Family-owned and managed Witney Plant Hire’s new FH16-750 is the first-ever Volvo to join the Oxfordshire operator’s four-strong truck fleet.
Volvo dealer Volvo Truck and Bus Centre London supplied the FH16-750 through their Didcot Dealerpoint. Witney Plant Hire Company Director Dave Johns reports that the dealer’s serious approach and rapid response to his sales enquiry was why they won the business.
“The Volvo dealer provided an FH16-750 demonstrator only two days after we placed the enquiry. The demo guy was fantastic; he really knew his stuff and explained all the options available. Volvo allowed us to spec the truck so we got what we wanted not what someone else thought we should buy,” he said. “The Volvo dealer’s attitude filled us with confidence and that enabled us to place the order with them.”
The new truck, a 6×2 with hub reduction on the drive axle, is plated for STGO CAT2 operations at 65 tonnes GCW and is being used to haul machines from the company’s extensive self-drive plant hire fleet, as well as working for outside customers.
Dave Johns believes that Volvo’s I-Shift automated transmission gives the FH16-750 a major operational advantage over other trucks: “We make a lot of deliveries where we are required to back up gradients, off road and fully loaded to get to the delivery point.”
“The I-Shift is very smooth and inspires confidence, even when reversing on the majority of surfaces. Ground clearance is also good and the I-Shift easily beats the competition hands down,” he adds.
“In addition to the regular work we have in the Gloucester, Bristol, Reading and London areas, many of our deliveries are to smaller, independent quarries in the Cotswolds, and these are often down farm tracks,” says Dave Johns, adding, “Operating at 65-tonnes, we need plenty of torque to keep moving on difficult terrain and also on the steep hills found in the region – Fish Hill at Broadway, Birdlip and Stokenchurch for example. The FH16-750 delivers a phenomenal amount of low down pulling power that, like the I-Shift inspires confidence.”
Witney Plant Hire keep their trucks for five years and the FH16-750 will be no exception, says Dave Johns.
