Bevan Group has secured no fewer than 140 approvals from the UK’s national approval authority for new road vehicles.

Last May, the West Midlands-based company created a dedicated project team specifically to liaise with VCA, an Executive Agency of the Department for Transport.

The intention was to minimise delays and ensure that customers get their new vehicles registered and put to work as quickly as possible.

They have since met regularly with the Type Approval specialists allocated by VCA to work with Bevan.

Bevan Group has headquarters in Halesowen and is a supplier of dry freight box, curtainside and platform bodies to some of the biggest names in the UK transport industry. It also builds insulated, temperature-controlled vehicle bodies in partnership with Schmitz Cargobull.

The company has also launched its Bevan Passport initiative, which allows smaller-scale bodybuilders to benefit from its quality management systems in order to secure Whole Vehicle Type Approval for their own trucks and vans.

Bevan’s WVTA team is led by group operations director Lee Dimmock, who is supported by CAD engineer Ian Lynch, engineer/auditor Ken Brewiss and administrator Kiren Kaur; another Type Approval specialist will be recruited within the next few weeks.

Dimmock said: “Given the amount of work that has to be done to secure each approval, especially following the introduction of Euro 6 exhaust emissions legislation, we recognised from an early stage that we needed to commit dedicated resource to work directly with VCA.

“By doing so we have been able to make the process as lean and efficient as possible, so that all applications are made and complex supporting documentation is submitted in precisely the right manner.

“And, by making the lives of our VCA colleagues easier, we’re able to achieve a speed of throughput that would not otherwise be possible.”

The alternative to securing Whole Vehicle Type Approval certification for batches of identical trucks or vans is an Individual Vehicle Approval (IVA) test.

“But that’s a costly process and, perhaps even more importantly, can result in delays of many months,” added Dimmock.

“That’s why our Bevan Passport scheme is proving so attractive to smaller bodybuilders who don’t have the infrastructure or technical experience within their own businesses to meet the very considerable demands of Whole Vehicle Type Approval compliance.

“A Bevan Passport proves that a vehicle meets or exceeds all of the requisite environmental, safety and security standards.”

Following a record-breaking performance that saw a 27% jump in sales in 2014, Bevan Group is looking forward to another great year.

Recent additions to the product range include its lightest Luton body yet with a highly competitive payload when mounted on a 3.5-tonne Mercedes-Benz Sprinter chassis, of 1,250kg.

Bevan had sold more than 200 of these bodies within just six months of its launch last summer. 

“With brilliant new products like our lightweight Luton body, a highly productive relationship with VCA, and the industry’s finest aftercare service, the future has never looked brighter for Bevan Group,” said managing director Anthony Bevan.

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