Colourful Tales From The Irvine Birth of Volvo’s Help Line

TN reader Robert Dickie was interested in the article in December’s Transport News about Action Volvo, but was disappointed that there was no mention of Action Volvo having been conceived in the ‘after market’ offices of Ailsa Trucks at Barrhead, born in Irvine, and nurtured there until making the journey to Warwick where it matured into what it is today…

ALTHOUGH Robert Dickie had no direct involvement in the early Volvo Action Service story apart from occasionally picking up someone’s phone in the office and taking a message, he was a witness to some interesting scenarios. He still smiles when he thinks about them even after all these years.

In the late 70’s when the Volvo Trucks importer was still known as Ailsa Trucks and still located in Barrhead, it was obvious due to the rapid growth of the Volvo Truck & Bus parc that there was a need for a support service to look after customers who needed extra assistance when things went wrong, especially for those operators who travelled all over Europe and beyond. The seeds for what became Action Volvo were sown…

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