Operation Velopy - Stop and Check

Operation Velopy was started by two officers of the CMPG (Central Motorway Police Group) in 2007 to increase awareness of safety whilst towing.  Sergeant Dean Caswell and Sergeant Andy Donnelly are both active members of the Club who regularly have to deal with the problems and trauma caused by caravan incidents.  The CMPG is made up of 140 officers and 29 support staff from West Midlands, West Mercia and Staffordshire Police.  They patrol some 450 miles of motorway south from Cheshire on the M6 to the Welsh borders on the M50. This is one of the busiest sections of the motorway network with some 500,000 vehicle journeys made every day.  The operation was supported by VOSA (Vehicle and Operator Services Agency), Highways Agency and the Caravan Club.  In 2011 the Camping & Caravanning Club joined us to provide their support for the initiative.

The purpose of the operation was to check caravans, trailers and their tow vehicles to ensure they are fit for purpose. It should be stressed that the object of the operation was to educate drivers.  No directly related fines have been imposed by the officers during these operations despite several severe offences.  Movement prohibitions were placed on vehicles but were lifted once the problems had been resolved.

So why do we need such operations?  Statistics show that incidents involving vehicles towing caravans or trailers accounted for 43 fatalities and 1400 injuries in 2006.  In 2008 9,394 towing related incidents were attended across the country.  Recently published figures from the Highways Agency show that in the CMPG patrol area there was over 1100 towing related incidents with 20 caravans overturned during the year ending March 2009.  Not only does this result in a loss of the caravan there is also the possibility of serious injury or loss of life.  To clear an overturned caravan from the motorway takes on average eighty-six minutes.  Given the large volume of traffic through these motorways this can create long tailbacks and delays.  These delays will often have a knock on effect to the surrounding road systems causing further delays and loss of time.

Towing Mirrors

At all of the operations we lost count of the number of motorists spoken to about their lack of towing mirrors.  Many of these did not go through the inspection area but were spoken to in the parking area.  All were given verbal advice and relevant leaflets were distributed to reinforce the message and make them aware of the law.  The reasons for not having mirrors were wide and varied and some even had them in the vehicle but hadn’t fitted them.  Lack of extension mirrors wasn’t restricted to caravans.  A HGV carrying a very wide load had no extension mirrors fitted and was prevented from leaving the services by VOSA until such time as they could be obtained and fitted.

Overloading

The early operations concentrated on overloading.  Some 82% of the caravans weighed were found to be overweight.  During the later operations the focus changed to look for other defects as well as overloading.  Despite this caravans were found that ranged from 100 to 650kg overweight.  Many of these were found to be regular caravanners who should, in theory, know better.  An example of this was a unit brought in off the motorway by one of the patrol cars because the officer had observed that the tyres appeared to be under inflated.  The unit was owned by a mature couple who normally caravan alone but at this time were taking their daughter and grandson with them on holiday.  This resulted in equipment that normally travelled in the car being loaded into the caravan.  With the extra items for two more people the caravan ended up being some 31% overweight.  The caravan tyres were consequently overloaded and could have failed at any time.  On inspection it was found that the caravan contained most of the heavy equipment and the car much lighter items.  By moving the items around we managed to get the caravan weight to an acceptable margin and the family continued on their journey.  Overloading isn’t restricted to the caravans.  A Volvo V70 estate towing a caravan was found to be 270kg overweight on the rear axle whilst the caravan was under weight.

Tyres

Many examples of poorly maintained tyres were seen during the operations both on caravans and tow cars.  Illegal tread depths were observed on several tow vehicles.  Missing wheel nuts, a broken wheel stud and cracked side walls.  One tow car was found to be travelling with a space saver tyre fitted to the rear of the car whilst towing a caravan.  Whilst not being illegal the safety of such a tyre under the extra loading imposed by a caravan has to be questioned.  A caravan was found with very old tyres that had the metal reinforcing ply protruding through the treads whilst another had so little tread that the core material could be seen around the entire circumference of the tyre.  Despite all of these offences no fines were imposed and all of the families were allowed to leave once the problems had been rectified. 

Other Problems

One caravan of considerable age was found to have the front section of the caravan detached from the chassis and was moving independently of it.

A caravan that had no breakaway cable, no jockey wheel, no working handbrake and no rear lights.  The driver had said that he had caused the damage that morning after he incorrectly attached the ‘van and it had become detached.  Despite the serious damage he had decided to travel from Manchester to Cornwall.

Assorted faulty lights on both caravans and tow vehicles were also found.

A 9 month old twin axle caravan was found to have one of the brakes stuck on and had overheated.  Upon touching the wheel it was hot enough to cause burns to the VOSA inspector’s fingers.  The wheel and drum had expanded with the heat and the bearings had failed.  VOSA estimated that the wheel would have failed completely or caught fire within the next twenty miles with obvious consequences.  The family finished their journey home with the caravan on a transporter, courtesy of Mayday.

The operations have also been treated as a public relations exercise.  CMPG have handed out customer satisfaction surveys, advice is given on general driving and towing, Highways Agency staff give out literature and travel advice and we the representatives from the Club talk to anybody and everybody about our hobby.  The operation at August Bank Holiday 2009 seemed to be a major press day with a BBC news crew with us all day providing feeds to BBC news 24 and BBC local and National news programmes.  Also in attendance was BBC local radio with live broadcasts made across three local stations and items in twenty-five local newspapers.  Articles have also appeared in the Club magazine and Practical caravan to help reinforce the message.

Unfortunately due to operational changes within CMPG, September 2011 was the last Operation Velopy.  I would like to record my thanks to the members of the Central Region who joined me on the operations, to Eileen Randall of the Technical Department for her support and lastly to Dean and Andy it was a privilege to meet and work with you both.