e thdytj str gsx // MAGZUS.CLUB //

ON ACTROS 2546 TEST SUPERMARKET SWEEP

BLAKEY'S

SWEDISH SPECIAL? BRINDLEY'S SURPRISING 580S

ANIMAL MAGIC SCANIA 92M STILL AT WORK

TOP POW ER

BELTER FIRST CLASS VOLVO FH16-750 FLAGSHIP IS A REAL RED DEVIL RANGE REVAMPS

NEW TRUCKS

Renault's Evolution spec & Iveco's tough T-WAY unveiled RECRUITMENT

NO JAB, NO JOB?

Legal position explored CLASSIC TRUCK

TRIPLE RESTORED

Vintage Bedford, Unipower & Latil returned to glory

BATTERY WER POELECT RIC VISION

A FUELT LS PLUS! 27t CURTAINSIDER ■ UK'S FIRST ELECTRIC

■ ME & MY TRUCK: DAF CF530 WRECKER ■ TRUCK-SPOTTING ON M6, J36 ■ FREE EXPERT LEGAL ADVICE JUNE 2021 ISSUE NO: 455 £4.25

RENAULT'S TO CLEAN UP ROAD HAULAGE KELSEYmedia

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ON ACTROS 2546 TEST SUPERMARKET SWEEP

SWEDISH SPECIAL?

ANIMAL MAGIC

BRINDLEY'S SURPRISING 580S

SCANIA 92M STILL AT WORK

TOP POWE R

BLAKEY'S

BELTER FIRST CLASS VOLVO FH16-750 FLAGSHIP IS A REAL RED DEVIL RANGE REVAMPS

NEW TRUCKS

Renault's Evolution spec & Iveco's tough T-WAY unveiled RECRUITMENT

NO JAB, NO JOB?

Legal position explored CLASSIC TRUCK

TRIPLE RESTORED

Vintage Bedford, Unipower & Latil returned to glory

BATTERY POWER ELECTRIC VISION

A FUELT LS PLUS! 27t CURTAINSIDER ■ UK'S FIRST ELECTRIC

■ ME & MY TRUCK: DAF CF530 WRECKER ■ TRUCK-SPOTTING ON M6, J36 ■ FREE EXPERT LEGAL ADVICE JUNE 2021 ISSUE NO: 455 £4.25

RENAULT'S TO CLEAN UP ROAD HAULAGE KELSEYmedia

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On the cover…

54 Blakey’s Belter J Blakey Transport’s firstclass Volvo FH16-750 is a real red devil

08

Iveco unveils T-WAY

ON THE WEB!

Welcome to

TRUCKING

For the latest ne ws, features and mo re, see www.truckingm ag.co.uk, find us on faceb ook and follow us on twitter!

L

aunching new trucks during a pandemic must be a headache for manufacturers. The cost of developing a single new model, let alone an entire range upgrade, is huge – and it must be incredibly frustrating to get to the finishing line, only to find COVID has stymied any chance of showing off your vehicles to operators and press in a live, in-the-flesh environment. We’ve had a few vehicle premieres since the pandemic struck Europe last year. MAN just managed to sneak in before the lockdowns with the launch of its new generation in February 2020, but Volvo wasn’t so lucky when the March unveiling of its new heavy truck range was cancelled at the last minute due to an outbreak in Sweden. Since then, the manufacturers have moved online with a string of ‘virtual’ reveals. From Scania’s new V8s to Iveco’s UK S-WAY debut, we’ve had to turn to a web browser to learn the latest.

Recently, two more new launches have taken place online – but in markedly different ways.

Iveco took the wraps off its tough T-WAY in a ‘traditional’ virtual unveiling. But just prior to that, Renault premiered its Evolution line to players of videogame Euro Truck Simulator 2. The game, said Renault, was the ideal place for people to pore over the new cab interior in immersive 3D. An interesting idea, as one reader has pointed out (Letters, page 62) – but for us, we are very much looking forward to things getting back to normal. It looks like the government will be loosening lockdown rules very soon, so fingers crossed truck shows and press events can once again take place ‘in the flesh’ in the UK before long…

6 New Trucks Renault reveals new Evolution line, Iveco launches tough new T-WAY off-road special

18 No Jab, No Job? Expert tackles the employment law surrounding vaccinations

20 Battery Power Renault boss discusses electric vision to clean up road transport

38 On Test: Actros 2546 Merc’s supermarket-spec Actros 2546 6x2 driven

44 Swedish Special?

John Brindley’s latest Scania 580S is a real UK rarity

50 Animal Magic Classic Scania 92M livestock hauler still at work

Andy Stewart, editor www.truckingmag.co.uk

Find us on facebook (www.facebook.com/truckingmag) Follow us on twitter (@truckingmag) and on Instagram (truckingmaguk)

70 Triple Restored Bedford M Type, Latil and Unipower returned to glory June 2021 TRUCKING 3

Contents 38 Actros on test

42 DAF CF Wrecker

50 Cattle King

54

Blakey’s Red Devil

Inside your June 2021 issue…

6 Industry News

16 International News

28 Reviews

36 Subscriptions

Renault launches Evolution heavy truck range, ULEZ expansion fears, Iveco unveils T-WAY off-roader

Cargo theft “a big wake-up call”, freight volumes rise despite COVID and Brexit set-backs

The latest books, music and movies rated

Get Trucking magazine delivered right to your door and never miss an issue!

10 Alternative Fuels News

18 No Jab, No Job

UK’s first 27-tonne electric curtainsider, Warburtons fields its first zero-emission 16-tonner

Expert tackles the employment law surrounding vaccine decisions

30 New Gear

20 The Big Interview 12 Operator’s News Bartrum bags more Mercs, Maritime trials new M6toll system

Bruno Blin, Renault Trucks global president, discusses his vision of the next evolution of road transport

14 Driver’s News

26 PASSango

Driver crisis worsens after changes to employment status rules

AS24’s new kit enables cashless transactions on Europe’s toll roads

The latest gadgets and widgets to make life on the road a bit better

32 Round Up: LED Work Lights The best lamps to keep you working when ambient light fails

34 Out & About

4 TRUCKING June 2021

This month, we’re truck-spotting on the M6 at Junction 36, Crooklands.

Did we spot you?

38 Driven We put Merc’s supermarket-spec Actros 2546 6x2 through its paces

42 Me & My Truck Callum Ferguson’s dynamite DAF CF530 manual wrecker storms onto our centre spread

44 The Big Deal John Brindley Ltd’s Swedishspec Scania 580S is a UK rarity www.truckingmag.co.uk

WHY NOT SUBSCRIBE? It’s easy and yo u’ll never m iss an issue! Turn to page 36 or call 01959 543747 for full subscr iption details

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50 Cattle King

66 Court & Inquiry

77-81 SERVICES

Scania 92M is still transporting animals for Stuart King from Ashbourne, County Meath, ROI

The latest road transport cases straight from the courtroom

Owner-Drivers

68 Trucker’s Diary 54 Simply Red J Blakey Transport’s fleet of first-class Volvo FH16s

Check the latest dates and venues for trucking events and conferences right here

62 Letters

70 Classic Truck

Renault’s game-changing virtual truck launch, cold shower benefits and your comments

Bedford M Type, Latil HLTL10 and H14TL10, plus Unipower Model G get the full restoration treatment

Increase your productivity and revenue

Return Loads Maximise your profits

Operator Licensing Expand your horizons

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Protect your investments

64 You & the Law

82 Last Drop

Trucking Trader

Our resident legal expert answers your queries

Why the inside of a truck cab is unsuitable for paperwork

Track down your next used truck bargain

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Kelsey Media 2021 © all rights reserved. Kelsey Media is a trading name of Kelsey Publishing Ltd. Reproduction in whole or in part is forbidden except with permission in writing from the publishers. Note to contributors: articles submitted for consideration by the editor must be the original work of the author and not previously published. Where photographs are included, which are not the property of the contributor, permission to reproduce them must have been obtained from the owner of the copyright. The editor cannot guarantee a personal response to all letters and emails received. The views expressed in the magazine are not necessarily those of the editor or the Publisher. Kelsey Publishing Ltd accepts no liability for products and services offered by third parties.

www.kelsey.co.uk June 2021 TRUCKING 5

NEWS INDUSTRY NEWS IN BRIEF

RENAULT’S UPDATED HEAVY TRUCK RANGE IS “BIGGEST EVOLUTION SINCE 2013”

V No limit The testing of speed limiter response speeds in vehicles fitted with an analogue tachograph will no longer be part of the annual test on heavy vehicles, according to DVSA. This change means all Authorised Testing Facilities (ATFs) will be able to test vehicles fitted with analogue tachographs.

Previously, only certain ATFs could perform annual tests on vehicles fitted with this type of tachograph due to the equipment needed. The procedure has been suspended during the COVID-19 pandemic, but ceased being part of the annual test permanently from May 1 this year. This will mean there is no longer a requirement for ATFs to own or calibrate this equipment after this date.

Penny-a-Pallet

Northamptonshire-based palletised freight distribution network Fortec, part of the Pall-Ex Group, is supporting the Zoe’s Place charity by launching a new Penny-A-Pallet scheme which will see 1p from every pallet handled by the two pallet networks being collected in a charitable fund.

Fortec has so far donated over £30,000 to Zoe’s Place in a period spanning eight years. Fortec said it is hoping to raise over £10,000 in 2021 to help the charity continue to deliver vital palliative, respite and end-of-life care to babies and infants aged up to five years, who suffer from life-limiting or life-threatening conditions.

Tanita Mistry, corporate fundraiser at Zoe’s Place, said: “The ongoing partnerships we have with firms like Fortec are invaluable, as the support we receive from them ensures we can continue to provide help to those children and families who need it, whether this be respite care, therapies, family support and more. Fundraising accounts for a considerable amount of our income, and COVID-19 has meant many events have been cancelled, making our future uncertain. Now more than ever, we must say a huge thank you to Fortec for its continued support and generosity.”

6 TRUCKING June 2021

ehicle upgrades have been announced by Renault Trucks for the T, T High, C and K vehicle ranges, with an emphasis put on fuel efficiency, driving manners, on-board comfort, safety and productivity.

The new Evolution range represents the biggest update of its products since 2013.

Fuel efficiency has been boosted by three per cent, said the manufacturer. This is due to improved aerodynamics around the front grille, and wheel arch extensions have been added to further increase airflow.

The Evolution range will also be fitted with Renault’s latest Euro 6 Step E engines. These include a new version of Optivision predictive cruise control and an optimised cruise control system with two selectable driving modes. ‘Eco on’ is the default mode and boosts fuel efficiency by adjusting acceleration, gear shifting, cruise control and deceleration; whereas ‘Eco off’ allows drivers to change driving mode to suit their preference.

A new ‘Pulse and Glide’ function further improves fuel consumption by maintaining the vehicle’s speed around the cruise

ABOVE Interior is improved with better materials

control set point (+/- 2 kmh).

Depending on usage and mileage, oil change intervals for vehicles fitted with 13-litre Euro 6 engines can be extended to 150,000 km or 18 months. Finally, new T and T Highs are fitted as standard with fuel-efficient Category A tyres.

There are changes to exterior appearance. Headlights have been made smaller and a honeycomb grille has been added to give the vehicles a “more assertive style”.

Inside, a new multi-directional steering column has been created to enable drivers to adjust driving position more easily. New seats have been adopted featuring materials that are more durable and comfortable, and there’s more support too.

Materials are finished to be easier to clean, and seat covers are fully removable. New fabric and part-leather designs have also been introduced.

Elsewhere in the driving area, two USB-C ports have been added for increased phone and device charging capabilities.

Other quality-of-life upgrades include an improved mattress.

The ‘Serenity’ bunk is now 13 per cent thicker at 170 mm, while the number of springs has been doubled. A washable memory foam mattress topper can be added as an option, and the mattress is detachable to enable use of fitted sheets.

Two USB-C sockets have also been added to the bunk area for

easier charging during rest.

To improve sound quality in the cab, Renault said it has also increased the level of door insulation and fitted new HIFI equipment and speakers.

From a safety perspective, new LED lights have been fitted to T, T High and C on-road models.

Five-cell LED front lamps are fitted as standard with daytime running, main beam, fog and indicator functions. The new wraparound design improves side visibility and safety, Renault reckons. The lights are up to three times brighter than standard, helping visibility in all weather conditions. LEDs have also been used inside the cab to help drivers get in and out of the vehicle.

To boost driver and load safety, anti-intrusion door locks, cameras and presence sensors are offered, as well as vision doors to provide better visibility of pedestrians and cyclists. Construction models have high-visibility painted exterior grab handles.

Finally, an anti-rollaway parking brake with emergency application now automatically activates when the driver leaves the cab to reduce the risk of unexpected vehicle movement.

ABOVE Evolution range boosts fuel efficiency by three per cent

BREXIT WITHDRAWAL AGREEMENT RATIFIED TO PROTECT TRADE WITH EU

B

usiness on both sides of the Channel have welcomed the European Parliament’s approval of the Trade and Customs Agreement (TCA), announced on December 24, 2020, which will help enable industry, UK and EU authorities to focus on effective implementation of the Brexit deal and keep goods and services flowing freely across the UK’s borders.

“The ratification of the TCA is great news for businesses across the UK’s highly interconnected supply chain,” said Sarah Laouadi, European policy manager for Logistics UK, “and will provide them with greater certainty about how and when goods can move across the UK’s borders.”

But Laouadi said there are still gaps in the agreement – for example, for touring companies that will need to support their

customers in the cultural sector when the concert and event season restarts, but will be prevented from touring freely in Europe under the current terms of the agreement.

The UK currently does not make checks on goods arriving in the UK, but the situation at the border will change from October 1, 2021 when requirements on products of animal origin and other high-risk foods will be implemented.

The option to defer the submission of the full customs declaration up to six months from the point of import will be phased out on January 1, 2022. Safety and Security Declarations for imports, as well as physical checks on products of animal origin (also known as sanitary and phytosanitary checks, or SPS) will be required from January 1, 2022.

www.truckingmag.co.uk

ULEZ EXPANSION TO DRIVE AUTUMN SPIKE IN TRUCK RENTALS ruck and van operators in the South East are being advised to plan their vehicle provision now to avoid paying “thousands of pounds” in extra charges and potentially fines when Greater London’s Ultra-LowEmission Zone (ULEZ) expands on October 25, 2021. The expanded ULEZ will encompass an area 18

T

ABOVE ULEZ catchment area will grow “18 times larger” on October 25

J

times larger, bounded by the North Circular and South Circular Roads, and runs through many neighbourhoods previously unaffected by the zone.

According to vehicle rental firm Enterprise, the “triple effect” of the expanded ULEZ, higher seasonal demand for deliveries ahead of Christmas and Black Friday, plus increased demand for post-accident replacement rental as a result of winter driving conditions and daylight saving, could lead to unprecedented demand for both HGVs and vans.

It is estimated as many as 3000 trucks and 35,000 vans driving into London every day do not currently meet the required

Euro 6 emissions standard and will be liable for the expanded ULEZ charges.

A daily charge runs from midnight to midnight, so a vehicle that enters the zone at 11pm and leaves at 3am will have to pay two daily charges.

The daily ULEZ charge for non-Euro 6-compliant trucks is £100 with a penalty charge from £500, in addition to any Congestion Charge or LEZ charges that apply.

Enterprise illustrated a small company driving only five non-compliant vans in the new ULEZ zone for 250 days a year will still pay more than £15,000 per annum in additional costs. These

will either have to be absorbed or passed onto customers, it said.

Commercial vehicles more than five years old are unlikely to meet the standard, as Euro 6 was only required on new vehicles from September 2016 onwards.

Thousands of businesses operating trucks are likely to be affected, said Enterprise, as journeys to and from areas such as Hammersmith, Cricklewood, Walthamstow, Blackheath and Peckham will now fall under the ULEZ. Several neighbourhoods will be bisected by the expanded zone, and vehicles operating there may face the charge simply by driving a hundred yards or less.

JOST UNVEILS NEXT-GENERATION KKS AUTOMATIC COUPLING SYSTEM

OST has launched a new KKS automatic coupling system that enables drivers to couple and uncouple semi-trailers via remote control automatically, safely and quickly. According to the manufacturer, the KKS system will be “a key component” in autonomous driving.

Coupling and uncoupling a trailer can be a lengthy and hazardous procedure, JOST said.

Its new automated system combines KKS 42 fifth-wheel coupling, Modul E-Drive electric landing gear, sensor coupling system, three sensors, LubeTronic automatic lubrication system, KKS remote control and ISO 13044-2-certified KKS connector.

The driver is guided through the coupling

ABOVE KKS enables the driver to stay in the cab during coupling and uncoupling

process, with sensors providing live information on the KKS remote control throughout the process.

With KKS, the driver no longer needs to climb out from the cab, crank down the landing gears, climb behind the cab, unplug the cables and pull the fifth wheel open when uncoupling. Instead, the Modul E-Drive electric landing gears automatically deploy at the push of a button and the fifth wheel is unlocked remotely.

Spiral cables for air, electrics and ABS/EBS no longer need to be detached manually, as the KKS connector on the fifth wheel and trailer detaches all the necessary electrical and pneumatic connections between the truck and trailer.

For the coupling process, the driver raises the vehicle chassis to bring the fifth-wheel coupling plate into contact with the trailer support plate. Equipped as standard, the support plate sensor indicates the trailer plate is touching. Once this is displayed on the KKS remote control, the truck is reversed until the kingpin has securely engaged in the lock of

the fifth-wheel and the mechanism closes.

The position of the kingpin and the correct locking of the fifth-wheel coupling are also monitored by sensors and displayed to the driver on the remote control. Together with the mechanical connection via the kingpin, the KKS connector also automatically reconnects the air, electrics, ABS and EBS. JOST reckons KKS can cut the time required to change a trailer by up to 50 per cent. It is particularly well suited for operators which perform coupling processes often and drive short distances, such as those in on-site transport.

ABOVE Modul E-Drive electric landing gears deploy automatically and fifth wheel is unlocked remotely

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June 2021 TRUCKING 7

NEWS INDUSTRY Tough T-WAY off-roader completes Iveco’s new truck range

I

veco has completed the launch of its new range of heavy trucks with the new T-WAY off-roader, designed as a replacement for TRAKKER and geared towards ‘extreme off-road missions’.

T-WAY boasts a number of upgrades over its predecessor. First is a new HI-TRONIX 12- or 16-speed automated transmission developed specifically for off-road work, which now offers a hill-hold function to aid departure from steep slopes. A rocking mode can help drivers recover traction if they get stuck, and a creep mode enables better low-speed manoeuvring Hi-Cruise is available for on-road driving, which offers predictive shifting and cruise control.

Available as both rigid and artic, T-WAY has the widest offering of driveline options on the market, according to Iveco. Partial-wheel drive on 6x4 rigid and articulated and 8x4 rigid models are offered, as well as all-wheel drive on 4x4 and 6x6 rigids and artics, and on 8x8 rigid versions.

The all-wheel drive range has been extended with new 4, 4.2 and 4.5 m wheelbase models.

T-WAY can transport special loads with no modification to the chassis, Iveco claims.

A new HI-MUX electronic architecture is fully compatible with the latest-generation control

systems, said Iveco, and the new PTO line-up includes a high-performance sandwich PTO that delivers up to 2300 Nm of torque.

T-WAY sports a high-resistance steel chassis with a 10 mm thick frame. The front axle has a maximum capacity of up to nine tonnes.

Iveco said hub reduction on the rear axle is standard to maximise strength and performance, and a new heavy-duty rear suspension system for tandem axles optimises vehicle weight and improves off-road performance with greater ground clearance and a better departure angle.

Engine options for the new truck are a 13-litre Cursor 13 offering up to 510 bhp – 10 bhp more than was available with TRAKKER. For lighter-weight configurations, T-WAY can also be spec’d with a Cursor 9 powerplant.

T-WAY’s new braking system features EBS as standard. Full disc brakes are available on PWD models, and new ADAS (Advanced Driving Assistance Systems) are available across the range.

Meanwhile, inside the cab there are boosted comfort levels, better connectivity and improved digital services.

Luca Sra, chief operating officer, Iveco, launched the truck via an online event.

“Today we open a new chapter in Iveco’s extraordinary off-road history with the launch of the T-WAY, heir to the throne of the TRAKKER as the ‘strongest of the heaviest’,” he said. “This extra-strong vehicle, a true champion of performance, sturdiness and durability, will further consolidate Iveco’s presence in the heavy off-road sector.”

To boost efficiency, there are new telematics features, including a fuel-saving mode when all-wheel drive is required. The Hi-Traction hydrostatic drive system is available on 6×4 rigid and all articulated models. Operational at up to 25 kmh, the system provides additional hydraulic front-wheel traction and can help boost fuel consumption.

ABOVE New T-WAY offers boosted power and a variety of other upgrades

Cutting-edge tech on right track to improve tyre safety

N

ew technology that monitors tyre pressures, tread depth and the axle weight of HGVs has been hailed for its potential in boosting safety on the roads.

Highways England said trials paid for by its designated fund for

ABOVE System uses highintensity strobe lights, allweather cameras and drive-over pressure instruments to monitor HGV tyre pressures, tread depth and axle weight

innovation have proved “hugely successful”, with one in 12 of 100,000 tyres checked found to be underinflated and the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) identifying 5000 overweight vehicles a month.

Now there are plans to roll the system out at strategic route locations across the country, Highways England said.

Its Commercial Vehicle Incident Prevention Team (CVIPT) backed a pilot of the sophisticated WheelRight quartz sensor system at Keele Services on the M6 before running year-long trials with John Lewis at Milton Keynes, AW Jenkinson Transport at Penrith, and the DVSA check site at Cuerden on the M62.

The system comprises a set of high-intensity strobe lights, all-weather cameras and drive-over pressure instruments, which all collect data within seconds to allow adjustments to be made to ensure tyres are compliant with safety standards.

This data is analysed to provide results instantly, and reports include tyre pressures (pass or fail based on predetermined levels); tread depths (pass or fail based on specified levels); tyre temperatures (early identification of problem tyres or wheels); tyre condition (via a 360-degree photographic image of the tread); and Weigh in Motion data/axle weights.

“We are constantly looking for ways to ensure everyone who

travels or works on our network gets home safe and well, and CVIPT can be very proud of the work they are doing to help us achieve this,” said Highways England’s chief highway engineer, Mike Wilson.

Other projects CVIPT has brought forward include working with tyre firm Bridgestone to analyse the causes of tyre-related incidents and tyre damage by analysing 1000 pieces of debris; launching a free smartphone app in collaboration with the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) that simulates HGV blindspots; and working with the Health & Safety Executive and industry to drive forward load security best practice.

HGV TRAFFIC SPIKES AS RETAIL & HOSPITALITY RETURNS

N

ew figures from the Department for Transport (DfT) show HGV traffic hit a three-month high on the weekend of April 11-12 as many non-essential shops, restaurants and pubs prepared to re-open.

The weekend’s HGV traffic was 15 per cent above the pre-pandemic figure – a level last recorded in the build-up to Christmas.

The government report revealed HGV traffic plummeted by as much as 40 per cent in the depths of the first lockdown, but bounced back strongly and has maintained pre-lockdown volumes since the start of September.

8 TRUCKING June 2021

Car traffic was also up in April at 86 per cent founder of insurance website Quotezone.co.uk. of normal pre-lockdown volumes, which marks “The spike in HGV traffic shows the important the first time since October role these drivers have in that drivers have gotten behind prepping our shops and the wheel in such numbers. restaurants for what will “It will be a great relief for hopefully be a return to people in the retail and near-normal trade. hospitality industries that “HGVs have been the one they’re moving towards type of road traffic that has re-opening after what must remained consistently high have been a frustrating time for throughout the pandemic, many business owners and showing the vital support they ABOVE April saw UK truck their staff,” said Greg Wilson, provide to local communities.” traffic hit a three-month high www.truckingmag.co.uk

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NEWS ALTERNATIVE FUELS NEWS IN BRIEF Eliminate.

Minimise. Offset The RHA is calling for government to show "coordinated leadership" by creating a well-considered, evidence-based national decarbonisation roadmap that fully takes account of the needs of users and the environment. The call was issued with the publication of the Association’s latest ’Eliminate, Minimise, Offset’ paper, which sets out its vision on how the CV sector can achieve Net Zero emissions. The cornerstone of this approach, it said, is investment in developing vehicle standards to drive down CO2 emissions, supported by stable regulation. RHA said it was concerned the current political train of thought is “increasingly attuned to knee-jerk and simplistic demonising of road users that some groups and politicians see as being unpopular or polluting”.

There is little regard to the essential needs of the economy and society for goods to be moved, it added. RHA chief executive, Richard Burnett, said: “A more inclusive approach to decarbonization – one that takes account of the need for business to have confidence to invest in new equipment – is essential as the drive to Net Zero continues.”

CCF PUTS UK'S FIRST 27-TONNE ELECTRIC CURTAINSIDER INTO CITY OPERATION

C

CF has launched a 27-tonne curtainside battery electric vehicle (BEV) with 287 kWh traction batteries, which the first of its size and type in the UK. The BEV is the result of three years of development by CCF, part of the Travis Perkins plc Group.

The truck has been manufactured and supplied through Electra to complete zero-emission customer deliveries from CCF’s Harmondsworth branch across West and Central London.

With a charge time of up to seven hours, the BEV has the capacity to cover up to 120 miles on a full charge, CCF said. The vehicle has been awarded a five-star rating under the London Direct Vision Standards (DVS), and has been fitted with a sensor system to alert the driver to the presence of vulnerable road users, an audible vehicle manoeuvring alarm, and a five-way camera monitoring system.

Onboard weighing scales, telematics and vehicle tracking will also be used to monitor the BEV’s energy use in real time.

Plus, its on-board chargers enable the vehicle to be charged from any 32/63 amp supply – meaning it can be charged at any site with a three-phase power supply.

“CCF is proud to have launched the UK’s first 27-tonne curtainside BEV,” said Catherine Gibson, MD, CCF. “Being as sustainable as possible and investing in this vehicle is not only instrumental to CCF’s delivery operations across

London, but will also help to reduce harmful emissions while contributing to the UK’s ambitious sustainability targets and journey to Net Zero.”

Christina Calderato, TfL’s head of transport strategy and planning, said: “This is a pioneering electric vehicle for its size and is demonstrating the highest standards we look for both environmentally and for safety. New requirements for the Low Emission Zone and the DVS are cleaning up the capital’s toxic air and reducing danger for vulnerable users.

“The innovation behind the manufacture of this vehicle is industry leading,” Calderato added. “The distance that can be covered on a full charge makes switching to zero emissions viable for a commercial business.”

ABOVE CCF’s new BEV, pictured here driving for the first time in London

GVN “DISAPPOINTED” AT LACK OF AMBITION IN RTFO REFORMS

T Electric record-breaker Volvo Trucks has received its largest electric vehicle order to date, which has been placed by an operator in California. Quality Custom Distribution (QCD), a national food service logistics supplier, has ordered 14 Volvo VNR Electric models, which will be deployed in the operator’s Southern California last-mile delivery routes. These Class 8 battery-electric trucks will be delivered to QCD over the next two years, with delivery of the first vehicles due this autumn.

The 14 leased VNR Electric trucks and charging equipment are largely funded by a grant, which is awarded to Volvo Financial Services (VFS) from the Mobile Source Air Pollution Reduction Review Committee (MSRC) – a committee of California’s largest transportation and clean air agencies and stakeholders.

10 TRUCKING June 2021

a time when we are leading estimates are that over 90 per rade association the Gas with other policies around cent of that is biomethane.

Vehicle Network (GVN) electrification and “These latest statistics has said it is “extremely decarbonising heat.” clearly show the direction of disappointed” at the Occhipinti said the travel for the HGV sector.

Department for Transport’s proposals “are not nearly Especially when we compare it decision to recommend an enough” to further stimulate to the 2019 growth of 22 per increase of just 2.5 per cent investment in the renewable cent, it is clear to see over the next 10 years in the fuels market. “And it’s renewable gas is the future.” uptake of renewable fuels, as particularly disappointing A recent report by Cadent part of its latest Renewable given the success of the RTFO and Element Energy entitled Transport Fuels Obligation to date,” he added. “In 2020, ‘The Future Role of Gas in (RTFO) consultation. the amount of gas dispensed Transport’ indicates “GVN, along with the wider for HGVs increased by over biomethane could reduce biofuels industry, are surprised emissions from HGVs by at the lack of ambition shown 78 per cent and early by the DfT – especially 38 per cent by 2030 given other (Trucking, Summer issue). announcements that However, this needs to demonstrate the UK’s ramp up at a quick rate leadership in climate in order to meet the change policies,” said expected levels of Isaac Occhipinti, head decarbonisation, of external affairs, GVN. Occhipinti warned.

“The reality of this “The UK needs a more lack of real increase in ambitious RTFO to obligation means we support the opportunity are significantly less gas as a transport fuel ambitious than other ABOVE Gas Vehicle Network said gas dispensed offers, and it needs it European countries, at for HGVs increased by 78 per cent last year now,” he concluded.

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Prototype eActros raises a glass to final brewery assignment

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prototype eActros, which has been running since 2018, has started its last operator assignment. MercedesBenz has announced Paulaner Getränke und Service GmbH will be running the batterypowered truck.

The eActros can cover up to 200 km on a full charge, making it suitable for many urban distribution jobs.

In the case of German brewery Paulaner, the truck will transport beer barrels and crates throughout greater Munich.

The eActros’ batteries will be recharged overnight at the Paulaner brewery depot.

Part of the Mercedes-Benz

‘Innovation Fleet’, the eActros has met many targets set by the development team. For example, its 200 km range has been proven to be “absolutely realistic”, according to the company. Despite differences in payload, route or topography, the distance has been achievable.

In addition, the truck performed on a par with diesel-powered versions in terms of performance in all driving environments, Merc said.

Meanwhile, electrically operated cooling systems have worked without any restrictions in both extreme heat and winter conditions.

"Since 2018, our eActros prototypes have proven their worth at various customers in Germany and other European countries,” said Rico Claassen, key account management, Mercedes-Benz Trucks.

“Therefore, we are delighted the eActros is now also on the road for Paulaner.”

Meanwhile, Paulaner’s Jörg Metzner was looking forward to running the prototype eActros.

“We have six locations in Upper Bavaria and offer a range of different beverages and catering items,” he said.

“Although hospitality and catering are currently closed in Germany, we continue to

deliver to our customers as required. In this context, environmental sustainability is playing an increasingly important role for us in the logistics chain.”

Series production of the eActros will begin in the second half of 2021.

ABOVE eActros has a range of up to 200 km on a single charge

Warburtons fields its first zero-emission 16-tonner

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ritish bakery brand Warburtons is rolling out its first 16-tonne 100 per cent electric truck in the form of a Renault Trucks D Z.E. Decked out in Warburtons’ orange livery, the vehicle joins the company’s secondary bread fleet operating out of its Enfield bakery and carries the slogan: 'Our electric trucks are the best thing since sliced bread'.

The D Z.E. can cover up to 150 km on a single charge, and can carry around six tonnes of bread and bakery products to multiple locations across London.

ABOVE Bread-maker’s new BEV will be in operation for the next 10 years

Fully electric, the truck is eligible to operate in the capital’s Ultra Low Emission Zone and Congestion Charge Zone without incurring charges, while its zero tailpipe emissions in use and low traffic noise make it ideal for Warburtons’ urban deliveries.

“By using the D Z.E. we offer our customers the same quality of service, but with zero tailpipe emissions and quieter operation in urban environments,” said Steven Gray, Warburtons national transport manager.

Warburtons’ first D Z.E. is a 4x2 rigid with box body, plus rear side door and tail-lift by PPS Commercials. Powered by 200 kWh, 600V lithium-ion batteries, the alternating current synchronous motor with permanent-magnet technology delivers maximum power of 185 kW, continuous power of 130 kW and maximum torque of 425 Nm. The Z.E. reduction gearbox offers two forward speeds and one reverse.

The D Z.E., which will recharge at Warburtons' Enfield site, is equipped with a 22 kW on-board AC charger and

is compatible with DC fast-charging up to 150 kW. The vehicle comes with Renault’s Battery Performance Promise, which guarantees the battery will operate for up to 10 years or deliver 250 MW of energy over the vehicle’s lifetime.

Renault engineers have taken Warburtons’ operational data for a number of Enfield-based routes and mapped this against a real-world, real-time traffic database derived from over one million miles of vehicle telematics data. Their calculation of the total energy consumption of the vehicle means it will operate for a 10-year period without using more than 250 MW of energy, and this is the contract duration for the first Warburtons D ZE vehicle.

Supplied by Renault Trucks dealer JDS Trucks & Vans, aftersales support for the D Z.E., which is Renault Trucks’ first production electric truck to go on the road in the UK, will be provided by local dealer Norfolk Truck & Van Enfield throughout the 10-year contract.

Gist trials new electric fridge trailer for food deliveries

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emperature controlled logistics specialist Gist has commenced a trial of the UK’s first fully autonomous, all-electric engineless refrigerated trailer system. Called Vector eCool and developed by Carrier Transicold and Gray and Adams, the 13.6 m electric trailer is being used for store deliveries of fresh and chilled foods to well-known UK supermarkets.

The technology uses an under-mounted battery to power

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the fridge system and, when driving, converts kinetic energy generated by the trailer’s axle to replenish the battery pack and in turn power the refrigeration unit.

Unlike current refrigeration systems, this loop creates a fully autonomous system that produces no direct carbon dioxide or particulate emissions, the manufacturers said.

The fridge is lighter than the standard fridge and associated red

diesel fuel tank and is very quiet, making it suitable for overnight urban deliveries.

“We are always keen to trial new technologies and this is an exciting new product for us to explore,” said Mick Pethard, head of engineering, Gist.

“We’ve partnered Carrier refrigeration for a number of years to help us on our journey to improve fuel efficiency and Gist’s sustainability.”

ABOVE Trailer with Vector eCool battery system is lighter than conventional version powered by red diesel June 2021 TRUCKING 11

NEWS OPERATORS NEWS IN BRIEF

BARTRUM BAGS MORE MERCS IN PURSUIT OF TECH EFFICIENCIES

S Clipper’s WAY Leeds-based Clipper Logistics has added 89 new trucks to its 500-strong fleet, over 95 per cent of which are Iveco. Some 26 of these are new Iveco S-WAY 6x2 tractor units with AS sleeper cab, painted white with Clipper’s bright-green livery. The 11.1-litre CURSOR 11 provides 460 bhp and 2150 Nm of torque via a 12-speed HI-TRONIX automatic transmission. The vehicles will run out of any of Clipper’s 16 depots nationally, mainly taking line-haul trunking responsibilities for supermarket, cosmetics and fashion retail customers. The remaining 63 vehicles ordered are 18-tonne Eurocargo 4x2 MLL sleeper cabs, bodied with a 28 ft GRP (Glass-reinforced Plastic) box and 1.5-tonne capacity tuck-under tail lift. Power is provided by 250 bhp, six-cylinder, 6.7-litre TECTOR 7 engines.

uffolk-based Bartrum Group added 20 more Mercedes-Benz Actros tractor units to its fleet, which add to the 11 Merc trucks it commissioned late last year.

Supplied by Orwell Truck & Van, the firm’s new Version 5 Actros feature MirrorCam, Active Brake Assist 5 emergency braking system with enhanced pedestrian recognition capability, and updated Predictive Powertrain Control.

All 31 trucks were also spec’d the optional interactive twin-screen Multimedia Cockpit.

The Actros purchased by Bartrum over the last six months have 12.8-litre, in-line six-cylinder engines rated at 450 bhp. Most are 2545 models and now in service with two business units: one is Bartrums Haulage & Storage (BHS), the other Bartrums Road Services (BRS), which is the Group’s dedicated palletised distribution arm – its tractor units make collections and deliveries during the day, then trunk nightly to the Pallet-Track hub in Wolverhampton.

Nine of the new trucks, including eight from the latest batch, are 2544 variants with small-wheeled mid-lift axles.

These are working for Bartrums Bulk Haulage (BBH) and

ABOVE Operator spec’d BigSpace cabs to aid driver retention

engaged primarily in the movement of more than 500,000 tonnes of malt and grain annually for customers from the brewing, food and beverage sectors.

Bartrum said it has used Daimler’s Fleetboard telematics technology for more than a decade, using its performance analysis data to encourage and incentivise drivers to adopt a safe and fuel-efficient style at the wheel, and identify shortcomings that can then be addressed through training.

Delivery of its latest trucks coincides with the launch by Bartrum of a pilot of Fleetboard’s automatic tachograph mass memory and driver card download services, which aim to offer time and cost savings as vehicle data can be accessed remotely – even when away from base.

“Today’s Actros is clearly the most advanced truck on the road, and the feedback we’ve received from drivers since we set our first on the road last year has been resoundingly positive,” said Bartrum’s operations director, Tremayne Johnson.

“MirrorCam is a big step forward and hasn’t provoked a single negative comment. All-round visibility is so much better. When reversing, you never lose sight of the rear corner of the trailer on the screens mounted inside the cab. Plus, of course, you don’t have a big slab of mirror housing blocking your forward view.”

Last year’s consignment of Actros had StreamSpace cabs, but this time Bartrum has chosen the larger, flat-floored BigSpace version.

“Driver retention has never been more important to the success of our business, so we made a concerted effort to further increase the appeal of our latest trucks by specifying the bigger cabs and fitting them with microwaves and fridges,” Johnson added.

Ketra targets DVS-compliant DAFs for latest fleet upgrade Family values Shepton Mallet, Somerset-based Father & Daughter Transport has invested in a new Scania R540 8x4 tipper for use on its roadstone and tarmacadam delivery contract with construction materials supplier, John Wainwright & Co. The vehicle joins the Scania G450 8x4 tipper which Father & Daughter has operated since it was purchased new in 2018. Supplied

by Scania’s Shepton Mallet depot, which will also maintain the truck, the new 32-tonne gvw R540 8x4 is equipped with a PPG Fabrications aggregate body. It is a replacement for the Scania driven until now by Emma Stevens, the company's joint MD, together with her father Joe. "I’ve been around trucks all my life,” Emma said. “My dad has always been a Scania man and I've driven them too, so Scania was always going to be in the frame for me. Scania's Shepton Mallet depot is also just five minutes away from the quarry we work out of and I cannot fault their service.”

12 TRUCKING June 2021

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hamesmead, South East London-based Ketra Logistics has added 14 new DAF rigids to its fleet in the shape of two 7.5-tonne LF150s, five 12-tonne LF180s and seven 18-tonne LF220s.

All are spec’d with day cabs and are compliant with the three-star level requirements of London’s Direct Vision Standard (DVS).

The vehicles – supplied by independent commercial vehicle contract hire, rental and maintenance services provider Ryder – will not only work for Ketra, but also for its sister business: IEFS Logistics in Barking, East London. Both firms are members of the Palletways pallet network: Ketra handles SE and DA postcodes, while IEFS handles IG and E postcodes.

Both businesses are owned by former Palletways MD, Martyn Young. "This is the biggest trading decision for Ketra since I took it over,”

Young said. “We’ve previously contract hired de-fleeted trucks, but I look at these new trucks we’ll be running for the next five years and I know we’re exactly where we need to be.

"We sat down with our drivers and loaders to work up our dream spec: this is it! This order also marks us settling on red and silver as our livery – previously, when we were acquiring used trucks, we had to compromise on colour and spec; but no more."

Key to this specification was ensuring the trucks were DVS-compliant. "We needed to make the commitment to vulnerable road users in London,” Young said. “We wanted our trucks to be as safe as possible – and our old fleet would not have been DVS-compliant. This new fleet not only means we’re compliant now, but also when the standard becomes tougher in 2024 and sets the minimum requirement at three stars –

and this means we won’t need to worry about retrofitting vehicles or replacing them in three years’ time."

The DVS spec was a joint effort, featuring a mixture of Ryder’s preferred nearside sensors and audible warning system and Ketra’s choice of camera system. The 18-tonners feature a passenger-side lower window to increase visibility.

Ryder has also fitted the new trucks with TRAILAR solar matting, which will produce energy to power ancillaries including full rear closure Dhollandia cantilever tail lifts.

The truck bodies feature a strapping system from CV Roller for load security.

ABOVE Ketra’s new LFs score three stars on London’s Direct Vision Standard scheme

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MARSHALL ORDERS 108 HIAB LOADER CRANES

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K hard landscaping manufacturer Marshalls has put in an order for 108 new HIAB loader cranes in an investment totalling €4.9 million.

Its new purchases are medium-range HIAB X-HiDuo 138 B-2 loader cranes with HIAB Brick Grabs supplied to Massey Truck Engineering, which will install them on truck-trailer combinations, as well as the HIAB X-HiPro 099R Roll Loaders with Brick Grabs installed on construction-spec platform trailers from SDC Trailers. Both are remote-controlled to give operators the best field of vision.

Marshalls offers a three-day delivery promise across the country, even for precious and fragile items, delivered by its fleet of 200 vehicles.

“Having set a fleet replacement strategy for the next five years, it was important we undertook a thorough review of all our equipment, including cranes, which are integral to the delivery service level offered to our customers,” said Nigel Basey, logistics director, Marshalls.

“Following an appraisal of the market, which involved trialling up-to-date crane models and seeking the feedback from our drivers, Hiab was chosen as our favoured supplier.”

Basey said he was particularly impressed with the added benefits of the HiConnect system, as well as the high service levels already received on the existing Hiab fleet.

HiConnect provides real-time insights into equipment utilisation, operation and condition. This data can be used to actively optimise performance, safety and avoid unnecessary downtime. Web-based dashboards with clear and simple overviews provide status monitoring and service planning.

ABOVE Operator was impressed with HIAB’s connected services www.truckingmag.co.uk

FUEL-FRUGAL FHs TEMPT FIRM BACK TO VOLVO

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radford-based Expect Distribution has returned to Volvo by adding six new FH 6x2 tractor units to its busy fleet, having been impressed with the fuel consumption of a demonstrator vehicle.

The business hasn’t run Volvos in more than a decade, but said it has gone back to the Swedish marque after it beat off the challenge of four rival manufacturers for this latest order.

“The vehicles come with some strong claims relating to

fuel and uptime, and that was backed up by the demonstrator,” said Andy Taylor, director of transport at Expect Distribution.

“Now we are looking forward to putting them through their paces in our busy operation.”

Supplied by Crossroads Truck and Bus, the six FHs all feature Globetrotter cabs and are powered by Volvo’s D13K engine producing 500 bhp and 2500 Nm of torque.

They will be double-shifted, working five to six days a week on a variety of long-distance,

ABOVE Six new FHs are Expect’s first Volvos for more than 10 years

trunking and multi-drop work.

They are expected to cover roughly 140,000 km per year.

The new trucks have 12-speed I-Shift automated gearboxes with long-haul fuel package, plus I-See predictive cruise control.

The Globetrotter cabs feature a single bed living package, 33-litre underbunk fridge and enhanced interior finish.

“These new vehicles are all highly spec’d in line with our aims to provide the best suited equipment we can to our drivers,” Taylor added. “The feedback we’ve had already has been great. The drivers have been absolutely delighted with them and have already started to ask when we are getting some more!”

Supplied on a contract hire agreement with Volvo Financial Services, which incorporates a Volvo Gold Contract R&M package to guarantee maximum uptime, the FHs are a mixture of replacements and additions and join Expect Distribution’s 140-strong fleet.

All servicing and maintenance work will be done at Crossroads Truck and Bus in Birstall.

Maritime first to trial M6toll’s new ANPR tolling system

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aritime, one of the UK’s largest intermodal logistics operators, is the first business to trial the M6toll’s new tolling system.

The Felixstowe-based company’s trucks will be the first vehicles to pay for their journeys on the M6toll via the new Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) based tolling system.

M6toll said following Maritime’s trial, a number of other hauliers will join the pilot project over the “coming weeks and months”.

ANPR cameras will identify numberplate data, removing the need for card payments at the toll plazas and replacing them with a remote payment system. The goal is to enable seamless end-to-end journeys and enable customers to manage all transactions via the M6toll website, whether for a single vehicle or larger fleets spread across a number of depots.

The ANPR cameras are part of plans by M6toll owner, Midland Expressway, for a multi-millionpound investment to transform the existing tolling infrastructure.

“We are delighted to be the first business to trial the new ANPR based M6tolling system,” said Paul Heyhoe, fleet director, Maritime. “The M6toll already provides an invaluable route through the Midlands by avoiding congestion on local routes, and the addition of this new technology will help to further enhance that journey experience.

“With the new ANPR cameras offering a

centralised user system, it means our fleet is ready to roll as soon as they leave the depots. For our drivers, it will provide a hassle-free experience end-to-end on the M6toll, with no stopping at the plazas so further efficiencies delivered during their journeys.”

Julie Davies, commercial director at Midland Expressway, added: “The M6toll has a commitment to ensuring the road remains the most reliable, efficient and cost-effective choice for HGV and commercial fleet operators, and this pilot project is another key part of that ongoing strategic approach.”

ABOVE L to R: Julie Davies from Midland Expressway Ltd, Craig Bickley from Maritime Transport and Sarah Gourlay from Midland Expressway pose with the first of the Maritime fleet to have its numberplates registered with M6 Toll June 2021 TRUCKING 13

NEWS DRIVERS NEWS IN BRIEF HGV driving tests restart in Scotland Driving lessons and tests for truck drivers have restarted in Scotland after the Scottish government announced all of Scotland would be placed in local protection Level 3 from April 26. DVSA chief exec, Loveday Ryder, said: “I would like to thank professional drivers for playing such a vital role in transporting essential goods, and helping critical workers travel to and from work. I know the suspension of tests and lessons has been incredibly hard for you.” To reduce the amount of time the candidate and examiner spend in the vehicle when the candidate has failed their test, examiners will continue to end vocational tests early if a candidate commits either a serious or dangerous fault or a total of 16 driver faults. They will also end the test early if the candidate fails during the reversing or uncoupling and recoupling manoeuvres on a test with a trailer. These manoeuvres will be carried out at the start of the test where possible. In-vehicle and classroom-based Driver CPC training also restarted on April 26, though DfT said it still encourages periodic training to be delivered remotely where possible.

Driver stress rising New research from road safety charity Brake and insurer Direct Line has revealed stress and anger behind the wheel has increased since the first national lockdown – and drivers themselves admit these negative moods are having a detrimental effect on their driving behaviour. The findings, published in the partnership’s new Driving Behaviour report, highlights that in March of this year, nine in 10 drivers admitted to feeling stressed or angry when behind the wheel, up six per cent on figures from March 2020 when the UK entered its first lockdown. More than one in 10 drivers now say they feel stressed or angry every time they are behind the wheel, up three per cent over the same period – meaning more drivers now feel stressed or angry on every journey, compared with those who never feel this way. Recent government statistics show aggressive driving contributed to 110 fatal crashes and one in 20 crashes which resulted in serious injury in 2019 (the most recent annual figures available), and research has highlighting stressed or angry drivers suffer a form of cognitive distraction that may affect their judgment and reaction times.

14 TRUCKING June 2021

“Growing crisis” in driver shortage as new IR35 rules take hold

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he Road Haulage Association is calling for urgent government action to ease a what it has billed as a “growing crisis in driver shortages” which has been made worse by the recent introduction of IR35 tax changes.

Pallet firms in particular are having to extend next-day deliveries by up to five days, the Association said.

The situation was critical even before the pandemic, with many EU truckers heading home for Brexit-related reasons. Added to this, RHA argued a “complete failure” to test new drivers during lockdown left a backlog of thousands of tests – and potential drivers sidelined.

COVID-19 saw the introduction of IR35 rules – which add new definitions for determining if self-employed workers should instead be classed as employees – delayed by one year, but it’s now hitting many firms and drivers.

RHA said resulting pay cuts have caused driver walkouts and self-furloughing – further exacerbating the driver shortage.

The Association is therefore calling on the government to act. First, it is arguing for greater maximum priority for vocational drivers to clear the backlog of driving tests.

It is also insisting the government puts truck drivers on the Occupation Shortage List, thereby allowing EU and other foreign drivers to fill some rota gaps – though there is also a sizeable driver shortage in the EU. In terms of apprenticeships, RHA said the road haulage industry has paid £500m into the Levy and have got back just £50m – “a very

unfair payout for an industry with a critical staff and youth shortage”, it argued. More funding is needed to pay for expensive truck driver training.

British driver facilities also came under fire.

RHA said people can’t be expected to want to join the industry if no toilets, wash facilities or safe and secure parking exists.

It added that relaxing drivers’ hours won’t help, because it doesn’t deal with the fundamental underlying problems. Making people work longer hours isn’t the solution.

“The RHA firmly believes that if the voice of the industry isn’t heard, there will be uncontrolled supply chain disruption,” said Rod McKenzie, RHA policy managing director. “This will impact many businesses ability to recover from the pandemic. Time is tight and action now is critically important.”

ABOVE New rules regarding self-employed status has affected drivers in various sectors

DfT: KENT ACCESS PERMIT NO LONGER REQUIRED FOR DRIVERS

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ent Access Permit (KAP) requirements for truck drivers travelling to the EU from Dover have now been stopped, according to the Department for Transport. In addition, DfT said the ‘check if an HGV is ready to cross the border service’ has also closed.

The permits were introduced in January to manage traffic flows through Dover, following the UK’s departure from the EU. However, DfT stressed there is still the need for drivers to

ABOVE Kent Police: “The time is right for the Operation Brock contraflow to be removed”

check they have the correct paperwork before crossing the border.

Drivers will also need to show proof of a negative coronavirus test before leaving the UK. Consequently, details about advice sites might still be relevant, with information listed at https://bit.ly/GHASites DfT said work to remove the moveable barrier currently on the M20 began on April 24. As a result, the motorway will be returned to normal following Operation Brock contraflow.

The DfT has warned traffic management measures will be reinstated in the event of serious disruption to cross-Channel traffic.

Meanwhile, industry has welcomed the decision to remove the Kent Access Permit. Heidi Skinner, policy

manager for the south at Logistics UK, was relieved.

“The decision is a reflection of the hard work undertaken by logistics businesses across the supply chain,” she said.

“They have ensured operations are border ready before hauliers embark on travel to the Channel ports.”

Skinner described the news as “positive for the industry” and a move that would “support the smooth flow of trade”.

Furthermore, assistant chief constable Nikki Faulconbridge, who chairs the Kent Resilience Forum, also welcomed the news: “Freight volumes are back to normal, customs rules better understood and COVID-19 testing sites wellestablished,” she said. “The time is right for the Operation Brock contraflow to be removed.” www.truckingmag.co.uk

DRIVER HIRE LAUNCHES LICENCE ACQUISITION SERVICE FOR TRUCKERS ational logistics recruitment specialist Driver Hire has launched a licence acquisition service to help HGV drivers advance their career and boost earnings during what it called “a record period for haulage”.

The new service, which is an addition to the firm’s current training offering, will provide face-to-face training for already qualified drivers to help them upskill or requalify in a particular driving category. Working with training providers across the UK, Driver Hire said the platform allows professional drivers to get the training they need quickly and easily, to boost their career and earnings potential.

The launch comes following a year in which the value of professional drivers to society has been clearer than ever, with the government designating this as an ‘essential industry’ in relation the country’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

And yet, DfT figures show that as a result of driving tests being halted, there were 18,500 fewer LGV test passes in 2020 compared to 2019 – meaning there is significant demand

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for new LGV drivers.

Driver Hire said that as well as connecting drivers to the most suitable learning centres near them, the service will offer users finance options to spread the cost of training programmes.

The service offers users the chance to complete courses including Cat C, Cat C1, Cat C+E, ADR, HIAB and PCV, alongside some of the best training providers in the country.

“It has been a challenging and unpredictable year for the industry, but we are delighted to be seeing an increase in demand for qualified drivers across all sectors,” said John Keelan-Edwards, MD, Driver Hire Training. “The launch of our licence acquisition service… will advance career opportunities for many drivers across the country.

“In addition, we have teamed up with Funding Falcon, whose technology allows you to apply for and complete a loan application quickly, easily and transparently – meaning any driver or industry professional can successfully apply and complete our courses without financial barriers.”

MOTORWAY SAFETY PLEDGE ON ALL-LANE-RUNNING ROUTES otorway safety on new All Lane Running (ALR) routes is to be improved with new technology put in place, including a monitoring system to spot vehicles that have stopped or broken down.

Furthermore, all existing ALR motorways will be fitted with the system six months earlier than planned.

Highways England made the announcement as it published a 2021 report into smart motorways. The Smart Motorways Stocktake First Year Progress Report 2021 sets out progress made in improving motorway safety, and includes commitments to speed up completion of safety measures.

ALR motorways – which don’t have hard shoulders – are fitted with tech and features not seen on conventional motorways. For example, there are set-back emergency areas and red ‘X’

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ABOVE New ALR monitoring system will detect vehicles that have stopped or broken down www.truckingmag.co.uk

signs on gantries to close live lanes. Plus, radar detection to spot stopped vehicles is also being rolled out.

Highways England has committed to a number of improvements by the end of September 2022. For example, it will install radar technology on all existing stretches of ALR motorway, six months earlier than planned.

Secondly, special cameras will be upgraded 10 months earlier than planned. These cameras will be used to spot and prosecute drivers ignoring ‘red X’ signs.

Finally, 1000 additional approach signs will also be installed six months earlier than planned, so drivers will be more aware of their nearest place to stop in an emergency Transport secretary Grant Shapps admitted not all drivers feel safe on ALR motorways. “That’s why I tasked Highways England with delivering an action plan to raise the bar on safety measures. This report shows the extensive work already carried out, but we want to do more."

Meanwhile, HE's acting chief exec, Nick Harris, said he wanted to put road user safety first. “We’ve made good progress, but we are not complacent and are examining ways to improve safety further.”

#PROUDPROFESSIONALS

Ambassador interview: Tom Birkett Joining us this month is tipper driver, YouTuber and podcaster, Tom Birkett – A.K.A ‘Except for Access’. After a lengthy chat covering all aspects of the industry, here’s what we spoke about…

Your introduction to the transport industry is a little different to most. How did you find yourself behind the wheel?

TB: “I was in IT, unhappy and just knew I needed to do something different. It was actually an ‘act of God’ that saw me properly give up the desk for the cab, back when the River Kent flooded Kendal. Our offices at Travis Perkins were flooded so I started helping out in the yard and just couldn’t get enough of being out of the office.

Next thing you know, I’m taking my Class 1 and can confidently say I wouldn’t want to do any other job!”

We see you’re a man of many talents and are both a vlogger and podcaster. Can you tell us more?

TB: “So I used to record small videos on the job and send them to mates. The feedback was always great, so I thought why not upload them to YouTube and created ‘Except for Access’. I want to make the industry more real, warts and all, which I think makes the job more approachable to outsiders. The Just Another Trucking Podcast is a new venture with a fellow trucking friend where we talk about the industry in all its glory!”

As a relatively new member of the industry, is there any advice you would give to budding drivers?

TB: “It’s a simple one: just get it done. Don’t mess around; get your licence, work hard and you’ll be a Proud Professional before you know it!”

The #ProudProfessionals campaign is here to highlight how vital we are as an industry. Behind every home, every workplace, every community, there is a Proud Professional.

Together we are the backbone of our nation and it’s time we stand proud.

www.proudprofessionals.co.uk If you know proud professionals like Tom then visit www.proudprofessionals.co.uk to nominate them – let’s give them the recognition they deserve.

June 2021 TRUCKING 15

NEWS INTERNATIONAL NEWS IN BRIEF Autonomous S-WAY An autonomous S-WAY truck could be around the corner as Iveco has just signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with global autonomous trucking tech specialist, Plus. Under the terms of the MOU, Iveco and Plus will integrate S-WAY with the PlusDrive full-stack autonomous driving system. In addition, it will explore using a liquefied natural gas (LNG) engine system to power the vehicles. Currently, Iveco works with a number of suppliers on ADAS solutions.

However, the area of Level 4 autonomy required some extra resources within the organisation. Marco Liccardo, Iveco’s chief technology and digital officer, described Plus as “the perfect partner” for autonomous vehicles. Meanwhile, Shawn Kerrigan, COO and co-founder, Plus said he was thrilled to partner with Iveco. “Our teams will work closely to develop and deploy autonomous trucks, including one powered by natural gas,” he said. PACCAR, Volvo and Scania have already made announcements this year about driverless vehicles. An autonomous S-WAY could be one of many similar vehicles arriving on the market around the same time, as fleets look into driverless options.

Cargo theft “a big wake-up call” for industry

C

argo theft is on the increase and truck drivers and transport operators are being urged to be more vigilant.

Recent data from the Transport Asset Protection Association (TAPA) has put the size of the problem into context, reporting almost €500,000 worth of goods were stolen each day from EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) supply chains in 2019 and 2020. Furthermore, Marcel Saarloos, chair of

TAPA EMEA, warned it could be the tip of the supply chain crime iceberg.

“In the last two years, TAPA EMEA has recorded over 15,000 losses from supply chains in our region,” he said. “This should act as a big wake-up call for everyone involved in the movement of goods.

“Almost every type of cargo is a target for criminals,” he added.

Meanwhile, despite the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns, freight crime grew last year. Specifically,

ABOVE TAPA said thieves are targeting “almost every type of cargo”

P&O to launch fifth ship on principle Dover-Calais route

Menzies joins Transaid Menzies Distribution Group has become the latest supporter to sign up as a corporate member of Transaid, the international development organisation striving to improve global road safety standards. The company has pledged its support for an initial three-year period, just months after it acquired Bibby Distribution (now Menzies Distribution Solutions, or MDS) – one of Transaid’s founding members. It will see Menzies contribute time, expertise and resources to help Transaid deliver professional driver training programmes, transport management systems and provide rural access to transport in sub-Saharan Africa. Alice Broster, group health & safety manager at Menzies, will also join Transaid’s road safety advisory board. Greg Michael, Menzies CEO, said: “Our colleagues from MDS did a fantastic job supporting Transaid for more than two decades and we are excited to be continuing this strong association. With almost 5000 employees and 4000 vehicles operating across the UK, we recognise the huge value training plays in keeping our drivers and other road users safe.”

16 TRUCKING June 2021

TAPA’s Incident Information Service recorded 6463 cargo theft crimes, amounting to a loss of €172m.

However, it is believed this figure was “a fraction of the losses TAPA EMEA believes are being suffered”.

TAPA EMEA president and chief executive Thorsten Neumann said 2020 would be a year like no other.

“At a time when most businesses were focused almost entirely on a fight for survival, traditional channels of cargo crime data were severely impacted,” he said.

“Consequently, it is difficult to give a meaningful comparison with previous years.

“However, while some criminal operations would have been disrupted by lockdown measures, 2020 still saw the second-highest rate of incidents in TAPA’s 24-year history.”

Truck thefts continued to represent the vast majority of incidents last year.

Specifically, unsecured parking facilities were noted as a cause in half of the total truck thefts in the region.

P

&O Ferries has announced the return of a fifth Ro-Ro ship on its Dover-Calais route in a bid to take back market leadership on the English Channel.

The Pride of Burgundy - a 28,000-tonne vessel with capacity to carry 120 trucks – will return to the vital arterial route in June, restoring the P&O Dover-Calais fleet to its pre-pandemic strength of five and expanding options for customers looking to transport goods between Britain and the EU. The ship will sail in freight-only mode, the operator said.

In 2019, P&O Ferries’ share of ferry freight volumes on the Dover Strait was more than 50 per cent. The operator has since become part of DP World, a global provider of smart logistics, which reported robust financial results for 2020 with revenue growing by 11 per cent to $8553 million.

“I am delighted to welcome a fifth ship back to our Dover-Calais fleet, which will increase flexibility for customers and enable us to deliver a cost-effective freight service on the English Channel as the economy returns to

normal,” said David Stretch, P&O Ferries CEO. “Dover-Calais is a vital trade route both for the UK and EU economies as well as the thousands of businesses which rely on our services, and we aim to return our market share back to where it belongs.

“My message to our freight customers is simple: P&O will do everything it can to continue being the brand you can trust to deliver your goods from beginning to end, with the aim of solving the most complex logistical challenges using our integrated ferry and logistics assets,” Stretch concluded.

ABOVE Ferry operator is looking to regain market leadership of the UK’s principle cross-Channel route www.truckingmag.co.uk

S-WAYs the right formula to shift Alfa Romeo Racing team

I

veco, the official truck partner of the Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN team since 2019, has officially handed over five new S-WAY trucks to partially renew the team’s logistics fleet, which now also counts seven Stralis trucks and a Daily van.

The new S-WAY trucks will join the existing Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN fleet to transport the team’s equipment to all the Formula One European Grand Prix venues throughout the upcoming season.

“We are proud of our partnership with Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN, and that they have renewed their trust in our vehicles with this new order of S-WAY trucks,” said Thomas Hilse, Iveco brand president. “We share the same values, ambitions and passions: with a strong team spirit, we strive for excellence, we constantly push the limits of performance.

We are passionate for the world of sport and we are driven by the same objective: victory.

“Iveco has a long tradition in motor sport, providing the vehicles that transport Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN Formula 1 Grand Prix cars to the race tracks. We look forward to the new racing season and wish the Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN team success.”

ABOVE New S-WAY tractor units have been added to the Formula One team’s logistics fleet

Freight volumes rise despite COVID & Brexit set-backs

F

reight volumes are continuing to rise at the Port of Gothenburg in the majority of segments, despite the impact COVID-19 is having on global logistics.

In March 2020, the full force of the pandemic struck Sweden and many parts of the world. However, it failed to have a bearing on Q1 freight volumes at the busy Port, officials said.

During the first quarter of this year, global trade has been hit hard by the pandemic with a shortage of empty containers, continued closures, and the spread of the virus being the major aggravating factors.

In spite of this, officials said flows through the Port of

Gothenburg in the container, ro-ro, and new vehicle segments have increased.

“The situation now is considerably more problematic than it was a year ago,” said Elvir Dzanic, Gothenburg Port Authority chief executive. “Still, volumes at the Port are on the rise, reflecting how adaptable and solutionoriented the logistics sector is in the face of adversity.

“Everyone is working extremely hard at every level to meet the challenges that have emerged, and in Gothenburg and Sweden we can see that by working together we have been extremely successful.”

The biggest increases during the first quarter are at

ABOVE Cargo moving through the Port of Gothenberg has not been adversely affected by recent market problems www.truckingmag.co.uk

the port’s ro-ro and vehicle terminals. With 141,000 units handled, intra-European ro-ro flows to and from Gothenburg are up three per cent compared with the same period in 2020. This is despite the post-Brexit downturn, which has seen volumes to and from the UK fall by 11 per cent during the period.

The number of new vehicles passing through the Port of Gothenburg was 73,000 – an increase of nine per cent on the first quarter of 2020. At the end of 2020, there was a resurgence following a substantial fallback in April and May, and this trend continued into the first quarter of this year. The increase can be attributed mainly to vehicles exported to the European market.

After a tentative start to the year, container handling picked up in March, which proved to be the strongest month at the Port in terms of container volumes since February 2013. Overall, the increase for the quarter was one per cent compared with Q1 2020, which was itself an unusually strong quarter. The increase occurred despite the difficulties resulting from the pandemic and the ensuing shortage of empty containers.

HOLIDAYS Restrictions on truck movements may be applicable in the following countries on the dates listed, in addition to any weekend bans on truck movements:

Austria Belgium Croatia Cyprus Denmark Estonia Finland France Germany Greece Hungary Ireland Italy Latvia Lithuania Luxembourg Moldova Netherlands Poland Portugal Romania Slovenia Sweden Ukraine

June 3/13 June 13 June 3/22 June 21 June 5 June 23/24 June 25/26 June 20 June 1 June 20/21 June 20 June 7/20 June 2/24/29 June 23/24/25 June 6/24 June 13/23 June 1 June 20 June 3/23 June 3/10/13/24 June 1/20/21 June 25 June 6/25/26 June 21/28

DIESEL PRICES The Automobile Association’s monthly price guide to diesel prices around Europe

Pence/

Country Austria Belgium Czech Rep Denmark Estonia Finland France Germany Greece The Netherlands Hungary Ireland Italy Latvia Lithuania Luxembourg Norway Poland Portugal Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland UK

litre 100.2 123.5 96.46 116.6 104.4 126.8 119.3 113.7 113.3 120.6 104.6 115.1 123.2 100.8 97.34 100.2 129.5 96.10 117.4 100.8 102.8 100.7 134.5 133.7 128.2

Euro/ litre 01.15 01.42 01.11 01.34 01.20 01.46 01.37 01.31 01.31 01.39 01.20 01.33 01.42 01.16 01.12 01.15 01.49 01.11 01.35 01.16 01.18 01.16 01.55 01.54 01.48

June 2021 TRUCKING 17

COMMENT NO JAB, NO JOB?

NO JAB, NO JOB? Can an employer require an employee to take a COVID-19 vaccination? We look at the legal aspects surrounding the issue

By Alec Colson, partner, Taylor Walton PHOTOGRAPHY TAYLOR WALTON

A

s it stands, there is no legal provision that permits an employer to require an employee to take one of the COVID-19 vaccines, although some businesses have publicly expressed their intention to make taking the vaccine a condition of employment.

Upon hearing the news, it is likely other companies will want to follow suit in a bid to protect their workers and clients from coronavirus. So what is the legal position in this area?

Simply put, compulsory vaccines can be a difficult issue to navigate as there are a lot of potential pitfalls that could catch businesses out. Before implementing any policies, it’s crucial the entire issue is thoroughly considered so bigger problems do not arise later down the line.

Legal background Under section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 (HSWA 1974), an employer must take all reasonably practicable steps to reduce workplace risks to their lowest practicable level. Additionally, under section 7 of the HSWA 1974, an employee has a duty to cooperate as necessary with the employer to enable it to comply with any statutory requirements, including reducing workplace risks.

Moreover, employees will want to be reassured they are working in a safe environment.

However, this is unlikely to extend to employees being legally required to take the vaccine in all business sectors, and we will have to wait for further guidance from the government on what measures an employer may be required to take.

The meaning of “reasonableness” is likely to depend on the business sector 18 TRUCKING June 2021

of the employer and the services it provides. With regard to the road haulage industry, it is possible to socially distance – however, as the recent case of the delivery driver being dismissed for failing to wear a face mask (Trucking, Summer issue) has shown, it is likely to be a reasonable instruction to require staff to wear PPE to reduce the risk of transmission of the coronavirus when they are visiting customers’ premises.

The question as to whether it would be reasonable for an employer to require a truck driver to be vaccinated will depend on the nature of their contact with their fellow employees and customers. The general position is truck drivers should be encouraged to have the vaccination unless the individual has received medical advice that they should not.

The ACAS guidance advises the employer should discuss with the employee the reasons why they are objecting to the vaccine, in order to make an assessment as to whether the employee has reasonable grounds for doing so. If so, then other measures should be taken to reduce the risk of transmission – for example, by wearing PPE and thorough cleaning arrangements in relation to vehicle interiors.

The position in other sectors is likely to be less clear, and in any event an employer should proceed with caution before deciding to dismiss. Employers will need to consider other

available alternatives, which may include moving the employee to another role involving less contact with clients or other employees.

In all sectors, the employer will also need to consider carefully the circumstances of the individual employee. The risks include discrimination on the grounds of religion and belief, disability, pregnancy and breaking data protection legislation, as well as unfair dismissal if the employee has unfair dismissal rights.

Religion & Belief It is unlikely an ‘anti-vax’ belief amounts to a philosophical belief for the purposes of the Equality Act 2010. However, not all vaccines in production have released their list of ingredients, and it is possible gelatine may have been used in some vaccines or in its production process – and therefore, an employee with certain religious beliefs or vegans may have religious or philosophical grounds for refusing to take the vaccination.

Disability discrimination If an employee has been advised by their doctor not to take the vaccine on medical grounds, an employer’s requirement to take the vaccine may amount to disability discrimination. Even if the employee is not disabled, a Tribunal may find the request to the employee to go against medical advice is an unreasonable request in any event.

An employee’s fear of needles (trypanophobia) may also amount to a disability, and therefore the employer would need to consider whether it could provide alternative working arrangements – for example, working from home on a permanent basis.

Pregnancy and maternity discrimination Public Health England advice states: “Women should be advised not to attend for vaccination if they are, or may be, pregnant, or are planning a pregnancy within three months of the first dose. Vaccinated women who are not pregnant should be advised to avoid becoming pregnant for two months after the second dose of vaccine.”

Therefore, a requirement to take the vaccine as a condition of employment for a pregnant employee, or an employee planning a pregnancy, is likely to amount to sex discrimination, pregnancy/ maternity discrimination.

Data protection Personal data collected in connection with an employee’s vaccination records will be sensitive personal data or special category personal data, and will need to be processed in accordance with GDPR. But is it legal to collect such data?

The answer to this is whether the employer, as a data controller, has a legitimate interest or legal obligation to collect vaccine information due to the nature of their business.

Introduce policies cautiously At first glance, an employer’s decision to make the COVID vaccine compulsory seems like a sensible measure to prevent the spread of coronavirus and keep people safe. However, the position is far more complex than meets the eye, as it raises numerous legal issues which need to be considered – not to mention the individual circumstances of the employee.

Of course, the vaccination rollout is a light at the end of the tunnel for many businesses that have been restricted throughout lockdown. However, it is still important for employers to keep up to date with the latest public health guidance, so they can introduce the appropriate policies. Although the UK’s roadmap is a positive sign, businesses are not out of the woods yet when it comes to COVID-19. www.truckingmag.co.uk

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MANUFACTURER UPDATE RENAULT TRUCKS D Wide Z.E. 26-tonne tipper grab was made for French firm, Noblet Group

POWERING AHEAD

Zero-emission vehicles represent the future – and it’s a future Renault Trucks is eagerly embracing. Trucking talks to global president, Bruno Blin about his vision for the next evolution of road transport

By Steve Banner PHOTOGRAPHY RENAULT TRUCKS

O

ver the last few years, Renault Trucks has demonstrated it’s going big into electric drivetrains. The company already has the electric 16-tonne D Z.E. and the 26-tonne D Wide Z.E. in serial production at its plant in Blainville-surOrne in Normandy, France. This year saw the D Wide Z.E. joined by a Low Entry Cab version developed in conjunction with bodybuilder Estepe as a 6x2 rigid tag with a steered rear axle.

“We’re getting a lot of very positive feedback from customers about these trucks,” Renault Trucks president, Bruno Blin, tells us. “Product quality and overall reliability are proving to be even better than we anticipated, with no bad surprises. Drivers appreciate

20 TRUCKING June 2021

the fact they’re easy to drive, with low noise levels. They’re fighting to get hold of them.”

How long before we see an electric Renault tractor unit? “We’ve got plans to develop one and it will arrive in 2023,” he tells us.

Making a business case for an electric 8x4 eight-wheeler for construction industry applications is rather more difficult, he admits, but one should be available after 2023. In the meantime, the company has supplied a 26-tonne 6x2 D Wide Z.E. tipper grab to construction vehicle rental specialist Noblet Group (Trucking, May issue).

“Bear in mind that by 2040, all of our new trucks have got to be fossil-fuel-free in order for us to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050,” Blin observes.

“So we’ve got to start now. The aim is for 10 per cent of our output to be zero-emission by 2025, 35 per cent by 2030, and at least 50 per cent of our manufactured trucks will be electric by 2035.”

Does that ambitious programme involve models powered by hydrogen fuel cells? It does indeed, says Blin. “We’re part of Volvo Group, which has a hydrogen fuel cell joint venture with Daimler, so we should see Renaults equipped with this technology by 2025 to 2027,” he says.

Does this mean the internal combustion engine is dead so far as trucks are concerned? Not yet says Blin, but it will have an increasingly limited role to play; and the fuel it uses is increasingly more likely to be biogas or biodiesel, www.truckingmag.co.uk

rather than traditional diesel. “Hydrogen combustion could be a possibility too,” he adds.

The price of progress Today’s electric trucks cost considerably more than their diesel counterparts. How soon before the price comes down? “It will fall as sales volumes increase, and we’re working with our battery partner Samsung to reduce costs,” he replies.

Until the price gap shrinks sufficiently, government support will still be needed.

But some governments are more generous than others, Blin points out.

“In France there is an incentive of up to €100,000 [almost £86,000] per truck to switch from diesel to electric,” he says.

“In Switzerland it’s at the same level.”

In the UK, the incentives tend to be rather less attractive.

Renault Trucks Financial Services has put together a variety of different funding packages to make it easier for operators to acquire electric vehicles, but acquiring them is only part of the story. Operators need the necessary supporting infrastructure at their premises, and Volvo Group business division Volvo Energy is working in conjunction with Renault Trucks to provide advice and assistance.

“Something that is especially important is having a charging management system in place so you don’t end up trying to charge all of your trucks at the same time when you don’t need to,” Blin observes.

“We’re starting to build partnerships in this area because we want to make the lives of our customers as easy as possible. Remember, our industry is going through a major transformation which is affecting manufacturers, customers and dealers.”

ABOVE Bruno Blin: “The switch from diesel to electric will not be immediate”

than some people expect them to. “When they are eventually removed from trucks, they are likely to be used for static energy storage; in hospitals for example, which may need back-up power in an emergency,” Blin says.

In effect, this means battery life will be treated as something separate and distinct from the life of the truck itself. It could open the way to batteries being leased separately from the vehicle, and replaced once their ability to hold a charge falls below a pre-agreed level.

With no engine oil and filter changes required, and no complicated emission control systems to worry about, electric trucks will require a lot less maintenance than their diesel stablemates. Dealer workshop revenue is bound to suffer as a consequence.

“The switch from diesel to electric will not be immediate though, so dealers will have time to adjust,” Blin observes. “I believe their job will change, and they will become more and more involved in advising customers about which truck is best for the job they need doing,” he adds. “That could lead to them helping with route planning and working out what is the best way of getting a particular load from A to B.” Zero-emission trucks offer different ranges depending on the size of the battery pack fitted, with a trade-off between the weight of the batteries and payload capacity. Bear in mind too that while electric trucks will require less servicing, that does not mean they will need no servicing at all. Brakes will still have to be maintained and the tyres, wheels and suspension will still require attention from time to time.

Blin agrees the presence of highvoltage cables and the risks they pose could result in more hauliers deciding they do not want to continue looking after trucks in their own in-house workshops, and parcelling the work out to dealers instead. Such a trend could help make up for some of the throughput dealer workshops look set to lose.

Platooning However, technology is having an impact on trucks in ways other than the steady

Range T X-64 6x4 tractor unit produced by the company’s used truck factory for export to Africa and the Middle East

Gaining charge Governments too will have to come to the party and ensure trucks can access public charging points so they can continue long-haul journeys. Renault Trucks and its fellow manufacturers are pressing for the necessary networks to be put in place. “We’re working with the authorities at a European level and at country level, and we’re talking with major energy companies such as Total and Shell too,” Blin says.

A key aim is to optimise battery life, and batteries look set to last a lot longer www.truckingmag.co.uk

June 2021 TRUCKING 21

MANUFACTURER UPDATE RENAULT TRUCKS Denner’s D Wide Z.E. is fitted with solar panels on the roof

The aim is for 10 per cent of our output to be zero-emission by 2025, 35 per cent by 2030, and at least 50 per cent of our manufactured trucks will be electric by 2035. Bruno Blin

ABOVE Production is ramping up at Renault Trucks’ engine plant

swing towards zero-emission. Take platooning, for example. “We’re still involved with the platooning programme, but we’re not putting so much effort into it at present because we’re so busy managing the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 crisis,” he says. “If customers still see a value in it then we’ll progress it, and at least it should help reduce highway congestion.”

How about fully autonomous, driverless trucks? “We’re not doing so much work in this area ourselves, but Volvo Group certainly is – which gives us a good connection with it,” Blin says. “So we can jump on the technology train if we need to.”

He doubts whether autonomous trucks will ever come to dominate road transport. “I don’t think they will result in 100 per cent of drivers being replaced, and I’m not sure we’ll ever see driverless 22 TRUCKING June 2021

trucks going round Piccadilly Circus,” he remarks.

Trucks that do venture into central London will increasingly have to be equipped with blindspot sensors, cameras and other systems designed to protect vulnerable road users as a consequence of the Direct Vision Standard (DVS). “The UK is in the lead here and it’s fair to say London is helping to improve highway safety,” he says.

Pandemic costs Like all vehicle manufacturers, Renault Trucks has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic and had to temporarily halt production when the first coronavirus

ALL IN THE GAME Fancy getting to grips with the upgraded Renault Trucks T and T High due for launch during the second half of this year? Then sample the Euro Truck Simulator 2 truck driving simulation video game.

The manufacturer is using it to enable as many drivers to try out the newcomers as possible – and all in a COVID-19-safe virtual manner.

Upgraded C and K construction chassis are due during the second half of the year too.

Renault has also announced it will open a new €33m (£28m) research and development centre – the X-Tech Arena – in Lyon in 2023; and it has embarked on a strategic alliance with Isuzu to develop electric light trucks grossing at from six to 15 tonnes.

wave struck just over 12 months ago.

“We saw a 23 per cent drop in truck sales last year compared with 2019, when we invoiced 54,098 vehicles,” Blin reports.

“What’s more, a fall in the utilisation of

Renault’s ‘used truck factory’ is located in Bourg-en-Bresse, near Lyon

www.truckingmag.co.uk

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Image Credit: poshpete

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MANUFACTURER UPDATE RENAULT TRUCKS trucks meant sales of replacement parts fell too.

“On the positive side though, we saw our sales of used trucks rise by nine per cent.” Goods such as pharmaceuticals and food still needed transporting, but many hauliers were wary of purchasing new vehicles in order to do so in an uncertain economic climate.

Throughout the pandemic, Renault Trucks has done everything it can to support its customers, says Blin. “We’ve kept our parts warehouses open and our dealers have kept their workshops open,” he says. “We’ve also helped customers who have struggled financially during the pandemic to spread their finance payments, using our captive in-house finance operation to help find solutions.”

The company has even set up mobile snack bars at some dealerships in certain countries so hard-pressed drivers can be sure of finding somewhere they can get a mug of tea or coffee, and something to eat.

“When the pandemic broke out a year or so ago, we hadn’t got a clue about what would happen,” Blin muses. “The situation was totally unknown to us.

Fortunately the measures we took were successful and we had no virus clusters in the company. Plus, the feedback from customers about the steps we’ve taken has been very encouraging.”

D Wide Z.E. with lowentry cab was unveiled in February

The attempt to get back to full production has presented its own challenges, not the least of them being shortages of certain key components – semiconductors in particular – that have affected all manufacturers. “We’re experiencing some difficulties and we’re working hard to resolve them,” says Blin.

“We’re trying to manage them in the best possible way.”

While mainland Europe and the UK remain the company’s key markets, it is active in other territories. “Turkey is

I don’t think autonomous trucks will result in 100 per cent of drivers being replaced, and I’m not sure we’ll ever see driverless trucks going round Piccadilly Circus. Bruno Blin D Z.E 16-tonner is now in serial production in France

24 TRUCKING June 2021

developing in a very positive way for us, as is Africa,” says Blin. “We’re doing especially well in countries such as Cameroon and the Ivory Coast with used 4x2 tractor units that we’ve converted into 6x4s.”

Global market Renault Trucks has what it describes as a ‘used truck factory’ which produces this type of conversion next to its new truck assembly plant at Bourg-en-Bresse, not far from Lyon in France. Used European trucks exported to Africa and the Middle East are converted to Euro 3 first to meet local operating conditions. The company assembles new trucks in Algeria.

“The Middle East is a bit more complicated, but we could see sales begin to rise in line with the oil price,” he says. “So far as Latin America is concerned, the only country where we have a presence is Chile. It’s going well for us, although sales volumes are limited given the size of the market.”

The used truck factory referred to earlier is part of a wider range of recycling and up-cycling initiatives Renault Trucks is now implementing. They include an agreement with Indra Automobile Recycling covering the re-use and recovery of truck parts.

“Reusing what we already have means we use fewer raw materials and helps to reduce CO2 emissions,” says Blin. “It’s a good trend.” www.truckingmag.co.uk

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AS24 offers two types of cards: the AS24 card or the AS24 Eurotrafic card.

The AS24 fuel card (single or double card) provides secure access to more than 1200 AS24 service stations in over 29 European countries. The AS24 Eurotrafic card enables payment for fuel transactions at AS24 stations in the UK and Europe, as well as adding an additional 15,000 partner stations to ensure fleets are covered

wherever they travel. Both fuel cards have an integral EMV chip, ensuring transactions are safe and secure with PIN numbers.

AS24 Eurotrafic customers also have access to toll payments in 18 countries, parking and truck washes across Europe where EETS (On Bord Unit) technology is not available yet.

The PASSango Europilot enables cashless transactions on Europe’s toll roads. This makes it easy to transit through tolls in Belgium, France, Spain, Austria, Portugal, the bridges in Denmark and Sweden, and more recently Germany. The PASSango OBU can also be activated to work as a vehicle tracker, allowing up-to-the-minute fleet visibility across Europe. You can share your position with subcontractors and configure alerts when the vehicle is stationary – but also when it enters or leaves a geographical area (geofencing). And you also have access to a tool that simulates fuel and toll costs for any trip in Europe.

Connected with the AS24 card or with the AS24 Eurotrafic card, the PASSango OBU offers additional security, warning if there is a discrepancy between vehicle location and the refuelling on the card, for added peace of mind.

The cards and PASSango units can be managed on a dedicated secure online area and via AS24’s Fleet Manager app, with real-time alerts available direct to mobile devices for fuelling and toll transactions as they happen.

With Findit, you can track your trailers across Europe. The wireless tracker can be attached to a trailer in less than five minutes, and the service allows you to receive alerts to anticipate maintenance periods, monitor trailer unhitching or unauthorised movements. Findit is also compatible with all types of rolling stock.

LATEST NEWS FROM AS24 UK 100 STATIONS IN THE UK AS24 is working hard to cater for the needs of road transport operators in the UK. In order to continue to be as close as possible to our customers, and to offer a service that’s ever more 26 TRUCKING June 2021

adapted to their needs, our network of stations continues to grow. In January 2021, the AS24 UK & IRL network reached the symbolic number of 100 stations!

Wherever you go, an AS24 network station will always be available.

A NEW SERVICE AS24 offers a new service to its customers: the possibility to access secure parking at its Sutterton Truck Stop service station located in Boston (Lincolnshire), using the AS24 and Eurotrafic cards to spend

the night there. This service is in addition to the other services already offered in Sutterton Truck Stop, which include a restaurant, shop, Truck Centre and showers.

Drivers can also refuel with diesel, AdBlue and red diesel. www.truckingmag.co.uk

REVIEWS BOOKS MUSIC MOVIES

BREAK TIME

Movies of the month

Tomes, tunes & films to keep you entertained in the cab

By Andy Stewart PHOTOGRAPHY VARIOUS

■ Zack Snyder’s Justice League Actors: Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Gal Gadot Certificate: 15 Runtime: 4 hour 2 minutes

Trucks in Camera: Bedford Author: John Reed Publisher: Amberley Publishing ISBN: 978-1445699707 Price: £15.99 (paperback) There have been lots of books written about legendary British truck manufacturer Bedford, but this new edition from author John Reed is well worth a look even if you’re already up to speed with the brand’s history.

At its outset in the early 1930s, the company mainly focused on vehicles aimed at smaller delivery businesses. But the start of World War II saw its production ramp up,

as it added to the war effort by suppling over 250,000 lorries for the British Army.

Post-War, production turned to heavier vehicles in the 1950s, which led to the introduction of the wellrespected and game-changing TK in 1960.

Sadly, the brand wound up in the 1980s – but it had produced some renowned vehicles in its time, and this book serves as a respectful, informative and well-documented account of them. Packed full of information and high-quality pictures, there’s plenty here for Bedford aficionados and British truck enthusiasts alike.

OUR RATING ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

■ Jojo Rabbit Actors: Roman Griffin Davis, Taika Waititi, Scarlett Johansson Certificate: 12 Runtime: 1 hour 48 minutes

At a daunting four hours long, this re-cut of Justice League is almost twice the length of the version released in cinemas in 2017. But this new release is by far the superior film in which director Zack Snyder weaves an intricate and much more interesting tale of heroes coming together to thwart a trio of nemeses. It's still a slog, though – so perhaps one for die-hard DC fans only.

This World War II satire certainly packs a punch.

German boy Jojo is shocked to find his mother is hiding a Jewish girl in her attic – much to the alarm of his ridiculous imaginary friend, Adolf Hitler – and finds himself confronting his deep-seated nationalist views just as the Nazi party starts crumbling around him.

Sounds heavy, but this film has a light, deft comedic touch that’s truly disarming.

OUR RATING ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

OUR RATING ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Project Hail Mary Author: Andy Weir Publisher: 978-1529100617 ISBN: Del Rey Price: £13.19 (Amazon, hardback) This new book from the author of The Martian is an absolute corker.

Awaking after a long hyper-sleep as the sole survivor on a spacecraft

millions of miles away from home, Ryland Grace is on a make-or-break mission to save the Earth from catastrophe. Problem is, he can’t remember what he’s supposed to do – or even his own name, for that matter…

OUR RATING ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

NEW & RECENT MUSIC RELEASES ■ Delta Kream

■ Gary Crowley’s Lost ’80s Vol. 2

Artist: The Black Keys Label: Nonesuch Price: £9.99 (Amazon) This new album from the US guitar rockers is an absolute belter. Packed with 12 of the band’s favourite Delta Blues standards, all authentically recorded in Nashville, this is a throaty, ballsy and bluesy mix of moody, controlled guitar work for a laid-back, OUR RATING ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ rhythmic hillbilly vibe that’s almost impossible not to groove along to.

28 TRUCKING June 2021

Artist: Various Label: Edsel Price: £29.99 (Amazon)

OUR RATING ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

If you’re anything like us, you’ve got umpteen ’80s compilations in your music collection – and many of them have the same songs. Not so with this new four-disc set compiled

by BBC DJ Gary Crowley, which puts forward 65 obscure hits by big names such as Human League, Elvis Costello, Style Council and more.

www.truckingmag.co.uk

SIMPLY MY TRUCK. SIMPLY THE BEST.

The new MAN TGX. International Truck of the Year 2021.

The perfect overall package: the new generation of MAN trucks convinces comprehensively with the best MAN workplace for drivers of all times, outstanding ng efficiency and costeffectiveness, optimum vehicle availability and strong partnership in customer services.

That makes the new MAN TGX the International Truck of the Year 2021.

And that makes the people at MAN proud of their achievements. #SimplyMyTruck

NEWS LATEST PRODUCTS

NEW GEAR New gadgets and widgets to ease your life on the road

By Andy Stewart PHOTOGRAPHY VARIOUS

■ CP4S 4G VEHICLE RECORDER Manufacturer: SmartWitness Web: https://smartwitness.com/uk Price: On application SmartWitness has launched what it reckons is the world’s smallest and most powerful Direct Vision Standard (DVS)-compliant four-channel vehicle recorder. Boasting ultra-fast and precise data uploads for a smooth, no-lag replay, the CP4S system can connect up to four HD (720p) cameras for crystal-clear video on every channel. Easy to install, the system transmits data via the 4G network, though a WIFI-only version is also available which will connect to an existing in-vehicle WIFI network, reducing the need for a SIM card and extra data fees. With support for SD cards up to 256GB, the kit also comes with a two-year warranty.

■ SUGRU MOULDABLE GLUE ■ AIR DUSTER Web: www.hgvdirect.co.uk Price: £11.06 (inc VAT) Sometimes, keeping your cab free of dust and dirt requires a bit more than just a quick rub-down with a cloth. Particles like to gather in the smallest recesses and hardest-to-reach places, meaning the best way to deal with them is a swift and deliberate blast with an air gun. This handy air duster easily plugs into your seat airline using the supplied T-connector, and the coiled hose extends to 5 m to enable you to reach into even the furthest corners of the cab.

Manufacturer: tesa Web: https://sugru.com Price: £13.99 (pack of eight) There’s little worse than having an essential piece of kit break when you’re miles away from base. But fear not, help is at hand! Billed as the world’s first multi-purpose mouldable glue, Sugru can be used to repair a huge range of things quickly, easily and with absolutely no mess. For example, it can fix broken cables, cracked crockery, snapped plastic, leaky boots – and about a zillion other things. It bonds permanently to other materials and sets strong by turning into silicone rubber – so it’s also flexible. It’s waterproof, temperature resistant, machine washable, dishwasher proof and will hold up to 2 kg in weight. How did you ever live without it?

■ REBEL RACING Developer: Hutch Games Platform: Android/iOS Price: Free (in-app purchases) There are now loads of good racing games on mobile, but this new release takes the genre to the next level. Boasting graphics that wouldn’t look out of place on a games console, Rebel Racing puts you in the driving seat of vehicles ranging from supercars to custom classics as you race your way around America’s stunning West Coast. With real-world licenced vehicles and frantic track action, race fans should be all over this.

■ 3-IN-1 CHARGING CABLE Manufacturer: FLIP Web: www.iwantoneofthose.com Price: £7.99 Never be stuck without the correct charging cable with this handy new gizmo. FLIP features a retractable 60 cm three-in-one cable with connectors for micro USB, USB Type-C and Apple devices, so you can pull out the one you need for any given charging requirement and connect the other end to a power source or power bank when it’s time to juice up your device. And when you’re done, just gently tug the cable and it will automatically retract back into the flip-top case for tidy, tangle-free storage.

30 TRUCKING June 2021

THE APP OFTH MON

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NEW GEAR LED WORK LIGHTS

LED WORK LIGHTS ROUND-UP Don’t be in the dark – these top-drawer LED lamps will ensure you can keep on working when the sun goes down

By Andy Stewart PHOTOGRAPHY VARIOUS

W

hen tinkering with a truck, it’s important to make sure you’re working in a well-lit area. Whether you need to make repairs under the cab, noodle around inside the cabin, or touch things up with a bit of precision detailing, a work light is an essential piece of kit to ensure you can properly see what you’re doing when ambient light is low.

There are of course loads of different lighting solutions on the market. Some are focused on illuminating large areas, while others are geared towards squeezing into those hard-to-reach places – such as behind pipes, cables or other bits of hardware – to enable work in places where the sun don’t shine.

No matter what the requirements, there’s a lamp for you – and on these pages is our pick of some of the very best currently available.

240V LED Portable Work Light Manufacturer: Toolstation Web: www.toolstation.com Price: £15.98 (inc VAT) Proving you don’t have to spend a fortune on lighting kit, this LED work light is a bit of a bargain. Offering a bright 1500 lumens at 20 Watts, this wired 240V lamp is made from a die-cast housing with tempered glass and features a steel handle with soft grip for easy repositioning. Light quality is 6500K Cool White, and the LEDs are rated to last an average of 25,000 hours. Cable length is a bit short and there’s no on/off switch on the unit, but these are niggles at this price.

Rechargeable LED Inspection Lamp Manufacturer: Draper Web: www.drapertools.com Price: £62.99 (inc VAT) Small enough to tuck away in the cab, this handy handheld inspection lamp produces a whopping 1000 lumens from its 10 Watt COB (chip on board) LEDs. After a charging time of five hours via included micro USB, the lamp can provide light for up to six hours depending on brightness setting (high, mid or low). Made from shock-resistant plastic, it includes a 180-degree swivelling hook, a nylon hook on the back, three magnets for easy positioning, and an additional torch in the tip.

MAGflex Pivot Slim LED Inspection Lamp Manufacturer: Ring Web: www.ringautomotive.com Price: £34.95 (inc VAT) When you have to work in tight spaces or need to illuminate a hard-to-reach area, an ultra-slim work light is the perfect solution. This model from Ring features a multi-axis pivoting LED bar that’s just 6 mm thick, so it can be tucked in to light up the smallest of spaces. Producing 400 lumens of 6000K White light, this lamp can also be used for lighting broad areas as well as narrow spaces. Brightness can be easily controlled using a scrolling on/off dial, and a high-powered torch mode can be engaged if you need a concentrated beam. Max operating time is three hours based on a four-hour recharge time via the included charging cable.

32 TRUCKING June 2021

www.truckingmag.co.uk

2x 21W LED Work Light & Tripod Manufacturer: Clarke Web: www.machinemart.co.uk Price: £83.98 (inc VAT) If maximum area illumination is what you’re after, this freestanding unit from Clarke is one of the best we’ve seen.

Sporting two separate 42-cluster LEDs, the combined output is a substantial 3300 lumens (2x 1650) – more than enough to light up a localised work site. Suitable for use both inside and outside, the 230V, 42 Watt lamps are mounted on a rugged tripod which is height-adjustable up to 1720 mm and includes cable storage hooks for easy stowing away. Life expectancy is 20,000 hours from the 6500K lamps.

DCL050 XR LED Area Light Manufacturer: DeWALT Web: www.toolstoreuk.co.uk Price: £40.61 (inc VAT) 20W Rechargeable LED Work Light Manufacturer: Erbauer Web: www.screwfix.com Price: £32.99 (inc VAT) When you’re not near a power source, reach for a free-standing portable lamp.

This wireless wonder can produce a maximum of 1600 lumens from its 20 Watt LEDs and can run for up to three hours on battery power after a five-hour charge.

The main lamp has a 300-degree angle of rotation with 11 position settings, and two fold-out hooks mean it can be hung in place (two wall fixing holes are also included). Its LEDs are rated for up to 30,000 hours’ life and an adaptor/cigarette charger is included.

For flexibility, this DeWALT area light is hard to beat. It can be used in free-standing, handheld or suspended mode (via integrated hanging hook), plus the articulated lamp head can be adjusted into nine different positions for directional light control depending on the task at hand. However, it’s not the brightest at only 250-500 lumens, though it does last up to 10 hours per charge. The XR battery pack is also sold separately, which can cost between £40 and £60 depending on capacity – and the XR charger is also an additional buy at around £20. Ouch.

CRI-1250R Compact Detailing Light Manufacturer: Unilite Web: www.amazon.co.uk Price: £65.99 (inc VAT) Ultra-bright and built like a tank, this compact detailing light is made of the right stuff for heavy-duty use. Producing 1250 lumens from LEDs that can throw light of three different temperatures (2700K Warm White, 4500K Cool White and 6500K Daylight) depending on your requirements, this handheld is weatherproof, shockproof and super-strong with IP65 and IK07 ratings. It also features strong magnets on the back and base, a 360-degree retracting hanging hook and a built-in battery that lasts from 3-24 hours depending on settings.

www.truckingmag.co.uk

June 2021 TRUCKING 33

OUT & ABOUT J36 M6 CROOKLANDS

By Steve McCann

PHOTOGRAPHY SMc PHOTOGRAPHY

OUT ABOUT Haul of fame: DAF XF zipping along in Transhaul’s bright livery

Red herring: Warrens trailer being moved by an unmarked Scania R450

Blue Steel: Ferryman DAF XF and trailer in full blue livery

Lovin’ it: McDonalds fridge trailer hauled by a Renault T

Get the Gist: Scania G450 on the move for the logistics expert

34 TRUCKING June 2021

www.truckingmag.co.uk

Tanking it: BP McKeefry Volvo FH500 on tanker duty

Name game: Claire Janette Scania on the job for Eddie Stobart

Premier league: DAF XF competing at the top for Premier Logistics

Food for thought: Scania R620 belongs to food transport specialist AJ Anderson

Cool customer: Renault T pulling a fridge trailer for NFT

Curtain pull: TP Niven R450 Scania with matching curtainside trailer

Rigid choice: Inter-Haul’s smart MAN does the job

Family values: MAN TGX belongs to HPH, who’ve been family owned since 1953

www.truckingmag.co.uk

June 2021 TRUCKING 35

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DRIVEN MERCEDES-BENZ ACTROS 2546

PREDICTING THE

FUTURE We take a ‘supermarket trolley’, fewer-frills Merc Actros 2546 out for a shift and kiss and make up with the Predictive Powertrain Control.

It’s actually quite good – once you use it properly!

By Pip Dunn PHOTOGRAPHY MERCEDES-BENZ

38 TRUCKING June 2021

www.truckingmag.co.uk

W

hen Mercedes-Benz introduced its new MirrorCam and Multimedia Cockpits, it was announced they wouldn’t be reserved for the biggest cabs and instead rolled out across the whole Actros and Arocs range.

At the launch in 2018, we asked if the company thought this new state-of-theart gadgetry would be a bit too daunting for the likes of supermarkets – especially learning lessons from the birth of the Actros back in the 1990s, which was shunned by fleets and rental companies as complex at the time and forced Merc to develop the no-frills basic Axor range. But would Actros Version 5 be better off as a simpler option for the big fleets?

Well, the truth is Merc will still sell you a truck with conventional mirrors and even a ‘classic’ dashboard should you want it. In fact, you can get any Version 5 Actros with both these features, although we challenge truck enthusiasts to tell them apart from a Version 4 (other than by reg plate).

But Merc is also confident the big fleets would indeed embrace the new technology. And from the trucks we’ve seen on the road, that does seems to be the case.

Like every manufacturer, a new truck launch means the press get to test big trucks sporting all the bells and whistles. For Merc, that was a 2563 GigaSpace – and even later was an 1845 Big Space model. All well and good, but what about the smaller trucks? The classic ‘Wendy house’?

To good to turn down

2546 is the most powerful Merc with the 10.7-litre engine. It has the 320 mm engine tunnel www.truckingmag.co.uk

This road test came about in strange circumstances. A friend who runs a small fleet of 15 or so trucks loves small cabs. He’s a big Scania man, with a few P and G series in his yard, but he’s not averse to taking a Merc from time to time. So when he was offered a 2546 with the small 2.3 m wide cab with the 320 mm engine hump, yet the most powerful version of the 10.7-litre straight-six at 455 bhp, he jumped at the chance. And he also offered us a chance to drive it, fully loaded on a shift. That was an offer too good to turn down.

Seeing our tweets about our overnight in the 2546, Mertrux, the dealer, then invited us for a day in the very same truck with its test trailer. So this is a test over two very different days.

Technical overview Merc has three main engine sizes for the vast majority of its 38-44 tonne tractor units. First is the 10.7-litre OM470 at 326, 360, 394, 428 and 455 bhp – the latter three versions only really suitable for top-weight work.

Then there’s the 12.8-litre OM471 available at 421, 449, 476, 510 and 530 bhp. There’s also the OM473 15.6-litre rated at 517, 578 and 625 bhp.

The 450 bhp bracket is one of the most popular for 44-tonne work and here Merc has two engines of two different sizes. As tested here, it’s the most powerful version of the smaller (and lighter) 10.7-litre and towards the lower end of the spectrum on the bigger lump. Torque on the OM470 in its highest form is 2200 Nm, which is the same as the 2545 with its bigger engine.

The transmission was Merc’s automated Powershift 3 with ratios from 14.93:1. The axles were rated at 7500 kg for both the front and mid-lift, and 11,500 kg for the drive axle. Tyres were 315/70R22.5 all round.

Specification ■ Model: Mercedes-Benz Actros 2546 6x2 mid-lift ■ Design GVW/GCW: 25,000 / 44,000 kg ■ Chassis: 3700 mm wheelbase ■ Front axle: 7500 kg capacity ■ Rear axle: 7500 kg (mid-lift), 11,500 kg (drive). 1:2.611 ratio.

315/70R22.5 tyres.

■ Transmission: G 330-12, PowerShift 3, 12-speed automated manual ■ Engine: 10.7-litre OM470 six-cylinder, Euro 6, SCR ■ Max power: 455 bhp @ 1600 rpm ■ Max torque: 2200 Nm @ 1100 rpm ■ Cab: StreamSpace 2.3 m wide high-roof sleeper with 320 mm tunnel

June 2021 TRUCKING 39

DRIVEN MERCEDES-BENZ ACTROS 2546 Merc’s dash is one of the best in the business

When stepping into a Version 5 Merc for the first time, you need a proper handover.

The truck was heavily laden with a host of safety features in addition to MirrorCam, including Active Brake Assist 5 with autonomous emergency braking and pedestrian recognition. It also came fitted with Traffic Sign Assist, Attention Assist, Lane Keeping Assist, Proximity Control Assist and Stability Control Assist.

The truck had the high-roof, narrow StreamSpace L-cab, which is the lowest entry available in the Actros range. This means it has a 320 mm engine hump.

ABOVE: MirrorCam system is still a winner in our eyes 40 TRUCKING June 2021

The ClassicSpace and (narrow) StreamSpace have the 170 mm engine hump, while the GigaSpace, BigSpace and (full-width) StreamSpace have a flat floor.

What that means is there is enough room (just) to stand up in the passenger footwell to get changed. There is even room for a second bunk. But really this is a cab for occasional nights out.

The new Version 5 gizmos were present and correct: that snazzy and very usable Multimedia Cockpit,

ABOVE: Electronic parking brake can be either loved or loathed by drivers

MirrorCams and the facility to dump your smartphone in a tray and let it charge without a dangly cable getting in the way.

On the road Many hauliers we’ve spoken to have mentioned they’ve found Mercs to be a bit gutless, and in some of our road tests the 2545s have struggled. It’s why many Mercedes-Benz aficionados prefer the 2548 or 2551 models; it’s not just to be power-crazy, but rather they find the extra grunt is worthwhile.

So with this in mind, we were intrigued to see how the 2546 with a little engine working at its hardest would compare.

Our day started in Spalding with a full load for Hemel Hempstead, then it was empty to Ely to reload for home – a distance of 235 miles. Once we’d got our loaded trailer, it was it onto the road. We took the A16 towards Peterborough, skirted round the city on the A1139 and then joined the A1M southbound. Then it was the A421 past Bedford to join on the M1 southbound for the run towards Hemel. www.truckingmag.co.uk

All in all, it was straightforward – and despite a full load, the truck was doing pretty well. As you might expect, the truck takes its time to get up to full speed, but once there it was simply a case of using the CC, sitting back and enjoying the ride.

Mirror magic We’ve driven MirrorCam Mercs a fair bit now and there’s not much we don’t like about the system. While the images are a bit grainy in the dark, they are no worse than normal mirrors. In fact, the week after the first time we drove a mirrorless Merc in the dark, we took charge of a conventionally mirrored Scania and all we could see in the main glass was a reflection of the brightly lit dash. You don’t get that with MirrorCam – so this case, it’s a better system.

At Hemel, we were told which bay to back on. It was the only spare bay and was quite tight. With MirrorCam, we could see the back of the trailer at all times, which made the process much simpler.

Unloaded, it was off to Ely to reload, and getting diverted off the A11 did us no favours. We got there with a couple of minutes to spare before our 45-minute break. This time there was lots more room to get on the bay, and again, the digital mirrors meant we didn’t have to leave the cab to check our positioning.

The final leg, however, was where we had a little fall-out with the Merc. The truck has Predictive Powertrain Control

(PPC), which means it ‘reads’ the road ahead and slows down for bends and roundabouts, and then accelerates away when the road straightens out again. It also reads speed limits, so it will slow down for a 30 mph zone and speed up again when the zone is exited.

In principle, it’s a good system. We found it braked a little more than we might have done, but that’s OK – better safe than sorry. But on roundabouts, the pull away was painfully slow. We could see the truck slowing down to 12, 10, even 9 mph and then taking an age to get going again. It got so frustratingly annoying that we simply started to put our foot down after every roundabout to prevent anyone behind getting understandably irate.

It seems we were partly right in this.

The man from Mertrux told us it is a frustration, and it’s because the truck “hasn’t quite worked out” that it’s off the roundabout and can get going again.

So while we were right to apply power, all we needed to do was literally tap the accelerator to let the truck ‘know’ it’s time to get a wiggle on, and watch it speed up.

On our test drive with Mertrux, we did just that and the truck behaved as we wanted – and soon it became all the more relaxing for it.

Predictive Powertrain Control is an acquired taste and not all drivers will like it. However, it does make the truck drive in the most fuel-efficient way – and if you are paying the diesel bills or are on a fuel bonus, that’s well worth remembering.

Verdict Mercedes has been a big player in the no-frills fleet market for some time and developed the venerable Axor purely for the lucrative UK market. It succeeded with its bulletproof basic gaffer’s motor with some massive orders for the likes of Tesco. The small Actros followed that success, and now the Version 5 is bringing an element of technology to what was previously a pretty basic truck.

This 2546 has a lot going for it. It handles nicely and it doesn’t seem to have that sluggishness the 2545 suffers from – perhaps because the 10.7-litre working hard is more responsive.

On our first drive of 235 miles, it delivered a very impressive 10.72 mpg according to Fleetboard. On the second drive of 110 miles, with a tipper trailer loaded to 44 tonnes, the average was 8.54 mpg. Considerably less, but the route was more single-carriageway driving with more hills and bends, very limited use of the CC and also at a higher gross weight. Again, it’s not a bad figure at all.

We’re big fans of MirrorCam. Once you get used to it, the Multimedia Cockpit is also a winner. It’s crisp, clear and multi-functional. We still have reservations about the secondry screen at times, which can be a bit distracting.

But those drivers who use it day in, day out will soon get used to it and either set it up the way they want before pulling off, or make use of the buttons below the screen instead.

The electric parking brake is a bit Marmitey and there is the odd occasion it just didn’t seem to be that responsive.

Many drivers still prefer a manual parking brake, and we can see why.

PPC is the biggest thing which will please or infuriate drivers. And here again, the message is simple: don’t dismiss it out of hand. Try it out, get to use it and, more importantly, learn how to use it properly. When stepping into a Version 5 Merc for the first time, you need a proper handover. There is a lot to take in.

Overall, this was a nice truck. It’s not spectacular; it’s just a simple, honest working truck that will shift a decent load and earn you a decent wage. It’s got lots of tech, and you need to learn how to use it to make it work best.

We like: + MirrorCam system + Build quality + Easy access + Superb roadholding

Cab is compact, which is fine for the occasional night out, but not ideal for tramping

www.truckingmag.co.uk

We don’t like: - PPC takes some getting used to - Second screen is still a distraction at times

June 2021 TRUCKING 41

ME & MY TRUCK CALLUM FERGUSON’S DAF CF530 Touching tribute: Graphics are dedicated to Mullac’s daughter Harlie, who sadly lost her life

es great Driver Mullac tak ty DAF gh mi care of his

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CALLUM FERGUSON’S DAF CF WRECKER

■ MAN AT THE WHEEL

■ TRUCK

Name: Callum Ferguson Age: 23 Nickname: Mullac Experience: Six years driving recovery trucks Favourite truck: My DAF! Oscars: My Dad Davie, Gordon at Zero Seven graphics and Karen Taylor

Make & model: DAF CF530 manual Owner: Andrews Recovery Based: Dumbarton Custom stuff: DAF CF with XF chassis, custom body, LA Lightbars Top Bar with beacons, visor bar, custom visor, stainless mirror covers, custom decals, custom lights, lollipop lights Best thing about it: It’s capable of doing anything!

Gongs: Not made a show yet due to COVID-19

Rescue me: DAF wrecker is an imposing sight from the rear, but a welcome one for stranded drivers

42 TRUCKING June 2021

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serious ster DAF packs On the pull: Mon out of trouble les hic kit to get ve

Hanging tough: Lucky leprechaun has been on DAF since it was new

By Steve McCann PHOTOGRAPHY SMc PHOTOGRAPHY

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June 2021 TRUCKING 43

THE BIG DEAL JOHN BRINDLEY LTD SCANIA 580S

44 TRUCKING June 2021

www.truckingmag.co.uk

GETTING THE

LOW DOWN Brindley’s new Scania 580S is such a rare truck that when it arrived in the UK from Sweden, there was a degree of confusion if it was actually destined for a UK operator! We head to the Leicestershire operator to get the full story…

By Pip Dunn PHOTOGRAPHY PIP DUNN

www.truckingmag.co.uk

June 2021 TRUCKING 45

THE BIG DEAL JOHN BRINDLEY LTD SCANIA 580S

J

ohn Brindley Ltd, based in Sharnford in Leicestershire, is a specialist transport company that relies on delivering a first-rate service to its customers. It’s innovative and not afraid to invest. Its current fleet is mostly made up of Scanias; and while it is not 100 per cent ‘brand loyal’ to the Swedish marque, it does rate its products highly.

The vehicle Trucking has come to see is a brand-new 580S. Nothing unusual in that? It’s a 6x2 tag. Again, nothing too unusual? Well yes,

ABOVE The firm is proud of its long heritage

because it’s a low-ride with a twin-tyre rear axle – and while it looks very much like a Scandinavianspec truck, the fact it’s right-hand drive gives the game away.

Indeed, when it arrived at the docks, someone from Scania actually questioned if the truck was destined

Specification ■ Model: Scania 580S 6x2 low-ride tag-axle ■ Design GVW/GCW: 65,000 kg ■ Chassis: 2950 mm wheelbase ■ Front axle: 8000 kg capacity ■ Rear axle: 11,500 kg (drive), 7500 kg (tag). 1:2.92 ratio.

■ Tyres: 315/60R22.5 (front), 295/60R22.5 (rear) ■ Gearbox: Scania GRSO905R automated transmission ■ Engine: Scania DC16-117 Euro 6d, 16.4-litre, V8 ■ Max power: 580 bhp @ 1900 rpm ■ Max torque: 2950 Nm @ 1000-1350 rpm ■ Cab: S high-roof, flat-floor, twin-bunk sleeper

for a UK operator. But this is the first of its kind in the UK and has been bought not to show or pose with, but to work.

Swedish stunner Painted in the smart dark green and red livery with a bit of yellow lettering, this truck looks stunning.

Lightbars and mirror protectors are the main bits of ‘bling’, but there’s no over-the-top bullbar or other short stuff.

We’ve met with transport manager Julian Brindley, who is now in charge of the family firm and oversees a 25-strong fleet of trucks.

The company doesn’t really do much ‘ordinary’ tautliner work, and accordingly some of the trucks are highly spec’d with heavy-duty chassis and fitted with cranes.

The company’s massive trailer fleet – it has over 500 – features all sorts for carrying abnormal loads. It’s this kind of niche work that gives it an advantage.

The new 580S has all-round air suspension and low-profile wheels for Special Types work. Says Julian: “It has four height settings. We can

Scania is the predominate marque in the fleet, but it’s not exclusive

46 TRUCKING June 2021

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I handle all sorts of loads – high, wide, heavy… sometimes I’m running at 5 m wide.

Nick King, driver

The Scania fleet is a mix of V8s and straight-sixes

run at normal height or low height for when we’re using 3 m trailers abroad. We have to swap the fifth wheel, but it’s a relatively easy job that only takes 20 minutes.”

Varied work In charge of the stunning new truck is 48-year-old Nick King. He’s been a driver for 22 years now; 20 of them on Class 1 artic work. He’s been with Brindley’s for a decade and works all over the UK and Europe. “I’m away all week,” says Bristol-born Nick, who now lives in nearby Nuneaton.

“I handle all sorts of loads – high, wide, heavy… sometimes I’m running at 5 m wide. A lot of our work is moving portable buildings to sites.”

The 580S is capable of 65 tonnes STGO Category 2 work. Nick also has ADR training and can pull tankers, including flammable liquids. “The company is very versatile; we can do www.truckingmag.co.uk

all sorts,” says Julian. The majority of the fleet is plated at 44 tonnes, but there are many that can do much bigger loads. Six trucks are STGO Category 2, plated at 65 tonnes and two are capable of 80 tonnes – but there are also three trucks plated for operating at STGO Category 3 at 150 tonnes.

While the fleet is predominately Scania, there is a 2551 MercedesBenz Arocs, two Version 3 Volvo FHs, one Version 4 FH540, two DAF XF510s and one XF460. For the Södertälje squad, on the New Gen fleet there is the new 580S, an S580 6x2 midlift and a novel S500 6x2 tag which, while built as and able to run Driver Nick King (left) and MD Julian Brindley

June 2021 TRUCKING 47

THE BIG DEAL JOHN BRINDLEY LTD SCANIA 580S as a tractor, can also run as a drawbar for Calor Gas work.

Older Scanias are an R450 44-tonne 6x2 midlift, four other R450s and two G450s and a 57-plate R480. The latter, Julian says, was bought “because we got busy and needed a temporary quick fix, but we’ve ended up keeping it!”

There is also an R580 80-tonner tag-axle and another R580 82-tonner with a crane mounted on it. On the rigid fleet, there’s an 18-tonne P230 and an R450 6x2 demountable wagon and drag.

Good on fuel Says Julian: “We bought the new 580S outright with a three-year full R&M contract. We got it via Keltruck at Lutterworth, and that’s where it goes for its six-weekly maintenance and any other work. Keltruck is a brilliant dealer; truly superb.”

So far Julian is very pleased with the truck’s performance. “We are typically getting 9.9 mpg on general work and we got 10.8 mpg on a run to Paris, although admittedly that was quite a light load.”

Low-ride, twin-tyre tag is very Scandinavian, but very rare in the UK

So why a low-ride? “We needed a low-ride 6x2 as we couldn’t have a 4x2 because of the weight. We looked at midlift and rear tags, and the latter was better for traction and for manoeuvrability.

“We had lots of discussions with the salesman to get the spec right and exactly what we wanted and needed. The drivers also have a lot of input when it comes to spec’ing a new truck.”

The vehicle has 315/60 tyres on the front and 295/60s on the rear, and alloy wheels throughout. That gives the tractor unit a 9700 kg unladen weight. “Scania’s weight is still an issue; having the V8 engine adds a tonne to that. But the V8 is bombproof and the residuals are good for the work our trucks do.”

That said, for 44 tonnes, Julian will probably look at a 540 for the next tractor.

ABOVE Brindley has tried Mercedes-Benz, but is now sticking mostly with Scania 48 TRUCKING June 2021

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Julian likes the trucks to look smart, and while he doesn’t like too much ‘bling’, likewise he doesn’t want the trucks to look plain. The new 580S looks imposing, impressive and ready for work – but not over the top.

Brindley’s will always look at the best vehicles on the market at any given time, but Scania is currently its preferred supplier. Says Julian: “We had one lad who was Volvo through and through and was almost anti-Scania, but he’s now

been converted,” he laughs. “We gave him a Scania demo and he loved it!”

This new truck is on R&M, but previously Brindley did all the maintenance itself in-house. “It allowed us to keep the trucks longer,” but as trucks get ever more sophisticated and complicated, R&M might be the way forward. “We’ll definitely keep the truck for its R&M period, and in fact it’ll probably be with us for at least six years and we’ll probably renew the R&M. The specialist trucks tend to be kept for

The V8 is bombproof and the residuals are good for the work our trucks do. Julian Brindley

at least 10 years, but they do lower mileages, so last longer.”

The firm covers the whole of the UK and Europe: “Basically we go wherever the customer wants us to!”

That means Julian and his drivers have to be fully up to date on all the rules and regulations for abnormal loads in many countries, both in the EU and beyond. There can be no excuses for not being legal in whatever country they are operating in.

Looking ahead, another new Scania is on the way. “We’ve an R540 Highline 8x2 rigid, on air, and fitted with a demountable crane on order which will also be the first of its kind in the country,” Julian tells us.

“It will have a Moffett loader and a drawbar trailer.”

Treated properly

ABOVE S-cab gives driver Nick plenty of room when working abroad www.truckingmag.co.uk

There are 25 drivers now employed and Brindley operates a one driver, one truck policy, which helps ensure drivers look after and value their vehicles. “Some of the guys have been with us for 30 years. We do struggle to get the right drivers, but there certainly is variety in the work they do.”

The firm does undertake some general haulage as well, and roped and sheeted loads are still a part of its fabric. It also has several Moffett forklifts on the fleet. The company has a vast customer portfolio, but does not rely on any contracted work; its reputation to deliver – literally – what it has promised has ensured it remains busy and has plenty of customer loyalty.

Handling abnormal loads is a specialist, complex and intricate business sector and needs the right kit, the right staff and the right mentality to deliver successfully.

Brindley’s certainly has all three – and that explains why the firm is doing so well. It stays ahead of the game, and part of that is ordering the trucks it needs to do its jobs properly to the right spec.

The fact they look good as well is an added bonus – and you can’t beat a bit of free PR with goodlooking vehicles!  June 2021 TRUCKING 49

OPERATOR PROFILE S KING, CO MEATH

CATTLE KING Classic Scania 92M is still transporting animals for Stuart King from Ashbourne, County Meath in the Republic of Ireland – who has owned and worked the truck since buying it brand-new in 1985

By Paul O’Callaghan PHOTOGRAPHY PAUL O’CALLAGHAN / S KING

A

s a major producer of livestock for live export and meat, Ireland has been home to some fascinating livestock truck combinations through the years – from old Hino HEs with their tall cab and set-forward front axle, to the modern trend of high-horsepower Volvos and Scanias boasting tridem chassis pulling a variety of different trailer configurations.

But back in the ’80s, with some of the poorest roads in Europe, a single-deck rigid pulling a two-axle drag trailer 50 TRUCKING June 2021

featuring a turntable (then referred to as a ‘double’) was the classic combination. Run-throughs which allowed the cattle to walk from the trailer through the rigid were yet to be designed, resulting in skilful manoeuvres as drivers had to jack-knife the outfit to load or unload the rigid without unhooking.

Stuart King from Curragha, Ashbourne, County Meath in the Republic of Ireland still operates a classic Scania 92M from this era. What makes it even more special is the fact he has owned and driven the truck since it

Stuart with the 82, which the Kings owned from 1982 to 1985 www.truckingmag.co.uk

Genuine kilometre reading

arrived brand-new in September 1985.

Well, almost: “My father John King, who passed away in 2007, bought the truck brand-new in 1985 and drove it for one year before I took over the driving at 23 years of age,” Stuart tells us.

“Along with running the small farm here, my father moved cattle all over the country, working for the likes of Con Horgan from Cork, a well-known live cattle exporter back then. He’d be drawing cattle into the North Wall at Dublin Port, destined for export to Libya or Yemen. Ballinhassig in County Cork was somewhere I remember him heading off for at all hours of the morning.”

Over a cup of tea at the family cottage, Stuart and his sister Jodi recount the various trucks their father owned through the years. “He had a Dodge, a blue-and-white AEC Mercury, and also a Mandator before he bought a brand-new Scania 82M from McElvaneys of Monaghan in 1982, with timber bodies built by Farrah Brothers of Abbeyshrule, County Longford. The Dennison drag trailer, which was behind the AEC, then went behind the 82M.”

No rust on the truck or the driver www.truckingmag.co.uk

M denotes ‘medium’ rated chassis on a Scania

Class of 92 When the Scania 92M arrived brandnew, it was simply a case of swapping the body from the 82 and hitching up to the drag trailer. The eye-catching blue-and-white combination hauled cattle into locations such as the famous Kepak meat factory at Clonee, County Meath or at Greenore, County Louth where cattle were shipped for live export.

This really is a very original truck which has received very few, if any modifications throughout its 35-year lifespan. The paintwork and signwriting, which was done at the Scania dealer pre-delivery, is all original.

The interior belies its age, perhaps preserved by the layers of rugs Stuart has placed inside. Although the truck

features a sleeper cab, Stuart says he always managed to get back to his own bed at night.

Even the Pioneer radio is original.

“I recall the salesman at the time saying the radio would be in the truck forever. When it stopped working once, I got a friend to repair it, so the salesman was right!”

Currently showing just over 700,000 km on the clock, all the truck has ever needed was one replacement clutch. Even the original batteries lasted for 10 years. This is testament to the loving care the truck has received from Stuart, who always keeps it stored in a shed, protected from the elements of the Irish weather. Perhaps the only exterior parts renewed are the mirrors, which began to rot a few years ago. ➤

Perfection: This photo was taken in the ’90s June 2021 TRUCKING 51

OPERATOR PROFILE S KING, CO MEATH The quintessential cattle man!

➤

Period piece Sitting behind the flat two-spoke wheel brings one back to a bygone era, especially when you notice the lack of seatbelts. The Scania 2-series, which was produced in Europe from 1980 to 1987, has a classic shape in both P and R cabs designed by none other

Currently showing just over 700,000 km on the clock, all the truck has ever needed was one replacement clutch. Even the original batteries lasted for 10 years. than legendary car designer, Giorgetto Giugiario. The Italian, who was named Designer of the Century in 1999, is credited with some famous cars such as the Golf Mk1, Renault Espace and the 1981 DeLorean. It may be the bigger R-cabbed Scania, especially the V8s which steal the limelight on the classic scene, but a P-cab with a 52 TRUCKING June 2021

sleeper just looks aesthetically perfect.

While restored vintage and classic cattle trucks may have authentic timber bodies, Stuart’s is a working truck – and in 1999 he made the decision to replace the timber body with a steel one, again built by Farrah Brothers. “I prefer a timber body and think the cattle are less nervous, as there is less noise. But the floor was rotten and timber is just too expensive to keep replacing.” He has kept the original Dennison timber trailer, although it has been parked up for the past few years because the rigid alone has proven adequate for his needs.

Stuart still enjoys driving the truck, although it has a comfortable life nowadays moving his own cattle along with those of three of four longstanding customers.

The classic Scania is occasionally taken to shows, where Stuart enjoys a chat – especially at the rural ones in Dundalk and Waterford. There are no plans to change anything in how the truck looks or operates, as long as everything stays in working order.

Let’s hope the affable and sprightly Meath man continues to work and show this classic for many more years to come.

Steel is more practical than wood nowadays

Stuart arriving at the Dundalk classic truck show in 2018

Note the period Motorola! www.truckingmag.co.uk

OPERATOR PROFILE J BLAKEY TRANSPORT

SIMPLY

RED

Premium customer service and a carefully maintained fleet of first-class Volvos has seen John Blakey Transport go from strength to strength

By Harrison Thomas PHOTOGRAPHY TOM CUNNINGHAM

J

ohn Blakey has no desire to be the biggest construction haulier – but together with wife Suzanne, daughter Franky and a loyal team, he works hard to be the best. Like so many in the haulage sector, John comes from a family with road transport firmly in its DNA. His grandfather used to operate a horse and cart, and his father started in

timber haulage in the 1960s. Today, John is the MD of his own firm, J Blakey Transport, which operates a seven-strong fleet – down slightly from its peak of nine trucks in 2009, before the recession saw his fleet contract to just two wagons.

“We’re comfortable at seven,” says John. “Instead of buying more trucks, we have a trusted pool of sub-contractors we use when we ➤

Five of the seven-strong fleet operate in J Blakey’s distinctive red livery 54 TRUCKING June 2021

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➤

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June 2021 TRUCKING 55

OPERATOR PROFILE J BLAKEY TRANSPORT and custom-built toolboxes mounted on the chassis.

Each tractor unit typically remains on the fleet for between four and five years, covering approximately 120,000 km a year, with drivers normally away four nights per week.

Maintenance matters

John is happiest when he’s driving trucks or forklifts; while Suzanne is transport and office manager ➤ need more wheels on the road. On

the busiest days we can have up to 10 additional trucks working for us, but it is a flexible resource we bring in when we need it.

“We also pay our subbies well and on-time, so people want to work for us,” he adds. “It’s a good position to be in.”

John initially ran Fodens when he started the business in 1995. This slowly changed with the introduction of the first DAF trucks into his operation, before John acquired a taste for Volvo 16 years ago. This was the start of a relationship which would eventually see the Swedish brand replace the entire fleet.

“The beauty of running Volvos in my opinion is nothing can touch them for reliability; that’s why we’ve stayed loyal. Plus, Crossroads Truck & Bus at Boroughbridge is literally five minutes from our yard. It doesn’t get more convenient than that!”

length – for longstanding customer Cleveland Steel & Tubes.

Working alongside the FH16 are six FH540 Globetrotters, three of which benefit from the motorsportinspired Dual Clutch gearbox – which John reckons is remarkably fuel-efficient, and which the drivers love. All trucks are well spec’d, with leather as standard and alloy wheels – plus air horns, lightbars

Bucking the trend which has seen many small-fleet workshops close, John still proudly carries out all his own maintenance on-site. “Being based on a farm, we’re not short of space and we have a barn which has been converted into a fully fledged workshop. We have got our own mechanic and he is trained to work on our trucks. He can take care of pretty much everything for us.”

John says their high service standards pay dividends when it comes to selling trucks into the second-hand market. “They never sit around for long. Quite the reverse – I frequently have people calling me to ask when the next one is going to be available. They know we really look after our vehicles, both mechanically and cosmetically – so there is always strong demand.”

It is a similar story with the J Blakey trailer fleet. The company

Mighty flagship No stranger to collecting trophies and certificates at truck shows, John’s pride and joy is his FH16-750 – or ‘FH16 JON’ as it says on the reg plate. The FH16 handles mostly STGO work, regularly shifting a full cargo of steel pipes to the docks – some of which can be up to 32 m in 56 TRUCKING June 2021

Custom artwork depicts John Wayne from the famed 1969 Western www.truckingmag.co.uk

The FH16 handles mostly STGO work, regularly shifting a full cargo of steel pipes to the docks.

What a fleet! Six FH540s work alongside the FH16 flagship

operates 20 Dennison flatbeds, three extendable Nooteboom step-frames and a double-extending Faymonville for the longest loads – giving it the versatility to handle even the most technical jobs in-house.

“We give 110 per cent to every job; the priority is looking after our customers,” says John. “As a direct result, we’re in the envious position of never having to look for work; it comes to us.”

genuine trust, which we’ve built up over the years.

“Customers also know they can ring me at 5 am if something urgent comes up, and we’ll get straight on it. It’s all part of the service,” he admits. John’s commitment to his customers is commendable, and it has clearly earned the business an incredibly loyal base which provides the majority of its work.

This focus on the customer means the businesses never looks for

return loads. “We view them as just another distraction. We’d rather get the truck straight on to its next job – not have it diverting left, right and centre to lift something else on its way back.”

To reflect the close relationship John has with his customers, two of the firm’s FHs operate in Cleveland Steel & Tube’s striking grey, white and blue livery. “We are their main haulier, so the livery makes a lot of sense. The customer asked if we’d do ➤

Moving heaven & earth John acknowledges he is not the cheapest, but customers clearly have full confidence in him and his team to get the job done. “It’s all about being a reliable partner, offering a premium service. We will literally move heaven and earth to ensure we get the work done safely and on time, and that’s what customers want more than anything. We try and make their lives simple – they book in the work, and then trust us to get on with it.

They don’t need to be back on the phone a few hours later to check we’ve got a truck en route – there is www.truckingmag.co.uk

All J Blakey trucks are supplied by Crossroads Truck & Bus at Boroughbridge June 2021 TRUCKING 57

OPERATOR PROFILE J BLAKEY TRANSPORT

The firm’s flagship is four years old, but maintained in immaculate condition

The fleet is incredibly well spec’d – and drivers take great care of their trucks

Volvo’s iconic headlight design was directly inspired by the look and feel of hard ice

In a normal year, the fleet is a regular sight at truck shows across the country

The show must go on John’s flagship FH16-750 arrived in July 2017 and in a typical year would lead the family line-up at local and national truck shows. “We really missed them last year. We’d normally attend the Thirsk Truck Gathering, and we’ve done big events like Truckfest Peterborough and Newark a few times. We can’t wait to get back to it once normal play resumes.”

With more than 800 different hues, tints and shades offered by the Volvo factory, John is firmly settled on Venetian Red for the core of his fleet. “The first Foden I bought was red and we’ve just stuck with the colour ever since,” he admits. “It certainly stands out, and it’s helped us to pick up a few ‘best in show’ awards over the years.”

It can be a treacherous job, but a combination of skill, experience and a cool head will see you right.

➤ it, and we were delighted to oblige.

John says his high-end fleet helps to attract honest, hard-working drivers 58 TRUCKING June 2021

They look super!” he enthuses.

While the role of MD means John must spend some of his time in the office, he is happiest when he’s hands-on. “I really like being behind the wheel as much as I can; whether it’s in one of the Volvos or on a forklift loading trailers in the yard.”

Suzanne is transport and office manager and oversees the firm’s FORS Silver accreditation, of which she is very proud. Franky is in charge of operations, inbound calls and scheduling work with drivers.

Supporting them are five drivers and one mechanic, who have mostly been with the firm for many years.

“As a small family business, everyone plays an essential role. Our drivers are our ambassadors on the www.truckingmag.co.uk

With a striking fleet, driver vacancies are few and far between for J Blakey

frontline, the ones interacting with customers daily. We only put the best people in our trucks.

“That’s another reason for investing in a top-of-the-range fleet – it helps to attract the kind of honest, hardworking drivers you want behind the wheel of a truck with your name on it.

“Yes, we’ve lost some drivers to other firms over the years – but nine times out of 10 it’s a case of people thinking the grass is greener on the other side.

You can’t blame someone for being tempted by something new, but invariably they come back to us.”

Driver vacancies might be few and far between, but when they do come up, John says they’re filled pretty quick.

“We’ve never struggled with recruitment; we’ve got a competitive package and great trucks,” he enthuses. www.truckingmag.co.uk

COVID consequences So how has the business coped after one of the most difficult years of trading most firms can recall? “The majority of our work is in the construction sector, and Brexit was already making a lot of customers nervous. But that proved nothing in comparison with what came our way with COVID-19 in March last year.

“When the pandemic hit, work literally fell off a cliff overnight. It wasn’t jobs shifting elsewhere; it just wasn’t happening at all, as so many construction sites were on temporary shutdown.

“The government’s furlough scheme really helped us out and meant our drivers could keep earning while most of the trucks were parked. I do not know what we’d have done without it.

“During the peak of the first lockdown, I kept things ticking over with one of the lads; handling the small volume of work which was still coming in. We saw demand drop again when the second lockdown began in November, but not as badly as before.

A lot of building sites kept going.”

Looking to the future, John is confident the outlook beyond the pandemic is strong, with a huge emphasis being placed on the construction sector to help the UK to ‘build back better’ and ‘build back greener’.

“Given the bulk of our work comes from building and construction, we’re looking forward to playing our part,” he says confidently. “We’re happiest when we’re working flat out. Bring it on!” ■ June 2021 TRUCKING 59

AEC MERRYWEATHER

DODGE 50

FORD CARGO 1991, 154000 miles, Offers. Bought for the tilt and slide body. Runs sweet, six cylinder non turbo, White and Dires coach build cab. Would make a cracking camper/resto for rallies. Add light beaver tail and load up the tractors. Please call 01726 75244, South West.

107180

FORD TRANSIT TIPPER 1964, £6,500. Ex Kingsway East Dundee. In very good solid condition, dry stored for 35 years, on the button, drives, brakes working, on V5. Please call 07860 475279, East of England.

1989, £1,500. MK2. Four cylinder Phaser engine.

Complete, starts and runs perfectly. Cab in good condition. 12ft horsebox body, can be removed if required. Please call 01582 872000 , East of England.

107412

ALBION CHIEFTAIN

107202

DODGE STEP SIDE PICK-UP 1995, £2,200. 190 LWB. Rare 2000cc petrol pickup with all alloy flatbed. Two owners, good restoration project, goo chassis for age, will require wings and wheel arched, etc. Please call 07934 803566, West Midlands.

107570

IVECO 2000 1957, £4,500. Ex BRS Albion flatbed lorry. Runs and is in good condition, needs a little attention to the engine as it smokes. Brakes need bleeding as it's been stood a while due to COVID. Please call 01308 456022, South West.

engine, manual gearbox, free tax, MoT exempt, mine for 6 years, disc brakes, high diff ratio, 8x4 foot sheets fit in back. Reliable truck. Please call 07717

107229

107474

AUSTIN K2

1977, 36000 miles, £12,500. 3.6 six cylinder

834262, South East.

ERF ECX

1939, 33000 miles, £6,500. Tipper, underslung 7 brand new tyres, new radiator front. Rear brake

£1,500. Iveco Daily, 6.5 tonnes lorry with beavertail.

Tested until 30th Nov 2021, cab painted Fordson blue. Private plates to be taken off. Please call 07860 413516, Wales.

cylinders, master cylinder, shock link towbar, 4 cylinder Perkins 4/236. Please call 01942 523186, North West.

107552

107417

BEDFORD CF MAN 8.163

1982, 83500 miles, £3,500. CF2 Campervan.

Runs well, two berth with fitted sink and cooker.

240v hook-up. MoT till Sep 2021. Please call 07756 655631, South East.

2000, £5,000. Sleeper Cab 6x2 mid lift. Air suspension to mid lift and rear axle, Cummings 380, M11 low emission (Emminox exhaust box fitted to Euro 4). Eaton 16 speed Gearbox, Jost slider fifth wheel cab, air suspension, full air management fitted. Runs used as shunter.

No MoT, owned from new. Please call 07713 621104, South East.

1998, £3,500. R registration, MoT till end of August.

7.5 ton with sleeper cab, beavertail and winch.

Locking tool box. Please call 07710 830331, East Midlands.

107411

106831

107441

Tel

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READERS’ LETTERS REFLECTING THE INDUSTRY

READERS’ LETTERS Letter of the Month wins a fantastic Search-Impex model truck!

ABOVE Players can take a virtual tour of the Evolution range’s new cab layout

SOFT(WARE) LAUNCH I read in the news in your last edition that Renault has launched a new range of vehicles. Nothing so unusual about that, except they seem to have chosen to reveal the new trucks inside a videogame [Euro Truck Simulator 2 –ed].

The first time I read this, I thought it was a bit daft. Who’s going to see it? Kids at

home playing video games surely aren’t the target audience for this sort of thing?

But thinking about it some more, I suppose it starts to make sense. One of the things I keep reading about is the driver shortage, and how the industry is always trying new ways of bringing new blood into the job.

Well, it occurred to me that if there’s a

sizeable audience of young ‘virtual’ truck drivers out there – at least big enough to warrant a major truck manufacturer presumably paying to use the game to show off its new vehicles – then it might actually inspire some of those people to consider driving a ‘real’ truck for their job of work.

We all know kids like playing video games, so perhaps this is a good way to reach them and show them that driving a truck can be an interesting and rewarding career? So good on Renault for giving it a go and trying something new.

For me though, I’ll stick to reading about the new vehicles in your magazine. I do have a computer, but the only game I’ve ever played on it is Solitaire.

I think I’ll leave the virtual tour of the new Renaults for the young-uns to discover!

Keep up the good work.

Alan Hussey By email Thanks for your email, Alan. We agree Renault’s choice of how and where to launch their new range of trucks is certainly unusual – but perhaps it makes more sense during the pandemic, which has seen all manufacturers switch to online virtual events instead of traditional live, real-world activities. The fact it’s also gained them some column inches can’t hurt, either. And if some of the players of Euro Truck Simulator 2 do decide to take their virtual adventures into the real world and become truck drivers, then so well and good! –ed.

RIGHT Renault’s launch in Euro Truck Sim 2 also included a competition to see which player could come up with the best livery 62 TRUCKING June 2021

PRIZE SUPPLIED BY SEARCH-IMPEX Tel: 01332 873555 Fax: 01332 875757 Web: www.search-impex.co.uk www.truckingmag.co.uk

BEST OF THE FORUM Hot topics under discussion on Trucking’s social media pages…

Cold conditioning I wanted to write and tell all my fellow drivers about my few months. Back in January I was, like lots of people, facing another new year feeling a bit unhealthy – you know the thing: clothes too tight, not enough sleep, a few too many beers every now and again. I knew I probably needed to change, but all that healthy living stuff wasn’t really for me.

Then one day in February when I was driving, I heard Jeremy Vine talking about cold showers on the radio. All these people kept ringing the show to say that having a cold shower every day had transformed their life. They reckoned they had more energy, felt better in themselves, and lost weight as a result. The more I heard, I couldn’t help thinking that maybe I wanted a bit of that for myself. It seemed like an easy way to make a big difference, and I didn’t even have to do any physical exercise, something that’s really not my thing, to achieve it.

So the next morning, I tried turning the water temperature down to coldest at the end of my shower. Just for 15 seconds.

Well, there was plenty of swearing, I can tell you – but the strange thing is, it really felt good afterwards! Don’t ask me why or how, but I definitely felt better for it.

I tried it again the next day, and the next, each time adding a few more seconds; and now I am totally converted. Having a cold rinse at the end of each shower works some sort of magic and I have more energy than I’ve had in years. I’ve even started taking a bit of a walk when I can.

I can’t believe how something so simple can make such a difference, but I’d even go so far as to say I’m a new man. It just goes to show that even an old dog can learn a new trick now and again.

JH Roberts By email

Behind the wheel We asked: Driver shortages should be a major priority for the government, according to the Road Haulage Association (RHA). What do you think should be done to encourage more people into the industry?

You answered: “Move the crash barrier back 2 m from the road, please.” - Philip Hill “Motorways are only as safe as the idiots on them! Educating stupid car drivers would help.” - Kurt Male

You answered: “Young people don’t want to spend time away and do 65/70 hours a week these days.

They tend to be schooled to think working in any manual industry is looked down on as a failure.” - Malcolm Plumb “Wake up and smell the roses: the government don’t give a toss about drivers until something like this pandemic happens.”

- Patrick Garratt “Main problem is image. Second problem is the pay. You solve the first by massively improving the second! Pay minimum £15 PH basic PAYE everywhere in the country as a staring point, all sorted!” - Paul Morton

Safety boost We asked: Highways England has made a promise to make new motorways safer. What would you like to see done to improve road safety?

Artificial intelligence We asked: Scania announces partnership with artificial intelligence centre. How do you feel about the growth of AI in the transport industry?

You answered: “Keep it out and leave the driver to do his job. Not all tech is a good idea.”

- Neil Crosby “We can’t stop it.” - Costica M-cos “Can’t be any worse than some of the apparent ‘real intelligence’ out there…”

- Alan Clark

Get your views published!

ABOVE Would you turn down the water temp for an energy boost? www.truckingmag.co.uk

Write to: The Editor, Trucking magazine, Kelsey Media, The Granary, Downs Court, Yalding Hill, Yalding, Kent, ME18 6AL or email trucking.ed@kelsey.co.uk. You must include your full name and postal address, which can be withheld upon request. Anonymous letters or those without addresses will not be published. Each month, the letter the editor judges to be Letter of the Month will win a fantastic model truck. We reserve the right to edit all published letters. No correspondence can be entered into.

June 2021 TRUCKING 63

YOU AND THE LAW YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED

YOU & THE LAW Got a legal query you need clearing up? Our resident legal expert is on hand to offer free professional help and advice

By David Glover PHOTOGRAPHY VARIOUS

Other work: Covers all activities defined as work other than driving in scope of EU/AETR rules. Includes any work for the same or another employer, within or outside the transport sector; Availability: Covers periods of waiting time, the duration of which is known about in advance. Examples of what might count as a period of availability (POA) are accompanying a vehicle on a ferry crossing or waiting while other workers load/unload the vehicle. For mobile workers driving in a team, a POA would also include time spent sitting next to the driver while the vehicle is in motion (unless taking a break or performing other work, ie navigation).

Driving regulations LOAD SECURITY

Driving regulations MULTI-MANNING Can I have some information on multimanning, please?

Article 4 of 561/2006 states ‘multi-manning’ means the situation where, during each period of driving between any two consecutive daily rest periods, or between a daily rest period and a weekly rest period, there are at least two drivers in the vehicle to do the driving. For the first hour of multi-manning, the presence of another driver or drivers is optional, but for the remainder of the period it is compulsory.

Article 8 at paragraph 2 states within each period of 24 hours after the end of the previous daily rest period or weekly rest period, a driver shall have taken a new daily rest period.

If the portion of the daily rest period which falls within that 24-hour period is at least nine hours, but less than 11 hours, then the daily rest period in question shall be regarded as a reduced daily rest period.

Paragraph 5 also states that by way 64 TRUCKING June 2021

of derogation from paragraph 2, within 30 hours of the end of a daily or weekly rest period, a driver engaged in multi-manning must have taken a new daily rest period of at least nine hours.

The DVSA guide entitled “Drivers’ hours and tachographs rules: goods vehicles (GV262)” states: Multi-manning – second driver record: Some tachographs will automatically record all time spent as a second driver when the vehicle is in motion as a period of availability and do not allow the mode to be changed to either ‘break’ or ‘other work’.

Provided the second driver is not required to carry out any work during this time, enforcement authorities will accept the first 45 minutes of this time as a break from driving. Any periods of other work, however, must be manually recorded on a printout or chart by the driver.

A ‘driver’ is anyone who drives a vehicle or is carried on the vehicle in order to be available for driving; so where there are more than two drivers on board the vehicle, all drivers are required to keep a record

of their activities. If there are more than two drivers, this must be done by making manual entries or records when there is not an available slot on the tachograph.

In cases where a vehicle that comes within the scope of EU/ AETR rules is at a separate location that is neither the driver’s home nor the employer’s operational centre where the driver is normally based, but is at a separate location, the time the driver spends travelling to or from that location to take charge of or relinquish that vehicle, regardless of the mode of transport, cannot be counted as a rest or break, unless the driver is in a ferry or train and has access to a sleeper cabin (if interrupting a regular weekly rest period), or a sleeper cabin, bunk or couchette (if interrupting a regular daily rest period or a reduced weekly rest period).

Even if the driver is not paid or makes the decision themselves to travel to or from home/base, the travel time cannot be counted as rest or break. Travelling time must therefore be recorded as “other work” or “availability” in accordance with the following:

I would like to know more about the offence of dangerous condition loading and load security.

Could you please clarify?

The offence of using a vehicle in a dangerous condition (under Section 40A of the Road Traffic Act 1988) is one which I am often asked about. This states that in relation to using vehicle in dangerous condition etc, a person is guilty of an offence if they use, or cause or permit another to use, a motor vehicle or trailer on a road when — (a) the condition of the motor vehicle or trailer, or of its accessories or equipment, or (b) the purpose for which it is used, or (c) the number of passengers carried by it, or the manner in which they are carried, or (d) the weight, position or distribution of its load, or the manner in which it is secured, is such that the use of the motor vehicle or trailer involves a danger of injury to any person.

The offence of using a vehicle in a dangerous condition is summary only – in other words, it can only be dealt www.truckingmag.co.uk

with in the Magistrates’ Court.

Disqualification is obligatory if the offence is committed within three years of a previous conviction of the offender under section 40A. Disqualification is discretionary in any other case. The offence is endorseable and will attract three points.

But if you are facing a prosecution under section 40A, you should be aware of the following: Under Section 48 of the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988, there is an exemption from disqualification and endorsement for certain construction and use offences. In order to qualify for this you must be able to demonstrate the following: (1) Where a person is convicted of an offence under section 40A of the Road Traffic Act 1988, using vehicle in dangerous condition etc, the court must not — (a) order them to be disqualified, or (b) order any particulars or penalty points to be endorsed on the counterpart of any licence held by them or on their driving record, if the driver proves that they did not know, and had no reasonable cause to suspect, that the use of the vehicle involved a danger of injury to any person.

(a) contravenes or fails to comply with a construction and use requirement as to brakes, steering-gear or tyres, or (b) uses on a road a motor vehicle or trailer which does not comply with such a requirement, or causes or permits a motor vehicle or trailer to be so used, is guilty of an offence.

Tachograph regulations MODE SETTINGS

This goes on to state that where a person is convicted of an offence under section 41A of the Road Traffic Act 1988 for the offence of there being a breach of the requirement as to brakes, steering-gear or tyres, the court must not order them to be disqualified, or order any particulars or penalty points to be endorsed if they prove they did not know, and had no reasonable cause to suspect, the facts of the case were such that the offence would be committed.

The full detail of Section 41A of the Road Traffic Act 1988 is: 41A. Breach of requirement as to brakes, steering-gear or tyres.

A person who —

I was at a drivers’ hours update and there was a lot of emphasis on correct mode settings. Can you please explain a bit more about what these are?

Mode usage is essential to ascertain how a driver has utilised their day and how the laws will apply.

Other work: This covers all activities defined as work other than driving in scope of EU/AETR rules.

Includes any work for the same or another employer, within or outside the transport sector.

Availability: This covers periods of waiting time, the duration of which

is known about in advance. Examples of what might count as a period of availability (POA) are accompanying a vehicle on a ferry crossing or waiting while other workers load/unload your vehicle. For mobile workers driving in a team, a POA would also include time spent sitting next to the driver while the vehicle is in motion (unless taking a break or performing other work, ie navigation).

Break or rest: This covers breaks in work and daily or weekly rest periods. Drivers may not carry out any driving or any other work. Break periods are to be used exclusively for recuperation. During a rest period, a driver must be able to dispose freely of their time.

In the Drivers’ hours and tachographs rules (GV262), there is some excellent guidance on this topic. DVSA states if for any reason the tachograph does not make an accurate record of activities (eg, if the driver inadvertently makes an incorrect manual entry in a digital tachograph, or fails to correctly operate the mode button or switch), DVSA strongly recommends the driver makes a manual tachograph record to this effect. For digital

equipment, the driver should make and sign a printout for the relevant period with a note giving details of the error and reason at the time the error is made. For analogue equipment, the record should be made at the back of the chart.

O-licence regulations FINANCIAL STANDING Please can you tell us the latest financial standing levels?

The criteria for financial standing levels from January 1, 2021 is that standard national and international licence applicants will be required to demonstrate £8000 for the first vehicle and £4500 for each additional vehicle they request to be authorised.

Operators making variation applications to increase their fleet will be required to demonstrate financial standing for their existing fleet and any additional authorisation against the new levels.

The rates available to support a restricted licence or application are £3100 for the first vehicle and £1700 for each additional authorised vehicle.

Marshall Glover

YOUR LEGAL QUESTIONS ANSWERED – FREE! Trucking’s law experts at FMGS Law Ltd can help with your legal queries. Each letter gets a personal reply and confidentiality is guaranteed. Write to: You & the Law, Trucking, Kelsey Publishing Ltd, The Granary, Downs Court, Yalding Hill, Yalding, Kent, ME18 6AL or email trucking.ed@kelsey.co.uk. Alternatively, contact FMGS Law Ltd direct on: 0844 8011422 or visit www.fmgs.co.uk

www.truckingmag.co.uk

Please provide your name and address with all correspondence.

Disclaimer: No information in this column shall be construed as actionable legal advice and information is offered for general information purposes only, based on the current law when the article was first written. You should always seek advice from an appropriately qualified solicitor on any specific legal enquiry.

June 2021 TRUCKING 65

COURT & INQUIRY LEGAL

COURT& INQUIRY News straight from the courtrooms of the haulage industry’s latest legal cases

By Michael Jewell PHOTOGRAPHY VARIOUS

Atif Mirza

BID TO BECOME A TM FAILS AFTER CLOSE TO £1MILLION VAT FRAUD A bid to become transport manager of Universal Delivery Solutions Ltd and MBL Express Ltd by Atif Mirza has been refused by traffic commissioner Kevin Rooney after discovering he had been disqualified from acting as a company director for nine years after a close to £1million VAT fraud. The commissioner also disqualified Atif Mirza from acting as a transport manager until June 17, 2024 and directed his re-entry would require he had recently attended at least a two-day transport manager refresher course.

The commissioner said Mr Mirza had previously been a director of ABM Technology Ltd which entered liquidation in July 2013. Investigations into the company’s trading activity established it was involved in Missing Trader Intra Community Fraud (MTIC), also known as Carousel (VAT) Fraud. Mr Mirza accepted a nine-year disqualification from June 18, 2015 to June 17, 2024.

66 TRUCKING June 2021

Mr Mirza told the commissioner he had previously been a director of a printer ink company for 12 years. He had been made redundant and set up his own company in 2007.

He was importing ink cartridges from China and selling online.

He was offered other products such as computer peripherals and hardware. There was insufficient margin and trading started to build a debt. Volumes were increasing. HMRC had requested a meeting and he had cooperated fully with them. His suppliers disappeared. HMRC said it appeared to be carousel trading. There was a very large VAT debt. HMRC moved to wind the company up. He had not been aware of any tax issues.

His suppliers had convinced him it was legal. He had not had the resource to fight the case so had accepted disqualification.

He had zero funds and had personally lost his investment in the business.

He had not declared the history on the various applications. He had not considered it relevant. He had saved for his transport manager qualification as it offered a new career. He was completely

innocent of any wrongdoing. He had been “led up the garden path”. He had a history of good management jobs.

The commissioner said an application to be an operator asked for all insolvency history for all relevant parties, including the transport manager.

An application to become a transport manager for an existing operator did not ask insolvency questions of the applicant transport manager.

Mr Mirza could not be criticised for not having declared his background.

However, O-licensing was built on trust. A critical person was the transport manager.

Mr Mirza has been disqualified for nine years from acting as a company director due to admissions made in relation to a complex VAT fraud. He could find no reason to go behind the admissions made in another jurisdiction, not least because the type of fraud accepted was highly complex. The liquidators report indicated HMRC was owed £946,297 in unpaid VAT. The disqualification order arose from wrongdoing that led to a very significant amount of VAT going unpaid. He considered that to be a penalty for a serious infringement of commercial law, as described in the EU Regulation. That finding would support a finding of loss of good repute or, more correctly, that Mr Mirza had never been of good repute in the first place.

These were an unusual set of circumstances. There was no evidence Mr Mirza was anything other than competent as a transport manager. However, in the case of Aspey Trucks, the Upper Tribunal commented: “The public, other operators, and customers and competitors

people, be they members of the public or law-abiding participants in the industry?”

The role of the transport manager was sometimes likened to the eyes and ears of the regulator within a transport business. He considered properly interested, rightminded people would find abhorrent the notion of a person who had accepted a major involvement in a near £1 million tax fraud being allowed to be the person responsible for the continuous and effective management of one or more transport operations.

BHM Transport Ltd

LACK OF TM LEADS TO 28-DAY SUSPENSION Operating without a transport manager for a considerable period of time has resulted in the five-vehicle and two-trailer national licence held

by Smethwick-based BHM Transport Ltd being suspended for 28 days by traffic commissioner Nick Denton. The commissioner also disqualified former transport manager Gurdip Kaur Purewal from acting as such for a 12-month period.

Traffic examiner Daniel Joyner told the commissioner the MoT of one of the company’s vehicles, stopped on June 24, 2020, had expired on February 29, 2020. A driver had driven another of the company’s vehicles without a tachograph card on three occasions in May and June 2020. The company had not detected it and had therefore not dealt with the infringements. There was no evidence Gurdip Kaur Purewal had overseen compliance continuously and effectively, or indeed at all.

While the TC concluded the company did not deserve automatically to go out of business, if that was the effect of the suspension, then so be it. alike, all expect those permitted to join the industry will not blemish or undermine its good name, or abuse the privileges it bestows. What does ‘Repute’ mean if it does not refer to the reasonable opinions of other properly interested right-thinking

The commissioner said he noted Gurdip Kaur Purewal had attended a public inquiry in November 2016, when she had been called in her capacity as former transport manager of Martina Transport Ltd. She provided evidence she had www.truckingmag.co.uk

recently attended a transport manager CPC refresher course and now realised she had not been as closely involved in supervising Martina’s licence as she should have been. He decided to give her one more chance to be an effective transport manager, saying she must not be an absentee transport manager in future.

For the company, Chris Powell accepted Gurdip Kaur Purewal had not exercised continuous and effective management of the transport operation during her time as transport manager of BHM Transport. The situation had been allowed to drift without much being done about it. The vehicle stopped on June 24 had been off the road between March 7 and June 14. It had not therefore been operating without an MoT for the entire period.

New transport manager Richard Jackman, in post since October 2020, had brought in the necessary improvements to compliance systems and the director Mandip Kaur had attended an operator licence management course.

In reply to the commissioner, Mandip Kaur maintained the vehicle without MoT had been SORN’d during its period off the road. When it had been returned to the road on June 14, she had wrongly assumed the vehicle was covered by the period of grace allowed for vehicles whose MoTs had expired during the COVID-19 crisis and had not thought to check.

The commissioner said a subsequent check revealed the vehicle had not been SORN’d in 2020. The tax had simply expired on January 31, 2020 and had not been renewed.

Gurdip Kaur Purewal said she had been pressurised by a relative to take on the post of transport manager. She had not been in good health at the time.

She had never had a contract with the company, but accepted she had signed a TM1 form which stated a contract was in place. On the TM1 form, she had stated she would be working for eight hours per week. She accepted in practice, that had not been the case. She had been nominated as transport manager on the licence at the beginning of January 2020. She had not contacted the company, by www.truckingmag.co.uk

email, until early March 2020.

The company had not replied. It was only on July 19, 2020 that she first met the company. She started to realise at that meeting that Mandip Kaur was unaware of the company’s legal responsibilities. In July she had been informed by the company of the DVSA stop of the vehicle in June and that it had been out of MoT. She had not until then been aware of any of that. She had struggled with the issue of how to identify missing mileage and had attended a two-day refresher course in September 2020 to try to address it. She had not been able to speak to the driver who had withdrawn his card, as the company had never introduced her to any of the drivers. On October 20, 2020 the company had terminated her services as transport manager.

Making the suspension order, the commissioner said the company’s conduct, in carrying on operations without a transport manager in place, or any grace period, for a considerable period of time was extremely serious. The company confirmed when submitting the TM1 form for Gurdip Kaur Purewal that a contract between company and transport manager was in place. That was not true. Partly because of the lack of a transport manager, deadlines to renew tax and MoT were missed, and instances of driving without a card by one driver went undetected and unidentified. Even after a vehicle had been stopped by DVSA and found to be without an MoT, the

company continued to use it regularly for a further two weeks.

On the positive side were the facts Mandip Kaur had now attended an operator licence management course; that subsequent to the DVSA stop, although not immediately, the company took steps to replace the transport manager with someone who appeared to have put most of the necessary compliance systems in place.

Although he concluded the company had done just enough to avoid having its licence revoked, its conduct nevertheless fell into the “severe to serious” category, as operating without a functioning transport manager constituted a deliberate act liable to compromise road safety and liable to cause or permit driver offending. He had fixed the suspension period as being an outcome which recognised the seriousness of the company’s action, while also acknowledging improvements had been made and it was likely to comply in the future. While he concluded the company did not deserve automatically to go out of business, if that was the effect of the suspension, then so be it. The public had a right to expect a standard licenceholder had a professionally competent transport manager at the helm, not an absentee name on a piece of paper. If a company abused that trust, then it could expect to be severely sanctioned.

Disqualifying Gurdip Kaur Purewal, the commissioner said she had falsely stated a contract

existed between her and the company; she had let three months elapse before even e-mailing the company; and allowed a further four months to elapse before the next contact, a meeting. During these seven months, the company ran a vehicle in an unlawful way and did not carry out any form of supervision of drivers’ hours.

There was also the fact he had previously warned Ms Purewal at a public inquiry in 2016 about precisely the need to avoid being an absentee transport manager, yet she had ignored that warning and done it again.

There were some mitigating factors. She might have been pressurised by family to act as transport manager without having much enthusiasm for the role. She was not in the best of health. She attended a further two-day CPC refresher course in September 2020 when she realised she needed to understand more about how to identify and deal with missing mileage.

However, taking into account her conduct as a whole, he had concluded her good repute was lost. Taking on the role of transport manager was not to be done lightly as a favour to a relation or friend. The transport manager was the repository of the public’s trust that an HGV operator would be competently, professionally and safely managed. To take on the role in name only, but to do nothing in practice, was a betrayal of that trust. It was unconscionable if the transport manager had been previously warned about such conduct.

June 2021 TRUCKING 67

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CLASSIC TRUCK BEDFORD/LATIL /UNIPOWER

VARIED COLLECTION

By David Reed

PHOTOGRAPHY DAVID REED

A Bedford, a Unipower and a couple of Latil timber tractors make up an interesting vehicle collection that have been restored by Alan and Bill Stubbs

A

lan Stubbs lives alongside the old A1 near Wetherby in West Yorkshire and, along with his son Bill, has owned numerous vehicles and tractors over the years. Lorry-wise, these have included seven AEC Matadors. “I rebodied two and re-cabbed one, returning them to full military specification as well as restoring a Bofors anti-aircraft gun. At that time, 70 TRUCKING June 2021

I was a member of The Military Vehicle Trust.”

Tractors Alan has owned included a Fordson Roadless Super Major, an E27N with Roadless axle drive box as well as a reduction box, along with various TVO Fordsons. These were gradually sold though, and the current collection comprises a Bedford M Type as well as a trio of timber tractors (two Latils plus a Unipower). All these have been restored by Alan and his son Bill.

Halfway there Wetherby itself has had a long history with road haulage, being about halfway between London and Edinburgh. Alan recalls when the old A1 was the main route: “Many older drivers will remember the Midway Filling Station and The Bridge Inn at Walshford with its Halfway Bar,” he says. “As a boy I would watch lorries climb up from the river bridge in low gear when they were going north.”

He also remembers some of the drivers and what they got up to. “My dad was very friendly with many of the drivers,” he recalls. “The lorry park at the end of Horsefair was an interesting place to look around in an evening.” The variety of lorries and loads to be seen were an instant attraction. “I remember seeing Army Diamond T tank transporters, while vehicles owned by Lebus Furniture and Scribbans Kemp Biscuits were often present,” Alan continues. www.truckingmag.co.uk

ABOVE No mistaking the marque with logo on the dash

One that Alan remembers from around 1955 was Croans Kippers.

“Children’s hands were just small enough to get through the handle slots to get to the herrings.”

Horsefalls Transport Café was another favourite stopping place for drivers coming in from the north. “I lived next door to Harold Sutton, who worked with Neville Greaves on low-loaders for Elliots of York,” Alan tells us. “Neville once told me if the police persisted in following his low-loader too closely, he would wind his window down, flick off his cap and stamp on the brakes.” What happened next is not recorded!

Nowadays of course the A1 bypasses Wetherby, and the old route has been reclassified as the A168. “I still think of the drivers who had breakfast, dinner and tea with us while they waited for their vehicle to be repaired or recovered from the old A1 just a mile or so north of Wetherby,” says Alan.

rang the seller up and said I would come down and if it was what I wanted, I would buy it straightaway.”

And it turned out it was what Alan wanted, so a deal was done with the Bedford being transported back to Alan’s Wetherby base on a low-loader.

The Bedford had been partly restored. “The cab was in fairly good condition. The previous owner had done a pretty good job overall, but we wanted to fit dropsides and a tailboard and there were still a lot of little jobs that needed finishing off. So we built up the dropsides and tailboard as well as the toolboxes,” Alan tells us. “The metalwork came from Albert Jagger of Walsall.”

ABOVE Badge denotes proud place of manufacture

ABOVE Restoration quality is first-class

ABOVE Alan Stubbs poses beside the Bedford M Type

The engine needed some work. “It had an oil leak; we found out it didn’t have a rocker cover gasket.”

Additionally, the stack pipe had fallen down into the fuel tank, which also meant “the engine wouldn’t go”. Alan now thinks this may have been caused by the vibration during the low-loader trip up here. Alan and Bill also found the tappets were set incorrectly, but after they had been adjusted, the

ABOVE …and so is painstaking truck rebuilds!

Bedford project But it was Alan and Bill’s vehicles we had come to see, with the first one out of the shed being FPM 271, their 1947 Bedford M Type. This was new to a council in Suffolk as a tipper, and had later passed into preservation in the Dartford area. Alan had been looking for a Bedford and saw FPM advertised in a vintage vehicle magazine during 2015. “I wanted a lorry and this was a nice tidy one to have,” he says. “So I www.truckingmag.co.uk

June 2021 TRUCKING 71

CLASSIC TRUCK BEDFORD/LATIL /UNIPOWER

engine ran a lot better. “Basically, the engine just needed some bits put right, and when we did that it ran very well,” Alan adds.

Moving onto the brakes and electrics, there were no real problems.

“They were fine and needed little work.” The cab interior was also finished off. “The seats needed some work, and we covered the floor with rubber matting.” The whole vehicle was then resprayed and liveried in the livery of Dean Brothers Builders of Wetherby, with whom Alan served his apprenticeship.

Since then, the Bedford has been rallied at York, Allerton Park, Harewood House and Newby Hall as well as attending other local shows. It still does do a little bit of work as well. “I use it to deliver logs during the winter,” says Alan.

collection by any means. Alan has always been interested in winching and timber tractors in particular. “I worked as an estate gamekeeper for a time, and also did forestry work, so I’ve always been interested in timber and forestry,” he says.

Hidden treasures?

Although the Bedford is the vehicle that’s usually seen out and about, it’s not the only truck in Alan and Bill’s 72 TRUCKING June 2021

ABOVE Latil originally worked as a mines rescue vehicle in Staffordshire

So it may come as no surprise that Alan owns a couple of Latil timber tractors and a Unipower.

The first Latil was a 1950 HLTL10, registered NOA971 and fitted with an Automower winch. This was originally a mines rescue vehicle at Cannock Chase in Staffordshire – a vehicle that was always required, but hopefully never needed. After its working life was over, the Latil ended up standing outside a mining museum, where its condition deteriorated.

When the museum closed, it was bought by the son of Lord Reith who took the Latil up to Scotland and put it back into working order. “He used it in the timber trade,” says Alan. “It eventually passed on to Lord Reith’s grandson and was registered in 1995.”

Then in March 2018, the Latil ended up at the Vintage Auction at Tractor World Scotland, held near Edinburgh, where it was bought by Alan. “I knew Frank McKenzie, who was from the Edinburgh area, had a long connection with the timber and forestry business, www.truckingmag.co.uk

ABOVE Rear of vehicle sports an Automower winch

so when the time came I lettered the Latil in his father’s name to give it a personality,” Alan tells us.

The timber tractor was in pretty good condition overall after being stored inside during recent years, although there were some jobs to do. “The engine needed new core plugs and we did some work on the starter motor.”

Other work has included refurbishing the lift pump, and the fuel tank leaked and had to be relined.

“We also relined the brakes and fitted new tyres,” Alan continued. However, very little bodywork was required. “It had been kept inside, which had obviously protected it,” says Alan, and after a repaint – in the same blue as it wore when acquired – the Latil was ready to be put back on the road.

The Latil ended up standing outside a mining museum, where its condition deteriorated. bolts which had given way. The doors had also dropped, so Alan and Bill had to take the hinges off, heat and re-align them to make the doors close better.

Some work is also needed on the engine. “It runs okay, but still needs to be checked over,” Alan continues. Alan and Bill actually acquired this Latil before the blue one. “We usually like to get one vehicle finished before we move onto the next, but when the blue Latil came, we got on with that and

Another Latil Alan and Bill’s other Latil is an H14TL10 dating from 1947. “We have done a lot of jobs on it, but it is nowhere near complete,” Alan admits.

Latil has some unusual features, including a split windscreen and a solid cab rather than the more usual open-top canvas type. It was spotted with a dealer near Lourdes in southern France, and when the sale was completed, the Latil was shipped to the UK and low-loaded to Wetherby for restoration. Recent work has included renewing the winch shear www.truckingmag.co.uk

ABOVE Timber tractor was in pretty good condition when it was bought by Alan, though engine needed work

ABOVE Truck had been stored inside, which helped protect it from the elements

left the French one for a while. But we are now starting to get on with its restoration.”

And finally…

The final fleet member (for now, anyway) is a Unipower Forester Model or Model G originally fitted with a Hercules petrol engine – the unit replaced by a Perkins P6 in the 1950s.

The Unipower’s first owner was the Ministry of Supply and it worked at a sawmill and for timber extraction in the winter. “It most likely worked in the Suffolk area on home timber production for the Land Army Timber Corps, which were formed in 1942,” muses Alan.

In 1946, after its war service was over, the Unipower passed to Ron Beadle of Great Totham in Essex, who ran a sawmill and timber extraction business. “He employed a number of women who were making bushel and half-bushel boxes to take local produce to Spitalfields and Covent Garden markets.”

After that, the Unipower was bought

by George Southgate of Witnesham, Suffolk in 1959 – a contractor who operated a number of bulldozers as well as other equipment.

Another owner was Warnham Haulage of Barnham, Suffolk who operated over 20 six-wheel tippers and acquired the Unipower in 1984, June 2021 TRUCKING 73

CLASSIC TRUCK BEDFORD/LATIL /UNIPOWER

before it passed to George Berry in 1993. The Unipower was restored by him and was presented in a dark red livery, being seen at many events at that time.

George’s father had worked for timber hauliers AK Cooper of Sweffling, who owned 15 to 20 Latils and Unipowers. “He told me he bought a Unipower radiator which had been fitted to a Matador testbed and fitted it to our Forester,” Alan says.

“Unfortunately, water had got into the cab timbers behind the metal sheeting which rotted away,” says Alan. “Parts of the timber frame had to be replaced, and new cladding was required on the windscreen pillars.”

Work was also needed on the

engine. “It was taken out and the gearbox was checked over,” Alan continues. “I was told it had a blown head gasket, but in fact it had three bent con rods.” It needed a complete engine rebuild, which was carried out

by Ian Myres Engine Reconditioning

Making his mark George was also able to shed some light on to a name that is carved on the spokes of the steering wheel. It says ‘F. Bartle, Tiptree Essex’, with the date 1954-1959 also able to be read.

“George told me this was Frank Bartle who had gone to a tree job, but had to wait for the electricity board to deal with some wires. Apparently, they did not arrive, so obviously with a lot of time on his hands he decided to carve his name on the steering wheel.”

The Unipower then passed through a number of hands, including Simon Elliot and eventually ended up with John Jones of Wiltshire before being bought by Alan and Bill.

By this point there was quite a lot of work to do on the Unipower, after it had been stored outside, with bodywork issues being a priority.

74 TRUCKING June 2021

Mixed background Alan’s background, perhaps unsurprisingly, doesn’t directly involve vehicles. Rather, on leaving school aged 15, he started an apprenticeship with Dean Brothers of Wetherby as a bricklayer and a stone mason, but really concentrated on stonework. He worked for Deans for five years, but in the 1980s moved about to various firms where he could get work. “I worked all over Yorkshire mostly doing stonework,” he says.

But Alan’s skills were also required further afield; “I actually built a house in the South of France.” Alan then went self-employed and again found work throughout the Yorkshire region as a stonemason and on brickwork.

Bill, on the other hand, works locally as a mechanic. “His skills have been really useful when we have been restoring our vehicles,” adds Alan. “Vehicles like this need to be kept alive; it is just a continuation of someone else’s work. You need to try and stick to your plan to get the job done.”

www.truckingmag.co.uk

ABOVE Restored Unipower was painted back up in its original livery

which had to be renewed as it was rotten. Luckily, Alan and Bill managed to obtain replacement lights that matched the originals. The wiring loom was patched up a bit and had to be rerouted in places and the wiper motor repaired.

The winch was also checked over. “It is not just for show; we want it to be capable of doing the jobs it was built for,” Alan says. Finally, it was painted in its original livery. “We decided to give it back its original identity as a Ministry of Supply vehicle, recreating its appearance when it worked for The Timber Corps.” We think they’ve done a very fine job indeed.

ABOVE Steering wheel had name carved in by bored driver many years ago

of Moor Monkton near York. “Another crank and head gasket came from Roy Scholes of Doncaster, while other engine parts came from EMMARK of Leeds.” Refitting the engine required help from a neighbour and his fork-lift truck.

Other jobs included taking the wheels off and checking over the

ABOVE Unipower bodywork was a priority after it had been stored outside

brakes, before the electrics were examined. “There was quite a bit to do here as there were some bad connections,” Alan recalls. Some of the lights didn’t work and the rear lights were screwed into the timber frame,

ABOVE Engine was found to have three bent con rods and needed a complete rebuild

UNIPOWER RESTORATION

Shortly after acquisition

Engine reinstallation with help from a handy Teleporterowning neighbour www.truckingmag.co.uk

Truck being refinished in original wartime Ministry of Supply colours

Working on some bits and pieces.

Inset: Some useful help from the next generation of lorry restorers

Rebuilt engine ready to go back in June 2021 TRUCKING 75

NEXT MONTH IN

NEW KID ON THE BLOCK

TRUCK ON TRIAL: ANNIVERSARY IVECO S-WAY 480 GOES UP AGAINST DAF XF480 AT WILLIAMS TRANSPORT

(Contents may be subject to change)

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LAST DROP BILL DEAN

WHERE DID I PUT THOSE PAPERS? Why the inside of a truck cab is unsuitable for completing the amount of paperwork necessary to do the job

By Bill Dean PHOTOGRAPHY VARIOUS

M

y first company car was a Ford Cortina Mk4 – a proper ‘repmobile’.

Because I sold truck parts, it was a 1.6; unlike my colleagues who sold to car garages and forecourts – they got a 1.3. My samples were heavier, was the logic. It was certainly harder to carry a trailer landing leg for demonstration than a Magic Tree air freshener. However, although overjoyed to have become a cost-free motorist, I was stunned by what didn’t come as standard. The Nissan Cedric I had to sell had halogen bulbs, radio, aerial, nearside door mirror and a battery which lasted more than three attempted starts in cold weather.

The Cortina didn’t. All had to be added afterwards, on the quiet so management didn’t find out.

Even today, over 50 per cent of new cars are sold to companies for use by their staff. Their initial use is as repmobiles. Back then, fleet managers demanded big discounts, so they were built as cheaply as possible – leading to big aftermarket for fog lights, radios etc once the vehicles moved on to private motorists.

Then in the early ’80s, the chancellor of the exchequer, sitting in the back of his chauffeured government limousine, decided it was morally wrong that company car drivers should enjoy free motoring and started taxing them as a benefit in kind. A repmobile was no longer a free perk, but a cost of the job – like a suit and tie. Reps were allowed to choose the model and make rather than be allocated a car, and manufacturers responded by equipping with all the “luxury” items my Japanese jukebox had as standard 20 years previously. With their minds concentrated by having to “pay” for having a company car through their tax code, reps concentrated on getting cars that were easy to work in and good mobile offices. SUVs became popular not because everyone wanted to carry surfboards and go off-road, 82 TRUCKING June 2021

but because the higher wheelbase made it easier to lift heavy samples without doing your back in, and the upright seats are a lot easier for writing or reading notes.

That Cortina was my office. It worked, sort of. Briefcase and run sheet on the passenger seat, sample case in the foot well, post-it notes stuck to the dash, extra samples in the boot leaking oil, jacket on a hook behind me, chocolate bars melting in the glove box, papers blowing everywhere when the window was opened. This was in pre-mobile and laptop times. Now even the lowest category of repmobile will have USB ports, air con, programmable sat nav,

Cab designers are stuck in the pre-tacho ’50s when all you needed was a logbook and a clipboard with delivery notes on. boot liners, lockable storage compartments, Bluetooth connectivity and a secure locking system with alarm to prevent casual theft.

Yet my current office, the truck I am driving, though only a few years old is the twin of that ’80s Cortina in how practical the cab is as a working environment. Trucks themselves, just like cars, have moved on in terms of driveability and safety features, yet the cab designers are stuck in the pretachograph ’50s when all you needed was a logbook and a clipboard with delivery notes on.

This is the computer age. Contrary to what was promised, this was not the end of paperwork, but a massive increase – and not just delivery notes.

When I delivered site drainage to what is now the Coronation Street set, before being allowed on the site I had to show: test certificates for all my straps and

chains, service paperwork for the crane, my licence to use the crane and service details for the vehicle. The bundles of plastic pipes were knuckled off the wagon by an excavator bucket while I sat in the cab.

Not just paperwork, but the computers themselves, mobiles, barcode readers, sat navs, even laptops need space in the cab. At the moment, dangling by my side is a splitter plugged into a splitter plugged into the 12V power socket. This feeds a rat’s nest of cables for the sat nav, a tracker and charges a phone which rings every time I catch the tangle with my left knee because my now disconnected tracker signal has vanished from the office monitor. At least two USB ports should be factory fitted as standard, not an aftermarket add-on like my Cortina’s nearside mirror.

So given even the cheapest truck costs many times more than the dearest repmobile, why don’t designers improve the “officeability” of cabs? At the very least, before starting work, they should tip their desks over by 90 degrees so they understand what happens to our “office” every time the engine is accessed. Yacht makers fit out cabins so everything stays stowed in force eight gales – just copy their work. There has to be loads of wasted space behind the dash which would take small drawers.

Nothing should be loose if not being used. Lockable lockers are needed wherever they can be fitted. Air con should also be standard. A hot, wet driver not only steams up windows, but is an irritable safety hazard. Access to PPE should be from a waterproof locker inside the cab. You put wellies on by the house door, not after paddling outside in your slippers to the shed. Dash tops should be horizontal, especially in sleeper cabs, and all trucks should come with a detachable steering wheel writing/eating table.

Feel free to add to the list… www.truckingmag.co.uk

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