Managing director Simon Sivyer explains that he was looking for trucks that offered good off-road capabilities, were robust and “looked right as construction tippers” serving London and the Home Counties.
All of the trucks, supplied by Volvo Truck and Bus Centre London, Croydon, were specified with the Volvo D13K 12.8-litre 420bhp engine, delivering up to 2,100 Nm of torque, mated to Volvo’s 12-speed I-Shift AMT (automated manual gearbox).
They have day cabs and were fitted with Alcoa Durabrite aluminium wheels, as well as on-board axle weight mentoring systems since they will be loading waste in some instances from sites without weighbridges.
Sivyers, which is a Gold FORS registered operator, is also trialling Vlvo’s new low-level nearside window – shown at the CLOCS event in London in February this year – aimed at improving driver visibility of vulnerable road users.
“We also specified the lightest possible tipping gear from Edbro and are using lightweight single skin Taperlite steel bodies from Boweld, who handled the whole vehicle type approvals,” says Sivyer.
“Weight saving has been the name of the game and we’ve managed to get the net weight down to 12.3 tonnes, which gives us a payload of 19.8 tonnes,” he adds.
“The Volvo FMX is in my opinion, pound-for-pound over a period of time, the best product on the market,” says Sivyer.
“[It] is well designed and reliable and Volvo holds good residual value.... I am convinced the FMX is the most appropriate truck for our needs and, aesthetically, it looks like a proper construction tipper, which is also important.”