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MAKE & OPERATOR
Page 46
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SM&T WIGHAM
Based: Penrith Industry: Haulage contractor Fleet size: Eight
• Fuel economy: 8.2mpg; 5% AdBlue use Mileage: 7. 833 Problems: Dead battery, coupling seized
Twelve months in road transport can see a lot of changes, but when it comes to vehicles, not a great deal changes. Tim Wigham, owner of Penrith-based SM&T Wigham, went an extra mile to spec his drawbar combination: Euro-5 FAS CF8.5.410 prime-mover and Don-Bur drawbar trailer.
The truck's role is that of a "mobile warehouse". Loaded up on Monday, with the driver using the demountable forklift to fill up the prime mover from the uncoupled trailer in order to deliver to farms. It has been on different dukes during that time, but a dodgy battery stopping proceedings at the Stansted services on the M11 near Bishop's Stortford and the VBG coupling seized up its pin. One replaced battery and some lubrication on the coupling soon had things back on track, though.
When we caught up again, we were unsure what his responses would be: Not a lot has happened since we last spoke," says Wigham. "It's been quite mundane. The truck has done what it is supposed to do," he says.
Apart from BOC changing its bagging process and making a move to bigger pallets after the vehicle was specced, which allowed the haulier to stack the largerbased and lower-height pallets on top of each other, it's largely been business as usual.
Overall, the truck has been getting 8.2mpig with 5% AdBlue use, but with different operations, the mpg varies from week to week. He is considering replacing an existing 52-plate 6x4 rigid for a new version with drawbar capabilities, but, he admits, things are a little slow at the moment.
so the change won't A Apart from a couple of minor niggles, the
be immediate. Oaf has been a faithful, work tool for Wigham