Rock solid

Tuesday 25 October 2011
Col Collewijn is a recovery service operator in Nuis, Groningen. He is the only blind car recovery company owner in the Netherlands and probably anywhere in the world. He is also one of the country's best recovery operators. Today, Ivo Wildenberg and Michel de Korte, secretary and IM coordinator of Stichting Incident Management Nederland, presented him a certificate in honour of his extremely fast arrival times achieved over the past five quarters.

In the nineteen seventies, Collewijn started a car repair company on the premises of his father's vehicle recovery service in Groenekan (Utrecht). Just before the bitter winter of 1978 - 1979, he moved with his family to a house by a country road in western Groningen. At this new location, Collewijn & Zonen expanded commercial activities to include the sale of second-hand cars, car dismantling and recovery assistance. The business was responsible for accidents on the A7 motorway between Drachten and Groningen, that had been opened shortly before, and the surrounding countryside.

Col Collewijn does his own administration, in braille. He repairs vehicles by feel, welcomes customers with coffee, and finds his way around the company premises, with apparent ease. The only task for which he is not personally responsible is the actual vehicle recovery. That task he entrusts to his colleague Bert and his sons Paul and Colin. Collewijn rarely refers to his handicap but is often heard talking about the joys of running his business. Stichting Incident Management Nederland views it as a real honour to cooperate with a businessman of this calibre.