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September/October Issue 63 - Flipbook - Page 16


NEWS
WHAT IS THE FUTURE FOR THE RECOVE
high as 36 million by 2040. That’s
a big margin of error so not much
help.
The expectations of IHS, the
leading data provider says 18.1%
of the world’s car sales will be
battery electric (BEV) in 2030, up
from 12.1% in 2025.
Recently Volkswagen doubled its
plans for its VW brand, saying by
2030, 70% of its total European
vehicle sales will be battery
electric. This week UBS predicted
the end of the ICE (internal
combustion engine) age, saying
that global new cars would be
20% (minus a few plug-in hybrids)
electric in 2025 and 50% by 2030
(4% plug-in hybrids). “100% by
2040?” it said.
The RAC estimates that, as of
April 2021, there are around
239,000 zero-emission Battery
Electric Vehicles on the UK’s
roads - with more than 100,000
registered in 2020 alone - along
with 259,000 plug-in hybrids and
629,000 conventional hybrids
So, you are probably wondering
where I’m going with this narrative?
In 2019 AVRO were vindicated
in our fight against the abhorrent
practice of Police Scotland. Our
legal action forced the statutory
charges to be reviewed, since
then we have kept the momentum
going and as a result of extensive
lobbying at The Home Office,
we have received notification
that there is now a review in the
statutory charges for the removal
and recovery of vehicles in
England and Wales.
The review is now open and is due
to close to the public in August
16
2021 where we expect it to be
finalised in Whitehall for legislation
in Parliament by January 2022.
There are a great many facets
to the review that AVRO will
be focusing on, but during
a preliminary reading of the
document, we realised there has
been no dispensation on charges
to take into account the growth of
EV’s and the cost and practical
impact they will have on our
industry.
AVRO
are
starting
this
conversation with the industry so
we can learn from each other what
the impact of electric vehicles will
be on costs, policy and procedure.
The evidence we have already
supports our arguments that
matrix charges and scenarios
not only need to be reviewed and
increased because of inflation
(and the syphoning of payments
taken by the authorities and
management companies before
they reach the industry), but also
because of a range of EV factors
we are starting to identify that
will become part of the future
landscape.
I appreciate statutory removal
charges don’t affect everyone,
but these charges are extremely
important because they become
the focus of all stakeholders in
one way or another; from the
insurance industry who often
refer to these following incidents,
through to police authorities on a
daily basis, right down to normal
road users and hauliers who often
end up paying the charges.
As a result, statutory charges are
often considered as the benchmark
to all things recovery, so we have
to get this conversation right. All
stakeholders should appreciate
that the recovery industry acts
as the fourth emergency service
but doesn’t receive government
funding like The HE or The
Emergency Services, yet we are
often on the front line having to
provide solutions to problems
created by others. This problem
solving requires huge investment
so it is imperative the matrix of
charges reflects this so we can
be better equipped to provide the
solutions.
AVRO will be arguing that the
new statutory matrix costs should