They join £40 million per year turnover Quattro’s mixed fleet of 80 road sweepers, 50 trucks and 400 construction machines’
Managing director John Murphy says the new Volvo FL trucks represent a return to investment for the company on the sweeper side of the business, which last saw renewal back in 2010.
“We took 16 Volvo FH trucks on contract hire with Volvo Financial Services, from Truck and Bus Wales & West, in 2014 and were very happy with the whole experience,” comments Murphy, explaining the choice of OEM and dealer.
“Once again [the dealer] came up trumps in helping us determine the best specification and on the right terms,” he continues.
“For me, the Volvo brand is very strong; the dealership was able to deliver what we needed; the resale value of Volvo holds up; and we get great support from the entire dealer network.”
The new trucks were specified with day cabs, and for this application have two bag rear air suspension plus a rear axle ratio of 6.17, to march road sweeping speeds of 2mph.
Truck and Bus Wales & West proposed Volvo 7.7 litre 250bhp engines driving through nine-speed overdrive manual gearboxes, as per customer requirement.
“The manual gearbox with its crawler gear was a must and has already impressed,” states Murphy.
And he adds: “Not a single driver has had anything negative to say about these new sweepers. In fact they are highly complementary of the in-cab comfort, the ease of use and the overall driving experience.”
As for meeting CLOCS (Construction Logistics Cyclist Safety) compliance, Murphy says all the newVolvo sweepers have been equipped with Crossrail four-way recording camera as well as motion sensors.
“For us, perhaps the biggest difference was dealing with caution when it came to turning right, thanks to the left hand drive configuration,” he says.
Johnston Sweepers fitted the bodies, all of which use the V801 Dual Sweep system powered by its own engine and providing an 8m³ hopper and a 2,005 litre water tank.