Truck & Driver 2013-03

march 2013 £3.20

A ROAD TRANSPORT MEDIA PUBLICATION

haPPY IN YOUr JOB? how you wish to be treated

STraIN OF ThE TraIN Steam locos come home

ThE KITEmarQUE rise & fall of Foden

A ROAD TRANSPORT MEDIA PUBLICATION

DEATH ON THE ROAD ROUNDABOUTS

The Lord of the rings nominates ace gyratories

Jailed trucker reveals all

ALSO INSIDE

OFFICEBOXStanianmixes movies and containers

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TOP 10 UK

Think you’re a top driver?

Prove it

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http://worldmags.net/


Enter nowFleet Driver of the Year 2013

Deadline: 22 March 2013

www.mtawards.co.uk3 July 2013, Grosvenor House, London

Previous winners2012 Jim Whitmore, Dairy Crest

2011 Paul Crowther, Grocontinental

2010 Steve Ward, TNT Express Services UK & Ireland

You’ve got to be in it to win it.


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100%FORDRIVERS

march 2013 Truck & Driver 4

Editor Colin Barnett020 8912 [email protected]

Deputy editor Chris Turner020 8912 2142

Art editorSteve Gale020 8912 2169

General enquiriesSandra Greaves020 8912 2170fax 020 8770 [email protected]

Display salesJulie McInally020 8912 2122

Contact our Classified sales team on:020 8912 2120

Advertising productionJasmine Jahromi020 8912 2138

ContributorsRikki Chequer, Brian Robinson, Douglas McPherson, Lynn Deacon, Phil Brooker, Roger Brown, Chris Tindall, Bob Tuck, Tom Cunningham, Ian Norwell, Steve Banner

Main cover photographTom Cunningham

Managing directorAndy Salter

Editorial directorJustin Stanton

Sales directorVic Bunby

Finance directorMark Thurgood

Head of marketingKerry Jarman

Truckfest enquiriesT&D is a media partner with Live Promotions. Call 01775 768661 or go to www.truckfest.co.uk

Truck & Driver is published by Road Transport Media Ltd, 2nd Floor, NINE Sutton Court Road, Sutton, Surrey SM1 4SZ. ISSN: 0966 3533© Road Transport Media Limited 2012

BiglorryblogRikki Chequer’s weblog is at www.biglorryblog.comEmail contributions to big [email protected]

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50 Cover Story

Average net circulation per issue: 21,354 (January 1, 2011 to Dec 31, 2011)

A Free Winning DriveFull details of the T&D/Iveco Stralis Roadshow

On Your MarquesThis month we pitch a Wynnstay Volvo FM11 Tridem 8x4 against a Renault Premium Lander

Help from HeroesOur Pimped Scania has been sold for charity but it wouldn’t have been possible without help

A Matter of Life & DeathDriver Chris Weech was jailed for a fatal road traffic accident. He tells T&D the tragic tale

RespectTruckNetUK forum members tell us how they wish to be treated and what motivates them

Rise and Fall of the KiteBrit old-timer Foden bowed out after 150 years in ’06 but the marque still has a strong following

Loads of LorriesA Lantern Recovery driver regularly magics four Isuzu trucks onto his Volvo FM drawbar

Top 10 RoundaboutsPresident of the UK Roundabout Appreciation Society lists his ultimate magic gyratories

Ed’s ChoiceStanian Transport focuses mostly on containers but its involvement in film work is reflected by the company’s four customised Volvos

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42 Chris’s fatal RTA

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Cool & The GangScania STGOs load up the equipment for Sir Ranulph Fiennes’ latest Antarctic escapade

Gross Train WeightCharting the heavy-haulage operation to shift back home to the UK two famed locomotives


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Truck & Driver march 2013 5

NewsTraDe eNquiries Tel Marketforce on 020 7633 3300BaCK issues Tel Sandra Greaves on 020 8912 2170rePriNTs Tel Andrea Jones on 020 8912 2143suBsCriPTiONs Tel 01444 475635, email [email protected] or apply online at www.tanddsubs.com Credit card orders Tel 01444 475635. Address: Truck & Driver Subscriptions, Quadrant Subscription Services, Rockwood House, 9-16 Perrymount Road, Haywards Heath, West Sussex RH16 3DH, UK. Make cheques payable to Truck & Driver. suBsCriPTiON raTes UK: £38 (1 year), £71 (2 years), £100 (3 years); Overseas (Airmail, Europe): £46 (1 year), £85 (2 years), £119 (3 years). Prepress: Colour Systems, part of the Fresh Media Group.Classified advertising prepress: ITM Publishing Services. Printed by: William Gibbons, Willenhall, West Midlands. Tel: 01902 730011. Distribution: Marketforce, The Blue Fin Building, 110 Southwark Street, London SE1 0SU. Tel: 020 3148 3333.

76 Trains by Truck

6 NewsHeavy sentence for tacho tinkering; Trucks hit by bricks on M25; Get ready for another (French) tax; Scaffolder without O-licence loses his truck; Drug device gets police approval; Felixstowe LEZ is shelved

12 From the sharp endDon’t blame the job for your disastrous love life, writes Lucy Radley

14 Court in the actRoger Brown’s update on activities in UK courts and public inquiries

16 TruckstuffLatest stories and photographs from T&D readers, including a model-collector extraordinaire, a Guinness Book of Records entrant, old-timers from Ontario and a Titan heavy-hauler first for Mercedes-Benz. Plus Trucker’s Gripe and Picture Post

26 Looking BackDespite its lack of a tilt cab, George Bennett loved his Crusader

28 Down underLiving and working in Australia is, for driver Matt Wood, a ‘tyranny of distance’, on a day-to-day basis as well as for the truck he drives

49 reviewsFocus on fairground transport, a new novel by Suckling’s boss, a Brian Harris Corgi model, a trucking CD, and garage contents of the wealthy

62 sucking eggsBatteries will abound in future so, with more and more hybrid trucks appearing on our roads, we look at how to get the best out of them

84 Delivery NotesMirror protection, an AdBlue app, an efficient tracking device and more

85 Junior TruckerTruck-and-T&D-mad youngsters plus our regular Junior Crossword

86 Van & DriverFord’s Transit Custom replacement has arrived – and it comes with plenty of driver appeal. Plus all the latest news from the van world

88 ClassifiedJobs, training, parts, accessories, services, return loads and insurance

94 Compulsory BreakChill out on your statutory break and bag prizes in our competitions

98 True Lives Fuel thieves caught red-handed on the Kettering (and morality) bypass

38 Heroic finale for Pimp

Bottles of oxygen70 Magic roundabouts

on sale Tuesday March 5april


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In the news thIs Issue…

Boss gets a suspended 18-month sentence for using a tacho interrupter device

p8 Four trucks hit by missiles on M25Five Essex teenagers arrested for hurling bricks from bridge

p9 Prepare for French environmental taxStarting in July, eco-tax will be levied on all CVs over 3.5 tonnes

p10 No O-licence – so scaffolder loses lorry Dundee operator has his vehicle impounded, despite Vosa warnings

p11 Drug-detector approved by policeTesting kit can be used by the law as well as by employers

ALL THE LATEST EVENTS TO AFFECT YOUR LIFE ON THE ROAD

suspended jail term for tinkering with tachothe Road Haulage Association (RHA) has welcomed the sentence handed out to a haulage boss for forgery in relation to tachograph records, saying that such offences bring the reputation of truck drivers into disrepute.

Richard Dewart was sentenced to 18 months in prison, suspended for three years, after a joint police and Driver & Vehicle Licensing Agency investigation found that his Northern Ireland firm had relied on tacho interrupter devices.

Vehicles and records owned by Dewart Transport were seized and examined, and discrepancies between rest periods and mileage were discovered.

An interrupter device had been activated to enable the driver to continue driving by simulating that the vehicle was stationary.

‘Falsifying driving records is planned in advance and is one of the most serious offences in road haulage,’ says RHA chief executive Geoff Dunning.

‘Not only are they are putting lives at risk,’ he adds, ‘they are undermining the livelihoods of drivers who comply with the law.’

Good news at last: a buoyant year predicted for the transport industryThis year, 2013, could be a bumper one for some hauliers, with healthy growth and profitability, according to a new report.

Plimsoll Publishing’s analysis of the financial performance of the UK’s largest operators found that average growth in the

sector could be as high as 7%.It predicts that hauliers in the abnormal-

loads sector will experience growth of 9%, with a 7.4% growth in international haulage and 7.1% in UK general road haulage.

Plimsoll chief analyst David Pattison insists

there is reason for cheer in 2013 because growth and increased productivity is beginning to spread throughout the market.

‘What seems to be different this time, compared to the last few years, is that this growth is coming profitably,’ he says.


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Enter now and you could be the Motor Transport Fleet Driver of the Year!

A s we are well into the depths of winter. when the days are at their shortest, we’re once

again disappointed that Vosa and the police seem completely oblivi-ous to the plague of cars and vans on the road with defective lights.

Our latest, admittedly small-scale, survey confirms that the number of light vehicles (no pun intended) with at least one head-light or tail light out of action is still around a totally unacceptable 10%. Expanded nationwide, that could be two-and-a-half million lethal vehicles driving around unchecked.

So-called professional vehicles, such as vans, cabs and mini-buses, don’t seem any bet-ter than the rest. We even saw a one-eyed Metropolitan Police Ford Transit a few weeks ago.

Despite spotting one tipper leave its yard with just one working headlight recently, the number of defective heavies is minuscule, suggesting that most truck drivers do indeed carry out the statutory daily walk-round.

And while we’re talking about one rule for us and one for them, it’s galling to see truck drivers given fixed- penalty tickets for having a small item encroaching on the edge of their large windscreens, while every day you can see a large number of numpties driving their cars around with satnavs stuck bang in the middle of their small windscreens.

So come on, you guys in hi-vis, go out and nick as many offending car drivers as you can process – it won’t be hard work, honest.

BE RECOGNISED!It’s also that time of year again when our sister title Motor Transport launches its annual awards. Besides a passing interest in which fleet truck and van gets voted to victory by readers, our biggest interest is obviously in the Fleet Driver category.

If you, or one of your colleagues, put that extra bit into the job, get your entry in. The only stipulation is that you drive for a fleet of 11 vehicles or larger.

Check out the details in our News story below.

LGV drivers have the greatest influences over some of an operator’s biggest costs – fuel and repair & maintenance – as well as being in the frontline of customer service. So sister title Motor Transport will once again be rewarding the UK’s top driver with the Fleet Driver of the Year award at this year’s transport industry Oscars, the Motor Transport Awards.

Even with modern fuel-efficient engines and automated gearboxes, a careful right foot is still the best way to improve economy and minimise maintenance costs and accident damage.

Telematics has revealed the stark difference in performance between the best and worst drivers, and while training and incentives will often move the worst up to the average, the very best drivers are highly self-motivated individuals.

And this attitude doesn’t stop when they get down from the cab. Customer care and mentoring of other less-experienced drivers are all hallmarks of a committed team member who regards LGV driving as a profession rather than merely a job.

If you fit this description, enter Fleet Driver of the Year, sponsored by Prohire, by the deadline of March 22. It costs nothing but a couple of hours of your time so download an entry form now from http://bit.ly/fleetdriver


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Four trucks on M25 in Essex are hit by bricksFive 13-year-old lads arrested for throwing missiles from bridge over motorway

Super trooper: can you help unlucky former Afghanistan soldier Dan find a driving job?

FivE tEEnagErs have been arrested after at least four HGVs were hit by bricks thrown from a bridge over the M25 in Essex.

Police were called out on January 1 at about 6.25pm after the drivers reported that their vehicles had been damaged by the missiles.

The windscreens of two lorries and a recovery truck were damaged and the cab of another recovery vehicle was slightly damaged. No one was injured.

Five boys, all aged 13 and from Waltham Abbey, in Essex, were arrested on suspicion of causing criminal damage with intent to endanger life. They have been bailed until February 22 and 23 pending further enquiries.

Detectives are continuing to investigate the incidents involving vehicles passing under the footbridge close to Lodge Lane in Waltham Abbey, between M25 Jct 25 and 26.

Anyone with information about the incidents should contact detectives at Loughton CID on 101.

We don’t normally publicise job-seekers in these pages, but we feel that this case deserves to be the exception.

While we were at the Help for Heroes recovery centre at Tidworth for the handover of our Pimp My Truck charity project Scania, we bumped into 27-year-old Dan Richards. Dan, whose father is a tanker driver, joined the army as a teenager in the King’s Troop, Royal Horse Artillery and soon gained his C+E licence.

His duties meant that most of his military driving was on horseboxes, so he’s used to handling sensitive loads.

Unfortunately, in 2009, eight months after returning unscathed from a tour of duty in Afghanistan, he lost his right arm

in a motorcycle accident.Having finally been medically

discharged from the army in September, Dan is now looking for a chance to use his licence in civvy street.

Based in Shepton Mallet, Somerset, Dan has acquired his full Driver CPC card, and his flexibility is evident from the fact that he is now riding a big bike again, as well as driving a car, so he would be able to drive an automatic truck with minimal modifications.

If you’re aware of any suitable positions for Dan located in the South West, please get in touch with us at [email protected] and we will pass them on.

Dan Richards with Maria Sullivan from Help for Heroes at Tedworth House

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Yet another tax… prepare for France’s new environmental levy

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More than 40 drivers get the chop at Elite in Southampton

Join T&D and Tip-ex and find Britain’s best Volvo tipper

International operators are being advised to make preparations for the launch of the French eco-tax system.

The new environmental truck tax, applicable to goods vehicles of 3.5 tonnes and over, will be levied on some 15,000km of national roads and autoroutes, both free and toll.

It’s expected to affect almost 250,000 non-French vehicles annually, the only exemption likely to benefit some UK operators being for certain agricultural goods.

The system begins with a month-long trial commencing on June 20 in Alsace before being rolled out to the rest of France a month later. It will be enforced by 174 fixed gantries and 500 mobile detectors.

The key issue is the requirement for vehicles to be equipped with a GPS-based On-Board

Unit (OBU), together with an agreed payment method, with either pre- or post-paid options available. The charge will be based on €0.12/km but with final costs dependent on gross weight, number of axles, emissions class and distance travelled.

DKV Euro Service, whose DKV Box is compatible with the system, advises operators not only to ensure that they have the hardware and payment agreements in place in good time but also to consider renegotiating customer contracts in order to pass on the extra costs.

More information on the system, including a map of the affected road network – which for most UK operators will begin on the exit from the Calais access points – is available at www.ecomouv.coml See Delivery Notes on page 84.

T&D and Tip-ex 2013 have joined forces with Volvo to launch a competition to find Britain’s best Volvo tipper.

If you think your truck is in with a shout in one of the three categories – 08 registration or newer, 57 reg or older and specialist construction vehicle – you will need to submit photographs showing it in its best light.

Winners of the three categories will be invited to display their vehicles at Tip-ex 2013, which takes place in Harrogate on May 30 to June 1, and to attend the Gala Dinner held on May 31.

Tip-ex, a must-attend event for all pros involved in this fast-growing market, is the UK’s only exhibition dedicated to the tipper and bulk transport sector.

The prizes are driving days in the UK for all three category winners plus, for the overall winner, a VIP driving experience at Volvo’s headquarters in Sweden, with the chance to get your hands on some of the manufacturer’s latest products.

The closing date will be May 10, so you have plenty of time to get those pictures taken. There will be more comprehensive details of the prizes and how to enter in next month’s issue of T&D.

Elite Transport Services has made all its drivers at Southampton redundant after work at the Hampshire port reduced significantly.

The company is now relying on a dozen subcontractors to pick up any work at the container terminal after telling more than 40 full-time drivers their jobs had gone.

Elite Transport depot manager Mike Lewry says the move is a great shame but was unavoidable in the current economic climate. ‘[The port owner] is saying it’s busy; the port is not busy at all. The fleet we had was a large fleet and it just wasn’t profitable down here any more.’

Lewry adds: ‘The people that have left, yes they are very bitter, but the company can’t keep forking money out of their pockets. It’s haulage, I’m afraid.’

In total, 50 jobs have been made redundant at Elite, including drivers at its Felixstowe base and some administration staff at its Manchester head office.


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No support for scaffolder driving without O-licenceDundee scaffolder has his vehicle impounded after ignoring warnings by Vosa

Higher speed limit for Scotland’s A9?

A DuNDee scaffolder who drove a lorry without applying for an operator’s licence has had his application for its return refused.

Kerr Hay admitted he had been very naïve in thinking that he just needed to insure the two-axle Ford Iveco Cargo and pay the road tax.

Hay was stopped by Vosa on the A9 in February 2011 while carrying a load of scaffolding. Officers discovered that neither he nor his business, Tayside Scaffolding Services

& Trades, possessed an O-licence. Hay was cautioned and charged.

Almost one year later the laden vehicle was spotted by the same officer on the M90 and subsequent checks found that the vehicle was still not specified on any licence. Four letters were sent to Hay warning him the vehicle would be impounded if he did not obtain a licence.

An application was later refused when Hay’s business failed to meet the mandatory criteria.

He was finally stopped in November 2012 and his vehicle was impounded.

Hay applied for the vehicle’s return, but in a written decision the Traffic Commissioner for Scotland, Joan Aitken, said: ‘Continuing to operate after Vosa has warned of the need for an operator’s licence can result in a vehicle being detained and in the hardship and inconvenience which Mr Hay and his companies will now experience.’

Two councils in Swansea have lifted the three-tonne weight restriction on a bridge that has forced lorry drivers to take a 10-mile detour for the past 14 years.

Neath Port Talbot and Powys councils have been working in partnership to rebuild the Crown Bridge to maintain links between the villages of Cwmtwrch and Pen Rhiwfawr on the county borough boundary.

Last year the councils agreed to share the £725,000 cost and the wheels were set in motion to demolish the existing bridge and replace the old concrete design with a new steel-beamed bridge with a reinforced concrete deck.

The road will be closed for one day to complete resurfacing of the bridge.

The load limit was introduced in 1999 following a structural assessment.

Drivers have questioned a possible increase in the speed limit for lorries using the A9 in Scotland after the government said it was seriously considering the plan.

Transport Minister for Scotland Keith Brown (right) says the idea is being discussed with the Road Haulage Association and adds: ‘I am looking seriously at the issue. The only predictive evidence we have so far suggests that the measure might have a marginal disbenefit in safety terms.’

A consultation into raising the speed limit for HGVs on some single-carriage A-roads in England ended on February 1 and was widely welcomed by the haulage industry.

However, HGV driver Matt Downie, who set up an e-petition demanding that speed limits be overhauled, says: ‘I just don’t get how it’s going to work – it is going to confuse so many people. They’re talking about doing the A9 Perth to Inverness, but not the A9 Inverness to Wick. If they plan on doing one A-road then they have to do them all.’

No more 10-mile Swansea detours

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LEZ plans for Port of Felixstowe shelved

Drug-detection device gets police approval

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Just to set the record straight, our reporter got in a muddle over the name of the new low-rolling-resistance tyres from Michelin that we referenced last month (pages 62-63, February T&D). The new tyres, which Michelin claims will save £810 per truck, are X Line Energy fitments. The X MultiWay 3D, also referenced, are a separate high-grip product intended for regional and national operators where vehicles use a mix of local and major trunk roads.

Leicestershire’s Moran Logistics has become the third haulage firm to be prosecuted by Wiltshire County Council for breaching the 18-tonne weight restriction on the town’s bridge in Bradford-on-Avon.

The Road Haulage Association has criticised the Highways Agency’s decision to close six laybys on the A2 in Kent for 18 months without consultation with the industry.

Edinburgh Council is investigating the introduction of a Low Emission Zone to reduce emissions from lorries in the city.

George Martin, the founder of pioneering Essex livestock haulier G W Martin, has died, aged 82. The company is run by George’s son Trevor and two of his grandchildren.

An appeal by Highland Car Crushers against a decision to revoke its licence has been dismissed by the Upper Tribunal after it found ‘woeful’ failures in the way the firm was managed.

A drug-driving detection device (pictured right) has been approved for use by police forces across the UK.

The testing kit will be used at police stations and can analyse mouth swabs for traces of cannabis.

It replaces the need for a doctor to take a blood sample and its manufacturer, Draeger, says further developments are being made to detect other drugs that could affect a driver’s performance.

The kits will also be made available to haulage companies to test their employees.

The Dräger DrugTest 5000 testing kits are being introduced under a crackdown that will see drug-driving become a specific offence.

Offenders will face up to six months in jail and a fine of up to £5000, as well as an automatic driving ban of at least 12 months.

‘The rigorous type-approval process has confirmed that our device is accurate, reliable and robust,’ says Mark Burrup, drug and alcohol testing specialist at Draeger Safety UK.

‘The Dräger DrugTest 5000 device will initially be used to support the existing offence of driving whilst impaired with drink or drugs. We also believe it will have a vital role to play in the future when a statutory limit for drugs may come into force.’

Plans to target lorries at Felixstowe port with a Low Emission Zone and fines for the most polluting vehicles have been shelved after it was found that the air quality has improved.

Studies had suggested that lorries were contributing around 28% of NOx emissions at the Eastern container terminal and Suffolk Coastal District Council put forward ideas to tackle the problem.

However, the council now says that action by the port to reduce emissions from its own handling equipment has improved matters.

A council spokesman says: ‘One successful initiative has been the requirement to get lorries to book in so they have a one-hour slot in which to visit the port. This has had a very beneficial impact on queuing, which is far less of a problem than it used to be and has also obviously had an impact on air quality.’

The spokesman adds that a ‘polluter pays’ policy for the worst exhaust emissions would not be considered unless other ports agreed to introduce it.R

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Blaming trucking for the parlous state of your domestic life is too easy – the secret to good relationships lies elsewhere

”One friend of mine came off the road and went into the traffic office in an attempt to save his marriage, only for both sides to discover they didn’t actually like each other

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It’s not the job!

march 2013 Truck & Driver

‘Well, it’s the job, innit?’ Two drivers sitting behind me were discussing the parlous state of their relationships and consequent expensive divorces. There was nothing I wanted to listen to less but they were loud enough for most of the next town to be in on the discussion.

It’s a regular refrain but one I don’t particularly buy. I’m very happily mar-ried to an ex-driver who knows only too well what the job can be like, but that wasn’t always the case. My first long relationship after starting in transport was a car crash, for reasons that might well sound all too familiar.

First, he didn’t trust me, convinced I was either sleeping with or planning to sleep with every bloke I met. As a woman in a male-dominated industry, that meant one hell of a lot of unfounded accusa-tions. He said he didn’t want to hear who I was ‘knocking about with’ or what I was ‘up to’ down the road any more, so I stopped talking about my day-to-day life. At which point he complained he didn’t know who I was ‘knocking about with’ or what I was ‘up to’.

He didn’t want me away so I took a day job, which made no difference except he then didn’t like it when we had less money, so back down the road I’d go. I don’t need to go on. For years afterwards, when the subject of the whole debacle came up, I, too, would shrug and say: ‘Well, it’s the job, innit?’

knowIng the scoreLooking back now, it wasn’t the job at all. The lack of trust wasn’t because I was away, because it didn’t improve when I was home every night. The money worries didn’t improve regard-less of how much I brought home, and it’s not as if he didn’t know what the score was when we got together – we met double-manning. Neither of us could be bothered to make an effort to sort out the root causes of the break-down; it was just easier to blame the lorry and leave it at that.

In reality, I could have been a school secretary and things would have been the same. One friend of mine came off the road and went into the traffic office in an attempt to save his marriage, only for both sides to discover they didn’t actually like each other very much and end up divorcing anyway.

Driving, especially for trampers, is a

very selfish lifestyle; for the lion’s share of our day-to-day lives we don’t need to please anyone but ourselves and our delivery schedules. For those at home it can, I’m told, be very much the same. Two people, two lives, one big fat disas-ter waiting to happen. But if it’s all so inevitably bleak, why are there so many people out there who do make it work?

BLAMe gAMeSpeaking for myself, it’s because I learnt not to blame my choice of livelihood. If I get the hump with my husband it’s usually because one of us is being an arse. There’s no point blaming the truck; the truck’s an inanimate object. It’s no more to blame for me being an arse than a squaddie’s boots are for him being a git, an oil rig is to blame for its foreman being a sod, or a Ford Mundano is to blame for the travelling salesman who lives next door behaving like a prat.

The secret to maintaining a good relationship and a trans-port job is simple. We just have to take responsibility for our actions and admit when there’s a problem, instead of hiding behind four nights out a week and stewing until, like a slow-cooked rabbit, the meat of the thing falls off the bones entirely.

In other words, when I’m being an arse, tell me so, and I’ll do the same for you. I might not be impressed, but it’ll be a whole lot more constructive than calling out a wrecker. That only ever ends up costing people money. n


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Euro VI. An investment for the future that pays dividends today.The new Antos. Specifically developed for heavy-duty distribution.

Meeting tomorrow’s emissions standard today: the completely redesigned Euro VI en-

gines that are fitted as standard in the new Antos deliver significant reductions in CO2,

nitrogen oxide and particulate emissions. Their outstanding efficiency also means low

fuel consumption – so limiting the impact both on the environment and on your budget.

To find out more, call 0800 090 090, visit www.mercedes-benz.co.uk/the-new-antos

or contact your local Mercedes-Benz Commercial Vehicle dealer.

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Nightfreight (GB) has been fined £300,000 after a driver was killed by a runaway truck at its depot in Northamptonshire.

In a prosecution brought by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), Northampton Crown Court was told that Russell Homer, 44, had just started his night shift at the site in Doddington Road, Earls Barton, in December 2010 when he was crushed against a stationary vehicle when his own vehicle moved off while he was coupling the tractor unit to the trailer.

After striking him, the lorry rolled down a slope, travelling another 27 metres before crashing into a wall. Had the vehicle not been stopped by the wall it might have rolled directly out onto a public highway, the court was told.

Homer, a father of two from Overstone, Northamptonshire, died at the scene from a serious chest injury.

An HSE investigation identified issues with Nightfreight drivers coupling up vehicles without following the company’s rules. The report said they were not applying the handbrake to the tractor unit or turning off the engine.

According to the HSE this dangerous practice was known to Nightfreight,

which failed to effectively monitor its employees and ensure they followed the correct, safe, working procedure.

The investigation also found that there were no appropriate measures in place to prevent vehicles parked on the slope from rolling away, such as flattening it out, installing road bumps in front of vehicle wheels or using chocks.

Nightfreight (GB) pleaded guilty to breaching Sections 2(1) and 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. The company was fined £270,000 for the Section 2(1) charge and £30,000 for the Section 3(1) offence. It was also ordered to pay costs of £26,000.

A spokeswoman for Nightfreight’s parent company, DX Group, says: ‘Nightfreight deeply regrets any failings linked to safety, health and environment in the past, as well as the tragic repercussions that followed. The company has taken relevant and extensive steps, endorsed by the HSE, to remedy any past failings in this area.’

Fall leads to hefty fines

£300,000 fine after runaway truck death

News from UK courts and public inquiries by our legal correspondent, Roger Brown

A truck driver from Scotland who made 69 false tachograph charts has been sent to prison for six months.

Carlisle Crown Court was told that George Davidson, 57, from Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire was stopped by Vosa officers at the goods vehicle testing station in Carlisle as he returned home from a trip to the Netherlands and Germany in June 2012.

An investigation by Vosa and Cumbria Police revealed he had used a device to interrupt the tachograph system. An impulse generator was taped to a relay and wired into the tachograph loom above the nearside glovebox.

The switching for the device was via a looped jack plug in the 24V socket in the dash.

Neither the dash speedometer nor the speed limiter functioned but the vehicle could be driven and record rest.

Davidson pleaded guilty to the offences when he appeared at Carlisle Magistrates’ Court late last year and was committed to Carlisle Crown Court for sentence. He was also ordered to pay £400 costs.

Sgt Graeme Hodgson from the road policing unit at Cumbria Police says: ‘There is no knowing exactly what method was used to produce the false charts but we did find a device and we know the tachographs produced did not show the full extent of driving.

‘There may be short-term gains to be made from falsification but the penalties imposed on those convicted are now starting to be a real deterrent.’

Two London companies have been ordered to pay almost £110,000 in fines and costs after a skip lorry driver sustained life-changing injuries when he fell down a processing chute at a waste recycling plant.

In a prosecution brought by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), the Old Bailey was told that the agency driver, then 49, and employed by ICSL Accord, was tipping rubbish into a deep waste chute at Hornsey Street Waste and Recycling Centre in Islington in December 2007.

The driver, who does not want to be named, fell 10 metres from the rear of the vehicle down the chute.

He was treated at the Whittington Hospital for fractures to two vertebrae and was in a spine brace for nine months, unable to work.

Imprisoned for false records

An independent medical report suggested that he will never be able to return to his career as an LGV driver.

The HSE prosecuted ICSL Accord and the centre’s operator, London Waste, for serious safety failings. Both companies had failed to cooperate and coordinate site activities.

London Waste was fined £40,000 and ordered to pay £34,265 in costs after being found guilty of breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

ICSL Accord was fined £24,000 with £11,241 in costs after pleading guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the same legislation.

The HSE investigation found that ICSL failed to give some employees sufficient training in how to safely tip rubbish at the site while London Waste had failed to monitor non-compliance of site safety rules.


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OUR SPECIAL SECTION ThAT fEATURES STORIES ANd PICTURES fROm yOU ThE t&d REAdERS!

Got a new rig? Spotted something unusual? Getting hitched? Then Truckstuff Tony wants to hear from you! Send him your words and pics and he’ll do his best to get them into your very own section of the mag. Please ensure your images are in focus and of decent quality (if you’re using a digital camera, use the highest resolution picture setting), that any words are legible and that you give us a contact phone number. So what are you waiting for? Write to Truckstuff Tony, Truck & Driver, 2nd Floor, Road Transport Media, NINE Sutton Court Road, Sutton SM1 4SZ. Email [email protected]

Mighty Mega TitanThe UK’s first Mercedes-Benz Actros Titan

heavy-haulage tractor unit to be equipped with a groundbreaking new

gearbox and boasting a MegaSpace cab has entered service in the colours of Hampshire operator Chappell’s of Stubbington.

The 8x4 Actros 4160S is powered by a 600hp, 16-litre V8 that drives through a Merc

PowerShift auto transmission, which works in conjunction with Voith’s new VIAB Turbo Clutch. This new combination replaces the previous manual ’box and torque converter clutch, which required a separate retarder.

The VIAB Turbo Clutch features a powerful integrated retarder for additional braking, so an external retarder is no longer needed. Being smaller and lighter, it frees up chassis space and increases payload capacity.

The truck is capable of operation at 250 tonnes GCW.

The use of the 16-speed Mercedes PowerShift automated transmission means operators can now specify a Titan heavy-haulage tractor unit with a spacious, flat-floored MegaSpace cab.

Chappell director Mark Harris says: ‘The automated PowerShift transmission with Turbo Clutch is superb and gives us the best of both worlds. When pulling away and working at low speeds, the Turbo Clutch is extremely sensitive and makes the truck very easy to manoeuvre.’


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TRUCKER’S

Something bothering you? Don’t let it get under your skin. Once a month we’ll choose readers’ top grumbles, so send Truckstuff Tony your Trucker’s Gripe, in 350 words or less (either in the post or via email with a name and contact number) and we’ll do the rest!

Public house of the Rising SunAnother Road Transport Media archive gem unearthed by Truckstuff Tony, who’s not sure that such overmanning, this being an Albion Motors Ltd press photograph, was routine in those black and white days.

It was during the 1920s that Albion’s truck range expanded to include forward-control models – referred to by the manufacturer as ‘overtypes’, a term normally associated with steam lorries – and the distinctive rising-sun trademark you can see on the radiator

appeared in about 1928. This Albion four-wheeler is a 40/45.

Hooper Struve & Co was, apparently, a London-based brewer and table-water producer. Registered in 1900, when there seemed to be a brewer and/or pub on almost every street corner, the company now appears to be part of Britvic Soft Drinks Ltd.

Although no date is given on the back of the photo, the neat handwriting does provide the wagon’s unladen weight: ‘2 tons, 8cwt, 96lb’.

This is the first Mack Metro-Liner 8x4 to be bought by The Good Soil, a Smithfield, New South Wales landscape supplier – and the photos, with Sydney Harbour Bridge as a backdrop, were taken by TGS staffer and budding photographer Tony Misevski.

Apparently, TGS has, in the past, mainly run European trucks for its bigger jobs but the Metro-Liner’s low tare and nimble road manners are proving ‘vital for both Sydney’s tough traffic and arduous terrain’.

The payload is said to be a 20% gain over comparable existing units and TGS reckons the ride and fuel efficiency of the budding Bulldog is also proving equally impressive.

Got a light Mack?

FLASH GEEZERI posted [on TruckNetUK] a while ago about flashing-in other trucks. When driving units and trailers I always flashed-in all trucks, sometimes caravans, etc; it only takes a second. Through my choice, I am now on a four-wheel rigid and very rarely get flashed-in when I overtake.

I was out in the luton van last week with a small load and almost every artic flashed me in. Why? The luton is nowhere near as long as the rigid.

This irritates me. When artics and other trucks pass me I will flash you in when I feel it is safe for you to come in, not when you put your indicater on!daf1691

You will end up in an early grave if you let silly things like this get to you!!BradCarTransporter

I was once driving up the M1 when I caught up with another lorry; rare for me as I am 52mph tops. As I got past I got no flash from him and I do know my length of vehicle. As I got further up the road I noticed he was flashing lorries in and they were mainly Class 1 vehicles. I wouldn’t worry, but I do know how you feel though. It gets on my t**s.

What really gets my goat is when you flash-in a bendy who is clearly taking his time to get back in and holding other trucks up and get no thanks for it, or knocking it off a few clicks as they are taking forever to get by and still don’t get any thanks. I don’t let it get to me and just get on with the job.Mickyblue

Most four-wheeler drivers have attitude problems and cut in before you flash.Saaamon

I’m glad you put ‘most’, as I haven’t! I’ve driven Class One wagon & drag, the lot, and treat all drivers the same, apart from Audi drivers! I feel today’s Class One-ers have an attitude problem. Let’s face it, we are all doing the same bloody job!daf1691


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ONTARIO OLDIES

Warren Gibson runs a large fleet from Alliston and this Mack is the pride of the fleet

GMC Astro tractor now used as a bulker in the fields around Alliston, Ontario. Note the absence of number plates

On a recent trip to visit family in Ontario, Canada regular T&D contributor and driver Alex Saville just couldn’t resist photographing this selection of venerable Canadian trucks. We hope he managed to spend time with his cousin, too!

Discovered in a yard near Bradford, Ontario. Mercedes-Benz information tells Alex this is a 1113-1314 4x4 chassis that was built as a tipper or as a military chassis

A similar Mack is on display nearby in the yard ofOntario Potato Distribution (Alliston) Inc.The company is owned by theCappuccitti family, asshown on door panels

Smart International parked in a yard near Beeton. No plates but clearly ready for work

This 1988 Ford Cargo parked outside the

Ziegler Lumber Co at Port Elgin still looks

as good as the day it was bought


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The Co-op takesthe plungeThe Co-operative Group is among the first customers for a dramatically-styled aerodynamic truck body launched in December by Gray & Adams.

The Dolphin is so named because its streamlined profile evokes that of the aquatic mammal often seen in the Moray Firth, close to Gray & Adams’ Fraserburgh headquarters.

Designed to maximise fuel efficiency and thereby cut CO2 emissions, it features all-new leading-edge cappings that follow the 3D curvature of the roof and a vortex generator to smooth the airflow around the back of the vehicle.

The Co-op’s two Dolphins were built at Gray & Adams’ Dunfermline production facility and are fitted to 26-tonne Scania chassis with roof-mounted, adjustable air deflectors by Hatcher Components.

The Carrier Supra 950 refrigeration unit is mounted above the cab roof and, despite the body’s roofline tapering towards the rear, there is enough interior space for the roll cages used to transport frozen and chilled product.

The reduced roof height is said to offer an environmental benefit because energy is not wasted on cooling empty and unrequired load space.

Concrete proof that this pump, mounted on a seven-axle Scania V8, is the world’s tallest is confirmed by its entry in the Guinness Book of Records.

The concrete pump, no doubt intended for use in the construction of rapidly-growing China’s bridges and high-rise buildings, was unveiled by Chinese concrete-machinery manufacturer Zoomlion.

The seven-section boom, the final four sections of which are made of carbon fibre, has an amazing reach of 101 metres.

To cope with the concrete pump’s weight, the Scania’s V8 produces 620hp and has a 15.5-metre-long chassis.

Overall, the special Scania Zoomlion rig measures 18.5m.

Chinaboom


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T ony’s just unearthed this story from truck and photography fanatic Nigel Walters, who says he was delighted to bump into retired driver Richard Rock (pictured left).

‘Rock by name, rock by nature,’ says Nigel, who has known Richard for more than 20 years but had clearly never previously visited his home. ‘A true knight of our industry, his house is like a museum of transport, with model trucks from wall to wall.’

Richard, whose career commenced in 1965, gained his licence through grandfather rights and, with 44 years on the road, has never had an endorsement.

Over the years he has worked for ETC Sawmills, did tramping

through the 1970s for Trevor Morris Transport then later joined legendary haulier Cadwallader (the picture, above, of a Cadwallader Volvo F88 was supplied by Richard).

‘I recommend that any young driver listen to experienced hands,’ says Nigel. ‘Take the time to share a cuppa with the men who made our jobs an industry.’

Rock on Richard


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Bloody minded

Where’s that remote?

Developed by Volvo Trucks and launched alongside the new FH series, Work Remote is a wireless remote-control device that is claimed to streamline the load-handling process, resulting in ‘a better working environment for drivers’ as well as lower costs for haulage firms.

Currently, to check that the weight of the cargo is properly distributed, the driver has to

climb up into the cab several times during loading to check the load indicator in the instrument panel. Other load-related functions, such as raising or lowering the truck, are also currently performed from inside the cab.

‘All this takes a lot of time, can be very tiring and represents a risk of driver injury since they can trip or fall,’ says Volvo.

Hence Work Remote, with which it’s

possible to control everything from raising and lowering the truck’s air suspension to kneeling the vehicle, activating the power take-off, regulating engine revs, switching off the engine and locking the truck.

Extra controls fitted in the instrument panel via a Volvo Trucks accessory module can also be linked to the remote control, such as controls for a crane or pumps.

Truckstuff Tony doesn’t wish to downplay the significant risk for drivers of deep vein thrombosis, as the sedentary job of trucking can lead to blood clots, which, in turn, can travel to the lungs and cause a dangerous pulmonary embolism.

However, while not doubting its efficacy, this ‘compact’, battery-operated device, ‘easily concealed underneath clothing’, seems rather over the top as a DVT deterrent.

At £315, it’s also an expensive alternative to ‘flight socks’ or compression stockings, commonly available for less than £20 a pair.

Weighing 250 grams and powered by one AA battery, the Venowave is worn on the calf and produces an ‘upward volumetric displacement of blood, which translates to increased circulation.

Its portability allows truck drivers to carry on with their driving duties without the device interfering’.

If Venowave takes off, however (pardon the pun), it could spark a return to the fashion of baggy trousers…


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THE UK'S BIGGEST COMMERCIAL VEHICLE SHOW

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➜ Handily for a farm hauler, Benzies’ Scania R620 looks good even when it’s a bit grubby

ANDREW JONES

➜ 1961 Thornycroft Swiftsure HLJ/R6 is in the livery of recently-

reborn Joule’s brewery, now operating in Market Drayton

ASHLEY LOVERING


➜ Malta Post’s locally-restored Scammell Scarab and newly-built trailer keeps busy selling stamps to tourists on Valletta waterfront

GRANT THOMPSON

ALEX SAVILLE

➜ Well-preserved ERF Chinese Six of Fisher Renwick

seen at the Biggar Rally in Lanarkshire last August

ROSS CUNNINGHAM

SCOTT RETALIC


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➜ Macadam’s Daf wrecker doing a fine job of

keeping Burnley’s roads clear of dead buses


➜ Beedie Bros’ Volvo FH13 in its

Sunday best on the way home from the Keith Truck Show

➜ Tastefully-liveried Scania R620 Topline of

Sutherland Shellfish nicely captured in Scrabster

harbour

➜ Peterborough Heavy Haulage’s 1970 Atkinson Borderer with the rare Viewline cab was pictured moving its very first load

➜ Despite first impressions, this picture of a

classic Scania wagon & drag with well-roped-

and-sheeted load was taken recently

Send T&D your photos of interesting trucks and we

will pay £10 (in the form of a high street voucher,

exchangeable anywhere) for each pic published. We

will return them but only if your name & address is on

the back of each print: don’t forget your postcode.

For digital pics, set your camera to its high-quality

setting. Email your digital images to: truckstuff.tony@

roadtransport.com only please and not to any of our

other email addresses. NOTE – The photographer

owns the copyright to his or her submission.

All material submitted to Truckstuff/Picture Post

is on the understanding that T&D retains the right to

use it again, possibly in other formats, in the future.

Also, T&D cannot be responsible for material mislaid

or lost in the post.

Send your pictures to:

Truckstuff Tony, Picture Post,

T&D, 2nd Floor, Road Transport

Media, NINE Sutton Court

Road, Sutton SM1 4SZ.

Each month the sender of the ‘star’ picture will also receive a superb

1:76-scale modern truck model, from Oxford Diecast, that retails at

around £18.95. See the full

range of models on the website

www.oxforddiecast.co.uk

CHRIS NEWTON

MERVYN WALKER

RICHARD BAKER


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Despite Scammell’s baffling decision not to give its Crusader a tilt cab, back in the mid-1970s George Bennett found the Crusader high, wide and handsome

Last Crusade

I n the early ’70s British truck makers were under attack from the Swedes, with other Continentals lining up behind them, so the tractor unit

dreamed up by Scammell seemed, by its very name, to be aimed at stemming the tide of high-tech imports. But despite its resounding title, the Crusader also had input from that conservative institution British Road Services, so although it had a large and imposing cab (and a sleeper option) it was still fixed. It’s hard to imag-ine that BRS’s fitters were consulted.

Instead of a tilt cab, the truck had an innovative radiator, which swung out-wards to give access to the front of the engine. This may have been clever but it solved a problem that shouldn’t have existed – and the fixed cab seemed a baffling design decision, given that tilt-cabs were clearly the future. Even Leyland had embraced them in the ’60s.

I drove a Crusader for about a year, in the mid-1970s, and I loved it. Williams Transport of Porthmadog, for whom I was working at the time, had only three

artics in its line-up, a pair of ERFs and the Scammell. Given a choice, I had no hesitation in moving up from my A-Series ERF to the commanding driving seat of the Crusader.

COMMANDING VIEWIf I’m honest, that was its first appeal; I loved being so high and looking down on the rest of the world. Around North Wales, where so many roads were lined with stone walls, the tall Crusader let me look over all of them. The old-fashioned split windscreen didn’t affect visibility much and it certainly enhanced the truck’s distinctive, almost American styling.

For a non-sleeper, the cab was very spacious. The flat-topped engine tunnel was reasonably low so it was easy to move from one side of the cab to the other, a gymnastic challenge in the cramped ERF. The engine cover was, in fact, a hatch that could be lifted off to reach the engine, which made the cab noisier than a tilt design, though the seal around it was still pretty effective.

The Crusader had so much interior height I had room to mount a homemade bunk on the back wall, above and behind the seats. That in turn gave me enough space underneath it for me to take one of my children, or a friend, on an over-night trip and they could sleep under the bunk. There was no dedicated storage space but the cab was roomy enough to accommodate the simple cooking equipment I used on nights away.

For a few weeks, the Crusader even served as our family car. Our MkI Cortina had been T-boned and we couldn’t afford to replace it right away. We used the Crusader for expeditions to the local vil-lage, with my wife and three children piling into the cab and still leaving room for the shopping. It probably wasn’t legal but in those days nobody – including my boss and the local bobby – seemed to care.

The wide Crusader cab was very man-ageable but there were places where it was hard to pass an oncoming vehicle. Porthmadog causeway, for example, had a high wall along one side. On one occa-sion, it took me and an oncoming local Crossville bus several minutes to inch past each other. From then on, one of us would wait at the end of the causeway if we saw the other had started across.

SUPERIOR ROLLERThe Crusader was powered by a 220hp Rolls-Royce engine, which I preferred to the noisier Cummins in the A Series ERF. It was a non-turbo, of course, and although there was a turbocharged 280 version there was no way Williams would have bought it.

The nine-speed Eaton-Fuller range-change gearbox was a pleasure to drive and Williams had been smart enough to spec it in all three of its units. Constant-mesh ’boxes were lighter than most of the synchro transmissions that eventu-ally replaced them, and even though they needed double-declutching I could often shift without using the clutch pedal.

The Crusader was very reliable and I had trouble with it only once, when the gearbox selector fork snapped on a narrow part of the A5 east of Cannock. Our fitter, Parry, was sent to rescue me, piggybacking our LV ERF on a flat trailer. We managed to tow the Scammell to a nearby haulage yard, where we had to swap it with the ERF. Mounted on a 40ft flat, the Crusader scarcely cleared some of the bridges on the road home. We made it but driving the ERF was literally a comedown after the Crusader.

When Williams bought a brand-new Seddon Atkinson, I was unsure I wanted to give up the Scammell. Finally, the lure of a new truck and a 250 Cummins made up my mind, but I missed the Crusader’s high, wide and handsome cab. ■


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Remote outpost

Oz ‘tends to have more than a couple of kilometres between truckstops’

There’s nothing like sitting on the western edge of Australia to ram home just how big the geographic gaps there are here

between civilisation. As I tap away on my laptop in Kewdale, Western Australia, I’m waiting on a load of plasterboard bound for Adelaide, South Australia, 2541 kilometres away. I’ll probably die a happy man if I never hear the phrase ‘tyranny of distance’ again, but never-theless Oz does tend to have more than a couple of clicks between truckstops.

But the distances within Australia pale into comparison with the distances many of our truck makers are from head office. Globalisation might have brought many technological marvels to parts of the world and helped a lot of global manu-facturers extend their influence across borders and continents, but in all of this we remain a remote outpost for some.

TESTING CLIMATEIn fact, if it wasn’t for our climate and high gross weights we probably wouldn’t rate much of a mention at all in world terms; Oz happens to be a handy place to carry out engine and vehicle testing under extreme conditions. Not that we’re alone in the high ambient temperature area but at least here you’re less likely to cop a rocket-propelled grenade through the driver’s window while you’re at it.

Distance throws some interesting

For Matt Wood, living and working in Australia proves a ‘tyranny of distance’ in more ways than one and is a huge influence on the type of truck you drive

challenges at truck manufacturers and legislators alike, Australia being a colli-sion zone of differing engineering phi-losophies. The gap between US and European approaches to heavy-vehicle technology appears to have widened in the lead-up to, and since implementa-tion of, Euro 5, with the old SCR vs EGR debate (or, in layman’s terms, the AdBlue is the work of the devil vs EGR makes your vehicle run on recycled farts debate).

Although our move to Euro 6 is most likely a good five years away yet, it seems it can be a bit of a challenge to get some of the big global players to take the Australian market seriously. With heavy-duty truck sales accounting for only 10,000 to 12,000 units sold per year, you can’t help but forgive the big players for seeing Australia as a blip on the global sales radar screen.

Nevertheless, truck prices here remain high, with prices for new high Gross Com-bination Mass (GCM) linehaul tractors commanding prices well over A$250,000 (£160,000) while used equivalent-spec units with well over 500,000km on the clock still achieve prices in the vicinity of $150,000 (£96,000).

This leaves our local manufacturers – Paccar (Kenworth), Volvo Group (Mack and Volvo) and Iveco – saying that our market might be small but it can be very profitable. On the other side of the fence, Completely Built Up (CBU) importers

such as Daimler can seem a little frus-trating in their reluctance to fully embrace a low-volume, right-hand-drive market.

The Argosy is a perfect example of this; the cabover has been successful here and is Freightliner’s best-selling model. It’s also now made only for right-hand-drive markets, for example, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

Unfortunately, the floor of the truck is still in its old left-hand-drive configura-tion, which means the driver’s foot rest is still in the left footwell and anyone who’s spent any time in one will tell you that there’s nowhere to put your left foot while driving one owing to firewall intru-sion. Until the release of the new ‘cheese grater’ grille model the passenger-side blindspot window was just a blanked-out panel in the driver’s door, and there’s still a massive blindspot on the left-hand side. No doubt the retooling costs out-weigh the returns.

Daimler stablemate Western Star has made the right-hand-drive switch effec-tively but Australia is one of the biggest markets for the tough-as-nails, heavy-duty Western Star, though the brand remains in private hands in Australia and New Zealand.

CHALLENGES IN STOREAs heavy vehicles in other parts of the world become heavier and more com-plex there are some real challenges in store for those selling trucks down here. Most manufacturers agree that Euro 6 has made their vehicles heavier but Australia’s insistence on a 6.5-ton steer-axle weight limit will make things inter-esting for the European brands, who even now struggle to stay within that weight envelope with full fuel tanks.

The home turf advantage will probably stay with Kenworth for the foreseeable future with a region-specific model range, while the locally-made-and-engineered Volvo and Mack will probably be not far behind. It’ll be interesting to see how the CBU brands deal with the Aussie market and the lead-up to Euro 6 in 2017. n


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For Truck, Camping and General enquiries call 01775 768661, or visit: www.truckfest.co.uk or email: [email protected]

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24 hour ticketline 0844 854 0064

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Organised by Live Promotions Events LtdWorldMags.netWorldMags.net

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T&D has teamed up with Iveco to offer you the

chance to be among the first in the UK to drive

the IToY winner of 2013

DRIVE

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It isn’t every day that drivers get their hands on a brand-new product before the market place sees it, but that’s exactly what we’ve arranged in collaboration with Iveco. More than a month ahead of its UK public launch at April’s CV Show, we will be

taking the new Stralis Hi-Way to seven key locations around the UK so that you can get behind the wheel and discover why it was voted International Truck of the Year 2013.

Now it’s your chance. Appreciating that drivers work hard, Iveco incorporates many new features designed to make your life on the road easier and more comfortable. Come and experience this for yourself and find out what convinced the IToY jury.

WHaT’S oNThis exclusive Roadshow is taking place at key transport stops around the country. The unprecedented exposure will take place before the Stralis Hi-Way has its official UK debut during the CV Show at the NEC in April.

At each location there will be a fleet of top-spec test drive vehicles available with loaded trailers, plus a static display tractor.

If you want to take the new Stralis for a drive you will be very welcome, as long as you have your licence and driver’s tacho card with you. However, we appreciate how tight a driver’s day is and will fully understand if you only have time to look around a stationary vehicle.

A key part of the exercise from Iveco’s viewpoint is actively seeking and recording feedback from UK drivers – they really do want to hear what you think of the company’s new product.

Once you’ve had your look around the new Stralis Hi-Way you’ll be invited to complete a short driver feedback form. In return, you’ll receive the following:l Iveco/T&D goody bagl £5 refreshment voucher to spend on sitel Entry into prize draw to win a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 (see panel, right), worth about £400.


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31Truck & Driver march 2013

DRIVEA FREE WINNING

LONDONFeb 26: pm, Feb 27: amSouth Mimms Welcome Break ServicesM25 J23, EN6 3QQ

SOUTHAMPTONMarch 4: pm, March 5: amRownhams RoadChef ServicesM27 J3-4, SO16 8AP

AVONMOUTHMarch 6: all dayThe Avon LodgeNear M5 J18, Third Way BS11 9YP

LYMMMarch 11: am, March 12: all dayMoto ServicesM6 J20, WA13 0SP

RUGBYMarch 13: pm, March 14: amNightowl ServicesNear M1 J18, A5, Clifton upon Dunsmore CV23 0AE

CARLISLEMarch 19: all dayNightowl Services M6Near M6, J44, CA3 0JR

HAMILTONMarch 21: all dayRoadChef ServicesM74, between J5-6, ML3 6JW

NOTE: am sessions 0500 to 1300, pm sessions 1300 to 2100

WHERE AND WHEN

At each location, the completed feedback forms will be entered into a prize draw to win a state-of-the-art Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet computer.

With 16GB of memory and WiFi and 3G connectivity, you will be able to stay in touch on the road, as well as being able to choose from the vast library of Android apps.

Win a Samsung tablet!


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Each month we pitch two rival brands, both run by the same haulier, against each other – Bob Beech tests the trucks himself then asks their regular drivers what

they think. This month it’s a Renault Premium Lander against a Volvo FM11 Tridem

ON YOUR

Fact focusMake/model: Renault Premium Lander 430.32 8x4 tipper, spring-steel rear suspension, aluminium wheelsWeights: Unladen weight 13,600kg (full tank of fuel), plated for 32 tonnes GVWEngine: Renault DXi11, Euro 5 with SCR for emissionsMax power: 430hp @ 1900rpmMax torque: 2040Nm @ 950-1400rpmGearbox: Renault Optidriver AT2412C TD, 12-speed automated with manual override facilityEconomy: 7.6/8.00mpg*Cab: Premium standard-height sleeper with single bunk, internal and external storage, air deflectorBodywork: Bulkrite alloy bulk, multi-compartment tipping body with blower discharge equipment, front-mounted ram, weighing equipmentOperator: Wynnstay Group, Llansantffraid, Powys

RENAULT PREMIUM LANDER V* Slightly different work patterns need to be taken into account – for example, more time spent operating blower discharge equipment on local work

T he new Volvo Tridem 8x4 is definitely out of the ordinary – Wynnstay Farmers at Llansantffraid, on the edge of mid-Wales, has found the

combination of rear steer and double drive ideal for accessing narrow farmyards that haven’t changed for generations. But how do the operating costs and the all-important opinions of drivers stack up when compared with a conventional 8x4, in this case Renault’s

Premium Lander, which shares much of the driveline of its Volvo FM counterpart?

Apart from the odd rear-steer 8x4 heavy-haulage tractor that has been converted for a specific role, before the latest crop of Tridem rigids came on the scene the only four-axle rigids we can recall were a pair of West Country Volvo FM rigids. Starting life as FL10 tractor units, they were lengthened and fitted with lift-ing tag and pusher axles mounted either side of the drive axle. Readers with long memories might remember that one sported a livestock body and the other a curtainsider but, as they

were only single drive, the layout would never have been suitable for bulk tipper work.

Volvo, along with Scania, has offered this layout in other markets for many years; other manufacturers offer it as a special option, but it is seldom seen in the UK. The Volvo FM Tridem uses a similar chassis to the conven-tional 8x4 but in a much shorter wheelbase, in this case 3700mm – much shorter than the 5305mm Premium eight-wheeler.

The Volvo rear bogie is fully air-suspended, with twin single-reduction drive axles and a hydraulically-steered lifting tag axle. The bogie


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MARQUES

Fact focusMake/model: Volvo FM11 8x4 RTB tag-axle rear-steer Tridem rigid with full rear air suspension; fitted with aluminium wheelsWeights: Unladen weight 13,520kg (full tank of fuel), plated for 32 tonnes GVWEngine: Volvo D11/410, Euro 5 with SCR for emissionsMax power: 410hp @ 1600-1900rpmMax torque: 1950Nm @ 950-1400rpmGearbox: Volvo I-Shift AT2412D, 12-speed automated ’box with manual override facilityEconomy: 8.5mpg**Cab: FM Globetrotter medium-roof sleeper with single bunk, internal and external storageBodywork: Alibulk alloy multi-compartment tipping body with Priden Engineering blower discharge equipment, front-mounted ram, weighing equipmentOperator: Wynnstay Group, Llansantffraid, Powys

VOLVO FM11 8x4 RTBV** Slightly different work patterns need to be taken into account – for example, more time spent operating blower discharge equipment on local work

is plated for 24 tonnes and the heavy-duty front steer, nine tonnes.

The combined effects of the short wheel-base and rear steer have to be experienced to be appreciated. The truck has the turning cir-cle of a very-short-wheelbase six-wheeler, the rear-steer axle offering very little drag from the drive axles as the back end is pushed around when turning sharply. The rear axle prevents the front end rising when pulling away on a gradient; it forces weight back onto the front steer, making the tyres grip and turn, ideal when road surfaces are wet and greasy.

The rear axle is very effective when shunting in a tight space, even with just a few feet availa-ble, the combined effect of both steer axles resulting in the truck responding straight away to a turn of the wheel.

The Renault, understandably, needs more

room to manoeuvre because the turning circle is far larger and requires a lot more shunting in a confined space. This does not reflect badly on the Premium Lander, one of the better con-ventional 8x4s when it comes to steering lock.

SMOOTH RIDEOn the road both trucks drive very well. The Volvo is light and very responsive, although it pays to keep an eye on the rear overhang in a tight spot, and the ride is smooth, if a little firm on the front end. The Renault is stable and smooth, the steering light but very accurate, giving drivers confidence on country roads.

The shared 11-litre motor and automated gearbox give similar performance. We can’t help feeling the French engineers who developed this engine must have smiled when Volvo decid-ed to fit it in the FM and drop its own nine-litre

motor on which the current engine is based.This is not really a matter of asking whether

one truck is better than the other, it’s more a question of whether the new concept is better. For this application we’d have to say yes – the Tridem is obviously more manoeuvrable, gives better tyre wear, is no heavier and, depending on your bargaining power, is not a lot more expensive. It might be early days but for this operator, Tridems are the way ahead.

For most general tipper operators it’s prob-ably better the devil you know, and most will stick with conventional eight-wheelers. Such hauliers have done well with them for genera-tions, but it might also set quite a few thinking about this Volvo alternative. ▲


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Selwyn RobertsRenault Premium Lander

WHAT DO THE DRIVERS THINK?

I started with Wynnstay over 34 years ago and it goes

without saying that there have been tremendous

changes in that time – we have gone from four- and six-

wheelers to eight-wheelers and artics. Now nearly all of

the deliveries are in bulk but years ago a lot of it was in

bags, which meant many of the deliveries were

handball. I certainly don’t miss that!

I had a Scania for a while before this, my first Renault.

It wasn’t a bad truck but I was not that struck on it. I’ve

driven most of the different makes we’ve had over the

years but I have always had a soft spot for the Volvos,

right back to the early FLs, always finding them to be

good performers and very comfortable. The FM carried

on from this and we still have one or two in the fleet with

more than one million kilometres on the clock.

TOUGH ACT TO FOLLOWSo, the Premium has a tough act to follow, but I must

say I am impressed by how well they perform and how

they have stood up to the job. We spend most of our

time on narrow country roads, with plenty of steep hills

to cope with.

Our first Renaults are now in their fourth year and

they have been pretty much trouble-free. About the only

issue I have had with mine involved the radio, which is

fine now. The lads at Perry’s in Gobowen, our local

dealer, sorted it out. They do a great job and are real

enthusiasts; it’s a pity more dealers aren’t like them.

The Volvo-based engine and gearbox are very well

matched, the Optidriver ’box being as good as any of

the I-Shifts and far better than the ZF autos we have in

the MANs. These have a long delay before picking up

drive, which can leave you stranded at a junction.

The Renault is superb in this respect, it moves as

soon as you touch the throttle, and the gearchanges are

very smooth. I found the gearshift control on the

steering column a bit fiddly to begin with but I’m used to

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it now. Given the choice, I prefer the lever system on the

Volvo – it’s right next to the seat, where your hand

automatically falls when you select a gear with a manual.

The 430 engine is well on top of the job. It copes with

the hills really well and realistically there is little need for

more power. The ride and handling are first class, very

smooth with very little roll, despite the cab being

mounted quite high on the chassis.

The steering is light but very precise, ideal for these

narrow country roads, and it has a tremendous lock,

which really helps in a tight farmyard. The brakes are

superb, smooth and really powerful and the engine

brake is very effective; I use it all the time.

The cab is big enough and well laid out but I suppose

the Volvo is that bit better finished; the Premium feels a

bit sparse in comparison. The vision is very good and

the mirrors give a good view. The mirror guards do

restrict the view past the mirror heads a little but they

are essential in country lanes.

VISION OF THE FUTUREI have driven the new FM Tridem a few times and it is

certainly very manoeuvrable; it turns on a sixpence. You

have to keep an eye on the rear tail-swing but it has

really opened my eyes. It has to be the thing for the

future and must be better for tyre wear as there is no

scrub whatsoever, even in the tightest spots.

Given the choice I would love to try a Renault Tridem,

it would be the best of both worlds. The only thing that

might make me go back to Volvo would be the better

cab interior, otherwise I’m very happy with what I’ve got.


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Andy Jones Volvo FM Tridem

WHAT DO THE DRIVERS

THINK?

I’m one of the new boys in the company – I’ve only

been here eight years! Quite a few others have been

here for more than three times longer.

I’ve driven most of the six- and eight-wheelers in the

fleet in my time but the new Tridems are something quite

different. They are incredibly manoeuvrable and will go

anywhere a short-wheelbase six-wheeler will go and

with a lot less tyre scrub into the bargain.

The turning circle is less than half that of a normal

eight-wheeler and the rear steer pushes the back end

around; you really feel the effect of it when turning

sharply and it took me a while to get used to it.

ALLOW FOR TAIL SWINGYou have to make allowance for the rear tail swing. It

comes around quickly when you turn, so you have to

watch out for gate posts and other obstacles, but once

you are able to judge the length of the body it’s easy

enough to drive, although the overhang does increase

quite a bit if you lift the tag axle when empty.

The truck handles well and the ride is a bit firm on the

front when empty but fine when loaded. It pays not to

push too hard on really sharp bends as the front end will

understeer a bit. Three axles at the back mean that it

doesn’t roll much. The brakes are excellent and the

engine brake is very effective.

The Renault is pretty good for manoeuvrability. It’s

obviously not in the same class as the Tridem but it is far

better than the fleet’s MAN and Daf eight-wheelers. The

general handling is very good and the ride is smooth,

with very little roll through the bends. The brakes are

impressive and the engine brake is as you would expect,

as good as the Volvo.

The 410 engine and I-Shift gearbox are really well

matched; the shifts are very smooth and it is so easy to

drive. I leave it in automatic mode most of the time and

only use manual mode if I am in a tight spot or off-road.

In manual you have better control; it prevents the

gearbox changing up if the drive axles start to spin and

stops an upchange when climbing a long hill.

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n

Overall, Volvo and the Renault have by far the best

automated gearboxes. The clutch control is very good

with both, almost as good as a manual in that respect,

which gives you great confidence on these country

roads. The other makes can get confused far too easily

but these two are able to pick the right gear for almost

every situation.

I think the Premium has the slight edge, though – on

odd occasions the Volvo tends to jump too many gears

at once but the Renault very rarely gets it wrong.

Possibly the little bit of extra power of the 430 engine

makes a difference.

EXTRA COMFORT WELCOMEThe added height of the Volvo’s Globetrotter cab is a

bonus, making it easier to get across the cab, and the

additional storage is great. Most of us don’t night out

that often but sometimes a driver might be sent to work

from another mill for a few days and the extra comfort is

very welcome.

In the Volvo I find the driver’s seat a bit close to the

steering wheel; there doesn’t seem enough rearward

adjustment for tall drivers. Otherwise the driving position

is fine, with everything close to hand. The vision is pretty

good and the mirrors give a good view behind but they

do create a bit of a blindspot. The Renault is probably a

bit better in this respect.

Overall, I am very impressed with the new Tridem. It

seems ideal for the job, although we have yet to try it

out through the winter. We deliver to lots of small farms

up in the hills in North Wales; I’ll reserve judgement until

we’ve had some snow, but it’s doing very well so far. n


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fromHelp HeroesPimped, publicised and finally purchased, with all the proceeds of the sale going to Help for Heroes, the Pimp My Truck project is finally over, reports Colin Barnett – but not without the assistance of an army of generous participants

Rather longer ago than we planned, Will Shiers, the then editor of Truck & Driver, had the idea of creating a customised truck that could eventu-

ally be sold to raise money for the charity Help for Heroes. When Stoke-on-Trent used truck dealer Dave Watts, owner of DW Commercials, got to hear about the plan, he twisted a few arms belonging to Jim Warburton, of J&L Commercials, and Chris Hart and Paula Jefford of Trucks2Go.

Jim Warburton soon sourced the truck, a 2002 Scania R124 420 6x2 tractor unit origi-nally from MacFarlane with just short of a million kilometres on the clock, and the three of them joined forces to pay for it.

Shiers’ original plan was to create some-thing unlike anything else on the road. Early thoughts included making a unique stretched limo or grafting another cab to the rear, push-

me, pull-you style, but these were soon dilu-ted to some kind of pickup body. Eventually, though, the reality of appealing to the widest audience led to the decision to keep it as a straightforward, versatile tractor.

FLYING COLOURSSoon after purchase, work began on two major jobs. The Newark branch of Scania dealer Keltruck, which would go on to play a major role in the project, painted the exterior in its purple and silver colours.

That the colour choice had any connection with the fact that Keltrucks’ depot manager of the day had recently painted his TVR a similar colour, and may have over-ordered the paint, was pure coincidence.

While the trim components were removed for the cab painting, they were sent down to Sparkford, Somerset, where the highly- P

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respected family car trimming firm of LA & RW Piper commenced work in creating a suitable interior.

A major crisis was averted when a company entrusted with painting the interior plastic parts went bust. The outfit was retrieved only by using tac-tics that might not have entirely come out of the insolvency administrators’ handbook, so no names here.

An early giant leap forward was made when Eminox created a unique stainless-steel exhaust stack, complete with laser-cut Help for Heroes and T&D logos. As the project moved on, it became evident that not only did the pipes look magnificent, they sounded pretty good as well.

Chris Hopton at Tyretracks played a major role early on. Not only did he donate a set of alloy wheels, fitted with

new tyres given by Michelin, he also provided the contact with Coles Custom at Banbury.

COLES COORDINATIONBehind the scenes, Gary and Nigel Coles spent much time coordinating the supply of various external access-ories from donors, including Hella, Kelsa and Spatz, as well as providing some of their own accessories, such as the front bumper. These were all even-tually shipped to Newark, where elec-trical genius Kevin Larkin fitted the contents of a small accessory shop and got everything working.

Another drama occurred when a driver from Uniloads, a firm invaluable in shifting the near-completed truck around the country, fell foul of a faulty fuel gauge. Not only did he run out of

fuel late in the evening but during the night finished off the already tired bat-teries. Luckily he had stopped on the outskirts of Banbury and Coles was able to come to the rescue in the morning.

Mindful of the danger of abusing our welcome at Keltruck, we eventually moved the truck to temporary quarters at Scania’s Milton Keynes HQ, where, among other things, a new set of bat-teries was fitted. Also while at Scania, a team from Northampton-based Signs Express came down to apply the 3M vinyl wrapping, featuring more Help for Heroes and T&D logos.

A fairly late addition to the hardware was the chequer-plate catwalk and rear panelling, a job undertaken by SB Components of Wisbech, which had originally been in the frame to make the aborted pickup body.

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By early summer 2012, Scania’s yard was filling up with new coaches for the Olympic Games, so we decided it would be helpful if the truck was based nearer to the office. Surrey-based classic truck enthusiast Bob Hawkins came to the immediate rescue before our local Scania dealer, Lingfield, took it under its wing.

COSMETIC TOUCHESWhile it was there it gained a new test certificate, following rectification of various issues largely related to under-use, such as seized brakes on the mid-lift axle. Lingfield also fitted the finish-ing cosmetic touches – a new set of mudguard tops, replacing ones that had been rescued from the Keltrucks skip as a temporary measure.

Before the Pimp My Truck project

could go on sale, though, there was one vital task to be completed. Dame Vera Lynn, the legendary World War Two entertainer and a patron of Help for Heroes, had agreed to endorse the project, so one crisp autumn afternoon, three of T&D’s finest rolled up at her cottage in the Sussex Downs.

After some tight manoeuvring to squeeze the Scania Topline cab into her garden, she kindly signed the paint-work before inviting us for afternoon tea and the chance for a chat and to view her wartime photo albums.

The rest, as they say, is recent history. We discovered early on that the busi-ness of raising funds for charity is heav-ily regulated, so various plans eventu-ally ended up with a sale on eBay, where charity auctions are free of selling charges. The winning bidder turned

out to be another independent truck dealer, Nick Walker of Walker Movements Ltd, of Coalville, who generously bid £16,600.

NICK TAKES STOCKSo it was that on November 29, all interested parties assembled at the Help for Heroes office at Tidworth, near Salisbury Plain, where Nick acquired a new bit of stock and the charity received a nice cheque.

Whatever their donations, large or small, whether that be in time or money, none of this would have happened with-out the help of so many people. Our sincere thanks to them all. For some, their generosity in such cash-strapped times must have been stretched to the limit, but everyone resisted the tempta-tion to tell us where to get off! n


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Chris Weech doesn’t want your

sympathy. He’d been driving

for over 30 years when on

April 29, 2008, at around 9.50am, the

Scania artic he was at the wheel of

was involved in a fatal accident.

The woman who lost her life was

Wanda Harden, 57, a mother of two

from Horley in Surrey, who had been

driving a Ford Mondeo ahead of Chris’s

truck. The accident took place on the

southbound A3 at the Hog’s Back/

Stoke Interchange near Guildford.

The force of the impact pushed Mrs

Harden’s car under an MAN rigid,

carrying corrosive chemicals, which

was in front of her. Chris’s Scania

then collided with the back of the

MAN. He is only too aware of the

devastation that her family has

suffered since.

Chris was aware soon after the

accident that it had resulted in a

fatality but it was some hours before

his wife, Julie, who is also a truck

driver, was told what had happened.

‘The police took me to hospital,’

says Chris. ‘I said to them, could you

please phone my wife up because

she’s a lorry driver.’

BELATED AWARENESS

According to Julie, Surrey Police

contacted Chris’s boss to ask him if

he would get in touch with Julie and

tell her that Chris had been involved

in an accident but he declined and

asked the police to make contact,

which they did at around 1.45pm.

Even so, they did not give her the full

details of the accident and it wasn’t

until Julie arrived at Guildford police

station that the story started to emerge.

‘One of the old coppers there just

came out and said: “Obviously you

know he’s been in an accident and it’s

a life-changing accident,’’ ’ recalls

Julie. She sat in the waiting room for

another half-an-hour or so, still not

knowing the full details.

‘When the other two more senior

officers came in,’ she continues, ‘one

of them said: “We’ve come to explain

that he’s been arrested.” Then he

asked me if I realised that it was a

fatality. Well, I was thinking that “life

changing” was possibly paralysis or


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A MATTEROF LIFE

& dEAThInvolvement in a fatal accident is probably the worst thing

that could happen to a driver and the consequences are far more wide-reaching than many might expect. One trucker

tells John Kendall about his nightmarish experiences

amputation. It’s life-changing for both

sides, believe me. I just sat there and

didn’t know what to say or do.’

Chris had known his boss since

school days and had driven for him

for two years or so at the time of the

accident. Partly because he knew

him, he reacted angrily to his boss’s

request for Surrey Police to break the

news of the accident to Julie.

The day after the accident Chris

handed in his notice at work, which

was accepted. He decided to stay

with the police station duty solicitor

who had taken the case at Guildford

the day before, instead of the vehicle

insurer’s solicitor. As Chris now

acknowledges, these might not have

been the best decisions.

DEATH BY DANGEROUS DRIVING

The solicitor representing him

advised him to make no comment

while he was interviewed and

charged with causing death by

dangerous driving. Chris was also

advised to plead guilty to the offence.

‘He said, “If you plead guilty you

will get between two and five years’’,’

explains Chris. If he had pleaded not

guilty, Chris was told that he’d have

faced a prison sentence of between

five and seven years. ‘I wasn’t willing

to take that risk,’ he says.

But he still questions whether he

should have been charged with

causing death by dangerous driving

or the lesser offence of causing death

by careless or inconsiderate driving.

Unfortunately, Chris cannot recall

the events immediately before the

accident and without CCTV evidence,

which was not available, he is unlikely

to find out exactly what happened.

According to press reports, witnesses

suggested that he did not react when

vehicles ahead slowed right down.

‘He wasn’t speeding, he wasn’t on

the phone, he wasn’t weaving from

side to side. Nobody said that his

driving was erratic before the

accident,’ says Julie. Contesting the

dangerous driving charge would have

involved a full trial.

‘They said the only way you can do

that with the CPS (Crown Prosecution

Service) is to plead not guilty to

causing death by dangerous driving,’


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continues Julie. ‘Then you’ve got to

go through a full trial. You would have

got answers. In his statement the other

lorry driver said he was doing 30mph.

His tacho showed he was doing

6mph. He had already admitted in his

statement that he was on the phone.’

‘IT WAS MY FAULT’

Chris was travelling at 50mph

immediately before the impact.

‘I’m experienced enough to know

that it was my fault,’ he says. ‘I just

want to know for my peace of mind

what happened.’

He had started driving from his

Somerset base at around 4.00am and

had covered about 170 miles. He’d

taken a statutory rest break 20 minutes

prior to the accident. No drugs or

alcohol were found in his system.

The case went to Guildford Crown

Court in November 2008 and Chris

entered a guilty plea. Sentencing was

deferred until January 30, 2009, when

he was jailed for two years and banned

from driving for three years. The CPS

sentencing guidelines show that the

maximum prison sentence that could

be imposed for this offence is 14 years.

According to the guidelines, Chris

was sentenced for a Level 3 offence

of Causing Death by Dangerous

Driving, the least serious category,

and given the shortest prison

sentence available for the offence.

Chris was advised that he should be

released after one year.

‘The solicitor said that I should be

out in six months with a tag,’ he says.

‘A week before I was expecting to be

tagged, I had a letter from the prison

governor saying I won’t get a tag with

a sentence of causing death by

dangerous driving.’

A solicitor specialising in transport

law might have been able to provide

more expert advice than that available

from a police station duty solicitor,

who, by the nature of duty solicitor

work, must provide those arrested on

suspicion of a criminal offence with

advice on a wide range of legal matters.

Specialist advice could have been

provided by a solicitor appointed by

an insurance company, trade union or

trade body, such as the Freight

Transport Association (FTA) or Road

Haulage Association (RHA).

Whether it would have made any

difference to the sentence Chris

received is open to question, but a

specialist solicitor might have been

more familiar with the offence Chris

was charged with and whether it was

appropriate in the circumstances. It

seems possible that a specialist

solicitor would have had a better

understanding of the sentencing

guidelines and if tagging was an

option for someone charged with

causing death by dangerous driving.

At about the same time that he learnt

he would not be released with a tag,

Chris’s barrister contacted him to tell

him that he was planning an appeal

against his three-year driving ban. The

Court of Appeal granted a one-year

reduction to the ban in June 2009.

A court report of proceedings

suggests that Chris’s otherwise

unblemished driving record counted

in his favour and quotes the three

appeal court judges as saying: ‘In all

the circumstances, we do not consider

that such a long disqualification was

justified in this case and in this

respect, in our view, the sentence was

manifestly excessive.’

Chris was transferred from HM

Prison High Down at Sutton, Surrey to

HM Prison Leyhill, an open prison in

FTA (www.fta.co.uk) FTA members can take advantage of the free FTA Member Advice Centre (MAC), which gives expert advice on a wide range of issues, including road accidents. If necessary the advice centre would put members in touch with a lawyer with expertise in transport legal matters. MAC is a member-specific benefit available free of charge to FTA members.RHA (www.rhaonline.co.uk) Expert advice is provided to RHA members by RHA Legal Services, backed by long-established UK transport law practice Backhouse Jones, which can offer legal advice to both operator and driver. Under the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act, company directors could also face legal proceedings. The RHA offers directors and officers insurance to provide cover in those circumstances through Manchester-based C & C Insurance. It could be almost as important as vehicle insurance to a haulier operating as a limited company.Unite (www.unitetheunion.org) Unite was formed from the merger of Amicus and the Transport and General Workers Union in 2007. It has a sector dedicated to road transport, commercial logistics and retail distribution, representing over 100,000 truck and van drivers. Members have access to Unite’s legal services, providing advice from a team of specialist lawyers.

Sources of help

Gloucestershire, after eight months

and was home for Christmas 2009.

Chris was still subject to the driving

ban for another year. At the time of his

trial he had said that he did not want

to drive a truck again and had set up

a garden supplies business,

producing items using concrete

moulds. On his release, some of the

moulds had become damaged by

damp and he also found that it was

difficult to carry on the business

because of his driving ban and his

lack of expertise in the business.

A BAN’S RAMIFICATIONS

If you are convicted of causing death

by dangerous driving, there is more to

a driving ban than simply being

deprived of your licence. The

legislation imposes a minimum

disqualification period of two years.

To get your licence back, the law

states that offenders must take an

extended, compulsory re-test.

Chris took lessons and passed the

test when his ban expired but, while

he expected his car insurance

premiums to rise, he also found that

his house insurance had trebled too

because he had been convicted of a

criminal offence. ‘How many drivers

know about that?’ he asks.

Despite Chris’s original intention

not to drive a truck again, he has now

retaken his HGV licence, mainly

because he has little experience of

other work, having driven for a living

from the time he was 18 up to the

accident. But the DD80 code – for

causing death by dangerous driving –

on his licence has, perhaps not

surprisingly, proved a barrier to

finding a job.

At the time of writing, the penalty

code had expired and Chris had just

received a new licence free from the

code. But, at 55, he knows that

finding work is not going to be easy. n

Chris Weech (right): ‘I pleaded guilty because I wasn’t willing to risk a longer sentence’

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Everybody knows the business truism: happy staff are productive staff. It applies to all walks of life, inclu-ding road transport. This industry is faced with an apparently endless chain of challenges, day in, day

out, year in, year out – thus well-motivated drivers would make the industry’s job significantly easier.

And yet talk to enough transport managers and you’ll get a pretty poor review of drivers as a whole; and talk to enough drivers and you’ll get a pretty poor review of ‘management’ as a whole.

In light of this, we posted the following questions on TruckNetUK:l How do you like to be treated by ‘management’?l What’s the best way to motivate you?l Do you want to be incentivised?l Do league tables of drivers’ performance actually work or do you feel insulted?

The answers are predictably passionate and in some cases too candid for print, but they do reveal what makes some drivers tick.

WAGES NOT A FACTORLet’s dispense with wages: this is not a factor. Only two respondents mention money; Macplaxton says: ‘The best way to motivate me is cold, hard cash.’

Scaniason also mentions money but in doing so simply highlights its status as a red herring: ‘Let’s put the wages to one side – if you don’t pay me a living wage, I won’t be there, so let’s start by assuming that the money is OK.’

Also the truck itself is not a factor for most, although JB does make this point: ‘Don’t replace my Topliner with a Highline and then expect me to sign a changed contract

stating that I’ll stay away for three weeks. There are larger, better-equipped trucks doing day work on our fleet.’

Muckaway adds: ‘When speccing new vehicles, listen to what the drivers say. Just because it’s cheaper doesn’t mean it won’t be a heap of junk.’

Most new trucks now come bristling with IT kit and many of you will be used to measurement of your performance – not just against the schedule but also against the benchmarks set by other drivers for fuel efficiency, idling and so on.

NAMING AND SHAMINGMany firms claim to have made significant cost savings through the use of driver performance measurement and management, and there’s no doubt that, while brutal, ‘nam-ing and shaming’ driver league tables do work – at least as far as management is concerned. However, drivers tend not to feel the same way…

‘Driver league tables are not very helpful unless all drivers are rewarded for performance… whatever that might entail,’ says Solly. Bald bloke suggests: ‘League tables work; just use drivers’ clock/employee numbers instead of their names – that way some drivers won’t feel pressurised.’

Gouls highlights the importance of context in all measure-ment – without it, numbers and data can fail to shed light. ‘I run a regular day trunk, same vehicle, same route, every day. I can tell to within 10 minutes what time I will get back based on my departure time. On my days off, they get a driver from another depot to cover; these drivers usually get back about 90 minutes earlier than me and it’s been noticed; the office bods have told me (through a forklift driver) that I’m taking too long but haven’t asked why I’m later getting back.

‘What they haven’t noticed with the covering drivers, in

How do you want to be treated? We ask TruckNetUK forum regulars that question and Justin Stanton for T&D reviews the answers…

“Driver league tables are notvery helpful unless all drivers are rewarded for performance… whatever that might entail”


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the last four weeks, is the following: three drivers caught speeding; daily fuel usage of 220-260 litres (I use 140-150 every time); damage repairs of £900; and three days of VOR (vehicle off the road) plus £5000 loss of stock to water dam-age by not shutting the curtains properly.’

Gouls concludes: ‘I think they are worried about the over-time I’m earning. Anyone with half an interest can see the £20 overtime I get every day is money well spent.’

Here’s another example of the importance of context: ‘Within my current five years of employment,’ Andy states, ‘I’ve had no accidents, no driving convictions, no tacho-graph infringements, no disciplinaries, and I also have an excellent timekeeping record.

‘So to say I get a tad p****d off when I get pulled for being slightly under their percentage rate for cruise control usage would be a massive understatement...’

Applying context to raw data can only come from train-ing and experience – and the latter, or rather the lack of it, is a common cause of poor management/driver relations, according to the TruckNet posters.

INEXPERIENCED STAFFSetting the ball rolling, M1tch offers this observation: ‘A large number of office staff have little or no experience of the industry. They have all the university qualifications but no skills when it comes to planning and man management.

‘Then there are those who have come through the ranks and some, not all, forget very quickly what it is like to be a driver. Maybe they were treated with no respect and think it is the only way to behave.’

Mike68 states: ‘Don’t plan for the driver to do the impos-sible – give him or her suitable breaks in the working week. Employ office staff who have previously driven (wherever possible). Where I work, office staff spend a day with the driver – this is an excellent idea that could be extended to include management.’

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Commonrail suggests: ‘To get the best from drivers you need clued-up office staff. [Some are] brilliant at enforcing the petty stuff, like sticking to pedestrian walkways, but predicting my inability to collect 23 pallets from collection two when I’m already carry-ing seven pallets from collection one seems to evade them.’

These unrealistic expectations are maddening: ‘It does my head in that I get told I should get to a place in a cer-tain time. I look at the run sheet and know straight away it’s pure fantasy,’ Rooster declares.

Or, as Nate succinctly puts it: ‘If I tell you I can’t get from Bristol to Gatwick in an hour, believe me.’

Ultimately, what it all boils down to is the ‘r’ word: respect. Back to Scaniason: ‘If you want me to do a job to the best of my abilities, don’t “tell” me, ask me. “Please” and “thank you” also go a really long way. In return, I’ll treat everybody else with the same respect and politeness.’

Bald bloke reinforces the simplicity

The agency driver’s viewChicane posts his wishlist of how his life as an agency driver could be made better.l If it’s my first shift for your company, do not expect me to know your company’s organisation/

procedures from the start.

l I’ve never knowingly done the same run twice, so don’t expect me to do it in the same time as

the guy who does it every day the rest of the year.

l Give me clear, correct directions.

l If I ask, it’s because I don’t know or am not sure and want to do the job right – I am not being a

pain/needing my hand held.

l I take a pride in being fuel-efficient, but this sometimes has to be compromised to meet the

schedule you or your planner set, so don’t blame me.

l I expect cleanish, well-maintained and legal kit. The last two are mandatory or I will defect report

it to you and, if necessary, walk out the gate. In return, I will leave your unit fuelled up and at least

as clean as I got it.

of it all: ‘Thank a driver if he/she goes the extra mile.’ Nate adds: ‘I have a name. When you ring me, use it. Don’t call me by my call sign or staff number.’

IT’S THE DETAIL…Euro drills into some detail, highlight-ing the need for chairs for drivers to sit on when debriefing them at the end of a shift, that the toilets are adequate and the truck cabs regularly valeted, and the benefit of a decent drinks machine.

Harking back to the experience factor and understanding the reality that truck drivers face each day, Euro con-cludes: ‘Never ask a driver “why did you take so long?” ’

According to Waynedl, it’s all about morale: ‘When drivers feel they’re treated like s**t, they don’t do their best work. When it’s appreciated, then they’re happy, then you get the best out of them. Fuel goes further, tyres go fur-ther, fewer breakdowns and so on.’

Schrodingers cat adds: ‘Drivers and management should be a team to keep the business going, not a “do what I tell

you” relationship,’ and Goonerewill backs up that statement: ‘You need to get rid of this us and them attitude. We are all one team trying to earn a living, so the success of the company is in everyone’s interest.’

But you don’t only want respect from your employer – you want it from the customers too. Solly highlights the RDC experience of so many: ‘Customers should be made aware that, although the contractor has agreed to pick up and deliver his goods, the vehicle is not to be considered as a mobile warehouse facility… which they are at present.’

‘VIRTUAL CELLS’‘And time waiting to be unloaded should be kept to a minimum so that drivers are not kept in the “virtual cells” of the drivers’ waiting room. This I feel is degrading to most drivers and they resent it. Also, a degree of trust at delivery points would go a long way to keep most drivers happy.’

Espresso adds: ‘Haulage firms should strongly push RDCs to treat drivers like human beings and not plebs. A lot of Tesco RDCs now are okay, with large spacious drivers’ rooms with vending machines and a telly, but many others I wouldn’t put my dog in.’

Waynedl offers this pointed obser-vation: ‘We have brought this huge juggernaut full of your stuff through some of the world’s most congested roads and streets, so why are we auto-matically morons when we enter your 200-acre depot?’

So, the message is clear, isn’t it? Management, it’s over to you!

l Tell us more about how you want to be treated by emailing T&D’s Editor at [email protected]

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EDITOR’s chOIcE Of ThE mOnTh

Fairground fun

★★★

★★★ ✩★

Diesel Billy

Dream wheels

Brian’s back

★★★ ✩★

A third for Daly!

Truck & Driver march 2013

One of the latest additions to Corgi’s ‘Hauliers of Renown’ series is another vehicle from the iconic Brian Harris fleet.

Following the ERF EC10 with its load of scrap cars, the latest is a Seddon Atkinson Strato 4x2 carrying another unusual load – a long length of rusty heavy-duty chain, with a folded sheet and some timbers. CBBrian Harris Ltd Seddon Atkinson Strato flatbed model (CC15405), price £84.99. Available from www.corgi.co.uk

It’s safe to say that without the numerous funfairs travelling throughout the country, the UK’s inventory of classic trucks still working for a living would be significantly smaller.

Billed as number 1 in the series ‘Fairground Focus: The Fairground Illustrated’, Fairground Transport comprises 80 pages, each with three monochrome pictures and captions, separated into chapters by vehicle configuration.

Although the outside rear cover of the book carries a reproduction of a 1971 cover from Commercial Motor (our sister title) featuring Fodens in the fairground business, the publication covers more than just the two Sandbach brands most associated with the business.

The more obscure badges covered range from Saurer to Tilling-Stevens. The ubiquitous generating plant is obviously a mainstay, but even fish and chip vans are included in the different types of vehicle featured.

Overlooking the occasional spelling and punctuation glitches, the book is a worthwhile read for anyone who is interested in working trucks since before the Second World War. CBFairground Transport, by Malcolm Slater. Published by Slater’s Photographic, 0 978-1-871392-03-6. Price £11.95

Suckling Transport boss Peter Larner’s burgeoning publishing career continues with his third book in which he continues to chart the life and times of his writer/journalist hero Jack Daly.

Having got involved in government cover-ups (Lost In A Hurricane) and delved into the mystery of his family’s background (Deathbed Confessions), Jack now finds himself haunted by his new job – that of running a newspaper focusing on kidnapped and

In the ’60s there was a whole music genre devoted to trucking. Singers such as Dave Dudley and Red Simpson dedicated entire careers to singing about 18-wheelers and heroic truckers.

Bill Kirchen is a belated disciple of the style but, with this

Who has never dreamed of having their hidden talents discovered and becoming incredibly wealthy? For many of us, part of that dream involves how we’d spend our untold fortune, which has to include filling our dream garage. One of

the surest ways of achieving that position is to become a world-famous music star, always assuming you have the talent and the luck of course.

This new book reveals how 18 of the most famous musical petrolheads filled their garages. Like the music industry itself, much of the book’s content is of American origin but our very own Nick Mason, of Pink Floyd, flies the Union Flag effectively.

While some of the star choices are fairly predictable, with the expected selection of Ferrari and Porsche products and plenty of American muscle-cars, there are plenty of surprises. Mick Fleetwood, for example, loves his 1930 Austin Seven and Arlo Guthrie still owns every one of his tour buses. CBRockin’ Garages, by Tom Cotter and Ken Gross. Published by Motorbooks, ISBN 978-0760342497, price £20. Available from www.ukmotorbooks.co.uk

repackaging of two albums he made in 2001 and 2005, he nails the mixture of countrified lyrics and rockabilly twang that is the perfect accompaniment to life on the road.

Kirchen’s ace is his virtuoso guitar playing and the album highlight is an extended live version of Hot Rod Lincoln in which he takes turns to mimic every famous guitar lick in rock history, from Chuck Berry to Deep Purple. DMTied To The Wheel and King Of Dieselbilly, CD by Bill Kirchen. Released by Retroworld

which he says is a ‘crime thriller with dark, interwoven undertones’. JSThe Unfolding Path by Peter Larner; ISBN 978-1-463648-74-9, available via Amazon.

★★★

★★★ ✩★

missing people – while coping with the trials of marriage and a young son.

This novel has a more traditional structure than the multi-voiced approach that worked so well in Deathbed, but the emotional bruising so evident in the latter also creeps into this novel as Jack finds himself the victim of one of his own stories. Here, Larner weaves a fine and painfully realistic depiction of marital discord.

That said, this is by far the funniest novel of the three Jack Daly mysteries.

The conclusion is a little too Hollywood. Nevertheless, I look forward to Larner’s next effort,


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FACT FOCUS● Model: Volvo FH13.460 Globetrotter

XL, registration TP12 GUN

● Chassis: 6x2 pusher axle

● Engine: D13C 13-litre straight-six

● Gearbox: AT2812D I-Shift automated

12-speed

● Power: 460hp @ 1400-1900rpm

● Torque: 2300Nm @ 1000-1400rpm

● Owner: Stanian Transport, Trafford

Park, Manchester


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Initially in fencing and construction, Stanian Transport’s bread & butter work is containers – but the company’s custom trucks are a tribute

to a second string, moving lighting rigs for films

Stanian now boasts four customised trucks: ‘The Dark Knight’ and ‘Twilight’ (foreground) are 2011-reg FH16s, ‘Sherlock Holmes’ and ‘Top Gun’ are standard 13-litre FHs, reg 2012


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53Truck & Driver march 2013 53

Recognising that change is on the way, and jumping aboard at the right moment, takes a bit of guile and a decent

amount of bravery.Running a perfectly good building

and fencing operation since 1965, Stan Chambers had also managed to get the contract from the BBC for the sets and construction work involved in the It’s a Knockout (who can forget presenter Stuart Hall in the 1970s?) travelling TV show, which started in 1966.

FORESAW THE FUTUREThe easy route for Stan would have been to keep digging out fence posts and nailing temporary TV staging

together, but he was convinced that the demise of ‘net-and-board’ freight handling would lead to something big.

He also twigged that there wasn’t a long-term future in a TV show that featured teams competing in absurd games, generally dressed in large foam rubber suits, so when containerisation took off in 1968 he invested in some trucks and trailers to service the grow-ing industry.

Stan also realised that he needed a reliable transport fleet to do it because he would be stacking up a lot more miles than he had previously, merely moving loads of fence posts and bricks over the next hill.

Step forward the Volvo F86. Stan’s

other hunch was that this new truck from Sweden – a real groundbreaker at the time – was the one to go for, and so started a long relationship with Volvo’s truck products that continues to this day. Currently Stanian Transport runs a fleet that helps shift some of the nine million containers that UK ports hand-led in 2012.

big-nAmE cliEnTSSadly, Stan passed away in 1995 but not before he had established a solid container freight operation that now has big-name clients and a fleet of 25 tractors and 40 trailers.

In 1968 Stanian started hauling for the newly-formed shipping consortium


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Overseas Containers Limited (OCL) but today the main business comes from global logistics giants DB Schenker, Maersk, Kuehne + Nagel and Freightliner.

Sons Phil and Rick now carry on the business and when we ask from where the company name derives there is some scratching of heads.

Phil Chambers says: ‘There’s no record of an “Ian” being involved at any stage so I guess that it was just an extension of dad’s name that sounded better than “Stan’s Transport”. The

name is a bit of a mystery, really.’Are there any other partners in this

enterprise? Yes, Phil’s wife Theresa also helps to keep all the plates spinning. There are no fancy job titles but appar-ently Theresa is ‘The Boss’.

NOT JUST SWEDES‘It’s certainly true that my father was one of the early UK hauliers to put his faith in Volvo,’ says Phil, adding: ‘That confidence has turned out to be more than justified and 21 of our current 25 trucks are Volvos.’

Yes, there are a few other trucks in the yard that have not rolled out of the Gothenburg plant, including a 1957-plate Renault Premium, a Scania 480 Topline on a ’54 plate and a pair of 2546 Megaspace Actros models, regis-tered as an ’08 and a ’60.

‘We’ve really been a Volvo fleet from day one,’ says Phil, adding: ‘F86, F10, FL10 and FH; we’ve had ’em all.’

Like many fleets, the odd other brand creeps in now and then but it looks as though the local Volvo dealer has no intention of losing this customer.


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“ ”It’s certainly true that my father was one of the early UK hauliers to put his faith in Volvo

Phil Chambers with ‘The Boss’, his wife

Theresa; Phil has no idea why his

dad, Stan, called his company Stanian


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‘How about the Topline; drivers must like it?’ we suggest. ‘Well, the Scania came along at the right price. I think it was a cancelled order so the salesman had a bit more wiggle room than usual,’ says Phil. ‘They are a good solid truck but as a mainstream fleet purchase they are just too pricey,’ he explains.

Emphasising the mantra that the haulage business is more about people than trucks, the pair of Mercs arrived shortly after a trusted Volvo salesman jumped ship and went to work for that marque’s local dealer. ‘They’ve been good trucks, I’ve no complaints,’ says Phil. There’s still only that pair in their yard though, we notice.

Regular replacements come from Volvo’s dealer in Trafford Park and not just because they are only half-a-mile away from the Stanian yard.

‘The service we get from them is top dollar and the product is as sound as a pound,’ says a financially-astute Phil.

As for fuel consumption, the Renault

and the Scania probably edge the prize but the Volvos are not far behind and apparently getting closer all the time. It says an awful lot about the Volvo dealer that the two best-performing trucks on fuel don’t come from them.

The Swedish marque still retains the core business, however – it has sup-plied the last nine trucks to Stanian and, unless anything unusual crops up, future orders will also go to the brand.

SHIFTING TRENDSThere are now nine I-Shift auto ’boxes on the fleet, only slightly outnumbered by manuals, all earlier trucks. Future purchases will close that gap further, as Phil reports fuel economy of the two- and three-pedal versions to be ‘on a par’ with each other. ‘Our drivers like them too, and the autos will inevitably stretch out a clutch replacement.’

The Volvos are returning 9.5mpg-plus and Stanian is happy with that.

The container work takes them all

over the UK but, like so many hauliers, the company does have another, although smaller, string to its bow. Work for an American client, Musco Lighting, with UK headquarters in Bolton, takes drivers into mainland Europe, with complex lighting rigs for all manner of events, from football matches to BMX competitions, rock concerts and film shoots.

With Stanian’s specialised trailers taking an artic combination’s tare weight to 26 tonnes, they still only gross at 34 tonnes. The lights may not weigh much but the kit required to get them into place does.

Stanian has four custom trucks on the road and more are planned. All are decked out in sinister-looking black livery with airbrush work celebrating movie themes. The newer two, ‘Sherlock Holmes’ (registration SH62 HOL) and ‘Top Gun’ (TP12 GUN) are standard FHs, while the older pair – ‘The Dark Night’ (X11 DKN) and


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‘Twilight’ (X11 TWL) – are both FH16.600s. All have a raft of extra goodies, inside and out, with Kelsa light bars used to particularly good effect and the creature comforts of microwave and fridge not forgotten.

They came ‘all leathered up’ from Volvo as the ‘dogs danglies’ spec, with upgraded curtains, says Phil.

CONTRACTED OUTWith an entire staff of 31, including 26 drivers, Stanian has decided to let the maintenance be carried out in dealer workshops. ‘All the trucks run on R&M contracts so we have no workshops on site, and the vehicle acquisition is a mix of HP and lease purchase,’ says Phil.

He also relies on outside advice when it comes to training and legislative changes, citing the company’s RHA membership as very important in this respect. Driver training comes from Volvo, and the Driver CPC programme is well under way. Phil plans to recruit

a specific employee for the role but he’s back-pedalled just a little with it because he didn’t see the point of completing everybody’s Driver CPC card at a time when container work is shrinking. ‘I don’t see the point of training drivers who may end up work-ing elsewhere for other hauliers.’

It’s the same issue for dealer staff when it comes to technicians. You could spend a load of hard-earned cash on training and then staff can leave to work for another outfit that pays a slightly better hourly rate but which spends diddly-squat on training.

Stanian operates a one-man, one-truck policy, which keeps their trucks in tip-top shape, and Phil still drives every week. We caught him mid-after-noon after he’d completed three local jobs. He’s far from detached from the vehicles, with D series Fords, Volvo F86s, Daf 2800s and a string of F10s, F12s and FHs behind him. An old P93 Scania also sits in his list of old-timers.

‘In fact, the old P93 was sold only eight months ago after ending up as the yard shunter,’ he says. Sited in Manchester’s Trafford Park brings mostly local work, so only a quarter or so of the drivers are away all week.

NOT IMMUNEAs far as headaches go, Stanian is not immune from the travails of transport.

‘We’re relatively lucky in getting a reasonable rate for the job and that comes from dealing with large profes-sional logistics companies,’ says Phil.

‘I feel really sorry for the folk who get skinned on rates by the smaller out-fits who just grind their traction pro-viders into the dirt. Apart from that, it’s diesel costs and cash flow, just like it is for everybody else.’

Phil concludes: ‘We’ve enjoyed giving our customers a good service for the last 30 years, since we formed the limited company, and we plan to continue doing just that.’ n

Stanian staff (l to r) Warwick Clough, Vinny Joynson, Dave Thompson, Dale Hazzlewood


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August 2006 is the date Foden devotees around the world still mourn. As part of American giant Paccar’s rationalisation,

a year’s notice was given, on June 10, 2005, that the Foden Alpha range would be retired.

Foden production had been moved from Sandbach in Cheshire to Leyland in Lancashire during 2000 and the Alpha range proved to be one of Foden’s finest. However, in serving the last rites, the Paccar/Daf management didn’t really care that Foden had such a strong following all around the world.

To Foden fans, whether it was Terry Seaman’s brown bulkers moving grain in East Anglia or firms such as Fonterra moving milk in New Zealand, there was

Rise and fall of the

Kite

nothing quite like the special magic weaved by Foden to give them the motor they really wanted.

Of course, as the historians will point out, Foden was lucky to have lasted 150 years because time could have been called in the early 1930s and again in October 1980. It was only because Paccar came along (at the latter date) with £18 million to create Sandbach Engineering that the jobs of 350 mem-bers of staff were saved out of the 1900 former employees.

family differencesIn the early 1930s, the differences in the Foden family saw Edwin Richard Foden (second son of the founder) walk away from the family business to

form ERF, such was the amount of bad feeling at the time. And it was only because William Foden (elder son of the founder) returned from making a new life in Australia as a farmer that Foden picked itself up to become a dominant shining force once more.

In fairness, both close calls, of the ’30s and ’80s, were for similar reasons – a combination of recessional influ-ences linked to a manufacturer that wasn’t making what the market wanted.

In the 1970s, Foden had made a huge investment on extra manufactur-ing facilities and was financially over-stretched just when the recession kicked in. Even though the company’s heavyweight range was well liked, espec-ially by the military, this proved a blow

foden’s Kite badge flew proudly over 150 years of manufacturing, the death knell finally sounding in 2006. fellow old-timer Bob tuck looks back at a British marque that even now has a strong following

Foden had a vehicle for virtually every taste, from the 38- tonne gross weight 6x4, above, to the preserved steam-powered vehicle, far right, while the Terry Seaman Foden, middle right, was the last to be built at Sandbach back in July 2001


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from which the firm could not recover.From its early days in its Cheshire

heartland, Foden had always displayed the highest standard of engineering and by the late 1920s it was among the leading lights in producing freight- carrying vehicles powered by steam. The only problem was, the transport world was making the move to vehicles fuelled by petrol or diesel, very few wanting to mess around with coal and water.

GARDNER TO THE RESCUEFortunately, the Gardner diesel engine was to come to the rescue of Foden and it remained a long-preferred standard fitment. However, there was no ques-tion of Foden farming out some of its engineering requirements as the manu-


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Top left: Moreton C Cullimore of Stroud has long been a Foden fan

Middle left: When the going got tough, many operators turned to Foden – and Kaye Goodfellow was one who got long-term service from them

Right: Before it specialised in heavy haulage, Econofreight used Fodens for general haulage and bulk tipper operations


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facturer simply loved making its own.Talk to any Foden engineer of old

and his chest will rightly fill with pride over the company’s high standards of manufacturing. Sadly, not many driv-ers loved its 12-speed, two-stick gear-box, with its weird shift pattern; and why did its distinctive high-revving two-stroke engines suffer so badly from reliability problems? And while Foden’s rear-drive axles could be utilised for heavy haulage work, why did you have to jack them up to turn the hubs to select low/high ratio?

If there was a theme to Foden, it was that it made things in its own fashion. It was an early exponent of the tilt cab (in

the mid 1960s) but would also sell you a general haulage vehicle fitted with a steel half cab if you wanted.

General haulier Fred Robinson on Teesside reckoned such a spec stopped his drivers picking up hitchhikers and also saved him on accident repair costs. Fred argued that if a driver was going to have a bump, it was generally the near-side of the cab that came off worst.

The mid 1960s also saw Foden offer its Twin Load. The idea of attaching a small semi-trailer onto the rear of a full-length eight-wheel rigid didn’t gener-ate many sales but it showed what Foden could do.

heavyweight forteIn its earlier days, Foden did make some lighter four-wheelers but the

company forte was with heavy-weights. Its dumper range was

exported all over the world because it was phenomenally

strong, the company even making chassis for mobile cranes. Daddy of them all, how-

ever, was the Foden eight-wheeler, which was in produc-

tion for something like 70 years. Even in 1988, when it was all but a shadow of its former self, Foden’s share of the eight-wheeler market was almost 25%.

When the UK industry jumped to 38 tonnes operation in 1984, Foden offered the lightweight 6x4 tractor in contrast to virtually every other truck maker which instead went for a 6x2, either in tag-axle, mid-lift or twin-steer form.

More than 20 years later, Foden still had a strong following for its 6x4 trac-tor unit and its well-loved Alpha eight-legger. However, the marketing guys at Daf felt these oddballs were something of a nuisance, cluttering up the Leyland production line.

The plug was pulled on Foden as yet another step was taken towards bland-ness and conformity in European vehi-cle choice.

But don’t despair. To get your regu-lar fix of the joyous sound of that Foden two-stroke engine you can always join The Foden Society (see the panel below) to keep abreast of what’s happening on the preservation circuit.

Make the most of enjoying that magical sound though because, sadly, it probably won’t be around for ever. ■

Keep the Kite flyingWith so many Fodens still in

operation, right back to steam-

driven examples, it’s perhaps no

surprise that The Foden Society

(formed in 1993) has such a strong

and active following, with

membership currently in the region

of 410 enthusiasts.

You don’t have to own a Foden to

become a member and you can join

by going to the society’s website:

www.thefodensociety.org.uk

Although the 4000 was probably Foden’s finest eight-wheeler, owner-driver Robert Hetherington says his 3000 (here in Owen livery) was a lot lighter and could carry more payload


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Up to now, if you’ve been driving an electrically-propelled vehicle you’ve either been sitting on a fork-lift sliding pallets into curtainsiders

or you’ve been delivering milk and yoghurt. But things are changing, and while the phys-ics of powering a 44-tonner by electricity just don’t stack up – and probably never will – the lighter end of transport is getting closer to using electricity to move freight, and the first one you’re likely to see will be a hybrid.

A hybrid is basically a smaller diesel engine that’s had the missing horses replaced by an electric motor that chips in to help at the appro-priate moments. The other important element is the regenerative braking. Instead of conven-tional discs and pads chopping off your speed and just chucking away energy in the form of heat, braking can turn the electric motor into a generator that pumps the braking power back into the battery to keep it charged.

If you drive with a little care, hybrids can make impressive savings on diesel, but they aren’t perfect yet.

PLAYING THE GREEN CARDCompanies keen to show their customers a level of environmental responsibility have taken the odd few electric or hybrid light truck chas-sis in recent years, but this has been more about PR than cutting any operational costs. It’s been quite normal for hybrid trucks to cost double the price of a regular diesel counterpart, which obviously makes no financial sense.

As all truck makers are finding out, it’s one thing to prove the technology works, but quite another to get it into the dealer showrooms at a sensible price that will open wallets and order books. Quite a few truck makers have had a go


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Charged

at getting light hybrids on the roads, usually at around 7.5 tonnes or 12 tonnes gross.

Mercedes has had a 12-tonne Atego hybrid available for some time, and Daf an LF hybrid (pictured below) at the same weight. Neither have made any headway due to the hefty chas-sis prices. Daf, which is building two a week at Leyland for the European market, even offers its truck on lease to try to jump-start business.

Phil Moon, Daf product marketing manager in the UK, says: ‘Customers needed something to break the stalemate, so we hope the lease route will kick-start things. It’s a five-year term with maintenance through the Daf network.’

WEIGHTY PROBLEMAs the gross weight on a hybrid goes up, so does the weight of the batteries needed to add that extra punch. While the equation appears work-

able at around 7.5 tonnes, it looks more and more bonkers higher up the tree.

Nick Blake, Mercedes’ truck sales engineer-ing manager in the UK, has calculated the bat-tery weight required to power various trucks purely by electricity, with no diesel support. Even a little 7.5-tonner would need 4.7 tonnes of batteries, making it unworkable. Just for the record – and the laughs – a 44-tonner would need to take on 52 tonnes of batteries.

However, some truck makers have gone for heavier hybrids and Renault’s 26-tonne Hybrys (below) is pushing the limits, with the first chassis – a 26-tonne, 6x2 rear-steer rigid – on trial with Norbert Dentressangle in the UK. A 300hp diesel and Renault’s Optidriver auto-mated 12-speed ’box is coupled to a battery-powered electric motor that peaks at 120kW.

But why run hybrids at all? It’s not just about

fuel consumption gains because the legislation that’s creeping forward to marginalise trucks and vans from city centres will one day reach a tipping point. When that happens operators will need to decide whether they drop their inner city and urban work or find a solution. If they stay in the game, hybrids and electric vehi-cles will be waiting at the front of the queue.

That legislation is expected to concentrate as much on noise as emissions and hybrids can exploit that opening in a way ultra-low emis-sion diesel trucks cannot.

BEHIND THE WHEELWith three operating modes of full diesel, elec-tric, and hybrid power, Renault’s Hybrys does need some application from the driver to ensure the battery state remains sufficiently high to operate on electric power alone for any extended period. Apart from periodic recourse to the ‘forced charge’ switch on the dash, it is, as with so much control of automated trucks these days, all in the right foot.

An understanding of the subtleties of the throttle pedal will make the difference between success and failure with this truck. That, and habitual use of the regenerative retarder, is the secret to gaining fuel savings, which are claimed to be as much as 20% compared with regular diesel-only operation.

Naturally, there are downsides and nobody is claiming these vehicles are perfect. A 600kg battery pack needs to be lugged around and, depending on the body employed, you will be typically left with a 13-tonne payload.

This truck is not yet in series production but others are. Daimler’s Fuso Canter (opposite page) has broken another barrier by being the first to offer a 7.5-tonne hybrid for sale, not lease. Its confidence comes from a three-year London trial and the serious numbers already on the road in Japan. The factory in Portugal where the European Canters are built is plan-ning to put 1000 hybrids down the line in 2013.

So has the tide finally turned? Diesel looks set to be with us for many years

to come, and Euro 6 engines are certainly pretty clean affairs, but noise and emissions laws are expected to continue getting tighter and it looks like a bit of electric power will be part of the solution. They all seem to be coming with auto ’boxes, so just go easy on the right pedal and enjoy the peace and quiet. n

It’s not only milk floats and forklifts that run on batteries these days and a hybrid truck could soon be making an appearance in your yard. Ian Norwell looks at their progress and how to get the best out of them

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Says truck-transporter driver Pat Holian: ‘It’s not an art – it’s magic,’ adding sagely, ‘it’s all about angles,’ in case you

thought squeezing four Isuzu chassis cabs onto his six-axle, 60-foot-long drawbar combination involves smoke and mirrors. As far as T&D is con-cerned it might just as well; there are more permutations here than in the football pools.

Pat works for Lantern Recovery – ‘Your Light On A Lonely Road’ – better known as recovery purveyors to the Road Haulage Association, among many others, but also operating several car (and truck) transporters.

His Volvo FM is on contract to Isuzu Truck UK, delivering the tough little Japanese-designed rigids everywhere from the South Coast to Scotland. Although Isuzu UK’s HQ is a stone’s throw away at Hatfield, Pat usually starts his working week from GB

Terminals at Royal Portbury Dock, Bristol, entrepôt for the Portuguese-constructed chassis.

T&D has taken advantage of a brief respite in a succession of biblical- proportion deluges to learn the tricks of the lorry-carrying lorry trade. In the yard of Lantern’s South Mimms depot, once operated by the AA and its short-lived car-transporter venture Fanum, and opposite the A1/M25 junction truckstop, Pat makes the daunting task appear (relatively) straightforward.

one-vehicle manThe large, white, travel-stained Volvo drawbar might superficially resemble a car transporter but it is in fact very dif-ferent. Pat travelled to Italy to collect the CV carrier, purpose-built for the job by Rolfo – no British manufacturer caters for this niche market – and has driven it ever since.

Unlike multi-deck car haulers,

Loads of LorriesSqueezing four isuzu chassis cabs onto his volvo Fm drawbar combo ‘is not an art, it’s magic’, reckons lantern Recovery driver Pat holian. Dave Young meets him and gets the angle on successful truck-transporter work

When it comes to loading his transporter Pat certainly knows all the angles


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there’s no over-cab extension and the upper of each of the two decks is only two-thirds the length of the lower. The gap between each deck is smaller than a car transporter but look closer and you’ll discover extra support struts, rams, clips and wheel wells, along with hydraulic drawbar and longitudinal loadbed extensions.

Unlike car transporters the chassis has hydraulic rams behind the rear axle to lift it from the ground, raise the front and drop the tail of the trailer. A 6x2 lay-out, the Volvo features a pusher lift axle with 17.5in diameter wheels in front of the drive axle to spread weight evenly and to increase payload flexibility.

The body, Pat explains, is good but could be better. Because of the diversi-ty of different manufacturers’ chassis types there’s really no such beast as a ‘standard’ truck transporter. When it was specified the then boss spoke to other operators to gain advice and experience but not, unfortunately, the driver. Strange, transport companies are usually so good at consulting those behind the wheel…

LOTS OF FORETHOUGHTShallow entry angles and gradual gra-dients are of paramount importance to avoid grounding sumps, exhausts and bumpers when traversing ramps. Consequently, each load requires a lot of forethought – ‘think about what can go wrong’, warns Pat – and planning, as no day is ever the same.

The new Isuzu CVs he carries range from 3.5 tonnes to 11 tonnes GVW, often with varying chassis and rear-overhang lengths. Crew cabs and vari-ous external ‘architecture’ – compres-sors, fuel tanks and batteries – must all be squeezed with centimetres to spare between the deck supports, adding to Pat’s potential headaches.

This load is relatively simple, three 7.5-tonners, the one constant being

Some light on LanternEstablished in 1966, the family firm is managed by Ray Coleman

and his sons Lee, Craig and Ryan. Lantern now handles more

than 200,000 vehicle movements a year and is still expanding.

Dealing with accidents and breakdowns, it recovers

everything from cars to coaches to maximum-weight LGVs and

offers extensive workshop, servicing and secure parking

facilities at depots in the South East and, most recently,

Bideford and Bristol.

Lantern also hires vehicles, including grab loaders, moves

plant and offers accredited Institute of Vehicle Recovery training.

Its transporter fleet shifts cars, vans and trucks, new and used,

to dealers, bodybuilders, auctions and for fleet operators.

Go to www.lanternrecovery.com – it even recently towed a

trolleybus! (www.youtube.com/watch?v=yydITbrqydA).

With no two days on the job the same, each load requires a lot of forethought and planning before it goes on


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that the top truck at the front of the trailer faces frontwards; the remainder are always reversed onboard, which presents certain challenges…

With no weight over the back axle, reversing in the wet or cold often causes wheelspin, worsened from Pat’s point of view by an increasing fondness for automated shifts in the latest model Isuzus, which affords him no clutch control. Safety is a key concern, not just in ensuring the cargo is correctly secured but simply if moving around –

in particular getting in and out of the Isuzu cabs – when working at height.

The widest 11-tonner’s footprint spreads right to the very edge of the deck; securing straps must be carefully cleared first to avoid punctures. Conversely, the smallest single-rear-wheel 3.5-tonne Isuzu risks falling in between the ramps.

Once he’s driven everything into place, Pat fettles the deck angles and trailer/prime mover proximity – nowhere near as close as with a car transporter – then four-point secures each vehicle with soft tie-downs. Running height is usually around 13ft 6in – although with LWB chassis get-ting closer to 15ft, assiduous outward-bound route research is essential.

FLUID AND CONFIDENTOut on the road, Pat exhibits the fluid, confident driving style of a truck driver’s truck driver. To my surprise the FM has a manual ’box but Pat isn’t complain-ing. A 440hp Euro 4 lump ensures plen-ty of beans to propel an average GVW of

around 32 tonnes, to which truck and trailer contribute around 20 tonnes; Isuzu chassis are commendably light.

Although Pat ‘can’t sing Volvo’s praises highly enough’, he admits to a few drawbacks. ‘I have Volvo hip,’ he says, reckoning the driver’s seating position makes it impossible to stretch on long journeys. He’s typically out all week, something the flat-roof, distribu-tion-spec cab with its intrusive engine hump is not suited for – although it’s not as bad as the 340hp ‘Wendy House’ it replaced.

Piles of kit in the passenger footwell attest to a lack of personal storage but, as Pat concedes, in order to keep the bodywork height low ‘needs must’. The FM has scarcely required repair in four years and 600,000 clicks, no doubt largely due to being driven by Pat on a one-man, one-truck basis.

On nights away the Volvo’s 18.75 metres aren’t easy to fit into a truckstop and are even harder to get out in the morning. ‘An artic fits in there,’ Pat has been told by many a parking attendant,

It’s a kind of magic as Pat squeezes the Isuzu chassis cabs on board

Rolfo offers wide range of designsItalian specialist car and truck transporter manufacturer

– both bespoke and off the peg – Rolfo offers a range of

new and second-hand artic and drawbar designs from

its base at Bra (stop sniggering), 50km from Turin.

www.rolfo.com

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puzzled when he explains his truck won’t. Less forgivable are adjacent pro-fessional drivers who park too close and effectively block him in.

As Pat smoothly pilots the big rig around roundabouts and corners it’s clear the cut-in points are very different from most other trailers, while reversing requires a lot of space to pull the front around. As with most very long vehicles, the key is in ‘setting up your stall’ early and adopting road positioning to dis-courage lemming-like motorists trying to squeeze past on the nearside.

NOT EASY MONEYAlong with a good number of Lantern’s employees, Pat, aged 56 and hailing from Buntingford, has been with the firm a good while, beginning as a recov-ery driver. It’s soon clear from talking to him that this job’s a good earner – and equally evident that his pay packet doesn’t come easy. Not only, in his words, do ‘miles equal money’, there’s plenty of day-to-day physical graft required in securing the load.

Strong team at Isuzu TruckDespite its modest size Isuzu Truck UK enjoys a high

profile, in no small measure down to its ebullient MD Nikki

King – star of TV’s Undercover Boss and The Bottom Line

and, on Radio 4, Question Time.

The company has a tremendously strong team ethos

and an enviable reputation for customer care, led by Nikki,

who has famously sorted out problems in person while

cooking the Christmas dinner.

Isuzu Truck majors on reliability, simplicity, payload, a

three-year warranty and keen pricing.

www.isuzutruck.co.uk

Aside from a short diversion into management, Pat’s been driving most of his professional life and we’re soon swapping reminiscences about the days of hand-filled logbooks and a more creative approach to paperwork.

In addition to delivering Isuzu Trucks, Pat also shifts vans to auctions and undertakes exhibition and film location work.

Remember the infamous Top Gear truck episode when the terrible trio trashed three units and Clarkson pitted a Magnum against a brick wall? Guess who moved the wagons to the shoot?

He got on well with Clarkson, Captain Slow and the Hamster, appar-ently, but then you get the feeling that Pat, who wears a lot of knowledge light-ly, could get on with anyone.

Lantern’s relationship with Isuzu dates back to the early 1990s when the Japanese lightweights – these days a staple of the breakdown business – were first imported. Lantern operates and transports Isuzus, a relationship that’s safe in Pat’s capable hands. ■


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TOP 10 ROUNDABOUTSAs Robert Louis Stevenson once said, ‘No place in the

world exerts such attractive power as an island’. Kevin Beresford, aka ‘Lord of the Rings’, nominates, in

no particular order, his Top 10 UK roundabouts

A huge number of emails from around the world confirm that roundabout-spotters are out of the closet and with

confidence can stand up and claim: ‘I love roundabouts and I’m proud.’

Roundabouts are there, right in front of our eyes, every day of the year. Now they are finally being viewed and appre-ciated in a new light. Roads are often condemned as scars on the landscape but roundabouts, in all their glory, counteract a road’s unsightliness.

With infinite variety, colour and creativity, these bitumen babes lift our sagging spirits on long tiresome trips. On road systems anywhere in the world there is nothing more expressive than

the one-way gyratory.Although the roundabout has for-

eign roots, it still seems to represent Englishness to the full. Maybe it’s our love for gardens. A roundabout gives any local council the opportunity to plonk down a garden in the middle of a road junction, allowing their imagina-tions to run riot with shrubs, trees, flowers and lawns.

Coupled with this, the traffic flow system in this country has to observe a certain English decorum and manners. Our roundabouts are quintessentially English in their make-up, physically as well as mentally.

We queue, then individually choose when to enter the traffic flow. We navi-

gate the island accordingly and leave at our own chosen exit. America and Germany tend to favour the strict order and demands of traffic lights.

You can put anything on a rounda-bout. I’ve witnessed statues, fountains, gardens, pubs, churches, houses, cine-mas, monuments, sculptures, laser and light shows, giant barometers, giant mosquitoes, working-order windmills, swordfish, lighthouses, fishing boats, winged horses, lions, concrete sheep, cricket grounds, Houses of Parliament (Canberra); you name it, anything goes on a roundabout.

If Andy Warhol was alive today, I’m convinced we would have giant cans of soup gracing our best traffic islands. It has to be said – the roundabout is truly an oasis on a sea of asphalt. n

l Kevin Beresford is president of the UK Roundabout Appreciation Society (UKRAS). Visit the website www.roundaboutsofbritain.com

The Magic RoundaboutSwindon01

The white-knuckle ride of all roundabouts. A marvellous maelstrom of motordom. With its five orbiting PMTs (painted mini traffic islands), the traffic actually goes around the central mother ’bout the wrong way.

Designed by the late, great Frank Blackmore, the genius who invented the PMT in 2009, this traffic island was voted the fourth scariest junction in Britain in a poll by Britannia Rescue. Here at UKRAS we like to call it ‘the traffic island loaded with testosterone’.

The island celebrated its 40th birthday this year and for all its terrifying appearance its safety record over those 40 years has been impeccable.

Here’s to another 40 years.


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TOP 10 ROUNDABOUTS

Regency roundaboutBath04

This truly is a unique roundabout. I’ve travelled from John o’ Groats to Land’s End in my search for the holy gyratory grail and I think I found it in this terrific traffic island. I thought I’d seen everything but I have never witnessed a full working-order windmill stuck on a one-way gyratory.

This amazing and rare five-sailed, double-shuttered tower windmill dates from 1770 and, for the first time since 1933, the windmill is actually producing flour.

Holgate Windmill roundaboutYork02

The most attractive traffic islands in Scotland are to be found in Livingston and this red-ringer chevy just oozes New Age charm.

Surrounded by a flat layer of neat-patterned red brick paving, the island boasts a chamfering chevron foundation supporting an attractive bricked spire made up of four inglenook fireplaces.

Each fireplace houses blue directional signs and the entire splendid structure is crowned by a copper pointed veneer.

Awesome!

New Age red-ringer chevy Livingston,Scotland03

This beautiful Regency roundabout in Bath perfectly sums up what is great

about the great British gyratory. The island is almost fully encompassed by a

row of gorgeous Georgian terraced houses.

Closer inspection reveals a small cricket match being played out on its park-

like setting. With its benches, trees and fine-clipped lawns, traffic lights don’t

come remotely close in comparison to this most English of roundabouts.


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Cannon roundaboutFishguard05 Titchmarsh

roundaboutLeamington Spa06

A wicked Welsh wizard of a roundabout. This double-kerber, brick-ringer comes heavily armed with a mighty 18th-century nine-pounder cannon, built to protect this once-prosperous port during the Napoleonic wars.

Along with the directional sign, the cannon menacingly points drivers to the local harbour.

Cardiff’s very own Magic Roundabout07 This terrific traffic island features geometrical shapes made up of colourful

traffic signs. It has been rumoured that a Welsh vagabond lives in one of

these amazing constructions – a sort of modern-day Robinson Crusoe, cast

adrift and surviving on a Cardiff island. Good luck to him.

Stupendous Leamington Spa ‘Titchmarsh’ (island in full

bloom) one-way gyratory. This flower-decked double-kerber

would lift any driver’s sagging spirits.

With its spectacular explosion of colour and fragrance,

roundabouts surely don’t come much better than this.

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Aka ‘Basinghenge Stone Circle’. During the summer

solstice, strange rituals have been known to take

place on this mysterious island. At other times of

the year it has been rumoured that an offbeat group

known as the Basingstoke Bonking Bouters frequent

the circle late at night.

It’s worth noting that the traffic islands in

Basingstoke, aptly nicknamed ‘Doughnut City’, get a

mention in The Hitch-Hikers’ Guide to the Galaxy.

It has been alleged that aliens from far-off galaxies

are drawn to places such as Basingstoke owing to

their ubiquitous roundabouts; apparently they make

perfect landing spots for UFOs.

Daneshill roundaboutBasingstoke10

Flock of Sheep roundaboutShepton Mallet08

The beauty of this roundabout is that it changes its appearance depending on the season, the locals in Shepton Mallet dressing the flock accordingly.

For instance, on May Day they will be parading around the Maypole, on St Patrick’s Day the sheep are garnered in a Gaelic guise and at Easter out come the bonnets. Rollicking roundabout fun.

‘Davy lamp’ roundaboutSunderland09

This delightful double red-ringer gyratory shines brightly outside

Sunderland FC’s Stadium of Light.Its red-bricked inner-core features a giant

radiant Davy lamp, reflecting the miners’ heritage and history of the area.


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COOL & Preston-based Ascroft Transport, a long-time Scania operator and a

specialist in the movement of abnormal loads, is playing a key

role in helping renowned explorer Sir

Ranulph Fiennes get his latest ‘coldest’

adventure under way

THE GANG He’s been to Eton, failed his A-levels, fought Marxist terror-

ists, zoomed up the Nile in a hovercraft, found a lost city, scaled the north face of the Eiger, tottered up Everest and fended off challenges from Lewis Hamilton and Joe

Calzaghe to win an ITV Greatest Briton award for sport. Somewhere in the middle of all that lot, he’s also endured a mas-sive heart attack, a three-day coma and a triple-bypass operation.

Now 68 and totally undeterred, Sir Ranulph Fiennes (pictured left) is off on another implausible jaunt – back to his old stomping ground of the Antarctic, where in 1993 he and fellow explorer Dr Michael Stroud had to be plucked off the ice ‘more dead than alive’, as his expedition spin doctors put it.

WINTER IN ANTARCTICAThis time around Sir Ranulph hopes to lead a team to conquer the last great Polar challenge – namely crossing Antarctica in winter, which down there runs from June to September.

While the expedition proper gets under way in March, prepara-tions have been going on for the past couple of years. They culmi-nated in the expedition’s ice-strengthened polar research and supply ship, the SA Agulhas, being loaded in December last year prior to its departure to the Antarctic via South Africa.

Two Scania R560 V8 six-wheel heavy-haulage tractor units from the Ascroft Transport fleet of six Scania STGO trucks were engaged in delivering a variety of equipment from the expedition’s UK logistics base in Cannock to London’s West India Dock.

This equipment included two purpose-designed cabooses, which will provide living accommodation and scientific laboratories for the expedition, and the two Caterpillar D6N track-type tractor units – specially adapted by UK Cat dealer Finnings – that will haul them.

‘Those deliveries were the culmination of a project which has involved us for the past 18 months or so,’ says Ascroft Transport man-aging director Phil Ascroft. ‘During that time we have provided the team with transport in the UK and were also responsible for taking the D6Ns to Sweden and back for cold-weather trials. Now the SA Agulhas has set sail, the job for us is over for the time being until we bring the equipment home again, all being well, in 18 months or so.’

KNEE TREMBLINGBefore that can happen, Sir Ranulph and his team will have to trudge across 4000 kilometres of frozen wilderness, enduring some pretty extreme temperatures along the way. The lowest temperature on earth – a knee-trembling -89.2°C – was recorded at the Vostok station at the southern end of Antarctica’s ‘Pole of Cold’, which explains why the expedition has been dubbed The Coldest Journey.

To put that into some kind of perspective we can all relate to, it’s so cold that the emperor penguin is the only beast capable of mating in Antarctica in winter. So all respect to them, and to Sir Ranulph in his latest outrageous endeavour – we wish him every success! n

l Further information on The Coldest Journey can be found at www.thecoldestjourney.org


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GROSS TRAIN WEIGHT

You don’t have to have an interest in railways to appre-ciate the key date of July 3, 1938, the day that LNER A4

steam locomotive 4468 Mallard raced down Stoke Bank, near Grantham, and reached 126mph to set a new world speed record for a steam loco-motive. That record still stands 75 years on and is not likely to be beaten for many years to come.

So, given that 2013 is the 75th anni-versary of this momentous occasion, the National Railway Museum (NRM) in York announced that it would try to put on a show for the general public by reuniting all six remaining A4 locos, including Mallard. Not too difficult a task, surely? Well, yes, there is a catch…

Of the 35 A4s built at Doncaster in the 1930s, six survive. Four – 4464 Bittern, 4468 Mallard, 60009 Union of South Africa and 60007 Sir Nigel Gresley

– posed no problem. The other two, 60010 Dominion of Canada and 60008 Dwight D Eisenhower, proved to be much trickier, however, because they were located almost 4000 miles away in Canada and the USA!

STEAM STREAKSThe A4s were a stylish, streamlined design of steam loco, duly called ‘streaks’, and had 12 wheels – four ‘pony’ wheels at the front, six massive 6ft 8in driving wheels and two trailing wheels (in truck parlance, I guess you’d call them a 12x6).

They come in two parts, the loco itself and the tender, which carries the coal and water needed to fuel the loco on the move. Thankfully, these two parts can be detached from each other. The tenders have eight wheels and a corridor though the middle to allow the train crew to move between the locos

Shifting two steam locomotives from museums in North America back home to the North of England was not as complicated as it might sound, thanks to some right moves by a team of heavy-haulage Volvos, Dafs and a Freightliner


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Above: Freightliner Big Red was on hand to help winch the loco up the ramp and onto the flat car. Main Image: Dwight D Eisenhower waits to move, with Dominion of Canada in the background


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and coaches while on the move.Sounds crazy? Well, the logic was for

a non-stop run – in the six hours it took in the 1930s – from King’s Cross to Edinburgh. One crew (consisting of a driver and a fireman, the bloke who shovelled the coal into the firebox) would start at the controls in London and, half-way, a second crew, who’d been relaxing ‘on the cushions’, would come through the tender onto the foot-plate and relieve the first crew on the move. The initial crew would then retire to the coaches to relax for the rest of the journey to Edinburgh Waverley.

In early 2011 the NRM contacted abnormal-load specialist Moveright International about the possibility of repatriating the two exiled locomo-tives; 60008 Dwight D Eisenhower had been donated to the National Railroad Museum in Green Bay, Wisconsin,

USA, while 60010 Dominion of Canada was in the Canadian Exporail Museum in Montreal. They had been there since the early 1960s after their withdrawal from service by British Railways.

With Moveright’s experience of ‘moving the odd, the awkward and the difficult’ all over the world, and spec-ialising in the movement of trains and rolling stock by road, this mammoth task was taken up with little hesitation.

MINIMAL COSTNegotiations established that both museums were willing to loan their locomotives, while many of the com-panies that were to be involved in the move – from CN Rail and TTX (the flat-wagon owners) to ACL (Atlantic Container Line) and, of course, Moveright – would donate their serv-ices at minimal cost. In addition, the

entire move would be filmed for an episode of TV programme Monster Moves, so the pressure was really on.

On July 16, 2012 four representa-tives from Moveright International flew from London to Chicago and on to Green Bay to start the work.

Dwight D Eisenhower was on display in the main hall of the National Railroad Museum on an isolated sec-tion of track. When it was donated 60008 had a building constructed around it because it was envisaged that the locomotive would never leave.

The first part of the project involved lifting the 94-tonne locomotive and its 64-tonne tender and moving them sideways by almost 110ft to get them onto a track where the locomotive could be moved around and ultimately loaded. This was done over two nights, one for the tender and one for the loco-

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motive, to avoid interfering with the daily activities at the museum.

The next part of the plan was to load the locomotive onto a set of heavy- duty flat rail wagons to allow them to be moved to Halifax, Nova Scotia. The rail wagons were positioned in a secure compound across the way from the museum and a steel ramp set up and secured in place.

BIG RED TO THE RESCUEThis was where the first real problem was encountered. The hydraulic winch brought over from the UK to load the wagons simply wasn’t strong enough to haul the 94-tonne locomo-tive up the ramp and onto the wagon.

ACE Towing Inc saved the day, turning up on site with its recently-purchased heavy-duty 50-tonne 360o rotator wrecker truck. Aptly named

Above: Locomotive 60008 slowing inches up the loading ramp and, left, disembarks from Atlantic Conveyor with the help of a Rawcliffe Volvo FH16.600


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Big Red, this meaty 8x6 Freightliner has an impressive 525hp Cummins engine under its hood.

Because it’s a rotating crane, the truck has additional front and rear out-riggers to keep it stable while winching. The Cummins powerplant is married to an 18-speed transmission and has a triple-drive rear bogie with full lockers, the entire rig weighing in at an impres-sive 27 tonnes.

After setting up at the far end of the wagon, the winch cable was run out and down onto the locomotive using a snatch block. Slowly but easily

Eisenhower was winched up the ramp onto the flat wagon and, once in place, securely chained down before the proc-ess was repeated with the tender.

EASIER IN MONTREALOnce ready for the off, a CN Rail diesel locomotive took the wagons to the local yard at Green Bay where the train was prepared for its trip to Halifax in Canada, eventually arriving there on August 19 after an eventful trip – remember, this was a ‘dimensional load’ and no run-of-the-mill journey – lasting 14 days.

Once at Halifax docks, the loco and tender were transferred from the wagons onto MAFI trailers to allow them to be loaded onto the ship.

As soon as they had been unloaded, the wagons were sent straight to Montreal for the loading of the loco Dominion of Canada.

The Montreal loading process proved much easier. When the museum was built, the track work incorporated a loading bay with a lower track (on which the wagon was placed) and a higher loading track (from which Dominion would be loaded).

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The loco had been subject to some test runs prior to the flat cars arriving to ensure the loading process would run smoothly. As a result, the locomo-tive’s motion (all the connecting rods that join the wheels to the pistons) was free-running and plenty of grease and oil had been applied, which certainly helped matters.

After some minor modifications to the end of the track work on the load-ing line to marry up with the temporary tracks on the flat wagons, Dominion was drawn out of its stabling shed by a replica of the 1840s wood-fired John

Molson steam locomotive, before being coupled to a diesel switcher loco for the final move onto the loading line.

Once the locomotive and tender were chained onto their respective wagons, they were positioned in a near-by yard for collection by CP Rail and onward transit to Halifax. For the first time in many years, sister locos 60010 and 60008 were reunited towards the end of September 2012.

HALIFAX TO LIVERPOOLAfter trans-shipping Dominion to MAFI units, all four items (the two

Preparing to trans-ship onto road lorry and Liverpool Docks

Bizarrely, crossing the Atlantic took half the time it had taken to get 60008 from Wisconsin to Halifax


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locomotives and the two tenders) were loaded aboard the massive Atlantic Conveyor, which set sail from Halifax on September 25, arriving seven days later at Seaforth Docks, Liverpool. Bizarrely, crossing the Atlantic took half the time it had taken to get 60008 from Wisconsin to Halifax.

convoy for liverpoolAt first light the next morning, in full view of a gathering of reporters, the two locomotives were offloaded from the ship onto dry land by a J B Rawcliffe Volvo FH16.600 6x4 ballasted tractor unit and readied for the final leg of their journey.

Eisenhower was the first to be loaded. Locomotive and tender were trans-shipped from the heavy-duty MAFI onto the back of a Moveright low-load-er and chained down. At lunchtime on October 4, they left Liverpool in con-voy bound for the National Railway Museum at Shildon, Co Durham. Eisenhower arrived that evening and was offloaded the following morning, the trucks then returning to Liverpool to load Dominion.

AcroSS THe pennineSMoveright’s prime mover for the trip across the UK was a Volvo FH16.660 8x4 tractor unit, with each heavy loco-motive sitting on a specially-modified King five-axle GTL 128-tonne low-loader trailer. For both tenders, a smaller Daf XF95.530 6x2 tractor unit hauled a similarly-modified four-axle Nooteboom rail low-loader trailer.

Gross weight for the Volvo unit, its trailer and one A4 locomotive was 147 tonnes, just within the 150 tonnes STGO3 restriction.

The route from Seaforth Docks was

What’s in store?

via the A58, the M58 and the M6 northbound, to take the A66 east-bound across the northern Pennines to the A1(M) at Scotch Corner. Then it was north to the A68 and across the A6072, Redworth Road, Dale Road and finally to the National Railway Museum at Shildon.

Moveright has made available, via the publisher’s ‘Blurb’ website, a photobook of the events that took place over the 12 weeks in order to bring back the locomotives to the UK. You can purchase a copy of the book direct from the publisher at www.blurb.co.uk/bookstore/detail/3708224

And for the train-spotters among you, or those who just fancy seeing the fastest steam loco ever and its five surviving classmates lined up together for the first time since the 1960s, then the National Railway Museum in York is planning something later this year, most probably in July.

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Plenty of photographers were out and about pointing their lenses at this unusual truck move, but it’s not clear if they were trainspotters out to snap a rare sighting of these steam locos or truck enthusiasts out to see the superb FH16 and slightly older Daf.

Thankfully little went wrong with

the UK leg of the journey, with experi-enced heavy haulage operator Moveright making, well, all the right moves. The route over the hilly A66 was interesting, with the 660hp Volvo mak-ing an awesome noise under its two weighty loads.

The second of the two locomotives,

Dominion of Canada, was delivered to Shildon at lunchtime on Saturday, October 6, exactly 12 weeks after this challenge of epic proportions began.

The only problem now is that in 18 months’ time the move has to be car-ried out in reverse to return the loco-motives to North America… n

The Dominion of Canada travelled along the A66 before being offloaded at the Shildon branch of the National Railway Museum


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march 2013 Truck & Driver84

An AdBlue emergency?

This tracking product delivers

Reflect on mirror impact protectionIf you’re a van driver working in a typically crowded urban environment, there’s a pretty good chance your door mirrors are going to get hit. And, with all the heating and adjustment gubbins inside, replacements aren’t cheap – a quick search on a popular internet auction site shows that £90 per mirror is typical, even for a pattern part.

A British product aims to protect your mirrors by absorbing shocks itself. User testimonials reveal that, even in impacts hard enough to dislodge the glass, Mirror Guard protects the original mirror casing and normally survives to do its job again.

At £119 (including post and packing) per pair, the Mirror Guard isn’t cheap but should be a worthwhile investment if your mirrors are at risk. Currently suitable for Citroën Relay, Peugeot Boxer and Fiat Ducato models, before and after the 2007 model change, versions for the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter and Iveco Daily are in the pipeline. Available online from www.mirrorguard.co.uk

By the time Euro 6 engine technology arrives there will be very few drivers who won’t need access to AdBlue supplies. Finding the precious liquid out on the road is becoming easier but it’s still not universal.

One of the leading suppliers, Yara Air1, has introduced a free application, AdBlue, for the iPhone that will show the location of its nearest source. It might be a simple one-trick app but it could prove handy if you need supplies in a strange location.

Look for the AdBlue app in the Apple iTunes store.

When we received this product (pictured right) it came to us direct from the factory in Stockholm, Sweden. We know that because it was charged up and switched on, so we were able to watch its progress across Europe, including a two-day stopover in an Amsterdam, Netherlands warehouse.

TrackDown is a matchbox-sized autonomous tracking device that looks like a large eraser. The unit is the base of a system that can be used in a variety of applications. All versions include unlimited use in the monthly fee (12-month minimum contract) with track recording adjustable from 10 seconds, alerts when a geo-fenced area is left, the option to allow police access to real-time location sharing, and access to location tracking via the internet.

There’s a personal option, with built-in SOS panic button from £7.99, while vehicle applications start at £14.99, including a vehicle installation

kit with a six-month rechargeable back-up battery. The unit itself holds enough charge to last up to 200 hours while reporting every 10 minutes.

The basic Silver version includes a self-install vehicle kit and features a one-day memory with route plotting, while the top-of-the-range Platinum model has 30-day memory and priority technical support for £42.99 (all prices include VAT).

A remote GPS aerial is included for more heavily shielded installations. Apart from times during its journey from Sweden, when the location skipped about a little bit while it was inside its Pelican case, inside a box, inside a warehouse, the signal was totally dependable.

For more information visit www.trackdown.org.uk

Continental drivers using the ubiquitous DKV fuel card will be able to use the DKV Box to pay the new French eco-tax (see News, page 9) when it is introduced on July 20, following the trial launch due to be held in Alsace a month earlier.

Users will benefit from a 10% discount on top of the existing 13% discount provided for paying autoroute tolls with the unit.

The DKV Box can now be used to pay for road tolls in France and Spain, secure parking areas in France, Spain, Belgium and Germany, and to use the tunnels at Liefkenshoek in Belgium and Warnow in Germany.

Further details about the DKV Box and its various uses are available from www.dkv-euroservice.com

Save with DKV on French tax


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JANUARY

SOLUTION

SATURN

Did you find thehidden word in the

January 2013 issue of Truck & Driver? It was…

When the crossword is finished, the six letters in the coloured squares can be rearranged to spell out something found in a kitchen.

ACROSS 1 Name of the princess in the Shrek cartoon films (5) 4 Colourful dessert that wobbles! (5) 6 Pass in a car (8) 8 The planet that we all live on (5) 9 Toy doll, boyfriend of Barbie (3)11 ___ Birds, video game (5)13 3 + 2 + 5 (3)15 Foamy top of a milkshake (5)17 County with the towns of Taunton and Minehead (8)18 Riverbank mammal that lives in a holt (5)19 Full of flavour, great to eat (5)

DOWN 1 Group of sheep (5) 2 Atlantic ___, huge mass of water (5) 3 Season when the leaves fall (6) 4 Funny story that makes you laugh (4) 5 Green crispy vegetable in a salad (7) 7 Not difficult at all (4)10 The world’s highest mountain (7) 11 Insects that live in a hill? (4)12 Mouse or rat, for instance (6)13 Jobs to be done (5)14 A bit mad! (5)16 60 minutes (4)

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CAMERON & WILLIAM ROGERS

The lively Rogers lads – Cameron (aged nine) and William (4) – are pictured having fun together in front of their grandad’s lorry, grandad being Jimmy Hillage.

‘Hi, my name is Casey Paul. I am 3½ and this is my granda Alex’s truck. He says I am his pride and joy, but my gran Gerry and his Scania are too…’

These truck-mad youngsters, George and Daniel, who are both aged seven and from Ellesmere, are pictured at the Oswestry Truck Show. Daniel’s father is truck driver Henry Jones, and Daniel just loves to join him in his lorries. A future driver in the making?

HITCHING A LIFT?


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Funky new Ford

THE T&D van TEST

Minor nitpicking aside, Ford’s long-awaited small Transit replacement has arrived – and, reports George Barrow, the Custom comes with plenty of driver appeal

The wait is finally over – Ford’s new small Transit van has arrived in the UK, and thankfully it is everything we hoped it

would be. From the funky Ford family grille, to the curvaceous rear doors, to the tactile, ergonomic cab that has almost been lifted straight from the production line of the latest Ford Focus, the Transit Custom has it all.

Chassis, driveline and engine have all come from the outgoing Transit range, revamped last year. So, rather than an all-new van, the Transit Custom is a two-stage development, the stylish new body having been fitted onto these tried-and-tested mechanicals that haven’t strayed too far from the core principles of Transits of old.

ROaD PRESEnCEIt is still a new van – this is certainly not a case of the emperor’s new clothes – but the focus of the Transit Custom has shifted to the design, and rightly so. Real steps have been made to make it a more appealing vehicle to markets other than the traditional white-van driver.

The rounded edges help to create a presence on the road while narrowing the perceived dimensions, ensuring that when the Transit Custom is parked next to a current Transit van, the newer model looks significantly more svelte.

The changes will almost certainly help Ford

compete against the Volkswagen Transporter and the Mercedes-Benz Vito, the latter of which enjoys a healthy share in the combo van or people-carrier market.

Tourneo (passenger) versions of the Custom look every bit the upmarket airport taxi, while the interior is now more closely matched to a family saloon than a commercial vehicle.

Simpler interiors will be available but our test vehicle came with the Limited trim, which includes optional part-leather seats, navigation, rear-view camera and Ford’s SYNC multimedia connectivity package.

Small things such as the rubberised coin/key pocket that won’t cause rattling and an uninterrupted window sill that functions capably as an armrest are practical touches that demonstrate careful, considered thought.

aGILE anD RESPOnSIvEThis is also the first time a Transit van has had a fully-adjustable steering wheel and, when coupled with Ford’s previous solution – the multi-directional adjustable seat, which is electric in this model – getting comfortable in a Transit van has never been easier.

The Transit’s driving dynamics are largely unchanged; it still feels agile, eager to be driven hard and responsive to steering, throttle and brake inputs. It is also as equally at home in urban and motorway environments as its predecessor. But where both the new interior and exterior design should be viewed as a triumphant success, the only gripes (small and nitpicking as they are) are largely unrelated to the makeover.

Chief among the complaints is the pedal positioning; clutch, brake and accelerator pedals are like an Olympic medals podium, mounted at differing heights. It’s something you overcome quickly, but the extra effort of lifting your foot higher than expected from accelerator to brake can become tiring over the course of a long journey.

Noise levels are also higher than expected for such a smart new vehicle. Without conducting a proper test between old and new, it is hard to discern whether the new Transit is noisier but, given that the Stage V Transit was such an improvement over Euro 4 models, we expected more from the Custom on this front.

Lastly, when you bury your right foot towards the front bulkhead, we found the Custom responding with a surprising amount of torque steer. The dimensions and a wealth of torque undoubtedly help make the Transit Custom an engaging drive but the kick from the wheel goes some way to counteracting the potential enjoyment.

TRIUMPH OF DESIGnOverall, the new Transit Custom is a triumph of design – we’ve not even mentioned the flap in the partition bulkhead that allows longer lengths to be carried, or the fold-up roof rack option – underpinned by a solid chassis and engine combination. It’s also the first non-car-derived van to which the words ‘car-like’ can actually be attributed without cliché.

For those who regularly drive cars (particularly Fords) as well as vans, the Transit Custom makes a very decent attempt at a more driver-focused, comfortable cab.

And if you’re strictly an LCV driver, and pilot anything other than a fully-equipped Mercedes-Benz Vito, the Transit Custom is by far the best interior you will ever have seen in a van – and for that Ford must be commended. n


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VAN

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Pick up a budget Navara

Van News in brief

No boom expected during 2013 Transit in sporting style

Twenty-eight Mercedes-Benz Sprinter 316CDIs (pictured below) are now hard at work with UPS franchisee Meden Couriers. Specified with a mixture of Medium, Long and Extra-long body lengths, they are all powered by 163hp 2.1-litre diesels.

‘We’ve run Sprinters in the past and we know that they can stand up to the harsh life of a multi-drop delivery vehicle – lots of stopping and starting, the doors constantly being opened and closed – far better than anything else we’ve seen,’ says Meden managing director Kevin McDonagh.

‘Even the casing on the wiring looms is more robust on the Sprinter than it is on other manufacturers’ products. That might seem like a peripheral detail but it can make the difference between a van being out on the road and earning money or stuck in the workshop awaiting repair,’ he adds.

l Vauxhall and conversion specialist VFS have produced a Movano-based tipper with a cage-type body to transport loose waste. With twin back doors that can open 270° and a full-height sliding side door, the galvanised mesh cage is 2m high. l Garage equipment supplier Tecalemit

Ford’s new Transit Custom (see test opposite) is to be marketed in short-wheelbase Sport Van guise with a host of extras that should make it stand out. They include a body kit, 18in alloy wheels shod with low-profile 235/50 tyres, and the twin bonnet stripes familiar from previous Sport Vans. The 2.9-tonner’s bumpers, exterior mirror casings, door handles and side rubbing strips are all finished in the same colour as the rest of the vehicle.

Partially trimmed in leather, the cab interior features a DAB – Digital Audio Broadcasting – radio plus Ford’s SYNC package. This enables the driver to make and take mobile phone calls hands-free using simple voice commands and will even read out incoming texts. SYNC also allows music on iPods and MP3 players to be controlled with verbal instructions.

Power comes courtesy of a 155hp/385Nm 2.2-litre Duratorq diesel. Prices are yet to be released.

Not only will Sport Van be one of the fanciest light commercials of its size and type on the road, both it and other Transit Customs will be among the safest – if Euro NCAP’s latest findings are anything to go by. Transit Custom has become the first vehicle in its segment to achieve a maximum five-star rating from the safety organisation.

The number of vans sold represents an accurate barometer of the true health of the UK economy: and if car and van maker Renault’s predictions are correct, then Britain is in for another tough 12 months.

It believes that total sales will shrink by up to 5% in 2013 compared with 2012’s level, a view shared by its sister company Nissan. Ford, Peugeot and Citroën all contend that registrations will, at best, remain flat.

Volkswagen and Vauxhall are slightly more optimistic, with Fiat going so far as to predict a 3% rise. That puts it in tune with the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, which was predicting a 3.2% hike in sales at the time of writing. Nobody, however, is expecting a boom.

Renault believes it should be able to hold on to its 6% share of what it suggests will be a shrinking market and that it will be helped in this endeavour by the launch of a restyled Kangoo, for which it is offering Stop & Start as an option.

Also being introduced are new low-CO2 ECO2 versions of the Trafic, typically costing £400 more than standard models: an all-new Trafic will be launched in mid- to late-2014.

The Master gets an upgrade during 2013 and it will also feature Stop & Start, plus lower-CO2 engines. Arriving too is a new Master tipper, using a body fitted by UK converter VFS, which makes extensive use of high-strength steel and is said to offer a 120kg payload advantage over the previous factory-built product.

Nissan has launched a reduced-specification, entry-level version of its Navara 4x4 double-cab pickup, but it depends what you mean by reduced specification. True, the interior door handles are black not chromed, the front bumper body-coloured not two-tone, and there are conventional wiper blades not flat ones, but the Navara Visia still gets air-conditioning and 17in alloy wheels.

Other features include six airbags, Bluetooth connectivity, Electronic Stability Programme and central door locking. Under the bonnet is a new version of Nissan’s 2.5-litre dCi common-rail diesel, generating 144hp/350Nm and capable of returning 39.8mpg on the extra-urban cycle. Maximum payload and towing capacity are 1250kg and 2600kg respectively.

Prices start at £17,995, excluding VAT.

has acquired 28 Nissan vans for its mobile engineers. The 13 NV200 SEs and 15 Primastars are set to cover 90,000 miles apiece over the next three years.l Bristol-based tool hire business Brandon Hire has taken delivery of six Fiat Ducato 3.5-tonne chassis cabs bodied by KFS.

Merc fit for hard work


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88 MARCH 2013 Truck& Driver

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Truck& Driver MARCH 2013 89

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PARTS


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E

GIANT CROSSWORD

ACROSS 1 Travelling over barn to southern Welsh town (8) 6 Ring friend for jewel (4) 7 Yield to vessel with German (6) 8 Follow to the back end? (4) 9 Renault truck (see photo) (6)11 Mad as nine crashing (6)12 Old Morris saloon going through Oxford? (4)13 Caught changing date for officer-to-be (5)16 Fuel put in cider van (4)18 Military display is rubbish as well (6)20 Look in the brochure for old Spanish truck (4)21 Merc truck has strength to join ship (10)24 Placing L-plates on them for truckfest here (7,6)27 Broken yacht going round country (5)31 Very cold clubs in large truck (6)32 Relative grabs turn in Wiltshire town (7)34 Tim due to break monotony (6)36 Sorrowful about squabble (3)37 River that may suit you? (5) 38 Start paying rent, if you don’t mind (6) 39 Country put a little animal first (4)

40 My my, rates change causes imbalance (9)41 Vehicle stocktaking? (6,5)

DOWN 1 A service returns to part of India (5) 2 Discovers journey has traffic-calmer (6,5) 3 Upset mini-vat to find food nutrient (7) 4 Point to celebrity as guiding light (5,4) 5 Monica dismantled truck in France (6)10 Publish moot point (5) 13 Hear police at small wood (5) 14 Depressed by feathers (4)15 Sailor found on road? (3)16 Iveco van every morning? (5)17 Dance and saucily look up (4)19 Framework around tillers (7)22 Troubled pairs at a Cumbrian town (8)23 Doctor’s animal at capital city (6)25 Two-directional type of bet (4-3)26 Erasmus becomes health-club worker (7)28 Motorway through snarled-up Exeter is most remote (7)29 Actually can fit wrongly (2,4)30 Unique because city’s involved (6)33 Old Lancia at end of river? (5)

WIN£25 You could win £25 (in the form of a high street voucher, exchangeable anywhere). Send the completed

crossword, with your name, address and email address (if you have one) to: CROSSWORD March, T&D, 2nd Floor, Road Transport Media, NINE Sutton Court Road, Sutton SM1 4SZ. The closing date is March 1, 2013. Note: The judge’s decision is final; no corres pondence will be entered into.

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35 Colour scheme, alternatively, after short month (5)37 Annual check brought up for cat (3)

1. Junction 6. Emit 7. Manual 8. Mack 9. Lather 11. Europe 12. Fuso 13. Wells 16. Caen 18. Geneva 20. Edam 21. Studebaker 24. Abbots Bromley 27. Abode 31. Driver 32. Premium 34. Others 36. Tot 37. Syria 38. Pliers 39. Nail 40. Relief map 41. FraserburghDOWN: 1. Jamal 2. Couch potato 3. Ill-bred 4. Newmarket 5. Sidcup 10. Acute 13. Waste 14. Lout 15. See 16. Chard 17. Even 19. Enemies 22. Mandator 23. Osprey 25. Bristol 26. Replica 28. Browser 29. Amiens 30. Trying 33. Idler 35. Hindu 37. Suel January winner: David Powell of Hereford.

JANUARY 2013 SOLUTION

It’s your shout! Join Britain’s best truck driver website... Go to www.trucknetuk.comWorldMags.netWorldMags.net

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JANUARY SOLUTION

All the words below are place names off the A96. See if you can find the words hidden in the large grid on the right.

ABERDEEN FORRESASHGROVE HUNTLYAULDEARN INVERNESS BALLOCH INVERURIEBRODIE KEITHBUCKSBURN LHANBRYDECAIRNIE MOSSTODLOCHELGIN NAIRNFOCHABERS PITCAPLE

Correctly name the location of this idyllic seaside scene pictured right and you could win £25 (in the form of a high street voucher, exchangeable anywhere). The first correct

entry chosen at random out of the hat is the winner.Send your answer (on a postcard or the back of an envelope)

to: Where’s This? March, Truck & Driver, Road Transport Media, 2nd Floor, NINE Sutton Court Road, Sutton SM1 4SZ. The deadline is March 1. Don’t forget to give us your name and address on your entry plus, if you have one, an email address.

Pictured for our January 2013 Where’s This? conundrum was the Acropolis, an ancient citadel dating from the 5th century BC, the main building of which is the Parthenon. We asked for both the city and country where the historical edifice is located and the first entry out of the hat with the correct answer – Athens, Greece – is Malcolm Hall of Tonbridge in Kent.

WIN£25

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It’s your shout! Join Britain’s best truck driver website... Go to www.trucknetuk.com

WIN A TRUCK!This month’s Word Search winner will receive one of these (pictured right) 1:50-scale limited-edition models courtesy of promotional model vehicle specialist Search Impex.

The Mercedes Actros 4x2 with three-axle curtainside trailer is customised in the 25th anniversary livery of Scottish operator Oban Express Parcel Service.

Established in 1983, Oban Express has grown impressively over the years yet remains a traditional family business. The company employs more than 70 people and operates a fleet of 37 vehicles, ranging from Sprinter vans through to 44-tonne artics. With a purpose-built main depot on a greenfield site in Oban and a satellite depot in Glasgow, Oban Express covers the central belt of Scotland.

Models, available from Search Impex, are priced at £134 each (including UK delivery & VAT). For details of availability of this and other models, visit the website www.search-impex.co.uk or call Search Impex on 01332 873555.

To win this one, cut out (or photocopy) the completed Word Search and coupon

(don’t forget your name & address) and send it to: Word Search March, Truck & Driver, Road Transport Media, 2nd Floor, NINE Sutton Court Road, Sutton SM1 4SZ. The deadline is March 1, 2013.

Congratulations to Mr K Duffy of Birmingham, who wins the Penfro Peche-liveried Volvo FH Globetrotter pictured in January T&D’s Word Search competition.


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Exercise the brain cells and secure some cash in our general knowledge quiz. The first correct Question Time solution out of the editor’s hat wins £25, in the

form of a high street voucher, exchangeable anywhere. Fill in your answers on the form below and get it to us before March 1, 2013.● The judges’ decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.

question timeWIN£25

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Send to: Question Time March, Truck & Driver, Road Transport Media, Second Floor, NINE Sutton Court Road, Sutton, Surrey SM1 4SZ. CLOSING DATE: March 1, 2013.

QUESTION TIME MARCH

1. Which charity benefited from the £16,600 sale proceeds of T&D’s ‘Pimp My Truck’?

2. In which country is there an express train known as the TGV?

3. What’s the single-word connection between Emu’s (late) friend and a Yorkshire city?

4. In which country of the UK is large haulier the Malcolm Group based?

5. What’s the single-word connection between a type of dog and an adjective describing part of the Croatian coast?

6. What’s the single-word connection between the films Easy Rider and On Golden Pond?

7. Which British truck manufacturer produced the Highwayman?

8. How many of Henry VIII’s wives were executed?

9. What do we call the state of having more than one husband or wife?

10. What is the main ingredient in the (Russian) soup bortch?

11. Hi-Way, Hi-Road & Hi-Street are cab options for which newly-launched heavy truck?

12. Which programme is broadcast every day (except Sunday) at 5pm on BBC Radio 4?

13. Which artist famous for his Campbell’s Soup Tins died in 1987?

14. Cumbernauld was an overspill new town created for which Scottish city?

15. What is the capital of Bulgaria?

16. Enver Hoxha was dictator of which Balkan country?

17. Former truck manufacturer LiAZ (production ceased in 2002) was based in which eastern European country?

18. What name is given to a picture made from various materials stuck together?

19. In which European city is the Uffizi Gallery?

20. By what name is the former British colony of Southern Rhodesia now known?

21. Tirana is the capital of which small Balkan country?

22. The Android operating system is owned by which computing giant?

23. Which manufacturer makes the ProAce panel van?

24. What is the longest river in South America?

25. What do the French call the Straits of Dover?

JANUARY 2013 SOLUTION1. Commercial Motor 2. Six 3. Dudley Moore 4. USSR 5. The Netherlands 6. Concorde 7. Annually 8. Mercedes-Benz9. Bacall 10. France 11. Leyland 12. Austria 13. Oscar Schindler 14. Robert de Niro 15. Yogi Bear 16. Libya 17. Hugo 18. AEC 19. Kiwi fruit 20. Italy 21. White 22. Danube23. Trailers 24. On the moon 25. Morris● £25 winner: John Lonsdale of Redcar, North Yorkshire.

Everybody’s gone surfin’! The liveliest truck driver forums are on… www.TruckNetUK.com WorldMags.netWorldMags.net

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code breakerWIN£25 Each number in the large grid below represents a different letter of the alphabet. Use the

small grid to keep a record of the decoded letters. Four letters are already in, as a start. When you’ve completed the puzzle, rearrange the letters in the coloured squares to spell the

name of the town suggested by the picture below. Send the location’s name on a postcard, along with your name and address – and email address if you have one – to: Code Breaker March, Truck & Driver, Second Floor, Road Transport Media, NINE Sutton Court Road, Sutton, Surrey SM1 4SZ, by March 1, 2013. The first correct answer out of the editor’s hat will win £25, in the form of a high street voucher, exchangeable anywhere.

● January T&D’s Code Breaker: Spalding. Winner: Peter Shaw of Aberaeron, Ceredigion.

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Everybody’s gone surfin’! The liveliest truck driver forums are on… www.TruckNetUK.com WorldMags.netWorldMags.net

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Two tea leaves decide on a career in Kettering – the bypass, to be exact – at the expense of Richard Storey, who foils their attempt at fuel thievery


Morality bypass

Headed for a Northampton drop, I needed to park up for the night. I’d never parked in Kettering before so was

not aware of any theft problems, whether diesel or loads, and, as my load was only chipboard flooring, I did the normal when layby parking and left the trailer doors open.

I got myself sorted – wash, dinner and a DVD – then settled down for the night. I could have been asleep only half-an-hour when I heard a ‘crack’. I immedi-ately knew it was the sound of the sender unit being twisted out of the fuel tank. I crept out of my bunk, grabbed my mobile from the dash, rang 999 and requested the police, explain-ing that somebody was attempting to steal my diesel and I needed assistance.

A WHISPER AWAY‘Where are you?’ said the phone operator.

‘I’m on the Kettering bypass.’‘Where on the bypass? It’s quite big.’I get my satnav off the windscreen,

press the ‘Where am I?’ button and give the operator my exact location.

While doing so, he said: ‘You’ll have to speak up,’ to which I whispered: ‘They’re still down the side of my truck, so I can’t really shout.’

‘Sit tight, we will have someone with you in three minutes,’ he says – and I kid you not, it was like something out of the TV programme Police, Camera, Action as two BMW Interceptors turn up, fol-lowed by a couple of local squad cars, a dog car and a Transit.

By the time they had arrived the two would-be thieves must have realised something was afoot because they had got back into their car and were pretend-ing to be asleep!

One of the coppers got out of the BMW and tapped on the window with his night stick, but still they pretended to be asleep. Eventually the police grew sick of this. They smashed the driver’s side window and, assisted by the dog, got both the occupants out and into the van and off to Kettering nick.

EIGHT EMPTY DRUMSThe police found five empty drums in the boot of the car and a further three down the side of my truck. I put the sender unit back in the tank and, turning on the igni-tion, discovered that they hadn’t actually had the chance to take any.

The car was recovered and, while the police were taking my statement, it emerged from the custody sergeant that

the pair apprehended claimed to be down the side of my trailer taking a piss. When they saw the drums they thought that they were abandoned – and that’s why the drums were in the back of their car. Oh, and this was after they had played the ‘we need a translator’ card.

Both were bailed and told to report to their local police station. One has done so but the other guy has absconded, ‘probably’, said the police liaison officer, ‘back to Lithuania’.

l Tell T&D your tale of the unexpected and we’ll give you £100! Write to Colin Barnett (see page 4 for address) or email [email protected]

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Documents

Truck & Driver 2013-03