Senior transport manager Richard Beal credits Charlon’s build quality and its pre-sales consultation on specifications.
Supplied to IBMG through Woking - based Translease Services, all the 18 vehicles delivered in 2021 are based on DAF CF and LF chassis.
The bodies of the 26t vehicles, as running with Parker Building Supplies, have 6,300mm hardwood floors, triple-planked aluminium dropsides and a steel-framed tailboard. A full length subframe then supports rear-mounted extendable stability legs, a short safety staircase and a rear-mounted Fassi F155 crane. These cranes can be operated either by full remote control or via conventional levers.
By being mounted at the back of the truck, the grab cranes can also deliver loads at almost any point off the sides or rear of the vehicle.
The rear-steer DAF CF 6x2 chassis weighs in at just over 13t unladen. It is fitted with a 365bhp engine. Meanwhile, the 4x2 DAF LF-engined chassis offers trucks at 16t and 18t. The latest examples go to group member Fairalls of Godstone. The bodywork of these trucks follows the core design and layout of the six wheelers, but on a reduced scale. These smaller trucks are therefore ideal for deliveries to more congested sites such as individual building plots and driveways.
Charlton and Translease will be supplying another 13 new vehicles to IBMG in 2022, with an as yet unspecified further quantity in 2023.
As well as Parker and Fairalls, members of Independent Builders Merchant Group include Chandlers, Grant & Stone, Stamco, CRS, Perrys and RGB Building Supplies, with the combined group now operating from over 140 locations ranging from Kent to Cornwall.
Richard Beal adds: “The vehicles we need have to combine the highest possible levels of practicality, versatility and safety. They also have to be reliable and cost effective, right from the start. Getting the best-possible specification is the key to achieving all those virtues, along with the very real expertise and support we get from Charlton and Translease. This is a real team effort, and it works particularly well.”