AT’s trailer-made solution for UK council

South Gloucestershire Council in western England has taken delivery of a new Volvo FMX 6x4 rigid dump truck with a tipper body and a three axle Andover Trailers lightweight drawbar with beavertail, for transporting a Wirtgen W100F road planer.

The investment is said to mark a new operation for the local authority, which previously hired in road planing equipment from third party contractors. The move to own, operate and transport its own road planer is expected to deliver savings and added flexibility for South Gloucestershire Council, which will also hire the machine to other local authorities to ensure prime asset utilisation.

Finished in golden yellow paintwork, the Andover CDDBCL 25LT drawbar is said to be purpose-built to carry the 2395 Wirtgen planer, with three pairs of lashing points and an adjustable conveyer support to hold it securely in place during transit.

The 10.4m long (eye to rear) and 2.5m wide trailer has been constructed with Granning axles, Granning air suspension with Wabco raise/lower control, Knorr-Bremse brakes and a lightweight but hard-wearing Obeche timber floor. Hydraulic loading ramps, 1m wide on the off-side and 0.7m wide on the near-side, ensure the perfect loading angle for the Wirtgen machine – with manually adjustable steady legs guaranteeing a stable platform when loading and unloading.

Colin Shepherd, fleet operations manager at South Gloucestershire Council, said: “We plan to keep these new assets in operation for at least 8-10 years, so we had to specify equipment built to last. We consulted with Wirtgen, and they recommended the Andover Trailers drawbar to us for its robust build quality and projected long life.”

In operation up to seven days a week, the Council’s new vehicle combination can operate at up to 40tonnes gross train weight (GTW); or up to 26tonnes when the tipper is running solo. South Gloucestershire Council has requested a Red Forge loadcell on-board weighing system on the truck chassis, to ensure the vehicle operates legally at all times. A traffic light system provides a visual confirmation to both the driver in the cab and to the operator loading the planer, to confirm if the total payload is within permitted weight parameters. 359 Volvo CE has built the truck chassis with a 9tonne front axle and steel suspension on the rear bogie, said to offer maximum durability. A Thompson tipper body with rollover sheeting completes the package.