Guidelines for state owned vehicles

bbability

Just wondering if anyone knows if there is a policy out there regarding state vehicles. In other words are vehicles which are in use by our emergency services, police, army, prison services have to be to a certain standard and age limit?

Victor

I don't think they have any special rules unless they are special vehicles as such.

A HSE ambulance would have to comply with exactly the same rules as a fire brigade or private ambulance, which would be nigh identical to the rules for the vehicles that they are based on.

If you are complaining about age or mileage, you won't really get anywhere, its about meeting basic roadworthiness conditions.

bbability

Not milage but age more so. Is there an age limit for the vehicles. 10 years maybe??

pburns

bbability wrote: »

Not milage but age more so. Is there an age limit for the vehicles. 10 years maybe??

Friend of mine works for a County Council. He regularly sources good s/h jeeps/vans etc which surprised me. good to know at least sume public services use our money wisely...

Esel

bbability wrote: »

Not milage but age more so. Is there an age limit for the vehicles. 10 years maybe??

Interested in the reason for your query?

Max_Damage

bbability wrote: »

Not milage but age more so. Is there an age limit for the vehicles. 10 years maybe??

Seeminly not, as Dublin Bus still use an old Leyland Atlantean bus on the ghost tour.

I also even saw an 85-D Dennis fire engine the other day

KTRIC

Max_Damage wrote: »

I also even saw an 85-D Dennis fire engine the other day

Yep, still plenty of them around. I know the Kilbarrick Depo still has a couple.

L1011

early 90s HSE ambulance on Arranmore Island, active fire engine there till last year was 1970s! Brand new one built in that plant in Spiddal thats closed now I think replaced it then, narrower model for the island roads.

arybvtcw0eolkf

Some of the Panhard 90's we use in the Defence Forces are over 40 yrs old and still very road worthy.

Stephen

afaik there's still a couple of fire service vehicles in Kilkenny with pre-87 plates, one of which is an old Toyota Landcruiser that looks indestructible

Victor

I think the limo they have for official events (inaugurations, etc., not everyday stuff) for the president is a 1930s Rolls royce.

The Real B-man

Dont think once its Passes its DOE & is certified Roadworthy

testicle

Mairt wrote: »

Some of the Panhard 90's we use in the Defence Forces are over 40 yrs old and still very road worthy.

Ah, but they're different!

Defence Forces is 10 years.

Zonda999

My local fire station have a 99 nissan vanette cargo.Thats one of the slowest things of recent years.0-60 in 27 seconds for the passenger model.I find that ironic because a fire service would want to be adequately fast, would'nt they???You aint gonna get to any fire quickly in that thing......And another thing, i think that there are some makes of car that the guards dont buy, eg, have you ever seen a passat garda car???I sure hav'nt.Sick of seeing the same old vectras, mondeos and avensis'

Oilrig

Not up to date on the current situation, DF used to have a regular inspection system for vehicles, it was called the AF104.

It was basically a stringent version of the DOE/NCT and was carried out every couple of months (ie very strict)

Age was irrelevant, if the repairs needed to pass were substantial and expensive the veh may have been declared BER - Beyond economic repair - ie scrapped.

Land Rover 109's eventually fell foul of chassis corrosion around their arse end - we were glad to be rid of them TBH

I can remember doing a "104" on a border LR 110 that was 13 months old and had 98 thousand miles on the clock...

A lot of you guys don't understand the 48 on 12 off that went on during "those" times... Mairt.. you out there?

G Luxel

bbability wrote: »

Just wondering if anyone knows if there is a policy out there regarding state vehicles.

have to be to a certain standard ?

I think maybe you should look at the standards and uses of what these vehicles are supposed to be used for. Ok for emergencies but not to be
used to bring government ministers' children to school or maybe bringing the president in Dev's Rolls for her shopping at Harvey Nicks....now thats what I call a waste of tax payers money and an abuse of what their function is.

miju

G Luxel wrote: »

I think maybe you should look at the standards and uses of what these vehicles are supposed to be used for. Ok for emergencies but not to be
used to bring government ministers' children to school or maybe bringing the president in Dev's Rolls for her shopping at Harvey Nicks....now thats what I call a waste of tax payers money and an abuse of what their function is.

I'd be pretty much 100% certain that your talking through your arse here and neither of these have ever happened.

MercMad

All I can add was we used to service the Ascona's, Kadett's and Vectra's years ago. The dealership did all the Garda cars on the northside and we did a full service on each car very 2-3 weeks. They would have covered about 10,000 miles in that time and were serviced with no expense spared.

The Ascona and Vectra 2.0i cars, particularly the automatics would require front and rear brake pads every service and front discs every 2nd service. Shocks were done at 20,000 miles as the cars took quite apounding. Those were the days of the joyriding epidemic and these cars regularly bounced up kerbs etc., so we used to keep heaps of new rims ex-stock. The Gardai took care of their won tyre requirements and always used Semperit Top Flight as they were made in Ireland at the time !

Max_Damage

MercMad wrote: »

The Ascona and Vectra 2.0i cars, particularly the automatics would require front and rear brake pads every service and front discs every 2nd service.

Why the hell would the gardaí want automatic Ascona's & Vectra's?

miju

how long ago was that out of curiousity MercMad?

Victor

Actually the president and taoiseach's families are entitled to personal protection. It may not be 24x7 but it is there. I don't know if it applies to adult children.

Passats possibly aren't bought because they aren't suited or are too expensive. Garda Divisions are entitle to pick from a range of vehicles that have been tendered for and have a local main dealer for maintenance (no use buying the cheapest if maintenance can't be done locally).

miju

Victor wrote: »

Passats possibly aren't bought because they aren't suited or are too expensive. Garda Divisions are entitle to pick from a range of vehicles that have been tendered for and have a local main dealer for maintenance (no use buying the cheapest if maintenance can't be done locally).

thats not strictly true Victor

MercMad

Max_Damage wrote: »

Why the hell would the gardaí want automatic Ascona's & Vectra's?

............I think the mentality was that it was less likely that they would over rev the engine, which happened on a few cars. They figured at least the driver could just plant his foot to go and brake to stop. Some of the earlier cars were over revved whilst coming down the gears I believe.

And yes it was quite some time ago, the first Ascona 2.0i was delivered to Coolock Gardai in January 1987 ! They the used the Vectra's from 1989 onwards. I left that garage in 1997.

I figure that right now its all down to tender and some manufacturers simply dont want their cars used, or couldn't be bothered with the hassle.