Two-way street for Volvo and Sovereign Recovery

For Sovereign Recovery, their relationship with Volvo trucks goes beyond their contract as Volvo Action Service (VAS) provider across the London region. The company is a long-standing and enthusiastic Volvo customer, finding the marque’s reliability second to none as they service contracts that include not only VAS but Transport for London and the Metropolitan Police.

“Most of our fleet is Volvo,” says Sovereign’s co-founder and joint MD, Doug Pope. “We go as light as FM9s and as heavy as FH16s, with a lot of FH13s in between – we have eleven of those. We used to buy used chassis and have them rebodied but these days we buy new and Boniface build the bodies for us.”

The dependable performance of the company’s Volvos is a crucial factor in meeting the high expectations and demands of its customers; Transport for London (TfL), for example, call on Sovereign to tow some 150 buses every day. “Volvo are the most reliable on the market,” Doug enthuses. “They offer fantastic aftersales support; I wouldn’t go elsewhere. I know the people at their depots because we have vehicles based there so we can be on hand to help; they don’t let us jump the queue but I know I’ll be properly looked after. They help us to help them!”

A typical response time is in the region of 60-90 minutes, with action coordinated from a central control room that enables Sovereign’s expert recovery drivers and technicians to navigate the capital’s heavy traffic as quickly as possible. “All our guys are properly qualified – they have to be good to meet the standards of customers like TfL and the Met!” says Doug. In recent years, that expertise has been put to use on everything from overloaded brewery drays with burnt-out clutches to the sombre business of removing the buses in the aftermath of the 7/7 bombings.

More normally, Sovereign use the trucks to provide a full roadside repair and recovery service for all Volvo Truck and Bus Centre London’s depots; where they are not the main or sole contractor they offer an extremely high level of backup support. “We’ll fill in when others can’t make it, often at weekends or night,” Doug explains. “I don’t think we’ve let Volvo Action Service down once in five years.”