The pandemic is making 2020 particularly tough for our sector, which is why we must stay closer than ever to our member companies and learn about their concerns first-hand.
One of the obligations of the Red de Empresas de Auxilio en Carretera (REAC) is to be in constant contact with its member companies: around a hundred companies spread throughout Spain, including the Balearic and Canary Islands. If traffic restrictions led to a fall in demand for services, the subsequent easing of lockdown and the start of the New Normal period have not exactly been easy for our professionals.
For this reason, Manuel Fernández Luque and Mercedes García Olivares, chairman and secretary of the association respectively, travelled last week to the provinces of Valencia, Alicante and Almería, as well as to the Region of Murcia, in order to meet some of the roadside assistance companies that make up REAC in that area.
The tour included companies such as Virolla Asistencia, Grúas Abril, Grúas Belén, Grúas El Lete, Gruatrans Vallés Bertomeu and Grúas La Variante, as well as Grúas Arronis, Grúas Hermanos Esparza and Grúas Azor. These are leading companies in these areas, which is why REAC wanted to make this gesture of closeness, which will be repeated in other parts of the country.
Roadside assistance as an essential activity
The idea is to gather first-hand accounts of what these months of work have been like with COVID-19 lurking around every corner. Needs, concerns, hopes. It is important for each company to know that the whole REAC team is there to support them and deal with their problems.
The fact that events such as Fireca, the leading trade fair in the roadside assistance sector, have been cancelled this year makes it even more important to strengthen human contact.
As the essential activity that we are (as established by the Ministry of the Interior order published in the BOE on Saturday 21 March), both the companies and the staff working in the tow truck service have shown that they are equal to the needs of such difficult times as those we are living through.
The roadside assistance companies and recovery firms that REAC represents make up a key sector in Road Safety, ensuring that traffic on the roads keeps flowing and that any vehicle suffering a mishap or accident, whether minor or serious, is attended to diligently and successfully.
The tow truck service affects private and public transport, individual and collective.