Useless £900,000 fire engines can't even go around roundabouts

Published on Thursday 28 October 2010 11:13

TWO state-of-the-art fire engines worth almost £1 million pose too much of a risk to the lives of firefighters and the public to be allowed back on the road again, the Lothians' chief fire officer has ruled.

The appliances which cost 450,000 each, have been plagued by technical faults since they were bought nearly three years ago and cannot even travel round roundabouts safely, the Evening News can reveal today.

Members of the Lothian and Borders Fire Board now have to decide what should be done with the appliances named Combined Aerial Rescue Pumps (Carps).

Lothians Chief Fire Officer James Campbell has described them as posing an unacceptable risk to crews and the public.

The board are now looking at the possibility of taking legal action against the supplier for breach of contract.

Other alternative uses for the appliances, which are fraught with difficulties, include:

• Modifying them considerably so they can be brought into use safely, but this could cost up to 190,000 - the cost of a new pump

• Using them as training vehicles, but this is said to offer "little benefit" due to the significant differences in equipment

• Selling them, which is deemed "not likely to bring a satisfactory return".

The engines have had to undergo a series of modifications since they were purchased with special funding from the Scottish Government to try to make them fit for purpose.

Despite the best efforts of Lothian and Borders Fire and Rescue Service, the vehicles are still deemed unsafe, posing a "high risk of overturning".

The Carps are designed to do the job of a conventional fire engine and a height appliance vehicle in one.

Weighing around 18 tonnes, the appliances are much heavier than traditional trucks and previously had to be "slimmed down" before being allowed to operate in the Lothians.

But after further modifications, a recent road test discovered that the appliances are still dangerously unsafe.

A fire service driving instructor had to take "evasive action" to stop one of the vehicles from rolling over while trying to go round a roundabout at less than 23mph. Mr Campbell said: "The road test confirmed the vehicles are unstable when involved in a simple manoeuvre such as negotiating a roundabout. In the test, the instability of the vehicle caused the driver to take evasive action whilst travelling at less than 23mph.

"There is a high risk of overturning the vehicle, placing the lives of firefighters and the public at an unacceptable level."

There have been complaints about the Carps vehicles in other parts of the country.

Safety questions were raised when one appliance toppled over in Strathclyde at only 15mph.The Evening News revealed at the start of the year that the Carps had been stuck in the garage for two years after being ruled "too heavy" to drive.

A spokeswoman said in August that once all the safety concerns had been addressed, the appliances would be put back into action.

However, it is now clear that they are unlikely to ever meet the safety standards required and have been taken off "the run" as a consequence.

Members of the fire board's scrutiny committee are today being asked to appoint an independent expert to advise on the future of the vehicles and the possibility of recouping money through legal action.

A spokeswoman for the fire service said: "With firefighter safety paramount in all our decision making we have agreed that we will not put either Carp on the run.

"Our decision not to put them on the run will not impact on our operational capability. We will now report the latest position to members of the Fire and Rescue Board and explore what should be done with the vehicles and take legal advice on what recourse we might have."

Councillor Michael Bridgman, convener of Lothian and Borders Fire Board, added: "I have asked for legal opinion as to what our recourse would be with the manufacturers. The safety of our firefighters is paramount. If anything affects that then it doesn't get used."