Safe Speed Forums

Across our area there are twice as many Roads Policing units as there are Hato vehicles.

I can't comment on exact numbers in other areas, but since they deal with a much wider range of issues, both on, and off the road, I would expect their numbers to be significantly higher.

I did see some figures for the number of roads policing units, by police authority, on the internet. It was in response to a parliamentary question, but I can't remember where it was!

I'm sorry but this point is basically an official lie. There are at least a dozen different and equally safe ways to make HATO vehicles highly visible.

If 'officials' hadn't wanted them to look like Police vehicles they would have chosen significantly different colouring.

You're being paraded in front of the public as a cheapskate substitute for Police. The general public can't tell the difference and that's no accident.

No-one has yet put forward a rational reason why there is a problem in Hato vehicles resembling police vehicles.

So do paramedic vehicles (cars/estates/4x4's) and blood service vehicles (mostly estates, I think).

I'm sorry but this point is basically an official lie. There are at least a dozen different and equally safe ways to make HATO vehicles highly visible.

This causes them to slow down 'un-necessarily' extending their journey time by 20 seconds.

I'm a serving Hato.

I'm not a 'wannabe' cop. If I wanted to be a policeman, I would have joined the police. That goes for most of my colleagues.

There seems to be a lot of anti Hato comment from people who don't understand what the role of the Traffic Officer service is.

As far as I am concerned we are on the side of the motorist, there to help when things go wrong. We are not there to report motoring offences and have no legal powers to do so. Like any other citizen, we can report dangerous events to the police, but this is very rare.

We clear debris, assist at breakdowns, help clear up after RTC's, and generally try to keep the motorways (and motorists) safe. We attend up to 2000 incidents a day across the motorway network. The vast majority of drivers are glad to have the help and reassurance of someone who is used to the motorway environment, can give advice, and monitor their safety and well being. For many people, the hard shoulder is a hostile environment and even a breakdown can be a traumatic experience

We do not put debris in the carriageway, or crash vehicles or make people break down, but we seem to get the blame when we turn up to clear the situation.

Our vehicles are all 4x4. Most police vehicles are saloons or estates. Our vehicles are yellow and black and usually have 'Traffic Officer' in big letters on the front and back. They are distinctive, but that high visibility is for safety reasons.

The TO service is relatively new and is developing, and like any organisation or group of people, some people do the job better than others.

Give us a chance, one day we may be able to help you or your loved ones.

Thatsnews wrote:

Pinto, you should hear what the real professionals think about you. The vehicle recovery operators!

They have years of experience, training and genuine qualifications. And yet the Highways Agency want to do away with all that, allowing HATO amateurs with a Range Rover, to hook up to a car on the motorway and tow it away.

Now, who would I want to recover a vehicle driven by a loved one? Someone with a lot of experience, with up-to-date qualifications and the properly equipped and licensed recovery vehicle?

Or someone who is, in reality a well-meaning amateur, with next-to-no training, no industry recognised qualifications, attempting to tow them away with a poorly equipped Range Rover?

Gosh. What a difficult question...

What a load of rubbish!

Highways Agency isn't doing away with any recovery, quite the opposite in fact.

Traffic Officers do not recover vehicles. At most we move them to a place of safety ie: hard shoulder or maybe the top of a slip road. What would you like us to do, leave it in a live lane for a couple of hours until 'proper' recovery arrives?

As far as recovery drivers having years of experience and up to date qualifications, We rarely see the same driver more than a couple of times because of staff turnover. Some recovery agents are now employing Polish drivers.
(By the way, our basic training is 5 weeks followed by a further month of on road training and regular re-assessment)

I have spent hours waiting with members of the public for recovery agents who persistently fail to meet arrival times or turn up with the wrong equipment for the job.

There are some very good, professional recovery operators and in our area, we have an excellent working relationship with them.

We now have over two years of experience of working on the motorway, day in, and day out. Our procedures and training are constantly under review.


Well meaning amateurs, we are not.

PS: Just looked at your website and conclude that you are fishing for an argument?

[...]however, I have no problem with their presence acting as a deterrent to slow motorists down. They should not be speeding anyway! Its only being proactive in preventing speeding rather than catching offenders.[...]

Thatsnews wrote

I have no doubt that every HATO is a lovely well-meaning person. But Five weeks training? I think you prove my point...

Please, fill in a gap in my knowledge and tell me about training for recovery operators.

Duration and type of training.
Qualification achieved.

I repeat my previous statement.
We do not recover vehicles. We may simply move them to the nearest safe location. Something the Police have done on a regular basis.

We don't use Range Rovers. Only one area ever did and those have been replaced.

Thatsnews wrote

As for training, you could try the Institute of Vehicle Recovery, AVRO, RRRG, APT Training, LARO, BSI (look out for PAS43) CarsQA, ATT (All Terain Training) and so forth. The training you would go for depends on your needs.

Training for recovery operators has never been compulsory and was very much up to each individual company. There was no formal course and no standard syllabus.

A very recent introduction is the Operators ID card. This training This training is in module form and after the basic modules, operators will be able to choose what additional elements they want to take. This is being rolled out at the moment and the ID card will state what types of recovery an operator can do.

This will however, not be compulsory for all operators, only for those organisations joining the HA recovery scheme when that is finally implemented.

The Highways Agency is staffed with civil servants who know nothing about roads, vehicles, vehicle recovery, professional driving yet who pretend to know everything.

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You are now going from one unsubstatiated statement to another, without ever addressing any of the questions.


Shows what little you know about the industry.

My comments about training came from a lengthy conversation with the training officer at the IVR. But then I guess you will probably discount his comments too.
I'm happy to listen to your explanation of where I have misunderstood his description of the training systems in place through the IVR, RRRA, RHA and AVRO.

I'm not sure what your relationship with the recovery industry is, or what you do for a living but I would be gratefull if you could tell me precisely where I have gone wrong.

I think that every HATO should go through exactly the same training as a recovery operator. Then spend perhaps six months on secondment to an operator.


Please explain what training you are talking about.