FLEETS and police forces are in dispute over the recovery of broken down company vehicles.

Bob Cooper, of Lantern Recovery Specialists in Potters Bar and a member of the Association of Car Fleet Operators' advisory committee, told the ACFO annual meeting there were increasing instances where the police had arranged for the recovery of a car using a police contractor and then charged the fleet several hundred pounds for its return - even though the company had already called out its own recovery company.

Cooper urged fleet managers to speak out on their own experiences to enable him to present the evidence to the Association of Chief Police Officers and consult with the vehicle recovery trade

association.

He told FNN: 'This has become a nationwide problem involving a growing number of police forces who have taken it upon themselves to organise vehicle recovery before the company's own recovery agent has arrived. As a result fleets are having to pay several hundred pounds a time to get their cars back from police contractors.'

Bob Cooper can be contacted via email at bob@lrs.uk.com