THOMAS tanks in UK
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• Seven Australian-developed squared-off THOMAS tankers have gone into service with Linkman Tankers and P&O Roadtanks in the UK.
Linkman has five in service in the South-east on contracts to Sainsbury's delivering fuel to hypermarkets. P&O has two on extended trial in the North and South of England.
"We're trying them on various contracts to get as much feedback as we can," says a P&O spokesman.
Linkman displayed one of the THOMAS (Tanker Having Optimum Mass and Stability) designs at last year's TankCon show at Blackpool_ The tanker was first produced by Australian-based engineer Phil Hockney in conjunction with Shell Australia in 1991 (CM12 Sept 1991).
The version used by Linkman in Britain has a centre of gravity 240mm lower than standard giving a typical height of 2.8m fully laden.
Tests and operational experience in Australia show the design to be 45% less susceptible to rollover than conventional tanks, claim Linkman.
The tank barrel sits in a cage of hollow bars designed to absorb rollover impacts and is also protected by front and rear crash crumple zones.
Other features include enclosed valves and hoses and anti-lock brakes.