May/June Issue 61 - Flipbook - Page 24
NEWS
ROAD TO NOWHERE
During my visits to VRO’s throughout
the country earlier in the year, and in
particular Police Contractors, I was
disturbed to hear about the total lack of
support to those Operators caught up in
fatalities.
Some, whom I spoke to said they simply
got on with the job and were hardened by
it , got used to it .
Really!!!!
Is there not some mental anguish swirling
about, can they really switch off. Does
it not subconsciously manifest itself to a
detrimental effect on the mind. I am no
authority on mental health but I have my
doubts.
Yet, when the emergency services such
as Police, Fire brigade and Ambulance
are involved in such horrific scenes at
times they have a support network for
counselling and indeed provide paid time
off to help them get over the traumas of
such terrible scenes.
What do the Vehicle Recovery
Technicians receive? You guessed it,
absolutely nothing!!!
That is what our well meaning
Benevolent Fund is for, so please
consider using it.
They are expected to jump back in their
Recovery Vehicles and continue a job of
work despite what they have witnessed
or how traumatised they are.
It does not seem anyone else will!!!!
I could not begin to tell you how horrific
some scenes have been described to
me, let alone print it.
Please read below a script from a
podcast Mac Hobbs was featured in.
ROAD TO NOWHERE
Information on our website
WWW.AVROUK.COM
It really does annoy me when our
Industry cannot find support for our
VRO’S while others do.
Mac as most of you will know is a wellrespected member of AVRO with years
of experience in Police Contract work
which includes fatalities and he explains
Therefore, on that point I have spoken to how he can feel and in particular dealing
the Chairman of the AVRO Benevolent
with the bereaved families of such
Fund and for those of you who are
events.
affected or traumatised in any way, in
the line of duty, our Benevolent Fund
Below is the podcast from Georgina
can provide financial support mental or Vestey, Producer of Dead Honest
physical for such occasions as described Podcast featuring Recovery Operator
above.
Mac Hobbs:-
“We deal with broken down people, not
broken down vehicles.”
Mac Hobbs, of Hobbs Recovery Services
in Eastbourne, is featured in a podcast this
month, talking about the emotional impact
of his work as a recovery driver.
The podcast, Dead Honest, interviews
professionals who work with death, so how
did producer, Georgie Vestey, come across
Mac Hobbs?
“It was a chance remark, to be honest,”
says Georgie. “I was interviewing two
coroner’s officers who deal with suicides
at Beachy Head and they said, ‘Once we
remove the body, we need to get a recovery
driver to remove the vehicle’. I was totally
blown away by that. It had never occurred
that someone would have to do that job.”
But this is not the only traumatic aspect of
Mac’s work. Attending fatal accidents can
also take its toll. “I remember one incident
when a car went under a lorry and it took
all day to extract the vehicle. It was clear
the driver of the car was dead, but we could
see there was a baby seat in the back. For
that day, nobody knew if there was a child
in that seat or not. Fortunately there wasn’t
but I’ve never forgotten it.”
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Getting the vehicles back to the garage is
not the only challenge. Mac has to deal
with the families left behind. “Some families
don’t want anything to do with the vehicle,
they don’t want the memory back. Others
will open the doors and take something
small, like a few coins in the ashtray. I
think it’s just having that connection to that
person.”
Georgie asks Mac how he deals with those
families? “It’s a moving feast. Some people
become so distraught that you can do
nothing to console them. You just have to
let it take its course. Some are very angry.
Others will accept a cup of tea and share
the whole story. And that has an effect on
our staff. It can be very, very upsetting. A
lot of the time we are dealing with broken
down people, not broken down vehicles.”
So how does Mac decompress after being
exposed to such tragedy? “We just get
back to work because other people need
our assistance. We do offer counselling
to our staff. But I don’t like to dwell on it.
There may be some people in this industry
with what you might term PTSD, that don’t
know it yet. They put in a box and shut the
lid. And that could well be somebody like
me. Who knows when the lids might open
on those boxes.”
Listen to Road to Nowhere
Georgie Vestey is the producer of the
podcast, Dead Honest
Mac
