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Everyone got lucky on this occasion... This is another sober reminder to remain ultra vigilant at all times when working at the roadside... A few seconds earlier the outcome could have been so tragically different... Stay safe out there... John.

Congratulations Ron, Chris and the whole Towforce team on reaching 6000 members This is still the most interesting, informative and comprehensive towing forum in the world Keep up your good work and may the towforce be with you From the UK.... John. 🤗

Thank you Randall please send our best Regards to Christine as well ... I have learned in the past hour of another tower killed at the side of the road whilst recovering a car today , at Southampton ...not 25 miles from here . I dont know any further details at this time.... No matter where it is in the world ..... the dangers towers face daily are the same ....so tragic !! John.

Please convey our sincere condolences to Steve's family, workmates and friends at this tragic time From your fellow towers in the UK..

Yes I am here..... wishing everyone a happy and safe new year from the UK... Congratulations to Ron and Chris and the whole Towforce team on continuing to be the best and the most interesting towing forum in the world

Heavy Load Ashok Leyland Truck Accident on HairPin Bend Rescue Operation Help of Two Crane

Video from Indonesia

So sad to learn of the passing of Jim.... whilst I never got to meet him ...I have read his articles in the A T for many years and recently was friends on FB His articles were always very interesting and informative... Please convey our sincere condolences to all of his Family, friends and his colleagues and co workers at the American Towman Magazine... From John and Aileen Coupland...on behalf of the UK Towing industry....

That looks like great fun ....what an excellent line up of equipment... The Harley/ snap on tool cabinet is still looking as good as new ...love it !! Have a fantastic Christmas and a safe new year to you all From your friends in the UK.

Sorry about that Folks ....my phone battery went flat ... here is a collection of the vehicles at the show also the Demonstrations and products on show...enjoy !! BTW ...is Guest Eclipse who I think it is ?? good to see you here bud x

Here are some more pictures....

I had the privilege of being part of the organising team along with Andy Lambert and Nick Phipps putting together the UK Tow Shows first historic Tow truck display... We had an initial entry of 30 vehicles promised but due to various operational issues, covid, and fuel shortages only 15 managed to make it ... Our sincere thanks to athat made the event amongst difficult circumstances... A nicely restored diamond T from Stathams Garage ... A landrover from the Crouch collection formerly owned and operated for many years by founder Jack Crouch A Standard Vanguard pick up from Buckdale Recovery......entered by John Huckle A 6x6 AEC Militant complete with a 20 ton Scammell belly winch and Rotating Crane ......saw service with the National Rescue group owned by Andy Lambert now in semi retirement at the Brooklands museum A nicely preserved Albion Commercial fitted with a 5 ton twin boom Harvey Frost hand cranked crane owned by KM Commercials

It doesn't look likely we will be going ...my dear wife Aileen is having eye surgery that week and I want to stay with her.... It is disappointing not to catch up with old friends and acquaintances... So it is going to be 2022 before we can get over . Y'all enjoy the show, stay safe and well...

I had the opportunity to be a part of the convoy it was an honour to amongst such dedicated company.. there was upwards of 70 trucks and the line stretched over a mile with all the lights flashing it was an awesome sight and hopefully the "Slow Down Move Over " message got over to the motoring public .. 2 TV channels reported it on their news channels...also promoting our awareness campaign ... just an hour before the convoy was due to start... an 11 car transporter fully laden ... the trailer caught fire and was blocking the slip road to the M3 .. blocking the convoy route and totally grid locking the area .. Sincere thanks must go out to the Police , Fire department and Highways officers ... for going out of their way to get the road open enough to allow the convoy to pass through... in time for the funeral service ... John.

Sadly we will not be able to attend this year... despite several attempts, and fully vaccinated, we are not able to obtain entry visas into the USA until November when the border restrictions are being lifted... Covid is not doing any of us any favours and it sucks !! Very disappointed not to be there ... Aileen and I send our sincere apologies ... we also send our very best regards to everyone and hope you all have great weekend there... Hopefully we will make it to Baltimore...that also is not a certainty until we get the visas.. meanwhile... stay safe... John.

I was invited by the Brooklands Museum London to exhibit my Autocar...the ex Kauffs Towing, Mean Machine.. at their annual emergency services and first responders open day ... I was privileged to be allowed to park in a restricted area alongside Concorde ..... now in preservation at the museum ..... What an amazing opportunity .......priceless !!! The Concorde is complete as it was when withdrawn from service and still has its Olympus engines installed sadly never to fly again ...

Guys ... These were popular in the UK also in the 70's, the unit in the photo was made by Harvey Frost a well known and well respected recovery equipment builder n the UK ... Harvey Frost built a number of different recovery cranes with working loads of 1. 5 tons up to a twin winch crane with a lifting capacity of 10 tons... The actual name Harvey Frost used for the unit was.... Tow Dolly I ran a Harvey Frost tow dolly as a back up for 2 or 3 years in the early days, mainly for accident damaged stuff and scrap collection... I mirror Randall's comments... in the right hands they were quite safe... but lethal if you are inexperienced ...no brakes, no safety features whatsoever... we stopped using it and scrapped it after a friend of ours borrowed it and was towing a heavy car and it got out of control down a hill and rolled the whole lot over including the towing van ... ( some friend !! ) We had several Harvey Frost cranes fitted to our light duty wreckers and they were very easy to work...on the heavy side we preferred to use the Holmes twin Boom cranes... but as we progressed, the emphasis was more on damage free lift and tow and transportation ... gradually they were sold off or scrapped ... I think I may still have a couple of Harvey Frost Snatch Blocks in the stores somewhere... With the advent of plastic bumpers and modern tight fitting bodywork... renders that sort of equipment useless for todays applications... note ... this one has a crude over run brake fitted The winch is enclosed in an alloy housing and when lowering the load a brake automatically applies ... thus removing the risk of the Handle flying round and breaking your arm.

I had the honour of being part of the commentary team at the Recovery demonstrations held at the South West of England Truckfest last weekend.. Before the demonstrations began....we held a one minutes silence in memory of Tom Watson who was tragically killed by a semi whilst loading a broken down car onto his truck ... two women passengers also perished ... The driver of the semi was arrested at the scene for causing death by driving whilst under the influence of drugs .... I made an impassioned appeal to the audience.... when they see flashing emergency lights at the side of the road .....please slow down and if possible move over .....too many lives are being lost at the roadside and families losing their loved ones....these guys go out to work and never come home ....tragic !!! I had a video of part of our commentary...but I dont seem to be able to upload it onto this post but it is on FB I took some pictures of some of the tow trucks at that event ...and managed to upload them ...enjoy ... A 6x6 Foden Formerly first line NATO reserve vehicle fitted with a 30 ton drag winch to the rear and a 20 winch to the front a very versatile off road vehicle. Owned by Slades Garage ... A very well presented immaculate 6 seater Renault Rollback with a payload of 5 tons it also has a 2nd car lift ideal for distance recovery's From Ashley Wood Recovery l

Ed....It is good to see the Pete is working so well for you and earning its keep ... It appears you are having quite a lot of issues with programming of Body Modules ....Is that just unique to International or across the range ? John.

Ed ...I recon you are right ...you could have driven it out .....I see by the scratches on the black top it looks like they attempted to scoop themselves backwards ... But....... a winchout is the right way ...and it is chargeable ...good call !! John.

More pictures...

Ed ...it was a big show for us ... not as big as some of the ones in Europe ...and nowhere near the size of the shows you guys have stateside ... I have some more pics I will post shortly......Unfortunately..I ran out of battery in my camera so I could not get all the pics I wanted ... No it is not darker over here ....but lots of additional driving lights is very popular with drivers and operators alike in the UK and Europe ....the light bars and additional spots are all aftermarket products ...quite a few have LED side lights fitted either in blue, orange, green or white .. at night they look really cool....in very dark situations the spots give an absolute blaze of light .... The red tow truck equipment has an unusual spade design...in fact, I dont recognise the design of that boom assembly, or spades..... note .....it has only 1 main lift ram it maybe be a one off own shop built unit ... Yes that is master cut out switch on the transom....a bit of an unusual place to put it ....but....I guess .it suits them .. Boniface ..is one of the two top builders in the UK and is part of the Miller corporation there is a range of different bottom booms available 2 or 3 stage various lengths ....there is also a slim profile ....ideal for low ground clearance jobs ....ie touring buses, ultra low trucks etc ... The Crouch Recovery trucks are always highly specified ....Dave and Adam Crouch are very knowledgeable guys and are one of the top operators in the UK estabished over 70 years...Dave has a huge collection of historic tow trucks and military vehicles ..the largest in Europe....

With over 2500 trucks and trailers entered Peterborough Truckfest is the largest in the UK it was great to see such a good turnout as the country returns to some sort of normality after the pandemic ...huge crowds attended over the 3 days making it a success ... There was a strong showing of Tow Trucks of various sizes because travel from other countries is so restricted here is a small selection of what is running on the UK roads Enjoy .... The stunning KW fitted with the Miller 1075 belonging to Phil Naish and son ......long established towing company situated in brain tree north of London..........Phil has an interesting collection of historic American trucks A new 4 axle Volvo by Dynes Towing, based south of London . Fitted with Boniface equipment A smart little light duty unit ideal for breakdown service response and lift and tow duties ...from Stort mill Recovery... The business end of a couple of heavy duty units .....note the rearward facing panels on the Mansfield unit .they all have reflective hi viz chevrons....giving a very good out line of the truck at night Check out the rear spades on the Highway truck .. This is an example of vast array of knuckleboom cranes at the show ......this is a 70 tm cormack crane in a half stowed position .....check out the size of the stabilisers legs This is all built onto a 3 axle Volvo tractor... ...the tractor is fitted with very heavy duty reinforced frame rails and heavy duty axles .. A mixture of different makes ......L to R..... Ford transit light duty , Volvo 4 axle heavy duty, Scania 3 axle heavy duty, MAN 2 axle medium duty. A 6 seater double cab transporter from Richfords Recovery...... additionally a Ford ranger support vehicle from Richfords A 3 axle DAF XF heavy duty from CMG Recovery...based in the Midland counties A brand new double cab Volvo transporter this is the first showing of this model in the UK An impressive display of knuckleboom cranes ....check out the reach most have a turning radius of over 300 degrees Always a favourite with the spectators...a very well kept Lone Star from NY Recovery based in southeast England This truck has many show and shine winners trophys .... The business end of the Lone Star ..... Three very smart units from Crouch Recovery...one of the biggest operators in the UK.....note ...all different makes Volvo, DAF and Scania ...all fitted with long reach underlifts by Boniface Engineering.... A brand new model from Scania for Roy's Autos ....built by Boniface Engineering...was completed on the morning of the show and they did not have time to have the graphics installed