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