Transport News Brief

Transport News Brief

Week 25, Monday 18 June 2007

Smiths wins Royal Mail electric vehicle deal

The Tanfield group says its subsidiary Smiths Electric Vehicles has won its first contract from the Royal Mail. This is for two zero emission electric delivery vehicles. The first is an Edison 3.5 tonne electric van, on based on a Ford Transit and the second is a Newton 7.5 tonne truck. Both have a 150 mile range on one battery charge and top speeds of up to 50 mph. Tanfield says Royal Mail will use the vehicle for trials in London, doing parcel and post distribution work. Electric powered vehicles pay no road tax, no congestion or low emission zone charge and don’t need operator licences.

More from and Dan Jenkins on + 44 (0)8 451 557 755 or

RHA and FTA alliance

The Road Haulage Association and the Freight Transport Association say they are joining forces to provide the compulsory and regular training that truck, bus and coach drivers will need. The EU Driver Training Directive demands that each driver has a Certificate of Professional Competence and gets regular ‘refesher’ training of 35 hours each five years. “We recommend that people do annual sessions of seven hours, rather than leave it all to a week long session at the last minute,” says Brian Szukala, general manager, training for the FTA. The two outfits will have bus and driver coach training courses available from September ’08 and truck driver courses from September ‘09

More from Kate Gibbs on +44 (0)1 932 838 917 or

Citroën wins third solus deal with Broadbent

Industrial equipment maker Thomas Broadbent and Sons has just taken 30 new Citroën Relay, Dispatch and Berlingo vans. These are part of the firm's third solus deal with Citroën and replace its entire light commercial vehicle fleet. The Huddersfield-based firm makes and exports industrial laundry equipment and centrifuges worldwide. Its team off specialist installation and maintenance engineers will use the new vans throughout the UK and the rest of Europe.

More from Phil Reed on + 44 (0)2 086 684 048 or

DHL wins Tesco mail deal

DHL Global mail says it has just won a £12m contract as Tesco's preferred ‘downstream’ mail supplier. It will handle some 75m mail items for Tesco over the next year.

More from Alexa Fleming on +44 (0)2 074 133 455 or

CV Show visitors - success confirmed

The UK’s CV Show organisers say the Audit Bureau of circulations has confirmed that 27,071 visitors came to the 2007 Commercial Vehicle Show in April. “Over three very busy days more than 1,000 exhibitors on 618 stands played host to those 27,000 visitors,” said David Sedgley, CV Show chairman. “People were doing deals within minutes of the doors opening and business continued at a multi-million-pound pace until the end of the show three days later.” Hundreds of exhibitors say they plan to return next year, following outstanding successes at this year's event. “Since the show closed we've had exhibitors virtually queuing to tell us about their successes and how impressed they were by the calibre of visitors across all transport sectors. Above all, exhibitors look for purchasing power and decision-making authority among their guests and the show delivered again.” The organisers plan to mail details of the 2008 show to potential exhibitors in early July.

More from Robin Dickeson on +44 (0)2 073 449 222 or

New Volvo for D&G Travel

Buckinghamshire-based D& Travel just got its first Volvo coach, a Jonckheere-bodied B12B, to do private hire work, mainly around the west London area.

More from Don Johnson on +44 (0)1 926 414 553 or

Brazilian-Argentinean free trade area on the cards

Just-auto.com reports that talks between the two main Mercosur partners, Brazil and Argentina, are due to start in the second half of this year. The result should, at last, be a vehicle free trade agreement from July 2008, after two postponements in 2003 and 2006.

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Re-power with Smiles

Smiles Engineering says Cummins Engine Co has just appointed the firm a fully approved Re-power partner. Smiles says its Caterplillar, Cummins, Iveco and MAN re-power work will deliver emission standards up to and including Euro 5. The firm says this is often a more cost effective way of improving emission performance than by fitting exhaust after-treatment kit to an older engine.

More from Brian Smiles on +44 (0)1 912 761 111 or

Alliance & Leicester does £9m Stagecoach deal

Alliance & Leicester says it has successfully financed a £9m leasing deal in which Stagecoach has got 37 new Volvo B12B three axle Plaxton Panther coaches. The firm will use its new coaches on its increasingly successful budget intercity travel service, megabus.com

More from Andrew Homer on +44 (0)1 162 003 401 or

Most operators have yet to plan for LEZ

A recent survey shows that with eight months to go before the London Low Emission Zone becomes law, 62% of the 1,000 operators surveyed have yet to plan how they will deal with the LEZ. Exhaust after-treatment specialists Eminox, which commissioned the work says the findings suggest a worrying lack of planning. The firm also reports a steadily growing rate of enquiries from operators looking for advice.

More from Ruchika Jain on +44 (0)2 089 716 423 or

Light 7.5 tonne fridge box

Langdons of Bridgewater says its getting a 2,700kg payload on a Daf 7.5 tonner thanks to a combination of low chassis weight, light bodywork and a direct-drive Thermo King V500 refrigeration unit. The firm says the specification means it gets a an extra 250kg payload, or half a tonne a day when running two daily trips. Lamberet built the six-pallet body. The truck is also the first in the UK fitted with the new Axtec axle load indicator, launched at this Spring’s CV Show.

More from Martin Hayes on +44 (0) 2 074 948 050 or

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