Today is National Automotive Service Professionals Day, an opportunity to thank the hard work of the mechanics, technicians and support staff who keep SECAmb’s fleet running smoothly.
Established in 2001, this day recognises the knowledge and skill required to diagnose and repair our vehicles, keeping crews on the road and able to respond when our communities need them.
Fleet Commissioning Technician Charlie Jones.
SECAmb has a team of workshop technicians, plus two commissioning technicians and three commissioning equipment specialists, working across 11 workshop sites and a Commissioning Centre, covering a 365-day rota.
Fleet Commissioning Technician Charlie Jones has been with SECAmb for two-and-a-half years, and says he’s always enjoyed taking things apart and figuring out how they work.
“I find it really satisfying diagnosing and fixing faults, whether they’re electrical or mechanical. Solving those problems is the most rewarding part of the role,” he said.
Vehicles are become more sophisticated every year, with technicians continuously training for new technologies, including electric vehicles (EVs) and complex onboard diagnostics.
“Technology in the industry is evolving rapidly, which brings new challenges. Security systems are becoming more advanced, and vehicles now have increasingly complex onboard electronics. Some high-end vehicles have over 100 control modules, all with multiple sensors,” said Charlie.
“With EVs, training is absolutely essential. They operate at high voltages, so there are strict safety requirements and specialised tools needed to work on them safely.”
If he has a choice, Charlie prefers the challenge of working on older, more mechanical-based vehicles. “Modern high-end vehicles can be much harder to work on due to the amount of equipment and limited access – they’re often very tightly packaged.”
Keeping SECAmb operational and on the road means our fleet technicians are supported by three parts advisors and a fleet parts manager, three divisional lead managers, a commissioning manager, five workshop managers and a head of fleet.
Across the workshop technician team, we are fortunate to have 1,405 years of collective experience taking care of SECAmb’s hard-working fleet, which covered 16.6 million miles last year.