ECON has delivered 11 brand new Low Throw gritter bodies mounted onto new Volvo chassis to South Gloucestershire Council…

, equipped with the safety and control equipment intended to make them among the most efficient and driver friendly vehicles in service in the UK.

Following a detailed evaluation of all the available chassis and gritter body types, the Council selected Volvo 6×4 and 4×4 base chassis with ECON spreaders and E-Ploughs, with a number of additional extras designed to improve the efficiency and lifespan of the vehicles.

The specifications by South Gloucestershire Council include upgraded axles and suspension; drum brakes that are more resilient to salt corrosion; automatic gearboxes to provide constant spinner speeds; rear hopper cameras and weigh cells for easier accurate loading; SPARGO controls; and vehicle tracking systems.

“Our new fleet really is specified to be the most adaptable, efficient and durable that we could possibly need over the lifetime of the fleet,” said Owen Jenkins, Highways Manager of South Gloucestershire Council.

“In recent years we have been highly praised for the quality of our winter maintenance programme, even winning the prestigious Public Service Excellence Award in 2010 and it is a service something that we take great pride in delivering for tax payers.”

“These new ECON vehicles will make salt stocks and fuel budgets stretch further, and allow for quicker reloading, that will boost the number of miles of road we can preventatively treat ice or clear snow in every shift.”

“We also provide winter maintenance services commercially for over 30 local clients, including businesses and schools, and the new improved fleet will have a vital role in getting the local community and economy moving again, after the heavy snowfalls we have seen in recent winters,” he added.

All 45 of the Council’s drivers have been fully trained in the operation of the new vehicles by ECON following their delivery, ready for the imminent winter season.

The new vehicles were showcased at a press event at Filton Airfield near Bristol on the last weekend of October, where all 11 new vehicles were unveiled to assembled media in Red Arrows formation on the runway (pictured).

Trevor’s previous roles include Transport Manager for South Glamorgan County Council and Technical Manager for the Transport Fleet Services Department of Cardiff County Council. Since leaving the public sector, he has spent the last six years running a municipal sales department for a Mercedes Benz commercial vehicle dealership based in Cardiff, supplying various specialist vehicles to local government.

“Having spent so many years working for local authorities, I understand only too well the pressures they face, particularly the current need for cost savings whilst retaining service levels for the public,” explains Trevor. “ECON has invested in developing a range of technologically advanced products which can provide these benefits. For example, the Quick Change Body (QCB) system which enables two or three bodies to be used on the same chassis gives just the sort of flexibility and savings that are being sought by local authorities.”

Trevor is a Corporate Member of the Chartered Institute of Transport and a Corporate Member of the Institute of Logistics and Transport.

A fleet of ten ECON 9m3 spreaders has completed its first winter of service with Dumfries and Galloway Council during one of the harshest winters in the region for decades.

The dedicated spreading vehicles, supplied on 6×4 DAF and Mercedes chassis are part of ECON’s 320 strong winter maintenance rental fleet, the largest in the UK.

“The vehicles have proved very effective this winter,” said Ian Anderson of Dumfries and Galloway Council. “They have been very popular with the drivers as well, who don’t always welcome changes to their equipment,” he commented.

Every one of the vehicles is supported by fully trained ECON engineers, and the comprehensive fixed term contract agreements include regular on site inspections to ensure safe operation, as well as summer servicing at the firm’s Ripon hire fleet base.

“ECON engineers come to our depots to check the vehicles regularly, and support our own programme of inspections with their own that help to keep the vehicles in the best condition and ensure that they on the roads when they are needed most.”

“We have the reassurance that ECON will have stocks of crucial spares and components if they are needed should the vehicles incur damage of mechanical problems that might otherwise cause them to be out of service at times when we have the worst weather,” added Mr. Anderson.

ECON has 14 engineers across the UK, ensuring a rapid response if possible if emergency repairs are required, day or night.

ECON owns and maintains its entire fleet of vehicles and is not dependent on third party leasing arrangements or service contractors. This means that rental customers have surety of fleet availability, their own UK manufacturing and spares supplies, as well as full time ECON service personnel, a significant factor in the continued growth of ECON’s winter maintenance rental fleet.

The new additions represent a £1.25 million investment by the Council.

David Lackie, Team Leader Lighting and Works Support at Fife Council commented: “One of the main drivers behind the fleet replacement programme was to introduce a more balanced fleet of both permanently mounted gritters, which are capable of dealing with the most severe winter conditions, coupled with multi-purpose vehicles, which are able to undertake year-round road maintenance.”

“The target was to reach a total of 30 vehicles available to the winter maintenance team. The balanced, mixed fleet now consists of 15 four wheel drive 6m³, Permanently Mounted gritters which will deal with the most severe weather conditions, and 15 vehicles with a range of de-mount gritter bodies for added flexibility.”

This latest investment has seen Econ supply 12 Permanently Mounted 6m³, one 6m³ QCB, one 3m³ Hook Lift and one 6m³ de-mount body. All the vehicles were fitted with Econ’s SPARGO control system to allow the team to accurately track spread rates according to their needs.

In addition, Econ has refurbished two existing 6m³ de-mount bodies for
use with two new 18 tonne DAF chassis.

“The competitive procurement of these vehicles further extends the long-standing working relationship between Fife Council and Econ”, added David. “The excellent service consistently provided by Econ, coupled with the new technology they’ve introduced to improve efficiencies within our team, particularly with the spreaders and de-mount bodies, has been invaluable.”

Fife Council’s Fleet Manager, Tom Robertson, commented: “The Council’s main gritting and support vehicles are now standardised in terms of chassis design, gritter and demountable bodies, controls and attachments. This greatly simplifies driver and technical training requirements and provides us with an opportunity to use a large proportion of our fleet in other operational areas.”

“The new technology minimises the time to remove demountable tipper and gully tanker bodies and fit the gritter bodies, which is of great benefit to our team. Efficient, reliable and more fuel-efficient, the vehicles make Fife’s fleet amongst the most modern in Scotland and with the installation of new technology, we’ll be able to accurately control salt spreading levels across our entire operation. This makes us best prepared for the coming months and will help ensure we keep as many of our roads as safe as possible, whatever the conditions.”

The council, which operates on a five-year vehicle replacement cycle, suffered an extremely harsh winter with the volume of snowfall and salt shortages causing many problems for its road gritting operations.

However, winters in the region can be extremely varied and with the requirement for all-year round work schedules to be carried out, West Lothian wanted to bring in a range of vehicles that will be suitable to undertake a steady programme of use in the summer months, in addition to the winter period.

West Lothian Council and Econ have a long and successful partnership. Council transport manager Joe Drew has been using its vehicles since 1996 and the council has a relationship going back even further “for a good number of years”, a partnership which is underpinned by the cost-effectiveness and quality of equipment Econ can offer.

Mr Drew said: “We are especially pleased with the new Unibodies which can be used for general construction and road maintenance tasks throughout the summer and gritting in the winter giving us the added benefit of year round use. Econ offers excellent price, reliability and after sales services and is able to provide a combination of vehicles bespoke to our winter maintenance operation.”

He added that the vehicles also have the approval of the road maintenance teams. “Our team likes using the Econ vehicles. They are straightforward and always do a good job, making material handling easier and allowing them to complete jobs such as filling potholes as quickly and competently as possible.”

Ringway Jacobs is a fully integrated highway services provider which offers road and winter maintenance services to a broad range of local authorities across the south of England.

To facilitate contracts ahead of the winter period, Ringway Jacobs has taken delivery of eight 6cu metre 18 tonne pre-wet spreaders and four 9cu metre 26ft pre-wet spreaders, all fitted to brand new Mercedes Axor chassis…Read more at Econ News.

Located between Oxon and Hertfordshire, a vacancy exists for an experienced HGV Fitter, with a knowledge of electronics being preferable. The role involves the maintenance of the UK’s largest gritter fleet with overtime opportunities in the winter together with a stand by allowance. Working from home the successful candidate would provided with a fully equipped service van.

Visit our website for further details and an application form… Econ Jobs.