IIIK ON DAI LY R oad transport's full of ups and downs.
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For Mike Ward, transport general manager for Northampton-based CP Transport, winning a Turbo Daily 3.5-tonne van for 12 months in the recent Commercial MotorlIveco Ford Win-a-Daily competition was clearly an up. Having it broken in to, along with seven other vehicles in the CP fleet, was definitely a down.
It's not as if the CP Transport yard is unprotected. It has a high fence around its perimeter—which is now being replaced by an even stronger one. Unfortunately once thieves are determined to attack there's not much you can do to stop them, as Ward knows only too well.
Vandalised
"They cut their way through the fence on late Sunday night or early Monday morning and vandalised eight vehicles. They got one radio out of a Volvo but couldn't get the others out—so they smashed the windows and set off the fire extinguishers in the cabs.
"There's nothing the police seem to be able to do about it—or what we can do about it," he says, "we've even had one of our employees cars vandalised while the guy was working here."
The 20 strong-CP Transport fleet distributes shoe components to footware manufacturers throughout the UK. Its head office and main depot, selected following a recent reorganisation within the Chamberlain Phipps Group, lies in a small Northampton industrial estate tucked away within a residential area. It certainly looks quiet enough. But looks can be deceiving "We've only been here 15 months," says Ward. "But it was one of the things I feared when we came here. The area hasn't got what you would call a particularly good reputation."
As usual the victim of truck crime is left to pick up the pieces—and the bill. In the case of CP Transport's break-in it could be as high as £9,000 when the cost of the repairs to the vehicles and new fencing is added up. "There's possibly cameras too if we can afford it," says Ward. Meanwhile CP Transport becomes just another statistic in the growing truck crime figures.
While the break-in rather took the gloss off winning the little Turbo Daily, Ward is more than happy with it after the first three months. The Iveco van replaces a previous Ford Transit 190 and is used to carry shoe components all over the country.
"In terms of performance it's done very well. The Transit had a lower roof but we've been able to make use of that—one of the things that go into shoes is foam and that can take up a lot of room. It's also a lovely motor to drive. It's driven by a great many people, including factory personnel and recently did an overnight up to Kilmarnock."
Another advantage the Turbo Daily has over the Transit is its side loading door. "It's been great," says Ward. "With the old Transit we had to handball the goods in. But the Daily can take a standard Chep pallet through the side door and it'll sit between the wheelarches which makes loading so simple. It's a really nice working height inside—that's one of the first things the drivers notice."
Ward also appreciates the pedal lock on the sliding door which stops it sliding shut accidentally on a slope—although not everyone has taken to it. "We had a agency driver out on it who rang us up and said 'I can't shut the door'!"
Ward was not exactly bowled over when he heard he'd won the Turbo Daily. CP Transport previously maintained a number of old Dailys under contract for a local operator and the build quality and reliability of those early vans had not been anything to shout about. However, the new model has certainly helped to bring Ward around.
Astronomical
"I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised by it, I'd driven an old Daily and wasn't impressed, not at all. And the problems we had getting parts were astronomical. So far it's done ever so well.
"I expected it to be a bit of a dog! But the new model is much better, it's totally different although it looks similar. I've absolutely no objections in going out in it. I went up to Telford in it one Sunday and had a very pleasant ride."
Service backup seems to have improved too, a point not wasted on Ward who no longer maintains his own fleet "I've had no problems from the dealer, they've been very good and rung up a couple of times just to see that it's going alright."
While Ward rates the driveability of the Turbo Daily he's not been excited by its fuel consumption: "I expected we'd get around 28-30mpg. It's actually averaged out at 23.8mpg Our old 2.5-litre di Transit did around 28mpg in the worst case and with some people it managed as high as 35mpg. But the Transit was lower and with some box vans we had in the fleet the consumption was as low as 18mpg."
However. Ward reckons that the Turbo Daily's performance punch has: "Made me think again about what we do. At 3,500rpm and 70mph it certainly isn't slow."
Other dislikes include a handbrake lever that's sited too low although the Turbo Daily gets good marks for its easy access into the cab and "super" power steering: "That's something the old Transit didn't have," says Ward.
So how would Ward sum up the Turbo Daily's first three months? "It's OK although its still got the worst half of the year to come. But we'd seriously consider buying it at the end of our 12 months if the money was right."
_I by Brian Weatherley