It would seem that the film Bucket List, which featured two people with a list of things to do before they died has inspired the staff at Pirtek Redditch.

Sales manager Morton Connell decided to compile his own list starting with driving a Ferrari around a race track as the number one item. As a present, his family booked a session at Silverstone, where he spent the morning in the class room being instructed in how to drive a Ferrari 360.

He then spent 5 laps in a Racing Megane with an instructor who assessed his driving abilities. This was followed with 5 laps in the Ferrari with the instructor who gave valuable advice before letting Morton loose on his own..

Morton admits it was extremely enjoyable and he achieved a very creditable B rating for his performance. Out of a class of 30 only 2 achieved a higher mark. Speed down the straight - 132mph!

Morton says he has just 4 more to do, next on the list, something a little less dangerous - taking the wife to Australia. he would also like to own a Jag XFR but thinks that winning the lottery will be the only way of achieving that.

Not be outdone MSST John Griffin has managed to get through 9 of the 10 items on his list - he deliberately left the tenth one to last, a freefall parachute skydive!. Jumping out of a perfectly servicable plane at 1200’ does sound insane but it at least completed John’s list.

When Tony Allam took over Pirtek Glasgow in August 2012 it signalled some unique and interesting changes for the Glasgow territory, one of which will shortly be Pirtek’s first female MSST. Pirtek Glasgow’s operating territory covers the city centre of Glasgow to Hart Hill on the M8, from Moffat in the South to Falkirk and Grangemouth. With an established core of national customers that include GAP, A-Plant, Nationwide Platform, BAM Ritchies and material handlers Briggs, and Toyota, new owner Tony Allam has been exploring how to expand the client base with some resounding successes as he explains. “We are moving into the food and beverage sector with positive results from Devro, Wiseman Dairies, Tenants Brewery and Morrison Bowmore. But we have also been looking at static site work with the plastic injection moulding factories showing a keen interest as well. We have now taken on a full-time business development manager to drive sales with a view to expanding the number of service vans in 2013.

One of these will be manned by our first lady MSST.” Running Pirtek Glasgow marks a major career change for Allam but, he says, the success of the operation comes as no surprise. “For 20 years, I owned and ran a haulage company in Nigeria, running a tanker fleet for ExxonMobil and another fleet for oil field haulage, moving land rigs and chemical supplies. Our main clients were Halliburton, Panalpina and the Bollore Group transporting outrageous loads over very demanding territories. When I sold the Nigerian companies and returned to Scotland I already knew about Pirtek and its reputation as the best hydraulic company in the UK, so I was delighted to find Glasgow would be available,” he concludes.

“With my past experience, I was able to ensure we provided a very high quality service, by doing the job well first time, completing it safely, and giving real value for money.”

Quarter 1 2013

Retiring Type

Ian with Gerald Milord and the experimental cement wagon.

Below, Ian often moved the hydraulics on the wagon, having to turn a somewhat ramdom set of fittings into something a little move organised

After 18 years and more than 22,500 individual jobs, Nottingham MSST Ian Rigley is finally retiring.

When he started at Pirtek Derby, Ian Rigley had no idea he would become something of a legend amongst his customers.

His engineering background and knowledge of engines made him a natural field engineer. He built upon this and became a railway expert at Nottingham along the way. An example of this was demonstrated when Pirtek Nottingham pitched to re-hose a Fastline (Jarvis) rail tamping unit.

The incumbent suppliers had claimed the job could be completed in so many days and at a set budget; Rigley said it wasn't possible and with the team at Pirtek Nottingham produced a survey of all 224 hoses and landed a new customer because of his honest approach. He subsequently spent 370 hours replacing the hoses. “In this business, you know what you are good at and you simply get on with it. I've always enjoyed work, especially designing and then building something,� he says. “If something is obviously wrong or fails when it shouldn't, you don't just replace it, you look at why the component has failed and put it right by improving it. There is little point in copying someone else's mistake."

Rigley says he particularly enjoyed working on the big machines and often took on the work on the face shovels at the local pits.

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In the pipeline 17 However, it was his eye for innovation earned him many admirers.

A local authority had problems with a fleet of new £160,000 Mercedes gritters in 2002. Rigley redesigned the 56 metres of steel oil hoses on a test vehicle. That worked so well he did another nine vehicles. It was described by the customer as “a work of art.”

Ian Rigley says that his speciality was custom manufacturing pipes for Volvo and Scanias where replacement parts are no longer supplied by the OEM. They simply come with an attached note - take to Pirtek for manufacture!

Looking back at some of the engineering problems Rigley has overcome shows a staggering diversity. He would cure a permanent drive PTO problem on Dennis refuse trucks that prevented 140 litres of hydraulic oil emptying over the ground on one day and on another, repair a vintage Foden 2 stroke pumping engine used for keeping a coal mine from flooding.

One of Ian's great loves is vintage cars, and he was often asked for by name to work on rare vehicles such as a 308 Ferrari, an even rarer Metro 450 hp, 4x4 6R4, Stirling Moss's 1958 F1 racing car, on one hand, to fitting power steering to a vintage Rolls Royce to enable the owner to park it. He frequently manufactured parts for the Nuttall Racing team. He says he must have re-hosed every performance car you can think of from E types to Lamborghinis He also recalls silver soldering a tiny 3 mm pipe for a Mercedes self-leveling suspension - pipes that were smaller than a match head.

Not all machines found favour with Ian Rigley. He has a particular dislike of mini diggers where, he says, you need to be a snake with 3 wrists to undo some fixtures. But necessity is the mother of invention and Ian simply invented his own spanners to solve the problem.

Skip lorry legs presented him with an access problem that prompted the manufacture of an adapted crows foot spanner.

And quick hitch joints led to the development of a super spanner; a cut down army surplus spanner, bought locally for a £1.

Customers have been sad to see Ian Rigley hang up his tools and have a lot of fond memories such as Balfour Beatty's rail plant technical development manager, Gerald Milord. “It’s all about service with Ian. I can remember we had a problem cleaning rails on a project in Chile. Ian and I hand-built a cleaning trolley by hand that solved it. He re-piped a cement wagon to enable us to strengthen the body for a crash test. Nothing was too much trouble and he always had a solution at hand.”

This was the feeling echoed by Dave Flower, site manager at Frimstone's Toton sidings where railway ballast is recycled. "Ian is always spot on; always a star; always goes the extra mile. I can't fault him, nothing was too much trouble. If he couldn't get a part, he'd simply make it. He’s as good as gold and we’ll miss him.”

This sentiment was echoed at DB Schenker's rail facilities at Stapleford. “Ian was outstanding. A brilliant engineer who always did such a good job,” says production manager Wayne Buckley.

At the Cemex Attenborough, quarry manager Vanessa Smithson obviously has a soft spot for Ian Rigley. When she spotted him working on a truck a few doors away from her home she made him a cup of tea. "How could I not? Ian is always on hand with a solution. A great guy to work with.”

So will Ian Rigley be retiring quietly? Not a chance. “A bit of travelling first, indulge my twin passions of fishing and shooting then I shall look for a project such as a motorbike in a box, that wants to be sorted,” he concludes. “But I'll stay in touch with Pirtek Nottingham because they have my favorite lathe!"

Ian with Dave Flower at Frimstone’s Toton sidings

Ian with Wayne Buckley at DB Schenker at Stapleford

Ian with Vanessa Smithson at Cemex Attenborough

Quarter 1 2013

Hardcore Service

When you run one of the busiest recycling centres in the southeast, it is imperative that everything runs smoothly. With the help of a ‘top notch' MSST from Pirtek Greenwich, H Sivyer Limited manage to do just that.

Sivyer's recycling centre is situated alongside the A102 Blackwall tunnel approach road, just across from the O2 Centre. To say it is busy is something of an understatement, as anything up to 400 vehicles will be loading and unloading from the site every day - 80 of which will be Sivyer's own tippers.

The site is divided into two parts, the A site deals with the really heavy material that needs to be processed before being brought into the B site for crushing and recycling. Much of the yard is neatly stacked with stockpiles of clean and precisely sized material, which considering the appalling weather of late is no

mean feat. Sivyers produce a clean type one (75-100mm) plus 10, 20 and 40 mm products from the recycled crushed material.

The site will frequently dispatches 55,000 tonnes of recycled material a month from the 2 hectare site, with a guaranteed 1,000 tonne a week leaving by barge to the East Tilbury land reclamation site. The Greenwich site copes with waste management, waste removal and the production, haulage and delivery of recycled aggregates, primary aggregates and hydraulically bound materials (SMR). There are 28 pieces of kit on site including a Terex jaw and impact crusher, a pair of 36 tonne S190 triple-deck screeners, two single-deck screens, a 34 tonne R155 vibrating screener, a 61 tonne 621RE topsoil trommel, six Volvo and Hyundai loading shovels, five excavators and a volumetric mixer. Although there are 11 employees on site, the fleet is serviced by just two fitters, and they work “al fresco” without a covered workshop.

"There is a constant need to maintain the yard vehicles. On top of the scheduled maintenance done under a planned preventive maintenance programme every 200 hours, the vehicles work to their absolute maximum. The real problem is often damage is caused through trying to separate rebar from construction and demolition waste, material falling from the conveyors, wear and tear from vibrating machinery - particularly the screens and crushers,” says site service manager Mark Waller. “ There isn't enough room to keep contingency machinery here, apart from it not making economic sense to have unproductive kit sitting round.

So everything has to be kept working. That’s easier said than done, so we often call in our favourite engineer, Kevin Kearney from Pirtek Greenwich to help."

Waller reports that Kearney is a regular visitor to the site. "We see him here two or three times a day, his response times are amazing and he will give us priority help, often asking the other Greenwich MSSTs to pick up his calls so that he can help us out.

Nothing is too much trouble, even if we give him some dreadful jobs to do, such as replacing screener hoses which run from one end of he machine to the other with countless cable ties in between,” Waller continues. “He does loads of quick release hoses which seem to be prone to damage, plus all the O rings, adaptors, gate valve and spill kits, as well as all the regular replacement hydraulic hoses."

Waller says that the service from Pirtek Greenwich in general and from Kevin Kearney has altered his initial opinion of Pirtek. “We started using Pirtek after a cold call some 18 months ago. I didn't take it too seriously at first as I assumed they would be too expensive. I was pleasantly surprised to find that Pirtek were prepared to look at our needs, and our usual replacement hose requirements and worked out a deal for us. So we get superb service at a great price. Can't say better than that."

Hair Today As usual the guys at the Pirtek Centres joined in the annual Movember competition to raise money and awareness for The Prostate Cancer Charity. The ‘Pirtek Hustlers’ team managed to raise £1170 between them.

1st place for best Mo – Dan Wood from Pirtek Cambridge

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2nd place Steven Green from Pirtek Norwich

3rd place Graeme Collings from Pirtek UK

In the pipeline 19

Playing Safe LOCK OUTUT TAG O

r cal solution fo d most practi machinery d an t an The easiest an pl g isolatin

ACT THINK SAFE,

Pirtek Glasgow is celebrating achieving accreditation under the Safecontractor pre-qualification scheme.

Safecontractor is a third party accreditation scheme that assesses a company’s health and safety arrangements.

Many major clients recognise the scheme and accept the Safecontractor certificate as confirmation of competency as part of their own pre-qualification and procurement processes. Over one hundred and seventy major nation-wide businesses, from several key sectors, have signed up to use the scheme when selecting contractors for services such as building, maintenance, refurbishment and mechanical work.

Client organisations that sign up to the scheme can access the database, enabling them to vet potential contractors before they set foot on site. These clients agree that, as users of the scheme, they will engage only those who have received accreditation.

“The Safecontractor scheme has been brought in as a quick filter for subcontractors by a lot of our clients and prospective clients. In fact, Linde Forklifts has insisted that as of January 2013 only Safecontractor accredited suppliers can work for them. John Nicoletti of Linde MH Scotland was very happy with our commitment,”says Pirtek Glasgow’s Tony Allam. “Thanks to Pirtek’s processes and the risk analysis that were already in place and the fact that we adhere to ISO standards meant the procedure was actually pretty straightforward. We are now the only company providing hydraulic repairs in the Glasgow area with it.”

Tony Allam says that, although it is early days, he is already seeing a positive reaction from his customers. “Our existing clients are happy that we have joined and we are looking at new clients like Greggs Plc who are client members,” he concludes. “Gaining accreditations is the best way of differentiating ourselves from the independent suppliers we compete against.”

E SAFE, BE SAF

0800 0 080 00 38 8 24 38 8 www.pirtek.co.uk k k

Competition With the BTCC season successfully concluded, our last lucky winner of 2012 was Graham Lomax of Polyflor Ltd who gave the correct answer of Knockhill when asked at which race circuit did Pirtek Racing driver Jeff Smith obtain his first podium?

For our first competiton of 2013 and a chance to win 2 Experience day tickets to a race of their choice, just answer the following question: Which trophy did Andrew Jordan win in the BTCC competition in 2012?

Please email your answer to info@pirtek.co.uk.

The winner will be drawn from the correct entries on 28th February 2013 Good luck.

Quarter 1 2013

In the pipeline 20

The champions!

The Independents’ Drivers Championship title for Andrew Jordan and the Independents’ Team Championship made it a fabulously successful season for Pirtek Racing in the 2012 MSA British Touring Car Championship.

Once again, it was a sensational season for the biggest and best championship in British motor sport. Over 350,000 fans watched the action from track side across 10 events and more than 10 million watched the drama unfold on TV, both live and in highlights programmes. With more than six hours of live coverage of each and every race day, it is an unrivalled package.

Equipped with the latest Honda Civic, resplendent in its eye-catching Pirtek livery, Andrew enjoyed a superb season and ended the year as a clear champion in the hard-fought and prestigious Independents’ Drivers Championship. He scored points in 27 of the 30 races and only failed to finish three times: twice due to driving errors by other competitors. Only 2012 overall champion Gordon Shedden had a better finishing record.

Within Andrew’s tally were eight Independent wins and a further 11 Independent podiums as he comprehensively out-scored his major rivals Rob Collard, Tom Onslow-Cole and Mat Jackson. By the final race, he was a massive 69 points clear.

In overall terms, Andrew established himself as the biggest rival to the BTCC ‘big three’ of Shedden, Matt Neal and Jason Plato. He won at Snetterton and took a further eight overall podiums as he finished fourth overall, only 30 points behind Plato. His stunning pace was best demonstrated in qualifying, where only Plato had a better qualifying record across the 10 race meetings.

With Jeff Smith racing hard in the other Pirtek Racing entry, the team won the Independents’ Team Championship after a tough battle with Redstone Racing and eBay Motors, two of the most established teams in the championship.

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In the final race weekend of the season, Andrew settled the drivers’ title in the penultimate race and had a clear target for the deciding race of the year. “The last race was all about the teams’ championship,” he said. “It was a great day and winning the drivers’ title was the realisation of the ambition we set out with at the start of the season. To win the Independent teams’ championship when we’d gone to Brands behind on points was really good for all the guys at Pirtek Racing.”

After such a successful 2012 campaign, Andrew and the team are already making their 2013 ambitions clear: Andrew wants to chase the overall BTCC title!