Fire engines too heavy for roads.

[G-CPTN]

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/image...fireengine.jpg

Five fire engines in South Yorkshire and the Humber region have been sitting unused since they were bought in 2007, a BBC investigation has discovered.
Each Combined Aerial Rescue Pump (CARP) cost the fire services more than half a million pounds.
However, the vehicles have not yet been used because they are too heavy to be driven legally on British roads.
South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service blamed "a supplier's cock-up" for the situation.
The CARP vehicles are designed to do everything a traditional appliance does but they also have an aerial platform on board to allow firefighters access to the upper levels of buildings.
In 2005 the Humberside and South Yorkshire fire services ordered two and four CARPS respectively at a cost of £3m. The first vehicle was delivered to Humberside in 2007.
However, when loaded with equipment, the vehicle exceeded the 26-tonne legal weight for fire engines on the road.
The Humberside service then cancelled order for the second vehicle. Beverley Sandy, finance and resources director for South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service, said: "It's a supplier's cock-up.
"We're very sorry that they're not on the run yet and doing the job they're designed to do, but the problems we've had with them are purely supplier problems."
Humberside's chief fire officer Frank Duffield said: "It exceeded the legal weight for that type of appliance on British roads."
When asked about how the vehicles had come to be purchased in an unusable state, he said: "I can't answer that can I? That's a technical question that perhaps you'd have to ask the manufacturers themselves."
However, the company which supplied the CARPs, TVAC, went out of business 18 months after the issue was discovered.
South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue said it was spending £700,000 to get its four vehicles on the road by Christmas.
The Humberside service said it was modifying its CARP and the vehicle would be ready in February.
If you live in Yorkshire or Lincolnshire you can see more on this story on BBC One's Inside Out at 1930 BST on Monday 25 January. The programme will also be available on the iPlayer.

From:- http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/8472456.stm

[G-CPTN]

http://www.fireflash-delta64.co.uk/tvac.html

http://www.assetco.com/

[Western SMT]

Quote from another news item -

Several fire brigades across the country have suffered similar weight loading problems with their own Carps, which are much heavier than conventional fire appliances.
One in Strathclyde overturned while manoeuvring a mini-roundabout at less than 15mph.

[coastie]

You couldn't make it up, could you??

[G-CPTN]

From August 2008:-

They have the engine in Hull and it will be going into service any time now.

http://www.thisishullandeastriding.c...s/article.html
December 2009:-

Had the Carps been built as originally planned, the brigade's existing fleet of high-rise ladders would have been taken out of service. Staff levels have already been allowed to reduce to take account of that,
The most optimistic estimate now is that all four of the new units, to be based in each of the county's major communities, will not all be in service before July (2010).
The brigade has conceded that it has no money set aside for the remedial work,
The full scale of additional costs will not be known until the situation is fully resolved, but even when the machines had been expected to come into service in September this year, the service was forced to find an additional £750,000 to cover expenses it had not budgeted for.

http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/local...eet.5907998.jp

2006:-
http://www.fire-engine-photos.com/pi...number1035.asp

2008:-
http://www.fire-engine-photos.com/pi...number3936.asp

[G-CPTN]

The Humberside Carp was originally part of a joint procurement with South Yorkshire Fire Service which bought four identical appliances.

None of the four South Yorkshire vehicles have so far been put into operational use.

[Western SMT]

Grampian Fire and Rescue bought one year’s ago and it gave no end of trouble and believe it is mothballed in Elgin now.

[G-CPTN]

http://www.btinternet.com/~graeme.kirkwood/SFB/ARP.htm

http://www.fbuscotland.org/documents...ntary_carp.pdf

Thanks for the info, its really needed to know about it.

[coastie]

Welcome jane1983 to our little clan, I hope you enjoy your time on here.