RAC Truck Rescue Patrol pic

The RAC has introduced a truck rescue patrol vehicle with plans for more in 2017.

The roadside rescue vehicle (pictured), which began operating in the West Midlands on 5 December, is equipped to deal with specific issues faced by drivers of commercial vehicles from 3.5-tonne vans to 44-tonne HGVs.

The RAC said the service will address the most common causes of breakdown such as batteries and electrical faults, which can be fixed at roadside or depot to get the vehicle back on the road quickly and reduce fleet downtime.

It will work in addition to the RAC’s network of contractors servicing commercial vehicles. As well as being fully roadside operational, the patrols will also carry items such as compressors, welding equipment and the latest diagnostics tools to support drivers.

RAC Truck Rescue spokesman Matt Dallaway, said: “We deal with around 100,000 commercial vehicle breakdowns every year, including vans, trucks and trailers, so we know what the most common problems are and a high proportion are fixes that we can do at the roadside.”

The RAC said the service had been launched as a pilot scheme but it expects to roll out more vehicles in 2017, though it could not reveal how many.

By David Craik

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