The Man Driving Airside Safety

Next time you see an emergency service vehicle then the chances are you a viewing the handywork of an unassuming business in Burgess Hill.

The highly reflective livery that makes police cars and ambulances so visible may well have been manufactured and fitted by PVL UK.

PVL are the UK’s leading specialists in vehicle safety markings, specialising in emergency services, highways, and airside vehicles where visibility can mean the difference between life and death.

In February 2018, on a dimly lit stretch of Heathrow’s airside area, two vehicles crossed paths with fatal consequences. A British Airways Engineering van, a Renault Kangoo in plain white, was struck side-on by a Toyota Hilux used by Heathrow’s operations team travelling at about 40 miles per hour. The van driver, John Coles aged 44, tragically died within an hour of the accident as a result of his injuries.

Investigators found no mechanical issue with either vehicle. Instead, they pointed to something deceptively simple: visual interference. On an airport apron cluttered with floodlights, painted lines, and other moving traffic, the outline of Coles’ van blended into the background.

The coroner’s report, issued in 2023, called for Heathrow to lead a programme of side-profile lighting, stronger reflective markings and clearer identification for vehicles crossing runways and taxiways. Heathrow responded with a plan to upgrade visibility standards for its fleet and those of its operators.

Following the Heathrow tragedy, British Airways returned to PVL from earlier discussions, to make visibility improvements to their fleet and Nick, and his team have upgraded over a thousand vehicles for them at the airports they operate across the globe.

PVL’s owner, Nick Broom, is not a household name. Yet for more than two decades he has been quietly influencing improvements in the visibility of emergency service, highways and airside vehicles in all weather and light conditions from his premises in Burgess Hill.

Nick and his team are working with airports across the world to make sure that tragedies like the one at Heathrow don’t happen again. He has provided insight into guidelines set by groups like the Reflective Equipment Manufacturers Association (REMA). Guidelines that are influencing the likes of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and major airports to enhance the standards for airside vehicle safety.

PVL’s combination of technical knowledge, technical expertise and the ability to manufacture and manage complex projects at speed sets them apart. Through REMA, Nick has contributed to national best-practice guides that the CAA and major airports like Heathrow now reference. When the CAA’s airside safety management guidance was revised to require clearer identification, PVL already had products meeting the specification.

“If the work we do can prevent just one death, then we have achieved our goal,” said Nick Broom.

Since the introduction of the safety guidelines that Nick helped to formulate, the number of airside incidents involving vehicles has dropped considerably which has helped protect thousands of workers on our doorstep at Gatwick and across the country.

These were not cosmetic changes. In low light, the retro-reflective patterns throw light from headlights or apron floodlamps straight back to the source, making the vehicle’s shape unmissable.

PVL are now supplying livery kits, reflective branding and compliant vehicle safety solutions to airports across the world. Nick’s team designs kits to fit specific vehicle models, allowing critical units like runway inspection trucks to be taken out of service for only hours, not days. They integrate operator logos into the reflective designs so that fleets can meet safety standards without abandoning their branding.

Nick is quick to stress that airside safety is a collective effort. Regulators set the framework, operators enforce it, and businesses like PVL provide the tools. But as the industry has learned, the difference between being seen and being invisible can be the difference between life and death. And the man ensuring that difference is visible, in every sense, is Nick Broom with his team in little old Burgess Hill.

PVL UK Ltd

01444 258980

www.pvluk.com