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Farmer's friend
Page 139
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Ever heard of Golden Wonder crisps or Spillers pet food? The company behind these household names is Dalgety, an agroindustrial giant and big fleet fan of Seddon Atkinson. What makes the trucks from Oldham the farmer 's friend?
WORDS & PICTURES: LAWRENCE KIELY
, ou would need a small book to list all of the operations in the Dalgety group, but I,
"
the company motto of founder Frederick Connerman, devised in the middle of the last century, still holds true today. "We are the men at the farmer's gate, ready to give him financial help between seasons, to market and ship his products, to insure him and bring him all the merchandise he can possibly need."
At Dalgety's Avonmouth mill, the company manufactures bulk animal feed for farms all over the South West of England and Wales. The truck fleet at Avonmouth consists of 11 Volvo F7s, six Leyland Constructors, two ERE E6s, and six Seddon Atkinsons. Two arc eight-wheelers: the R30L25 is powered by a 250hp Cummins and the R30L29 is powered by a 290hp Cummins with the remaining four trucks being six-wheeled R24L25 Seddons powered by the 250hp Cummins engine. All of Dalgety's Seddon Atkinsons are fitted with Jake brakes, Fuller nine-speed range-change gearboxes and
Norde rubber suspensions. The three-compartment alloy tipping bodies for multi-drops are made by Stevecastle of Oundle, near Wisbech in Cambridgeshire. Peabody Holmes 613 bulk blowers are also fitted. The first Dalgety Seddon Atkinson at Avonmouth was bought four years ago with another added to the fleet in May 1989. The other four were bought last October. Avonmouth garage foreman Rod Heal (left) says. "We like to evaluate different vehicles. We have been running Volvos for so long we need to know if they are consistently delivering the goods. The Seddon Atkinsons we now have are equal to the Volvos in every respect. For example, fuel consumption is virtually the same although the engines are much bigger and more powerful. For most of the time all the trucks are running at maximum weight taking feed out and bringing grain back. "Dealer back-up is another vital factor. Our main agent,
SA Trucks of Avonmouth, has provided a first class service. Any problems and the trucks are straight into its workshops without delay. In fact it was its persistence and sheer determination that persuaded us to buy Seddon Atkinsons in the first place."
Vince Matthies is Dalgety's regional distribution manager at the Avonmouth mill, he says: "Downtime, that is the really expensive item. The dealer must be first class to keep that to a minimum. So far the Seddons have proved to be a very robust truck." Rod Heal also believes that having a mixed fleet keeps the dealers at local level on their toes. "I have every confidence in my Seddon Atkinsons. This year the Older Volvos and all of the Levlands will be sold."