Hampshire & Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue has taken delivery of 21 Skoda Kodiaqs for use by officers when responding to incidents across the 2 counties. The Kodiaqs are the first Skodas to be used by the service and are set to replace the fleet of Vauxhall Insignias and Ford Focuses that have been used as officer cars in recent years. The new SUVs are all-wheel drive and feature an automatic DSG gearbox, providing a blend of performance and efficiency with plenty of power and torque. They will be used by senior officers to respond to operational incidents, generally those that require a tactical advisor or specialist skills as such hazardous materials incidents. The cars have been converted by one of Skoda’s approved conversion specialists, Pressfab EVO Limited, to meet the service’s specific requirements – particularly around the practical load area with grille and fire extinguishing apparatus – plus the fitment of blue-lights and fully integrated communications equipment. Colin Carter, Fleet Operations Manager for Hampshire & Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service, has said:
“We have opted for a fleet of Kodiaqs largely due to the amount of space on offer inside. The large boot has enough room for all of the equipment required by our flexible duty fire officers, and the option of having the cars converted by Škoda’s approved converters prior to delivery makes it much easier for us to get the vehicles into service.”
The Isle of Wight Ambulance Service has recently started using Skoda Kodiaqs for use as rapid response vehicles.
2L Diesel TDI. What does this tell you about the dreaded EV. Not wanted Boris/Rishi/Kier
They should be doing their bit for the climate
should all be EV’s.
I do hope they are paid for by the fire service and not the tax payer
Ummmmm – how do you think the fire service is funded?
(Hint – the taxpayer!)
Who do you think pays for the fire service?
£34,000 each. That’s £714,000. More Fire Stations will be closing soon.
Where you get £34,000 , they are at least £45/£50,000 plus fitting out, that’s over £1,000,000 , would pay for a around 25 full time fire fighter’s or another 4/5 fire truck’s to save lives,but instead more spent on managers- why can’t they ride fire truck with the others?…
Is this news? It reads more like an advert for Skoda SUVs.
Why can’t they just have a magnetic blue light fitted to there cars and magnetic strips on car to show who they are. You can see why this country is in a state wasting tens of thousands on pointless vehicles. Especially when
they cannot even man Ventnor fire station
another huge waste of taxpayers money so fire brigade managers can swan about on huge salaries whilst getting 25% extra for being ‘on call’ & sometimes turning up at an incident, seems like the fire brigade is trying to justify being so top heavy!