T French off to a flying (jump) start with Hartshorne

When long-time Volvo customer Tom French Snr, owner of T. French & Son Haulage and T. French & Son (Earthwork) Ltd, found his transport had let him down, he knew where to turn: the nearest Volvo Truck Dealer - Hartshorne (Birmingham).

However, this wasn’t an ordinary breakdown. The transport in question wasn’t a car, nor even a truck. It was, of course, an Aérospatiale AS350B Squirrel helicopter. Yet in just over half an hour, he was on his way, with the problem solved.

Tom and his son, Tom Jnr., had flown down from Scotland and had been staying overnight at the De Vere Belfry near Birmingham with four friends. “It had been parked since lunchtime the previous day,” says Tom, “It appears there was a drain on the charging system due to, perhaps, an electrical light or an instrument still being turned on.” Whatever the cause, the battery was flat and the helicopter grounded. Ordinary breakdown services were out of the question because; like a truck, the AS350B runs on a 24v electrical system.

For Fleet Engineer David Carmichael, used to overseeing Tom’s 87 Volvo tippers and articulated dumpers, the solution was obvious. A phone call later and Hartshorne technician Jim Guerin was on his way.

“It was a straightforward jump start,” says Tom, “but we were airborne within 35 minutes of that initial phone call, allowing enough time to fly back to Ayrshire in daylight hours – yet again, excellent service from Hartshorne!”