Delivering Great Roadside Assistance: FIA Region I Clubs Host Road Patrol Training for Excellence programmes

This autumn, Avto-Moto Zveza Slovenije (AMZS) hosted the FIA Region I’s and ARC Europe’s 2023 Road Patrol Training for Excellence, while the Automobile Association of Kenya (AA Kenya) hosted the FIA Region I African Council of Touring and Automobile Clubs (ACTA) Road Patrol Training for Excellence.

In Europe, the 2023 Road Patrol Training for Excellence, an annual event for roadside assistance patrol teams for Members of the FIA Region I and ARC Europe, was hosted by AMZS. It gathered 17 national teams in Slovenia as well as trainers from the Koninklijke Nederlandse Toeristenbond (ANWB – The Netherlands), Touring Club Belgium and AMZS.

The Österreichischer Automobil- Motorrad- und Touring Club (ÖAMTC – Austria) team, made up of Leonie Tieber and Markus Resetarits, won the title of Best Road Patrol Team of the Year. It was the first time a patrolwoman was part of the winning team.

The Real Automóvil Club de España (RACE – Spain) team of Enrique Oshea and Andres Cabrera achieved second place while the Forenede Danske Motorejere (FDM – Denmark) team of Mads Hanfgarn and Jan Madsen took third.

The second edition of the ACTA Road Patrol Training for Excellence was hosted by AA Kenya and welcomed 15 participants from seven different countries (Botswana, Kenya, Mozambique, South Africa, Uganda, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe) as well as trainers from the ANWB, ÖAMTC, Automobile Association of South Africa and Emergency Assist 991 ( EA 991 – Botswana).

Both Road Patrol training courses were designed to promote best practice for roadside assistance. Attendees received intensive training across a wide variety of subjects, including customer service and technical repairs across petrol and electric vehicles.

FIA Region I President, Jorge F. Delgado commented, “The Road Patrol Training for Excellence was created to bring roadside assistance to the next level by identifying the best of the best road patrol teams, and then training them on the latest solutions and technologies. This is to both deliver the best services even in the most complicated circumstances and to secure the deployment of such skillset across the FIA Region I Clubs.”

FIA Region I ACTA President Simon Modisaemang said, “I hope there is going to be a continuation of this training in ACTA. It adds a lot of value to our Clubs. The idea is to bring the road patrol teams of Africa together. This is what the FIA Region I is advocating for: ‘bringing us together to learn and share’.”