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In the 47 years that Sweeting of Leeds has been
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in business it has operated just about every marque. After 25 years as an ownerdriver (starting with a Ford Transit van delivering paraffin, and progressing to tankers and tippers), Phill Sweeting (right) paid for his son Robb to get his heavy goods licence in 1989 and bought him a wagon to get going.
Business expanded, and after hauling corn, the company moved into aggregates and then muckaway. About 90% of the business is muckaway in and around Yorkshire. "We've traditionally run Fodens and have had Volvo, Daf, MAN and Renault in the past," says Robb, and relates his experience with each: driveline issues, too many repairs, downtime and over-attractive repair and maintenance deals on poor motors are only a few.
Pelican Engineering, his local Foden dealer, took him to the Hino assembly plant in Ireland when it took on the Nino franchise. The dealer then arrived at the yard and didn't leave until father and son signed up for a Hino truck.
"We couldn't have any more Fodens, so where were we going to go?" Phill says. "We've known Pelican for a long time. It gave us a demo to see how it went. but we'd already agreed to one by then."