THOMPSONS DELIVER 5 NEW FMXs FOR MATTHEWS AS TIPPER FLEET WORKS 'HARDER THAN EVER'
“We offer a comprehensive list of services to a wide range of clients” says managing director Mark Matthews, “which variously include demolition and site clearance, tipper haulage, plant hire, materials supply, earthworks, landscaping and waste disposal. In recent months the tipper fleet has been working at full stretch, so now is clearly the time to invest in some new vehicles. Developments in truck chassis are fairly frequent, but for bodies rather less so. Our experience shows there’s really only one tipper body that can go out there and handle every job we do, and that’s the full-spec Thompsons Loadmaster.”
Fitted to Volvo’s latest FMX chassis with a highly potent 460hp on tap, these Loadmaster tippers offer Matthews the best of everything. Top level performance, on and off the road, is a given. So too is reliability - and with that comes the opportunity to offer customers the highest possible level of service with each truck realising its maximum working potential. Indeed, having a truck that’s fully on top of its job can often result in it carrying an extra load a day!
“However arduous the task we put them to, Loadmaster bodies simply shrug it off” says Contract Manager Ronnie Hampton, who is in charge of a large earthmoving operation at Viridor’s landfill site at Beddington Lane, Croydon.
Ronnie notes that “these bodies are built for serious hard work - their overall level of reliability and performance is quite remarkable. As a specific example, we’ve still got one ‘04’ registered Volvo Loadmaster that works alongside the new trucks, doing the same jobs, every day of the week. Externally, the body is clean and undamaged. Internally, it still has the same structural integrity as it did the day it was new. It’s survived a full 7 years on the front line and cost us next to nothing. For sure we take particular pride in maintaining our vehicles to the highest possible level, but the fact is that if you start off with a premium vehicle in the first place it will last longer, work harder and cost you less over its lifetime.
For our business today, the current Loadmaster / FMX combination really looks unbeatable.”
With front and rear cornerposts for maximum strength and structural rigidity, this heaviest-duty version of the Loadmaster can still turn in a payload of over 18.5 tonnes when mounted on a premium chassis such as the latest 13 litre engined FMX. For Matthews and many other top level tipper operators, it’s this balance of payload and long-term productivity that makes Loadmaster such an unbeatable proposition.
Speaking from his company’s HQ in nearby Croydon, Thompsons director Scott Burton pays tribute to Matthews’ decades-long association with his company.
“Our relationship with Matthews goes back very many years” says Scott; “I remember when as a young boy in the mid 1980’s my Dad took me to see a whole row of new Matthews trucks lined up in their yard. In today’s business environment, history like that is so important. Of course, Matthews has tried other bodies over the years, but every time they’ve come back to Thompsons. Having just reached our 40th year in business, we recognise and appreciate the value of such loyal and long standing customers.”
Painted in the company’s vivid green livery, Matthews’ latest tippers make a first class impression wherever they go. A bright, clean, modern and distinctive image is important to the company’s perception by both clients and the public at large.
“Traditionally, the image of tipper businesses has been somewhat lacking” says Mark Matthews, “but the fact is that many of us now do a great deal more than haulage alone. As a result, we have to market ourselves as professionally as possible. And again, a big part of that that comes round to having top quality kit. Look at the Loadmaster body - it’s the best design and best looking of all tipper bodies currently available in the UK, a body that’s easy to paint, easy to clean and costs very little to maintain.
How do you improve on that?”
