Commercial Vehicle Recovery

vehicle recovery in Coventry and the West Midlands

ANNOUNCEMENT : Following the retirement of Harvey and Madeleine, Harveys Recovery is now
owned and operated by Albany Recovery Ltd,
part of the Egertons Group

For a more professional approach to vehicle recovery in Coventry and Nationwide, please call 0845 871 7000 (choose option 3)
or contact us via this link

                Harvey's Recovery was started in 1982 by Harvey and Madeleine Wasson, who had just married. Harvey had worked with commercial vehicles as a mechanic since leaving school in Belfast. Serving his apprenticeship there, he had various positions as foreman mechanic and in 1982 was currently employed as such.

        Madeleine was stores supervisor for a firm of auto electrical and diesel fuel injection specialists in Coventry, which is where she met Harvey, who was a regular customer. In the June of 1982, the firm that Harvey was working for, closed down one Friday evening, which left him unemployed. However, during the year prior to the firm closing, he had been building a recovery truck from a ERF unit purchased from a oil company in Coventry. The ERF as we bought it Every weekend and almost every evening Harvey and Madeleine, with the help of Madeleine's two sons would go and work on this ERF. Harvey did all the hard stuff and Madeleine and sons did all the scraping, painting, and anything else that they could do to help.
         The recovery truck was completed in six to eight months. It was painted in Madeleine's favourite blue. All concerned were very proud of what had been achieved. And when it was finished Harvey used it a few times to recover vehicles in for the Haulage firm he was employed by as a foreman mechanic, and that was the situation when the firm closed on that Friday evening in June 1982.
         Harvey was prepared to look for another job, but after he and Madeleine talked it over it was decided that they would start up on their own as Harvey's Recovery and Repairs with the ERF they had built. Madeleine decided to remain in her full time job to help support the business until it became established.
         Harvey had a lot of contacts in the Haulage Industry, having worked in the industry for all the years he had been in England and in the Midlands. Work was slow, very slow to start with, but Harvey took on a couple of fleet repair contracts, as well any other work he could fit in, in between the recoveries they did get.

Madeleine was able to handle the phone calls from her place of employment, and pass them on to Harvey. The business began to grow as more and more breakdowns were coming in. Harvey had to give up one of the repair contracts, and Madeleine decided to leave full time employment and to go part time, in order to keep some money coming in, but also leaving more time to handle the increasing call volume for recovery.
         She got a job driving a bus, in the morning and again in the afternoon. However, it didn't turn out to be part time as her boss asked her if she would work in the office in between the bus runs. She agreed to do this on the understanding that she could handle and pass on any calls for Harvey's assistance. This was agreed and worked very well for about 18 months, but by this time Harvey was getting more and more calls for breakdowns. He had already given up the other repair contract he had, as he no longer had time to service it.
         Madeleine decided that it was time to give up outside work and help Harvey full time, as Harvey's Recovery and Repairs were becoming well known by this time in the local area. However, there was still only the one ERF recovery truck with Harvey doing all of the work. At times this meant long, hard hours for both of them.
        Madeleine began to manage things from their home; taking calls, passing them to Harvey and doing all the paper and bookwork.
        By now they required a second recovery truck, so they built one from an 8 wheel ERF B Series, and hired another operator. As the workload became heavier they acquired a Volvo F88, with underlift, which was the first in the area, and also a Ford Cargo 7.5 ton fitted with underlift and winches as well as another Operator.
        They became too big for the premises that they were operating from then, so moved to larger premises on the South side of the City, next to Coventry Airport, which meant an office for Harvey. This is when they had their first new recovery truck built, by Wreckers International. It was a DAF 2800.
        Madeleine was still working from home, and the workload was such that they had to employ another lady to help with the paperwork, and most of the living room was taken up with two desks, files, phones and faxes.
All communication to the office was by telephone. It had worked this way for about two years until they realised that they had to "Get it all together". They acquired the premises next to where they were, got an office for Madeleine and Carol, had toilets built, installed water and electricity, and built a rest/refreshment area for the operators. Over the next few years they acquired more vehicles and staff until the set up resembled what they have today.