Hargreaves Services is using Mercedes-Benz Actros tippers on what its technical director Neil Sowerby describes as: "The toughest job I've come across in 30 years of working in the tipper industry."
A fleet of eight Actros 3236s are moving wet shale and other waste from Kellingley colliery near Ferrybridge on a three-mile roundtrip to enable landscaping of a derelict site on the opposite side of the M62.
"The work is very arduous," says Sowerby. "Those trucks will each do the journey
more than 20 times a day, stopping only to load and tip. The fastest those trucks will ever go is 35mph, but they're always at maximum weight and it's relentless. The Actros is a heavy-duty chassis with a specification allowing it to operate at 41 tonnes GVW on the Continent, so I'm confident it's the right tool for the job."
The 8x4 Actros chassis, supplied by Yorkshire Mercedes dealer Northside Truck & Van with weight-saving alloy wheels and a Wilcox alloy body enabling a 19-tonne payload, will be serviced at Doncaster under a five-year R&M agreement.
Durham-based Hargreaves has a 500-strong fleet, and specialises in moving bulk minerals.
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