News & Media

“It is”, says Group Technical Director Neal Sowerby, “the toughest job I’ve come across in 30 years of working in the tipper industry” – and he has entrusted the task to a fleet of eight rugged and durable Mercedes Actros 3236 vehicles.

The 32-tonne Mercedes tippers are hard at work transferring wet shale and other waste material from Kellingley Colliery near Ferrybridge to two derelict sites on the other side of the M62 which are currently being landscaped.

“It’s only a three-mile round trip,” Neal told us. “But the work is very arduous and intensive – those trucks are backwards and forwards all day, during which they will each do the journey more than 20 times, stopping only to load and tip.”

Supplied by Mercedes dealer Northside Truck & Van, the Actros are fitted with alloy tipping bodies and weight-saving alloy wheels.

Payload is undeniably important (the Actros carry a competitive 19 tonnes) but more crucial is their ability to stand the pace.

“We were using a different make of vehicle for this work previously and although the dealer did a pretty good job of keeping them going, they weren’t really built for such a demanding application.

“The Actros, by contrast, is a genuine heavy-duty chassis with a specification that allows it to operate at gross weights of up to 41 tonnes on the Continent. So I’m confident that it’s the right tool for the job.

“Our new Actros are being serviced under five-year Mercedes-Benz repair and maintenance contracts at Northside’s £4.6-million facility in Doncaster.

“This is real bread and butter eight-wheeler work. The fastest those trucks will ever go is 35mph but they’re always at maximum weight and it’s relentless. Our operation at Kellingley is going to be a great proving ground…"

From Moving Mountains:News from the Hargreaves Group, Issue 10