Quattro Group has taken delivery of twelve 18-tonne GVW Volvo FL 250 4×2 road sweepers.
The dozen new left-hand drive vehicles, supplied by Truck and Bus Wales & West at Newport, join a fleet at Quattro Group comprising some 80 road sweepers, 50 trucks and 400 construction machines.
“I started the company back in 1989 with two road sweepers,” says Managing Director John Murphy. “In the intervening 27-years we’ve grown to become a £40 million/year turnover business with over 450 employees.”
“The vast majority of our work these days is either road sweeping on construction projects, or in rail. These new trucks will support our activities on Crossrail and at DP World London Gateway – the new mega-port near Stanford-le-Hope on the north bank of the Thames,” he adds.
The new Volvo FL trucks represent a return to investment for the company, in the sweeper side of the business, which has relied on a fleet that last saw renewal back in 2010.
“We took sixteen 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,” says John.
When it came to renewing and growing the sweeper fleet, John had little hesitation in returning to the dealership to discuss the requirements with Lee Perry, the Transport Solutions Executive at Newport.
“Once again he came up trumps in helping us determine the best specification and on the right terms,” says John. “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. Essentially, with Volvo we get value for money and for me that represents peace of mind.”
The new Volvo FL road sweepers, with day cabs, feature two bag rear air suspension and a rear axle ratio of 6.17, which perfectly suits the demands of road sweeping at travel speeds of around just 2mph (3.2km/h).
Power comes from Volvo 7.7 litre engines developing 250hp, which is transmitted to the road via 9-speed overdrive manual gearboxes.
“The manual gearbox with its crawler gear was a must and has already impressed” says John, adding: “I have to say not a single driver has had anything negative to say about these new Volvo sweepers. In fact they are highly complimentary of the in-cab comfort, the ease of use and the overall driving experience.”
Quattro Group has FORS Silver accreditation and the new Volvo sweepers needed to be CLOCS compliant in order to work in central London.
“We envisage having Gold FORS accreditation by year end,” says John. “To meet CLOCS these sweepers are equipped with Crossrail 4-way recording camera systems as well as motion sensors, the fitment of which was all looked after by the Volvo dealership. For us, perhaps the biggest difference was suitably dealing with cautions when it came to turning right, thanks to the left hand drive configuration.” Johnston Sweepers fitted the body, which comprises a V801 Dual Sweep system powered by its own independent engine and offering an 8m³ hopper capacity and a water tank capable of holding 2005 litres.
