"The main reason we have used Volvos for so long is because they
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have proven to be reliable" Bob Tunier
• Webb's Haulage, based at Longstanton, Cambs, has been in road haulage for more than 50 years. Today the company operates two artics and 24 eight-wheelers; the predominantly Volvo fleet also includes four Scania and two Foden eight-leggers.
Webb's has three Rms. Two of them are double-drive tractive units hauling heavy, high-sided 75yd3 steel-bodied tipping semitrailers carrying scrap metal and return loads of household waste. The third is an eight-wheeler: like the rest of the rigids it works on general tipping work and contaminated site clearance (the Millennium Dome site was a recent major project).
The tractive units weigh about nine tonnes unladen and the trailers add as much again, so even at 41 tonnes the payload is only 23 tonnes. Specified with the 38ohp engine "fuel consumption is atrocious at less than 6.5mpg most of the time", according to transport manager Bob Turner.
"The eight-wheeler is rated at 340hp and returns about 8.7mpg," he adds. "I suppose the main reason we have used Volvos for so long is because they have proven to be reliable, and when we've needed it the service backup has been good. The dealer, Dufflelds, is only about eight miles away. We tend to buy our trucks with a five-year contractmaintenance package and expect to keep them for about eight years. We haven't sold any recently so any we have bought have been additions to the fleet.
"We cover over 90,000 miles a year and there have been a couple of faults in the engine area," Turner reports. "There was a recall on the alternator pulley wheel and when the injectors pumped fuel into the engine oil the electronics shut the engine down, preventing damage. Volvo had a fix for both problems.
"We've just lost the eightwheeler for three days due to a loss in power," he says. "The diagnostics have not really identified the problem, and although we have it back now we are not satisfied with it yet. Engine retarders are fitted to all three of them and it definitely saves on service brake wear.
"Apart from the front axle we tend not to use new tyres on the tractive units because they get damaged so often on-site," Turner remarks. "As far as rust protection for the cabs goes we are very pleased with that aspect of the vehicles. We have since moved on to the FM which has a big impressive cab that improves the drivers' lot." •