South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Reclaim UK 1

TVAC (The Vehicle Application Centre) was a British company based in Leyland,

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

that performed chassis conversions and assembled bodies for

commercial vehicle A commercial vehicle is any type of motor vehicle used for transporting goods or paying passengers. The United States defines a "commercial motor vehicle" as any self-propelled or towed vehicle used on a public highway in interstate commerce to ...

refuse truck A garbage truck is a truck specially designed to collect municipal solid waste and transport it to a solid waste treatment facility, such as a landfill, recycling center or transfer station. In Australia they are commonly called rubbish truck ...

s and

fire engine A fire engine (also known in some places as a fire truck or fire lorry) is a road vehicle (usually a truck) that functions as a firefighting apparatus. The primary purposes of a fire engine include transporting firefighters and water to an i ...

History

In 1996 TVAC approached

Plastisol A plastisol is a colloidal dispension of small polymer particles, usually polyvinyl chloride (PVC), in a liquid plasticizer. When heated to around , the plastic particles absorb the plasticizer, causing them to swell and fuse together forming a ...

, based in the Netherlands. At this time Plastisol produced bodies for airport crash fire engines. TVAC wanted Plastisol to produce bodies for smaller fire engines, and TVAC would assemble similar bodies under licence for the United Kingdom market. The first fire engine bodied by TVAC was a DAF 55 appliance for the

Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service The Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service is the county-wide, statutory emergency fire and rescue service for the Shire county of Lancashire, England and also includes the unitary authorities of Blackpool and Blackburn with Darwen. Lancashire Fire ...

, the brigade that covered the area where TVAC's factory was located. This body had a number of technological innovations: the bodies were made with injected resin, and were an integral unit containing the main body and water tank, making the appliance lighter, and also leaving more room for storing equipment. Subsequent orders from, by 2006, 27 fire authorities across the United Kingdom included a major contract with the

London Fire Brigade The London Fire Brigade (LFB) is the fire and rescue service for London, the capital of the United Kingdom. It was formed by the Metropolitan Fire Brigade Act 1865, under the leadership of superintendent Eyre Massey Shaw. It has 5,992staff, in ...

to supply frontline fire appliances, building four

Unimog The Unimog (, ) is a range of multi-purpose tractors, trucks and lorries that has been produced by Boehringer from 1948 until 1951, and by Daimler Truck (formerly Daimler-Benz, DaimlerChrysler and Daimler AG) since 1951. In the United States and ...

s with interchangeable bodies for firefighting or rescue and recovery for the

Surrey Fire and Rescue Service The Surrey Fire and Rescue Service is the statutory fire and rescue service for the County of Surrey, England, with 25 fire stations. It comes under the administrative and legislative control of Surrey County Council, acting as the Fire Author ...

, supplying a removeable welfare pod transported by a converted

Renault Master The Renault Master is a large van produced by the French manufacturer Renault since 1980, now in its third generation. It replaced the earlier Renault Super Goélette light trucks. Opel has sold versions of the second and third series vans as ...

for the

Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service is the statutory fire and rescue service for the county of Derbyshire, England. History The Fire Services Act 1947 created two brigades for Derbyshire the County Borough of Derby Fire Brigade and the Derby ...

, and supplying a series of

Iveco Daily The Iveco Daily is a large light commercial vehicle, light commercial van produced by the Italy, Italian automaker Iveco since 1978; it was also sold as the Fiat Daily by Fiat Automobiles, Fiat until 1983. Unlike the more car-like unibody Fiat D ...

-based midi fire engines to the

Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service is the statutory fire and rescue service for the English county of Cheshire, consisting of the unitary authorities of Cheshire East, Cheshire West and Chester, Halton and Warrington. It operates 28 fire stat ...

. TVAC were also responsible for modifying the chassis of

light Light or visible light is electromagnetic radiation that can be perceived by the human eye. Visible light is usually defined as having wavelengths in the range of 400–700 nanometres (nm), corresponding to frequencies of 750–420 tera ...

and heavy goods vehicles, as well as assembling

s. The company also assembled a bulletproof Vaxuhall Movano-based mobile bank for the

Bank of Scotland The Bank of Scotland plc (Scottish Gaelic: ''Banca na h-Alba'') is a commercial and clearing bank based in Scotland and is part of the Lloyds Banking Group, following the Bank of Scotland's implosion in 2008. The bank was established by th ...

for use on the remote

Shetland Islands Shetland, also called the Shetland Islands and formerly Zetland, is a subarctic archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands and Norway. It is the northernmost region of the United Kingdom. The islands lie about to the no ...

. In 2007, TVAC and ambulance builder UV Modular were both acquired by

asset In financial accountancy, financial accounting, an asset is any resource owned or controlled by a business or an economic entity. It is anything (tangible or intangible) that can be used to produce positive economic value. Assets represent value ...

and

wealth management Wealth management (WM) or wealth management advisory (WMA) is an investment advisory service that provides financial management and wealth advisory services to a wide array of clients ranging from affluent to high-net-worth (HNW) and ultra-high- ...

firm AssetCo, intending to consolidate AssetCo's position as the UK's largest supplier of fire appliances and ambulances. However, TVAC would enter

administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal ** Administrative assistant, Administrative Assistant, traditionally known as a Secretary, or also known as an admini ...

in December 2008 and were

wound up Liquidation is the process in accounting by which a company is brought to an end in Canada, United Kingdom, United States, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, and many other countries. The assets and property of the company are redistrib ...

early the next year; their

intellectual property Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, cop ...

rights and some staff were subsequently acquired by former parent Plastisol. The directors of AssetCo at the time of TVAC's purchase were subsequently charged with 27 allegations of

financial misconduct Misconduct is wrongful, improper, or unlawful conduct motivated by premeditated or intentional purpose or by obstinate indifference to the consequences of one's acts. It is an act which is forbidden or a failure to do that which is required. Misc ...

by the

Financial Reporting Council The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) is an independent regulator in the UK and Ireland based in London Wall in the City of London, responsible for regulating auditors, accountants and actuaries, and setting the UK's Corporate Governance and ...

in 2018. TVAC had collapsed having been unable to complete a contract for four combined aerial response pump (CARP) appliances on

Mercedes-Benz Econic The Mercedes-Benz Econic is a low-entry truck introduced by Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to as Mercedes and sometimes as Benz, is a German luxury and commercial vehicle automotive brand established in 1926. Mercede ...

chassis for the

South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue is the statutory fire and rescue service for the area of South Yorkshire, England. The service covers the areas of Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham and Sheffield. In 2020, Chris Kirby was appointed its Chief Fire ...

to specification. A second CARP for

Humberside Fire and Rescue Service Humberside Fire and Rescue Service (HFRS) is the statutory fire and rescue service covering the area of what was the county of Humberside (1974–1996), but now consists of the unitary authorities of East Riding of Yorkshire, Kingston upon Hull ...

was cancelled when it was discovered that Humberside's CARP was too heavy for legal use on UK roads when fully loaded with firefighting equipment. Throughout their service, these remained in need of further modifications for mechanical and weight defects, while members of the

Fire Brigades Union The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) is a trade union in the United Kingdom for wholetime firefighters (including officers up to chief fire officer / firemaster), retained firefighters and emergency control room staff. History The first recorded inst ...

in South Yorkshire would later refuse to operate their CARP appliances due to safety concerns.

External links

Archived TVAC website

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tvac Emergency services equipment makers 2009 disestablishments in England