Balfour Beatty buys MAN gritter fleet for M25 19 November 2010

Balfour Beatty Plant & Fleet Services has supplied 27 new MAN gritters to highways contractor Connect Plus, a consortium of Balfour Beatty, Skanska, Atkins and Egis.

The delivery comprises 12 TGM 26.340 6x4 BB rigids and 15 TGS 32.360 8x4 BBs – all powered by MAN Euro 5 engines using EGR (exhaust gas recirculation) technology and all with MAN TipMatic gearboxes.

The bodies were supplied by Aebi Schmidt and include both 9m and 12m, pre-wet and dry salt spreaders.

Clive Brocklehurst, commercial vehicle operations manager at Balfour Beatty, explains that all of the trucks were specified to meet its'Zero Harm' safety campaign.

As a result, they have: colour coded, high-vis access steps and grab handles; edge protection for all gantries; additional LED lighting; reversing cameras with infrared and microphones; GPS-based tracking; and the Autologic spreader control and navigation system.

The complete package automates all the key processes and enables the HGV driver to concentrate on the road, without having to worry about gear changes, spread patterns or navigating around routes.

"We consider MAN to be the best available whole-life-cost option for winter maintenance vehicles," says Brocklehurst. "From an engineering point-of-view, too, MAN produces a factory gritter specification, so we know MAN's manufacturing quality is built-in."

Author
Brian Tinham

Related Companies
MAN Truck & Bus UK Ltd

This material is protected by MA Business copyright
See Terms and Conditions.
One-off usage is permitted but bulk copying is not.
For multiple copies contact the sales team.