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Value for money

MUNICIPAL and public works operators are under a lot of pressure to cut back spending, particularly as local government is unlikely to achieve the target set by Secretary of State for the Environment Michael Heseltine, for reducing its estimated spending in 1980/81 by £700m or 5.6 per cent.

This means that those running municipals this year will be visiting the NEC to not only see what will be available to them but also to look for ideas on getting good value for what little money is available.

Making the best use of time and equipment is the name of the game. The drawing of vehicles from a centralised pool, speeding up turnrounds, using more sophisticated handling aids, and using lighter vehicles with larger carrying capacity will all help to increase productivity.

Better vehicle utilisation can be obtained on an even wider scale by using demounts, and the concepts of tipping and demountable bodies have recently been combined.

Lorries leaving skips are now an established part of the transport scene. No longer does a lorry have to wait hours to be loaded with waste material; it now leaves the skip, coming back for it later and taking it to a reclamation site for tipping.

Of particular interest to those operating tankers is AHP Trailers Ltd's Stand 101 Hall 4 . Its tandem axle running gear is mounted on a subframe for fitting to tank bodies. Also being exhibited is a tandem axle tipping skeletal trailer for dual-purpose use as a conventional skeletal or for tipping operation in conjunction with a tipping container.

Baxters Vehicle Components are exhibiting a selection of trailer suspensions, demount body fittings and twistlocks on Stand 135A Hall 4. Completing the display will be rear towing attachments for vehicles used with drawbar trailers.

The newly introduced Bedford van and small lorry ranges (extending from 2.5 to 3.5 tonnes gvw) will be making their UK Show debut at the NEC, A bigger GM diesel engine (up from 2.0 to 2.3 litres) is claimed to give improved all-round performance just as economically.

The vans interest those in delivery work with their high ratio of load space and a variety of configurations, while the smaller lorries have great versatility for handling loads in the one-to two-tonne range.

The Bedford Coachworks subsidiary of Besco are well established in the field of commercial vehicle bodywork construction and conversion of chassis manufacturers' standard vans to ambulances, welfare buses, mobile showrooms and so on. Eight vehicles bodied by Besco will be on Stand 121, Hall 4.

Of particular interest is the display unit based on a Mercedes-Benz 508 D4100 van with nearside loading and single rear entrance doors. Also on show is the Highway Tipper which, mounted on a Bedford TKL 115in chassis/cab, is claimed to be ideal for municipal work.

Buckingham Vehicles are showing a special vacuum tanker for the transport of waste acids and other dangerous liquids. Stand 93 .Hall 4. This unit comprises two separate tanks to carry incompatible loads in safety and which are mounted on a purpose-built semi-trailer.

Safety features include full underside and roll-over protection, integral flange-mounted inlet/outlet valves and isolating valves on all outlets.

The compressor/exhauster is hydraulically driven and the airline is equipped with a diverter valve to direct airflow to or from either tank.

Cargo Van is exhibiting a range of boxvans Stand 137 Hall 4, which have proved popular with lorry and van hire companies. Of particular interest is the 500-Series grp-constructed boxvan in Ryder livery. The rear of the vehicle is fitted with a Scan type tail lift by Ray Smith Demountables,

Neville Charrold Ltd Stands 113 and 117, Hall 4 is showing a range of products including commercial tipping bodywork. For municipal refuse the new 65cuycl bulk-capacity steel body shell trailer with "live" floor is ideal. The load can be dispersed in three minutes by the body floor comprising an enormous chain conveyor which is driven by an hydraulic motor and epicyclic gearbox.

Wherever specialist vehicles are being designed consideration must be given to the exhaust system. TI Cheswick Silencers Ltd Stand 339, Hall 6 will be demonstrating their all round capability to design, develop and manufacture silencer systems, tubular manifolds and catalytic convertors for emission control.

Coachwork Conversions are using the NEC Motor Show to introduce three new body designs Stand 116, Hall 4. These include the Maxibox aluminium boxvan body which supersedes the Freightbox range in the nonhgv 7.5-tonne gvw category, and the Maxitruck, which is a revised version of the established aluminium dropside bodies, and the Maxitipper range up to 3.5 tonne gvw. A rugged steel body will be attractive to those carrying building, highway, and civil engineering materials.

Also being exhibited is the Gas Board Special, The body shell is based on Coachwork's popular up to 3.5 tonne gvw boxvan design. The roof, floor and corner pillars are all standard items, but the bodies are out as a site unit with a ;sing area and extensive Is storage.

ontinental Vehicle Compoits, besides showing the Kin

rip pillar system for dropside

:ks on Stand 125, Hall 4, are oducing a complete brewery a vehicle mounted on a

ige G15 chassis which cons of an aluminium platform id with eight 100mm Kinne) 1V pillars for restraining the 3 and rear gates.

;ooks (Road Transport Engiirs) Ltd, besides specialising

TIR and curtainsiders, also

torn-builds. Of particular in.1st on Stand 120, Hall 4 is a -frame TIR specifically dened to move specialised Ctronic equipment.

lodge Trucks Stand 47, Hall ire showing a comprehensive ge — 38,000kg gvw trac ) unit to car-derived vans. s will be the first exhibition wing for the 100-Series Comndo G-26 tractive unit. Many ler Dodge models will also be ind on the bodybuilders' nds.

)ormobile Ltd Stand 117, 114 will be showing the L945

Jrier based on the Sherpa 250 1, designed as a 12-seat psv. The Bedford Pacemaker 16-seat psv, built to DoE standards, and the B734 SL Utilabrake and Pacer social services bus will also be on show.

Of particular interest to the social services is the Chairmobile which can accommodate 12 passengers plus attendant and driver with space at the rear for either six wheelchairs and occupants or six-extra double seats. The vehicle is comprehensively equipped, including an extra electric hydraulically operated wheelchair lift.

Dunnspencer fiulkflo Ltd is showing two specialist vehicles on Stand 106A, Hall 4. One is a Leyland Constructor 30-ton gvw eight-wheel chassis complete with pto fitted with an alloy body built to carry grain/animal feeds complete with pneumatic discharge equipment.

The second is a Volvo F7/44 24-ton gvw six-wheel chassis with pto on which is mounted an alloy body fitted with a vacuum chamber for farm loading.

R. A. Dyson Co Ltd is exhibiting a representative selection of trailer running gear assemblies on Stand 114, Hall 4. These will include the Pneuride Tandemair suspension running gear and the RRBO-Series tandem axle patented rubber suspension running gear.

Thief-proof automatic locking is a feature of the new hydraulic tail lift being introduced by Edbro on Stand 131, Hall 4. The tail-lift platform is torsion-bar assisted and can be easily raised by one man. A switch in the driver's cab isolates the lift controls.

Ingirnex Ltd will be taking the wraps off a totally new van body building system on Stand 94, Hall 4. Supplied in kit form it can be fitted to any make of chassis cab up to 7.5 tonnes gvw.

MAN-VW has extended its range of lightweights with a special 4x4 LT on Stand 54, Hall 5. Based on the standard LT40 high roof van, the 4x4 derivative features a five-speed gearbox operating in conjuction with a two-speed transfer box providing a 1:1 tiatio for normal road use and a 2:1 reduction for off road operation.

Also on display will be an example of an LT35 double cab fitted with a Brade Leigh System 2 tipping body with Power Tip electro hydraulic gear.

Marsden (Coachbuilders) Ltd are showing a completely new and aerodynamically styled integral cab for pantechnicon van bodywork on Stand 112, Hall 4. Smooth radius corners and panels with a new design roof is claimed to reduce wind drag and improve fuel consumption.

Mitsubishi Trucks and Buses

are showing three vehicles on / Stand 11, Hall 5. The Mitsubishi / L300 ambulance, built to St John/ Ambulance's standards, haS identical specifications to the standard 1300 panel van except for translucent side and rear windows, blue light beacons and siren.

The second vehicle is on an L300 chassis/cab fitted out with an alloy body and telehoist underfloor electric hydralulic tipping gear, and the third vehicle a customised L200 pickup.

R. Murfitt Ltd, Stand 98, Hall 4, is showing a range of products including a 30,000-litre seven-compartment white oils articulated road tanker, and a 400-Series built tipping pressure tank.

Holland's largest trailer manufacturer will be exhibiting on Stand 127, Hall 4 for the first time in the UK. Multi-axle dropdeck trailers for heavy and bulky indivisible loads, particularly construction plant, are said to be Nooteboom's speciality. The Dutch company is also a leading supplier of waste container handling equipment for both bodily lift skip loader and rollon/roll-off systems.

Two new products are being shown by PEM Trailers Ltd Stand 132, Hall 4..: the PEMEDIC ambulance body and the knockdown self-assembly PEMKIT box and Luton body range. The PEMEDIC body which is built by modular construction methods employing aluminium interlocking panels, is detachable and can be fitted-to any standard 3.5 to 6.5 tonnes chassis cab. This could be an ideal contender for a demountable body system.

Renault Stand 13, Hall 5. will be introducing a new range of light commercial vehicles called the Trafic and Master offering two distinct forward control cab types, five petrol or diesel engines, front-or rear-wheel drive, long or short wheelbases, and an extensive choice of body