Fuel theft is a costly problem for many organisations. Thieves who recently siphoned fuel from an Andover coach company , left the firm with broken down buses.
Four buses had their fuel stolen at the Hampshire depot after thieves struck in an overnight raid. Transport bosses at Stagecoach in Andover only realised when the vehicles broke down the following morning. Each vehicle parked in the depot, including a school bus, had been topped up with fuel on Monday evening. So the company just assumed they had enough fuel for the day.
The fuel theft cost them as about 100 gallons of fuel was siphoned off, valued at about £600. Also the company incurred breakdown costs as well. One bus service had to be cancelled completely losing the company that mornings bus fares.
Fuel theft is a common problem that can be rectified with a simple device such as TP Anti-Syph. This simple device fits in the fuel tank neck and prevents thieves from siphoning fuel from the vehicle. aide automotive stocks a range of Anti-fuel theft devices for various vehicles including bus, coaches and cars.
aide automotive stocks a range of automotive products
TP Anti-Syph, Fuel Theft Device
Battery testing should be part of every vehicles regular maintenance programme. Your vehicle’s battery is often only thought about when it fails, but a small amount of care and maintenance will ensure it doesn’t let you down when you need it most.
Lack of battery care and maintenance combined with cold weather has a way of bringing out the borderline batteries that were fine in the summer, but don’t have the power for a cold weather start. Battery maintenance is often only considered when it’s failed in the bad weather but maintaining it all year round, rain or shine, is essential to catch a bad battery before it lets you down.
Testing and maintaining a battery is fairly simple and only requires a few basic tools. For a car battery, a good quality Midtronics tester does the job. Midtronics tester of the latest up to date technology for testing car batteries or truck 24 volt batteries.
aide automotive stocks a range of automotive products
Midtronics battery tester
Misfueling petrol cars with diesel is such a common occurance that it’s become the subject of a recent advertising campaign. Many drivers make the common mistake of putting diesel in a petrol car. Especially those drivers that switch between both types of engine for work and pleasure. Fleet managers can save fortunes by investing in a simple device such as Diesel Key which prevents misfuelling a petrol tank with diesel.
Check out this recent advert for Passat!
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Towbar Testing will be an essential part of the MOT tests from next year, VOSA regulations will come into force on 1st January 2012 and all towbars will need to be tested. aide automotive are stocking a 13-pin Towbar Tester to check the 13-pin electrical towing sockets fitted to vehicles with tow-bars. If the sockets are faulty, then trailer or caravan lights may not work. This device checks the output from each pin on the socket and determines if it’s working or not
The device enables the owner to test if all the lights are working and specifically if they;re not to determine which socket isn’t working so you can determine if it’s the fog lights, indicators, brake lights,
So if you have a caravan or trailer with a 13-pin, you’ll need one of these devices before the end of the year so you can ensure the lights are working correctly before you take your vehicle in for a MOT test otherwise it may fail!
Contact aide automotive for more details
Misfuelling a petrol car with diesel is a common problem, so much so Coronation Street used it as a storyline recenty. Many drivers put petrol in a diesel car, so Coronation Street used it as a story line for taxi business owner Steve Mcdonald. He was so distracted by other things going on in his life that he put petrol in the tank of his diesel vehicle. This cost him money in terms of repairing the car and the vehicle downtime!
Many drivers make this costly mistake, especially ones that switch between petrol and diesel vehicles for work and personal use. A cost effective device such as Diesel Key is the answer. The device fits on the neck of your petrol tank and will not allow a petrol nozzle to be inserted.
aide automotive offers a range of automotive products
Misfuelling Device
Tyre pressure monitoring increases fuel efficency by 3% according to Money Saving Expert, Martin Lewis. Appearing on the Jeremy Vine Show last Friday, the finance expert was talking about how to increase fuel efficency in a time of soaring petrol costs.
Tyre Pressure Monitoring was one of his top tips to improve the efficent running of your vehicle. Martin Lewis said
Lower tyre pressure increases the drag on a car meaning you need more fuel, so regularly check the pressures are correct and your car needs less oomph to keep it moving.
Investing in a tyre pressure monitor such as PressurePro or Air Alert means you can constantly monitor the tyre pressure of your vehicle, ensuring each tyre is the correct PSI for your vehicle.
Tyre Pressure Monitoring improves fuel efficency
Lee Lock secures Pallets whilst in transit
The recent FTA Safety In Transport conference in Coventry heard that VOSA is increasing their focus on checking load safety and security when operators trucks and trailers are stopped by the organisation.
Speakers from VOSA and the HSE explained how the two organisations have been working together on road-side checks to improve VOSA’s understanding of load safety and educate the industry’s front-line staff.
It is reported that 1200 people a year are injured during the loading and unloading of vehicles at the workplace: 64% of these accidents involved someone falling from height, while 17% saw the victim hit by a falling object or material. To give a comparison against other vehicle injuries, in contrast only 11% of casulaties were from someone being hit by a moving vehicle.
A substantial number of the incidents occurred when people had climbed onto the vehicles where loads had shifted in transit and were struck by falling objects. The majority of which were sustained when opening doors or curtains.
There is a simple solution to this health and safety issue, invest in a product like Lee Lock to secure pallets in a truck whilst they’re in transit.
aide automotive has a range of automotive products to suit your needs.
Tyre Pressure Monitoring is an essential part of your vehicle maintenance routine because statistics prove that you’re more likely than not to be driving on under-inflated tyres! One company checked the tyre condition of 38,000 cars in nine European countries, the results showed a staggering 71% of participating motorists were driving on tyres inflated to a lower than recommended pressure.
The majority of these under-inflated tyres were admittedly less than 0.5 bar under pressure, yet 7.5 per cent of motorists’ tyres were more than 0.5 bar under pressure and half a percent of motorists were driving on tyres at least 0.75 bar under pressure.
By checking the pressure of your tyres, you’ll be preventing the chance of blow outs, which could result in a serious or fatal accident. Also by maintating the correct tyre pressure of your vehicle you’ll run a mnore efficient vehicle too.
Check out tyre pressure monitors such as PressurePro or Air Alert.
Trailer Brake Testing is becoming an essential element of vehicle maintenance as VOSA puts more pressure on operators to not only brake test the truck but also test the trailer as well!
Brake Testers such as BrakeCheck are excellent tools to test brakes and demonstrate their efficiency for both the truck and the trailer, but it won’t allow you to test each individual wheel. To identify which wheel is defective you’ll also need to use a tool such as a Infra Red Thermometer. Using this device in addition to a brake tester is a very useful way of checking individual wheel disks or drums to determine brake activation. VOSA recommend the use of Infra Red Thermometers and see them as good practice in any workshop, in fact they’re also using themsleves for road side tests. With the ease of just pointing the gun at the wheel hub from the outer edge of a trailer or truck and without removing wheels this device is ideal to complete a brake check.
aide automotive have also introduced another new product in response to this growing demand, The BrakeCheck TT. This new brake tester tests both the Truck and the Trailer! It allows operators to use the report produced to demonstrate brake effiency on the vehicle. Using a decelerometer to test trailer brakes is a positive method for any operator to achieve further regular testing that can be recorded and used as evidence if required. In today’s world of “Duty Of Care” all management staff need to increase their awareness of reporting and detailing what best they can do to achieve a safe working environment for employees and the general public. BrakeCheck TT will conduct a tractor unit and then tractor and trailer test, reporting both tests on one simple report. With the option to download the test to a PC or print out through a portable printer, hard copy evidence of trailer braking can be recorded with ease and at a cost effective solution.
Brake Testing for trucks and trailers
The majority of transport companies require a pallet truck to manoeuvre goods when they’re delivering to customer’s premises. This presents a few concerns to the operator, as the pallet truck could damage the goods in transit or damage the truck curtains. Also there is concern for the operator if a tyre is used to secure the pallet truck there is a risk of injury to the operator through lifting it into the tyre
One European operator was so concerned with these issues that they have used Lee Lock on their entire fleet of vehicles.
Lee Lock is a device that locks the pallet truck in place at all times, so there is no danger of the truck slamming into other pallets, slashing the curtain side and as the pallet truck slots into the lock there’s no chance of any back injury from lifting.
Lee Lock addresses all of these issues in a simple but effective way! As fleet managers are now faced with demonstrating they are addressing health and safety issues, the modest one-off price for the Lee Lock is an attractive solution. For a small investment these managers can secure a pallet truck in transit and avoid costly repairs to damage the truck could cause in the vehicle. As this European Operator found for a small investment in Lee Lock, they reduced repair costs and insurance claims on damaged goods, not to mention having a driver off work recovering from a back injury.
aide automotive sells a range of automotive products
Pallet Truck Lock, Lee Lock