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Clean sweep for Mercedes at GS Hughes

Aggregates business GS Hughes has taken delivery of 20 Mercedes-Benz Arocs, completing the upgrade of its 42-strong fleet to 100% Mercedes-Benz.

Supplied by dealer Orwell Truck & Van, the Lincolnshire-based operator’s latest additions are fitted with steel Taperlite tipping bodies, by Boweld, and Edbro front-end rams.

All but one of the new trucks are 3240 models with 10.7-litre, 389bhp straight-six engines, driving through PowerShift automated transmissions.

The other truck is a 3246 model with a 450bhp engine, and has been allocated to driver Ken Wilkinson as a reward for 27 years’ service.

“In the three years since we acquired our first dozen Mercedes-Benz Arocs, this model has proved to be very popular with our drivers and extremely well suited to our kind of work,” confirms transport manager John Barker.

“It’s a very thoughtfully designed vehicle. The impressive ground clearance and the way that damage-prone items are positioned out of harm’s way help to ensure that this truck is completely at home in quarries and on construction sites.”

With varied work, mpg comparisons between vehicles are not easy, says Barker, but “the Mercedes-Benz trucks have been significantly more frugal from the outset than those by other manufacturers which they replaced”. They have also been very reliable, he adds.

The Arocs are supplied on Agility funding agreements with Mercedes-Benz Financial Services. “The package is competitively priced and, just as importantly, allows us to choose from a range of options at the end of the term,” says Barker.

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