Heavy Recovery Trucks: the Giants of the Road

These massive rolling machines encountered on the roads, impressive in their form and vivid colours, inevitably draw the eye with the spectacle they offer when lifting or towing a heavy vehicle.

Often associated with misfortune and road accidents with sometimes terrible consequences, their interventions rarely earn them recognition or admiration from those who require their services — yet the work carried out by these enormous recovery trucks and their operators deserves both. The various chapters of this book trace the history of breakdown recovery and garage workshops from the early 20th century onwards. They showcase the vehicles used in this profession, little known to the general public. Several in-depth reports present, with texts and a wealth of photographs, recovery and towing companies large and small, established in every region of the country. Enthusiasts of the trade, curious newcomers, and lovers of fine trucks alike will find, page after page, images of historic and modern vehicles — both civilian and military — in action during routine breakdown callouts or at spectacular road accidents. The on-the-spot photographs taken by the author during press assignments, and the images lent by professional recovery operators who illustrated this book, are for the most part previously unpublished documents. The evolution of technique, regulations and the use of the various equipment are also explained with a wealth of technical and practical detail, alongside a presentation of manufacturers and equipment suppliers. This book should therefore easily find its place on the shelves of specialist and general bookshops alike, which to this day can only offer their customers a handful of works on American recovery trucks and very rare publications on the heavy recovery vehicles of our northern European neighbours.