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Vox pop survey at South Mims Although South Mimms at
Page 49
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the A1/M25 junction is one of Britain's busiest truckstops, it is still testimony to the Scania R124 420's ubiquity that CMwas able to find half a dozen examples and talk to their drivers within half an hour.
Our survey included vehicles from Maritime Container Transport. Asda's own-account fleet and representatives of other national fleets involved in chilled distribution and general haulage. To a man, the drivers requested confidentialitybut patterns soon emerged.
In the main, supermarket employees in low-roof cabs seemed happy with their no-nights-out lot. Despite often being doubleshifted, the Scanias, nearly all sold on after three years, had proved reliable and on top of the job.
The view from those spending nights out, even in a high-roof cab, was more mixed. The three-over-three range-change-andsplit-manual gearbox is not to everyone's taste, although 12 ratios were usually preferred to 16. One driver complained of the gearshift's excessively long throw; two others complimented the smoothness of changes.
The wider top bunk is the bed of choice for those on multiple nights out, leaving the lower space for personal belongings; thei was a consensus that storage could be more generous. Two drivers came from fleets also running Daf 95s. against whose cavernous cupboards and flat floor the Scania came a poor second.
One driver was still lamenting the loss of his Mercedes Actros. This Scania has nowhere to put your feet; you feel as if you are sitting at an angle, he complained.
When it came to engine power, despite the modest 420hp falli slightly below the 10hp/tonne benchmark at maximum weight, c drivers seemed mainly happy with the exception of one whose truck was limited to 52mph by company policy.
Owner-drivers were in short supply on the day of our survey, b in any case they'd be more likely to specify the higher-powered 470hp version.
Overali the perception among drivers is of a fleet truck that wi have them dancing in the streets, but won't make them look for; new job either. The need of companies to retain experienced st is leading to increasingly high levels of specification, and those fridges. microwaves and the like can't do residuals any harm.