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Tecalemit fits out new police centre
19 January 2007
One of the UK’s most sophisticated police vehicle maintenance and repair centres has benefited from consultancy and equipment from Tecalemit.
The company, which is the UK’s leading supplier of MOT test equipment, helped officers and managers at Cumbria Police to create the new centre at Houghton, Carlisle. It has now won a maintenance contract to ensure that the facility is kept in first rate operational condition.
The force decided to amalgamate three workshops under one roof – meaning that it could benefit from the economies of scale and critical mass of a single, larger unit. Two traditional maintenance sites at Penrith and Kendall were closed and the Carlisle site was chosen as the location of the new and much enhanced facility. The 8,000 square foot centre can now handle maintenance and repairs for around 250 of the force’s vehicle fleet.
Fleet Service Manager Denis Sproat said: “Combining the facilities of all three sites has given us a highly functional and very efficient one-stop shop, which is kitted-out very comprehensively.” The move was planned to enhance the force’s ability and involved no job losses – employees from Penrith and Kendall were relocated to the new site.
The Carlisle site is also the main base for police vehicles in that part of the region and is home to the Cumbria Police Northern Traffic Unit – responsible, amongst other things, for policing a large section of the busy M6 motorway as it passes over the bleak Cumbrian fells.
“The public expects us to maintain our operational assets to very high standards, and to do that in the most cost-effective possible way,” said Mr Sproat. “Conditions in this part of the world can be very challenging. Our guys can be dealing with high speed traffic accidents, congestion, roadworks, and motorists in trouble because of extreme weather on the exposed hills – all in the same, short, time window. The demands on the fleet can be considerable, and we don’t want the vehicles in anything less than excellent condition.”
The new centre has a four-post lift and various scissor lifts, meaning that engineers have several options, and can lift anything from a police motorbike to a 3.5 tonne van in the most efficient way. The building has an exhaust extraction system, and oil and air reels, as well as an assortment of other equipment supplied by Tecalemit Garage Equipment Ltd.
“We have very demanding maintenance and repair requirements. Highly trained police drivers are, occasionally, required to put vehicles under stress for operational reasons – mainly where the public is at risk; they can also do very high mileages. In order to meet those requirements, and also be maintained to very high levels, we have to have the equipment for the job.
“Tecalemit has been brought in to handle all the maintenance work, to ensure that we minimise downtime. We can’t afford to have equipment lying idle.”
Tecalemit’s Sales Manager Chris Stables, said: “Police fleet managers do not have an easy job, maintaining vehicles to the highest possible standards, and yet having to contend with all the stresses and pressures that emergency service work inevitably puts on a fleet. It was extremely satisfying to play a supporting role in this project.”