TVAC (The Vehicle Application Centre) was a British company based in Leyland,

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

that performed chassis conversions and assembled bodies for

commercial vehicle A commercial vehicle is any type of motor vehicle used for transporting goods or paying passengers. Depending on laws and designations, a commercial vehicle can be any broad type of motor vehicle used commercially or for business purposes. Classi ...

refuse truck Waste are unwanted or unusable materials. Waste is any substance discarded after primary use, or is worthless, defective and of no use. A by-product, by contrast is a joint product of relatively minor economic value. A waste product may be ...

s and

fire engine A fire engine or fire truck (also spelled firetruck) is a vehicle, usually a specially designed or modified truck, that functions as a firefighting apparatus. The primary purposes of a fire engine include transporting firefighters and water to ...

History

In 1996 TVAC approached Plastisol, based in the Netherlands. At this time Plastisol produced bodies for airport crash fire engines. TVAC wanted Plastisol to produce bodies for smaller fire engines, and TVAC would assemble similar bodies under licence for the United Kingdom market. In 2007, TVAC and ambulance builder UV Modular were both acquired by

asset In financial accounting, an asset is any resource owned or controlled by a business or an economic entity. It is anything (tangible or intangible) that can be used to produce positive economic value. Assets represent value of ownership that can b ...

and

wealth management Wealth management (WM) or wealth management advisory (WMA) is an investment advisory service that provides financial management and wealth advisory services to a wide array of clients ranging from affluent to high-net-worth (HNW) and ultra-hi ...

firm AssetCo, intending to consolidate AssetCo's position as the UK's largest supplier of fire appliances and ambulances. However, TVAC entered

administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal: the process of dealing with or controlling things or people. ** Administrative assistant, traditionally known as a se ...

in December 2008 and were

wound up Liquidation is the process in accounting by which a company is brought to an end. The assets and property of the business are redistributed. When a firm has been liquidated, it is sometimes referred to as wound-up or dissolved, although di ...

early the next year; their

intellectual property Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, co ...

rights and some staff were subsequently acquired by former parent Plastisol. The directors of AssetCo at the time of TVAC's purchase were subsequently charged with 27 allegations of

financial misconduct Misconduct is wrongful, improper, or unlawful conduct motivated by premeditated or intentional purpose or by obstinate indifference to the consequences of one's acts. It is an act which is forbidden or a failure to do that which is required. Misc ...

by the

Financial Reporting Council The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) is an independent regulator in the UK and Ireland based in London Wall in the City of London, responsible for regulating auditors, accountants and actuaries, and setting the UK's Corporate Governance and ...

in 2018.

Products

Fire appliances

South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Reclaim UK 1

The first fire engine bodied by TVAC was a

DAF Daf (), also known as dâyere and riq, is an Iranian frame drum musical instrument, also used in popular and classical music in Persian-influenced South and Central Asia, such as in Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Iran, Uzbekistan, many ...

55 appliance for the

Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service The Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service is the county-wide, statutory emergency fire and rescue service for the shire county of Lancashire, England and also includes the unitary authorities of Blackpool and Blackburn with Darwen. Lancashire Fire ...

, the brigade that covered the area where TVAC's factory was located. This body had a number of technological innovations: the bodies were made with injected resin, and were an integral unit containing the main body and water tank, making the appliance lighter, and also leaving more room for storing equipment. Subsequent orders from, by 2006, 27 fire authorities across the United Kingdom included a major contract with the

London Fire Brigade The London Fire Brigade (LFB) is the Fire department, fire and rescue service for London, the capital of the United Kingdom. It was formed by the Metropolitan Fire Brigade Act 1865 (28 & 29 Vict. c. 90), under the leadership of superintendent ...

to supply frontline fire appliances, building four

Unimog The Unimog (pronunciation in American English: ''YOU-nuh-mog''; British English: ''YOU-knee-mog''; German: , ) is a Daimler Truck line of multi-purpose, highly offroad capable AWD vehicles produced since 1948. Utilizing engine-driven power tak ...

s with interchangeable bodies for firefighting or rescue and recovery for the

Surrey Fire and Rescue Service The Surrey Fire and Rescue Service is the statutory fire and rescue service for the County of Surrey, England, with 25 fire stations. It comes under the administrative and legislative control of Surrey County Council, acting as the fire author ...

, supplying a removable welfare pod transported by a converted

Renault Master The Renault Master is a large van produced by the French manufacturer Renault since 1980, now in its third generation. It replaced the earlier Renault Super Goélette light trucks. Opel has sold versions of the second and third series vans as ...

for the

Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service is the statutory fire and rescue service for the county of Derbyshire, England. History The Fire Services Act 1947 created two brigades for Derbyshire the County Borough of Derby Fire Brigade and the Derby ...

, and supplying a series of

Iveco Daily The Iveco Daily is a large light commercial vehicle, light commercial van produced by the Italy, Italian automaker Iveco since 1978; it was also sold as the Fiat Daily by Fiat Automobiles, Fiat until 1983. Unlike the more car-like unibody Fiat D ...

-based midi fire engines to the

Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service is the statutory fire and rescue service for the English county of Cheshire, consisting of the unitary authorities of Cheshire East, Cheshire West and Chester, Halton and Warrington. It operates 28 fire stati ...

. When TVAC collapsed in 2008, it was partway through completing a contract for four combined aerial response pump (CARP) appliances built on

Mercedes-Benz Econic The Mercedes-Benz Econic is a low-entry truck introduced by Mercedes-Benz in 1998. It is available in weights of 18 t and 26 t and is powered by a six-cylinder inline engine with turbo and intercooler. It is normally used for waste collection ...

chassis for the

South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue is the statutory fire and rescue service for the area of South Yorkshire, England. The service covers the areas of Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham and Sheffield. In 2020, Chris Kirby was appointed its Chief Fire ...

. One of two Econic-based CARP appliances on order for the

Humberside Fire and Rescue Service Humberside Fire and Rescue Service (HFRS) is the statutory fire and rescue service covering the area of what was the county of Humberside (1974–1996), but now consists of the unitary authorities of East Riding of Yorkshire, Kingston upon Hul ...

was cancelled when it was discovered that Humberside's first CARP was too heavy for legal use on UK roads when fully loaded with firefighting equipment. Throughout their service, these remained in need of further modifications for mechanical and weight defects, with members of the

Fire Brigades Union The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) is a trade union in the United Kingdom for wholetime firefighters (including officers up to chief fire officer / firemaster), retained firefighters and emergency control room staff. History Early 20th century ...

in South Yorkshire later refusing to operate their CARP appliances due to safety concerns.

Other commercial vehicles

TVAC were also responsible for modifying the chassis of

light Light, visible light, or visible radiation is electromagnetic radiation that can be visual perception, perceived by the human eye. Visible light spans the visible spectrum and is usually defined as having wavelengths in the range of 400– ...

and

heavy goods vehicle A large goods vehicle (LGV), or heavy goods vehicle (HGV), in the European Union (EU) is any lorry with a gross combination mass (GCM) of over . Sub-category N2 is used for vehicles between 3,500 kg and and N3 for all goods vehicles over ...

s, as well as assembling

s. The company also assembled a bulletproof Vaxuhall Movano-based mobile bank for the

Bank of Scotland The Bank of Scotland plc (Scottish Gaelic: ''Banca na h-Alba'') is a commercial bank, commercial and clearing (finance), clearing bank based in Edinburgh, Scotland, and is part of the Lloyds Banking Group. The bank was established by the Par ...

for use on the remote

Shetland Islands Shetland (until 1975 spelled Zetland), also called the Shetland Islands, is an archipelago in Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the Uni ...

External links

Archived TVAC website

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tvac Emergency services equipment makers 2009 disestablishments in England