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"Tyres don't last long on our work but our 8x4 Volvos fare as well as if not better

29th April 1999, Page 36
29th April 1999
Page 36
Page 36, 29th April 1999 — "Tyres don't last long on our work but our 8x4 Volvos fare as well as if not better
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than others in the fleet" Steve Broadley Steve Broadley is managing director of MB Waste Management and Recycling, which has operated in the Wolverhampton/Dudley area for the past 15 years. About 12 months ago the company moved to new premises at Monmore Green which appears to be an ideal location to cater for local business, situated between a fruit market and a speedway stadium. Broadley operates 15 trucks including seven Volvo 8x4s; the remainder of the fleet is a mixture of Foden, Mercedes-Benz and Leyland Oaf 8x4s and 4x2s.

"We run Volvos because they are reliable and they have a good resale value," says Broadley. 'The main dealer, Hartshorne Motor Services, is competitive on parts prices and they give us good service. My drivers like the way the FL1Os drive, and they particularly like the extra power that the F112 380s offer. We have two FL12s—one replaced an existing FL10 and the other was an addition to the fleet. Equipped with a 40yd3 bin and hook loader they have a payload of 15.8 twines. That's not much different to the other eight-wheel

ers we operate but the F112s are lighter than either the MAN or the Mercedes-Benz models.

We do a lot of local town work, which is heavy on fuel. The Fill) gave us 7.2mpg but we are only getting 5.7 from the F112," he reports. "We want better than that and Volvo is looking at the problem for us. In the past we've kept trucks for up to 10 years but we are trying to reduce our term of ownership to about six years. We mostly sell privately through the pages of Commercial Motor—the FL12s fetch more than any of our other trucks. We have just bought our second one. It was second-hand and we had to pay a premium price for it. Now we've moved on to Volvo's FM range of multi-wheel rigids.

"We had some brake vibration problems with the first one we have had since last August," says Broadley. "The dealer sorted it out quickly with new drums all round. A seal failed on the fuel pump and leaked diesel into the engine oil; the engine incurred a strip-down and rebuild. The dealer had to watt a while for some of the parts but the work was carried out under warranty without any hassle. We had to hire in another truck. They say they will reimburse the cost but haven't yet. We go off-road a lot but we haven't had any springs break.

"Tyres don't last long on our work but our 8x4 Volvos fare as well as if not better than others in the fleet," he adds. "We cover around 50,000 miles a year and might get that long from a set of tyres at the front. A lot of tight turning tends to cause the second steer to feather...it's a familiar problem that we experience with all of our trucks. We're lucky if we get five to six months out of the rears, which can easily get damaged on-site. Hartshorne does all of our servicing. They are fairly flexible and fit us in overnight so we don't lose the truck when we need it.

"Volvo's FL12 is a good truck," he concludes. "The only one we have found that we think is as good is the Scania 114 340. We ran a demonstrator for a while and have just received a quote for one."


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