“I speak my mind,” Lyndon declares adding, “and anyone who doesn't like me to do that, well, don't come and sell me trucks!” His previous, first choice product is also the current market leader in the waste sector, but that didn't mean he was going to roll over and take it when their standards seemed to drop.
“I decided to give someone else a chance,” Lyndon confirms. The three existing tractor units on his fleet were all Volvo trucks, including a 58-plate 6x4 tractor, which had worked well for its whole ten-year life, but was due for replacement. “I came back to the manufacturer off the back of that first truck’s performance,” Lyndon adds.
The resulting vehicle is a little bit special; a Volvo FH-500 double drive tractor unit to permit access to landfill sites, but fitted with other extras including Volvo’s Enhanced Finish and a stainless steel exhaust stack.
“I've gone for a huge specification because it's the new flagship of the fleet,” Lyndon enthuses adding, “I spec’d a Globetrotter Cab and alloy wheels where I would normally have steel. The heavy duty bumper with mid-mounted towing pin also allows a bull-bar to be added.”
“It's a fantastic vehicle,” Lyndon continues, “Nice and high for landfills, in addition to its excellent power and torque ratios. There's nothing bad I can say about it!”
Skip lorries, however, are a different story. “I'm very open,” Lyndon says. “If someone comes to me I say, Here's the quote I've already got and the spec, now you have to match or beat it.'” Lyndon now has two new 18-tonne Volvo FL 4x2 rigids on steel suspension, with D8K 250hp engines, Traction Control, Hill Hold and vertical exhaust outlets for use on boggy building sites. “They're a better drive than my other skip lorries and - so far - we've had no problems,” Lyndon adds. “They're doing just what I thought they would do.”
Jones Skip's maintenance is all performed in-house, and but it is the support service received by Hartshorne Motor Services Ltd, which is the ‘icing on the cake’.
“Everyone in Hartshorne’s parts department needs recognition,” Lyndon confirms. “They keep me up to speed if I'm waiting for components and the service department is also fantastic. If I do have a problem, such as a light on the dashboard, they run it in straight away and if it can be fixed there and then they'll do it. That's ultimately why I stayed with Hartshorne,” he concludes. “They really are good.”
