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AF Blakemore was forced to specify 400hp for its 28-tonne SPAR contract to avoid having to buy Euro 4. Fleet operations manager Mick Harris tells Motor Transport that the company would normally have opted for 340hp, but there were supply issues with the 9-litre engine. So instead it opted for the 13-litre engine on 12 new 4x2 FM9s. Volvo's truck manager/UK and Ireland Brian Smith explains that the 9-litre Euro 3 engine ceased production in August, whereas the 13-litre was being produced up until  a couple of weeks ago. As a consequence supplies of the 9-litre ran out some time ago. "A number of operators have bought vehicles that weren't their usual spec to avoid Euro 4," he says.

The new trucks, all with Globetrotter cabs and manual transmissions, have been taken on five-year R&M contracts with Hartshorne. The Volvo dealer has operated an on-site Vehicle Maintenance Unit on behalf of AF Blakemore since 2000. They are mostly coupled to tandem-axle Gray & Adams multi-compartment, low-height refrigerated trailers with Thermo King motors. This takes the number of trucks with digital tachographs on the haulier's 200-strong fleet to 36. It took its first ones in November 2005, and says it is experiencing no problems with them.