New force in municipals
Page 4
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• After two years of development, the first pre-production of a new municipal truck chassis cab has been demonstrated this week at Sutton Coldfield to over 400 local authority customers.
It is being produced and sold by the latest subsidiary of the Jack Allen group, Britannia Trucks of Birmingham. It is based on the Seddon Atkinson 200-Series (the 211 when available) truck chassis.
The Britannia has a purpose-designed six-seat crew-cab developed jointly by Jack Allen and Walter Alexander of Falkirk and is produced at Alexander's Falkirk bus and train plant.
There will be a choice of chassis cab models.
Two will be available on 16.26 tonne GVW chassis, one with a 2.18m narrow cab and the other of a standard 2.49m width.
A third standard cab will be offered on a 24.39 tonne GVW three-axled chassis which is also available at 20 tonne GVW with Granning third axle conversion.
The cab is a one-piece monocoque GRP design having an inversion-moulded structure with carbon fibre reinforcements at critical areas.
Its most unusual feature is the air-operated bus-type folding door which is aimed at cutting door repair bills and eliminating safety hazards. It also has a low 440mm first step to help ease entry.
Heating and ventilation of the crew area is independent of the vehicle's main system with two large extraCtion fans fitted at the rear of the cab.
Chassis cabs will weigh around 150kg less than existing Seddon Atkinson Municipal (SAM) models but are expected to cost around £1,000 more.