Leeds-based The Gritting Company has taken delivery of two 18-tonne GVW, Volvo FL 4x2 rigids from Crossroads Truck and Bus of Birstall, West Yorkshire.
The trucks feature Schmidt spreaders and will join an existing 23-strong fleet of Volvo trucks which grit for both the local authority and private customers across Yorkshire.
The company has more than 150 gritting trucks in total with both permanently mounted and demountable gritting bodies, operating from over 70 depots and covering private customers' premises' from Devon to northern Scotland and Northern Ireland.
The new Volvo FLs, with 4.1m wheelbases and day cabs, feature steel leaf rear suspension and can carry up to 10 tonnes of de-icing salt. Because of the corrosive nature of salt, the vehicles' chassis were wax treated by Schmidt prior to the spreader body being built.
The new vehicles are powered by a Volvo D8K 7.7 litre, six-cylinder engine producing 250hp at 2,100rpm and up to 950Nm of torque, which is transmitted to the road through a 6-speed overdrive manual gearbox.
Company Director, Nigel Crowther said: 'The new Volvo FL provides the reliability that we require for what is extremely challenging work. Many perceive us as the fourth emergency service when winter strikes, so reliability is absolutely crucial.
'Our business is dedicated to gritting for local authorities and private sector clients such as supermarket chains, retail parks and factory premises. When the temperatures drop you'll find us out in the worst conditions and usually at night, supporting our customers to ensure their businesses can keep going, whatever the weather throws at us.
'We stock tens-of-thousands of tonnes of de-icing salt in Leeds and several thousand tonnes in several depots across the UK. I estimate that over the course of an average winter, the new Volvo FLs will spread upwards of 750t of rock salt and each vehicle will cover in the region of 20,000km per annum.
'In our day-to-day operations we empty the truck completely after every trip and wash it down. Then, at the end of the season, we will give it a thorough wash down and grease parts and areas susceptible to corrosion such as aluminium valves.
'We need them to perform when the weather gets tough and then they will sit idle through the warmer months. We have depended on a fleet that is predominantly Volvo since we started the gritting operation over 50 years ago and the reliability of the trucks, in conjunction with the back-up we get from both Crossroads Truck and Bus and Volvo, means we'll aim to invest in two new Volvo FLs each year going forwards.'
