Emergency support and best friends: on the road with Frederik Scherer and Goran Juros

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Dynamic duo.

Frederik Scherer and Goran Juros head out together to rescue trucks almost on a daily basis. They are a great team – and best friends on top of that.

Ready for action any time: if a truck breaks down around Baden-Baden, the experts from MIRA Autoservice are at the scene in no time.
Ready for action any time: if a truck breaks down around Baden-Baden, the experts from MIRA Autoservice are at the scene in no time.
Ready for action any time: if a truck breaks down around Baden-Baden, the experts from MIRA Autoservice are at the scene in no time.
Ready for action any time: if a truck breaks down around Baden-Baden, the experts from MIRA Autoservice are at the scene in no time.
Ready for action any time: if a truck breaks down around Baden-Baden, the experts from MIRA Autoservice are at the scene in no time.
Ready for action any time: if a truck breaks down around Baden-Baden, the experts from MIRA Autoservice are at the scene in no time.
Ready for action any time: if a truck breaks down around Baden-Baden, the experts from MIRA Autoservice are at the scene in no time.
Ready for action any time: if a truck breaks down around Baden-Baden, the experts from MIRA Autoservice are at the scene in no time.
Ready for action any time: if a truck breaks down around Baden-Baden, the experts from MIRA Autoservice are at the scene in no time.
Ready for action any time: if a truck breaks down around Baden-Baden, the experts from MIRA Autoservice are at the scene in no time.

One time, they spent hours loading oranges onto another vehicle. Help for a driver from southern Europe in a real bind, who – probably because he was overtired – managed to drive his truck full of fruit into a ditch. “Thankfully, we had the support of about 50 people from the Federal Agency for Technical Relief on that occasion,” says Frederik Scherer. “We” – that’s Frederik and his colleague Goran Juros. Once the freight had been loaded from the truck, the duo’s work had only just begun: Frederik and Goran are experts in rescuing and towing stricken trucks – with a special vehicle based on the Arocs.



Both work for MIRA Autoservice based in Baden-Baden. Thousands of times a year, the company is called out to vehicles that are stranded in the vicinity of the spa town, for example on the A 5 or the Schwarzwaldhochstraße. On around 200 of these call-outs, trucks have to be salvaged, be it due to a breakdown or after an accident. Either Frederik or Goran almost always has a hand in the rescue operation here – and often both together. And to their delight, at that! The two of them are not only an outstanding team, but also best friends.



Understanding each other without saying a word.

“Because we know each other so well, we understand one another implicitly,” explains Goran. “Our tasks are clearly set out and we don’t have to say much during our call-outs.” For example, Frederik takes on disconnecting the universal joint on the damaged truck, which is obligatory for towing. Goran is responsible for installing the makeshift brake lines, among other things. And when something unexpected has to be dealt with, as in the case with the truck transporting the oranges? Well, then of course both pitch in without any discussion.

And that’s all especially worth its weight in gold because the call-outs are a race against time: each broken-down vehicle costs its owner money and needs to get back on the road again as quickly as possible for that reason. If it poses a risk to other traffic on top of that because it is stranded on the motorway, for example, then two expert helpers are twice as useful – whether they can get the truck running again on the spot or have to tow it away from danger, they can manage it.



Emergency vehicle featuring sophisticated technology.

Especially for the 25-year-old Frederik, there is another advantage to working with Goran, who is eight years his senior: “Because of his additional experience, he has an unbelievable amount of technical expertise under his belt. So I can always learn something new from him.” However, both are on equal footing when it comes to another matter: how they feel about their truck. “The Arocs is a great truck with sophisticated technology – and an outstanding basis for manufacturer Brechtel’s sophisticated bodies,” says Frederik, whose father is managing director of MIRA Autoservice.



The friends often even spend their free time together. And not just in Baden-Baden and the surrounding area: “My family lives in Croatia, and we’ve been there together several times now,” explains Goran. The family’s estate has a little farm – with a tractor which the duo likes to use to chug through the fields. “Aside from that, we’ve got motorbikes there.”

A good basis for the two helpers to recuperate a bit again before their next call-out. Ultimately, their job isn’t always just physically demanding: “We’ve been called out to accidents with fatalities,” says Frederik. “You’ve got to come to terms with that somehow.”



In the field for 16 hours in sub-zero temperatures.

However, mere material damage was the reason for their most demanding call-out to date, which the team successfully dealt with on a federal highway in the Black Forest. There, a fully loaded tanker carrying liquid latex tipped over while going round a bend on a bridge. The chemical had to be pumped out by the manufacturer’s emergency personnel, overseen by the fire brigade and Federal Agency for Technical Relief. And it felt like an eternity until they got to the scene.



Rescuing the truck itself also dragged on tremendously. “We weren’t allowed to generate a concentrated load on the bridge. And we really had to make sure we didn’t damage the truck while righting it,” says Goran. That’s why two cranes were used alongside the Arocs. “We were in the field for a total of 16 hours – with 1.1 metres of snow and sub-zero temperatures,” says Frederik, adding with a smile: “But the fire brigade took really good care of us during that time.” And don’t forget – at least the time went by a little faster with his best friend by his side.


Photos: Jan Potente  

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