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| August 2018
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BIG TEST Quon convert | FLEET FOCUS Truckloads of diversity | FEATURE A legendary Legend
FLEET FOCUS
Truckloads of diversity
FEATURE
A legendary Legend
The Official Magazine of the
ISSN 1174-7935 Issue 215
Shacklock ro Photos Gerald un M ne ay W y or St
This big hill on State Highway 16 presents a tough challenge for the UD Quon’s ESCOT-VI AMT, left in automated mode. It does well enough that it just might have changed owner Mike Steed’s mind about not trusting the Volvo Group gearbox to do its own thing much of the time
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Truck Tyres
BIG TEST
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f o s d a o l k c u Tr klock Photos Gerald Shac ro un M ne ay W & Story Cory Martin
Arvinan Ram, standing proud in her golden sari, with bright pink lipstick and nail polish, redefines what it is to be a Kiwi transport operator in the New Millennium
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y t i s r dive FLEET FOCUS
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DO YOU KNOW A TRUCK DRIVER HERO ? Is someone you know a“TRUCK DRIVER HERO”? Someone who has significantly contributed to the safety of others such as: helping someone from danger, contributing to the safety of others, acting in a consistantly safe way to prevent harm to others. Someone who has contributed significantly to the industry in ways such as: encouraging others to become drivers, advocacy of industry related matters, has been a long-term reliable driver, has gone over and above their call of duty for the business/industry.
LETS CREATE A TRUCK DRIVER HERO
HALLof FAME
FORMS ARE AVAILABLE ON-LINE nztruckanddriver.co.nz/tdh.html Having a winning driver on your team pays hugh dividents. There’s free publicity, its a morale boost, a proud flag to fly and just enter entering somebody’s name shows you care. The winning driver and his or her carrier are often used in subsequent stories.
NOMINATE YOUR DRIVERS TODAY
TD28440
PROUDLY BROUGHT TO YOU BY:
SPONSORED BY:
Phil Newton quickly snapped into rescue mode when he spotted a woman in distress....and in danger
Calm, cool clifftop chat to defuse drama
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ONTERRA MILKTANKER DRIVER PHIL Newton – nominated by his boss for the annual Truck Driver Hero Award for stopping to help an apparently-suicidal young woman sitting on a clifftop at the Arapuni Dam – says he’d “like to think anyone else would have done the same thing if they’d been there.” Then again…he knows first-hand that’s not necessarily how it is: Even as he was sitting talking to the distressed woman on the clifftop, the driver of a passing truck looked at them and “mimed drinking or something like that! I thought ‘oh, just keep on driving.’ That was disappointing.” Phil’s boss, Fonterra South Waikato depot
manager Stuart Reed says that Putaruru Police called him later that day to commend Phil’s actions. They said that “due to his action he has potentially saved this woman’s life as she had put some serious thought into committing suicide.” The May 3 incident saw Phil arrive at Arapuni, where the road crosses the Waikato River on the dam itself, and stopped to give way to a car…which he quickly realised was actually parked on the grass verge. Thinking it was “strange,” he looked around as he drove over the dam “and spotted a young woman sitting at the top of a cliff.”
He immediately thought that “this is someone who looks like they’re wanting to commit suicide. “Well, I thought, ‘she’s definitely not fishing! Oh heck, this isn’t good.’ ” He called Fonterra dispatch, asking them to call the Police, while he found a place to park his Volvo truck and trailer unit. As he headed back “all I was hoping was that she’d still be there. And luckily she was. “I called out to her a couple of times. Eventually she turned around and I could see the tears – tell she wasn’t happy. “She was definitely not in a good state of mind. She was a bit of a mess.” Newton could see a newly-cut hole in the
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Enter your fleet colour scheme in the PPG Transport Imaging Awards: Just fill out this entry form (or a photocopy of it) and send it into New Zealand Truck & Driver. Be in with a chance to win in the annual PPG Transport Imaging Awards. Contact name name & position in company: ________________________________________________________________ Location:
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Phone numbers: __________________________________________________________________________________________
TD16163
Fleet or company name:___________________________________________________________________________________
Please send a selection of photos of one particular truck in your fleet colours. It’s desirable (but not compulsory) to also send shots of other trucks that show off the colours. Make sure your images are supplied as large format files taken on a fine setting on a digital camera. The files must be at least 3MB. All entries become the property of Allied Publications Ltd. All entries property of AlliedIMAGING Publications Send yourbecome entry tothe PPG TRANSPORT A Ltd. S AWARD Send your entry to: PPG TRANSPORT IMAGING AWARDS 1642 or email to waynemunro@xtra.co.nz Allied Publications Ltd PO Box 112062 Penrose Auckland Allied Publications Ltd, PO Box 112062, Penrose, Auckland 1642, or email to waynemunro@xtra.co.nz (Remember do not reduce size of images to transmit by email, send two at a time on separate emails if large files.) (Do not reduce the size of images to send them by email – send large files one or two at a time in separate emails if necessary).
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RANSPORT OPERATOR MIKE MATHIESON AND the first driver hired for his then-new Nationwide Livestock business together came up with the unusual baby blue base colour for his trucks. And they dreamt-up the livery, with its map of New Zealand, a big N and L and arrows top and bottom indicating a circle. But still he gives a lot of the credit for Nationwide’s victory as the annual winner of the PPG Transport Imaging Awards for 2017/2018 to Mount Maunganui truck signwriting and imaging specialist Cliff Mannington. “Old Cliffy from Truck Signs…..he’s a pretty talented man, that fella,” says Mathieson. “We sent a blank canvas around there for him – I just gave him a rough outline of what we were looking for, and he just went ahead and did some drawings up… “We didn’t have much of a clue at the start…. We said: ‘We want something different – come up with some ideas
Truck Signs’ Cliff Mannington is credited with turning the chosen baby blue colour and some design ideas into a champion livery 2 | Truck & Driver
and some stripes….’ “And so we basically just let him go. He’s someone who’s got a real passion for trucks, you know – and he’s got a real pride in what he does.” Apart from their ideas on the branding, Mathieson really only stipulated that the pale blue base colour was a must – simply because “there was no-one really around in that lighter blue. There’s plenty of darker blues, but in that shiny, metallic blue there was no-one…” The livery Mannington came up with was pretty much accepted as-is by Mathieson. It comprises double silver striping along the sides of the crates and cabs – zig-zagging in a stylised Z on the driver’s side (reversed on the other side), with metallic orange shading airbrushed onto the vinyl on the cab sections. The main stripes turn down and out each side of the grille. The logo, which features on the crates, aerofoils and doors, has a green NZ map, with N and L