Supplied by dealer City West Commercials, the new arrivals are four 15-tonne 1524 models and a pair of 13-tonne 1324s.
All have ClassicSpace S-cabs and are powered by 7.7-litre straight-six engines, which produce 235bhp and drive through six-speed PowerShift automated transmissions.
Their insulated bodies are by Solomon Commercials, of Rossendale, which also fitted Frigoblock multi-temperature refrigeration units.
Philip Dennis Foodservice’s 75-strong fleet is dominated by Atego trucks, one of which has been in service since 2002. Another dozen still in service were registered between 2004 and 2006.
“Uptime is key to the product’s appeal – in terms of reliability, they’re pretty well bomb-proof,” says transport manager Jason Palmer (pictured).
“We run some of these trucks to the ends of their lives, at which point we’ll continue to take spares from them to help keep others on the road. That said, replacement parts for the Atego are certainly competitively priced. We run 11 trucks by another manufacturer and their door mirrors are four times the price of the equivalent Mercedes-Benz item.”
Each of the new vehicles will make around 30 deliveries per day to pubs, restaurants and other customers, covering 40,000km per year.
They join six other Powershift-equipped trucks in the fleet, which are “noticeably more economical” than those equipped with the manual box, adds Palmer.