February 14, 2011
A truck driver had up to 200 litres of fuel stolen from his vehicle while he was asleep in the cabin in Woodley Nr Reading overnight.
The lorry was parked in London Road on Monday, January 31, when the fuel cap to his vehicle was removed and between 120 and 200 litres of fuel was stolen.
February 3rd 2011
POLICE have sent out a warning to lorry drivers in East Yorkshire after fuel was stolen from a vehicle. The theft happened between 9pm and midnight on Tuesday when a Scania heavy goods vehicle was parked in a lay-by on the A63 westbound, close to the South Cave slip road. Thieves had removed both the lorry’s fuel caps and siphoned diesel from the tank. East Yorkshire Police officers are asking drivers to be extra vigilant and report any suspicious activity.
March 2011
Kent Police reckon they arrested a Lithuanian gang last week for stealing diesel, they were flogging it back to the own countrymen to save them filling up over here.
Contact aide automotive today to see how our Anti Syphon Devices can help protect your fuel.
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
Following Mercedes Dealer interest in the Mis fuelling Device Diesel Key, aide automotive are please to announce two new dealers to purchase Diesel Key for their customers.
Orwell Truck & Van in Ipswich and Sharshatts of Kent have recently purchased a number of Diesel Keys.
With major fleet orders taken by aide automotive to fit the Walkers Snacks and Ginsters Sprinters there is an opportunity for any Mercedes dealer to offer this product to their customers and help against the FLEET HEADACHE OF MIS FUELLING!
aide automotive can help with marketing or promotional activities and with a free sample offer, Mercedes Dealers have an excellent opportunity to offer customers a major cost saving and a less hassle product to help keep a fleet on the road.
PRODUCT UPDATE!
Diesel Key Approved by Mercedes Australia.
PRODUCT FEEDBACK:
Following some driver feedback, we have been informed by some drivers that they believed the red cap needed to be screwed on as tight as virtually possible.
This is not the case; this cap needs to be screwed on with no excessive force and with one hand until the cap cannot be turned anymore.
Click on Diesel Key or Mis Fuelling to read more.
Categories: Automotive Tools and Accessories Tags: Aide Automotive, Automotive Products, Diesel contamination, Diesel Guard, Diesel Key, Misfueling, Misfuelling, miss fuelling, Petrol in Diesel Car, vehicle misfuelling, Wrong Fuel
Brake Testing and Tyre Pressure Monitoring have never been so important for fleet managers! The first ever criminal case of corporate manslaughter recently reached it’s final verdict and Cotswold Geotechnical Holdings were found guilty of the death of a 27-year-old geologist, who died when a trench in which he was working collapsed. Prosecutors successfully argued that the company had failed to take reasonably precautions to prevent the trench from collapsing and protect Alex Wright, the geologist from his working conditions.
Cotswold Geotechnical Holdings, his employer has been fined £385,000, this is a smaller amount than originally anticipated and there was no prison sentence either. However this is a significant fine however small or large your business. This case acts as an example to all organisations to ensure that helath and safety is top of the corporate agenda.
Companies running fleets of vehicles should take heed of the sentencing and ensure that they are not only regularly testing and checking brakes and tyres of their vehicles but can also demonstrate that they have been following these procedures.
aide automotive have two products that can ensure these health and safety checks are carried out and to avoid any such cases being bought against your company!
For Tyre Pressure Monitoring use PressurePro or Air Alert to ensure your vehicle has the correct PSI for your tyres
For Brake Testing use BrakeCheck,
Many companies are still not taking these procedures seriously but this first case should now demonstrate how serious an issue corporate manslaughter is to a business
- Brake Testing for commercial vehicles
- Tyre Pressure Monitor, PressurePro
Following major interest from transport companies in the New Bessie Quick Air Line Replacement System.
We are pleased to now offer the Bessie Semi Kit following customer feedback and reviews of the Bessie.
The Bessie Semi Kit is designed to help reduce costs and save on existing air lines.
The Bessie Semi Kit contains 2 new lines and the additional items required to convert 2 existing air that were removed from the vehicle to Bessie Lines and then to be used as the spare lines.
Matthew Burke stated “we always like to listen and take on board all comments with regard to our new and existing products, cost is always something we try to improve on and in this occasion we have found a way make a product more cost effective and not to create unnecessary waste.”
Broken airlines are reported to be 10% of truck breakdowns and a persistent problem to transport firms as breakdown fees and down time could lead to missed delivery slots and fines.
The Bessie Air Line Replacement System is designed to reduce breakdown down time, fees and missed delivery slots. As Bessie is effectively a normal airline with a quick release coupling on both ends a driver can replace a broken line within minutes and then be on the way to make that all important delivery time slot.
Contact aide automotive to lear more.
Truck and Trailer Diagnostics are a crucial element in maintaining vehicles especially as the engines and electrics become increasingly sophisticated. Why do workshops refer vehicles to main dealers for fault code reading when they can do it themselves?? Having a device that can do this will cut down unecessary costs and vehicle downtime!
By a small investment in a simple diagnostic tool, you can diagnose the fault code yourself and take away the middle man. Diagnosing the fault quickly and rectifying the problem!
Contact aide automotive to find out more on truck diagnostics or visit the aide automotive website for a full range of their automotive products.
Diesel Key is a popular product for many organisations as it’s a simple device that stops drivers putting petrol in Diesel cars. The device replaces the filler cap and prevents from accidentally putting the wrong fuel in a diesel filler neck. By making a small investment in Diesel Key you could be saving your organisation thousands of pounds in vehicle repairs and downtime because employees who normally drive petrol car have misfuelled their work vehicle by forgeting it takes Diesel.
Diesel Key is one of aide automotive best sellers, Matthew Burke, Sales Director says “Diesel Key is one of our most popular products that we sell, the main reason being that companies know they will recoup the cost very quickly, by preventing against their employees putting petrol in a diesel car. The reason it sells so well is simple, it saves money! A small investment in Diesel Key stops a company having to pay out uneccessary vehicle repair costs when an employee misfuels a diesel car, that’s not to mention the costs from vehicle downtime while it’s repaired”
Most recently the following companies have been using Diesel Key.
Walkers Snacks have just started to fit Diesel Key to their fleet of 300 Sprinters.
Mercedes Dealers have seen the benefit of the product and are starting to offer it to their customer database.
aide automotive have introduced a new device to quickly identify fuel contamination, the Fuel Analyser. This fuel diagnostic tool assists truck manufacturers by identifying fuel impurities, demonstrating that vehicle performance issues are the consequence of the use of contaminated or poor quality fuel.
When a trucks performance is questioned it has been difficult to demonstrate that issues have been created by poor or contaminated fuel. In the past truck manufacturers have had to send off fuel for laboratory testing to prove that the fuel is causing the problem and the vehicle is therefore not covered under it’s warranty. This has been both costly and time consuming. However the fuel analyser gives truck manufactures the ability to demonstrate this to their customers themselves.
Running vehicles on substandard fuel can cause long term performance issues such as filter plugging, injector choking, piston ring sticking and breaking. Immediate identification of fuel contamination prevents further damage to the vehicle and gives vehicle manufacturers the assurance that the issues lie with the fuel and not the vehicle!
Fuel analyser is a hand held unit that gives real time analysis via a digital display screen of any impurities in the fuel such as vegetable oils or petrol. The kit comes with a USB cable, mains adapter, three 50ml measuring tubes, quickstart guide, full users manual and reporting software.
For Adblue contamination evidence try AdBlue filter papers to check for fuel contamination, contact aide automotive to find the best product for you.