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OPERATOR FEEDBACK
Page 32
Page 33
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"We can always do with more space and grunt but the FH12 460 gives us plenty of both"
Jeff Swift
Harold Atkins finds himself between a rock and a hard place. He lives and works 200 yards from the house where he was born in the Idyllic village of Diseworth, with a population of about 400. It's close to the East Midlands airport which, like other airports around the country, is growing. How Atkins' firm is called Aircargo, so an enlarged airport Is bound to be good for business. On the other hand a new runway is about to engulf his home and those of his friends and neighbours.
He started in haulage 25 years ago with, like so many of his contemporaries, a Bedford TK. Today he has a fleet of 25 vehicles and 10 trailers. "I have 10 artics, including Dafs Scanias, some smaller rigid Mercs and Volvo FH12 6x2s," says Atkins, "Two of tl are 420s and three are 460s. I look upon vehicles as an asset so we choose to rather than lease them. These Volvos h dearer than either my Scanias or the I but they have the top-of-the-ra Globetrotter XL cabs, CD trim and incl extras like a TV and a fridge.
"Our operation is a mixture of internatir and domestic air freight and distributior April 1999 we had heard good reports of FH12 460 so we decided to try one. We ii bought a further two since then. They clod 120,000km a year running down to Spain into Germany, Holland and Belgium."
Jeff Swift has driven for Aircargo for past 18 years. He says: "We can alwav with more space and grunt but the FH12 gives us plenty of both. The cab isn't as the Daf XF but I think that the Globetrottri a nicer cab and the build quality is better now have space to mount the TV permane on the nearside above the passenger wint "The gearbox is easy to use and with jus speeds we don't ever feel we are left wanl me on air at the rear of the unit and all of trailers are on air as well, which helps ntain a good ride.
Even with the fridge trailer we can get r 24 tonnes payload but we rarely run at where near as heavy as that. We usually with a payload of 16 to 18 tonnes so erstandably fuel consumption is good, at ut 10.5mpg overall.
"We had trouble with airbags becoming detached from the lift axle on some early FHs but that was quite a few years ago. On the latest FH 460 the numbers on the speedo are too close and too small. The tacho is right up high so drivers can't see to put the disc in properly, which can be a problem if they switch from one truck to another" adds Swift "The driving position is good but the offside mirror can create a blt of a blindspot when turning right We have night heaters for cold climates but what would be nice is to be able to use air conditioning in hot climates. The only way to keep cool at present is to sleep with the windows open."
We try to give the drivers what they want," says Atkins. "I will be buying a Daf XI next year. We have large tyres on the steer axle of our existing Dat They wear well and seem to cope with tramlining better, but we haven't fitted them to the FH12s. Having a high spec encourages the drivers to keep their cabs clean and tidy."