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Renault
Page 52
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OPERATOR:
Langdons Transport
Location: Bridgwater Sector: Chilled and frozen food Size of fleet: 65 at depot Vehicle: Renault Premium Emission standard: Euro-4 GCW: 44 tonnes Bodywork: n/a
If you run up and down the M5 at any point you are guaranteed to see at least one Langdons Transport livened truck tramping along. Like most long-standing companies in road transport it was a farnily-run affair that diversified out of farming. In Langdons' case rabbit and poultry preceded road haulage in 1955 when it began as Tone Vale Transport.
It moved into refrigerated haulage in the 1960s, and in the 1970s moved into cold storage. When TKM bought the company in 1974 it renamed the business Langdon Industries with Philip Langdon as its managing director.
In 1986 an internal management buyout took control of the business and three years later it entered into a haulage agreement with Gerber Foods Soft Drinks. The latter changed Langdons' direction when, in 1994, Gerber moved its storage into Langdons' site at Bridgwater, Somerset, turning the haulier into a storage, order picking and delivery specialist.
In 1997 a deal with Procter and Gamble to deliver the orange drink Sunny Delight meant the end of its general haulage operation, allowing Langdons to concentrate on controlled-temperature storage and delivery.
Langdons expanded its operation with sites at Luton and Liverpool in 2002 and two years later opened a site at Peterborough. Shortly after, Langdons was bought by one of its trading partners, the Germanybased Nagel Group.
From its seven depots Langdons operates more than 180 vehicles and 140 trailers, with the group housing 12,000 pallets at any onetime. It has two sites based at Bridgwater and runs 65 trucks ranging from a solitary 7.5t vehicle through 26t to 44t.
The trucks, says fleet engineer Graham Millard, run consistently. "The tractors tramp for five days a week, returning on the Friday night before they trunk over the weekend before starting the new week again."
This particular truck will have one driver
during the week and any number of drivers over the weekends. The trailers are Gray & Adams, and the vehicles are maintained out of workshops at the Bridgwater base.