TVAC

TVAC ("The Vehicle Application Centre") was a company based in Lancashire, England, which assembled bodies for fire trucks.

Establishment

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 trucks, and TVAC would assemble similar bodies under licence for the United Kingdom market.

The first vehicle bodied by TVAC was R101 NBV, a DAF 55 truck, for the Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service, the brigade that covered the area that TVAC's factory is located in. 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. This made the appliance lighter, and also left more room for storage compartments.

Failure

TVAC entered administration in December 2008 and were wound up early the next year; their intellectual property rights and some staff were picked up by Plastisol.[1] The company collapsed having been unable to complete a contract for South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue to specification.[2] As of early 2010, five units purchased by Humberside and South Yorkshire remained in need of further modifications to make them of a legal weight for use on British roads.[3]

Customers

References

  1. Institute of Road Transport Engineers News, 1 Apr 2009
  2. S. Yorks Fire & Rescue news web page, Feb 2009
  3. BBC News, 22 Jan 2010
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