Bevan Group has announced it is working on a second consignment of tipping bodies for 14 FUSO Canter trucks to be operated by Leicester City Council.

The 14 tippers, currently being built at Bevan’s production facility in Wednesbury, employ the 110 kW (150 hp) version of FUSO’s 3.0-litre powerplant.

A combination of 7.5-tonne and 3.5-tonne models, all have day cabs and are equipped with Duonic dual-clutch automated manual transmissions, except for the single crew cab variant with manual gearbox.

The authority placed its latest order with eStar Truck & Van following a tender process.

Key to this decision was the successful implementation by Leicester City Council’s park and open spaces team in early 2020, of an initial batch of four Canter 4x4s, fitted with bodies by Bevan Group.

Three of the vehicles are specified for arboreal operations. Each high-sided body features an adjustable chip hood and ladder frame. Bevan also installed a tool pod behind the cab with lockable roller shutter doors on both sides, and a hitch for towing a wood-chipper.

The remaining truck, Bevan fabricated a complex sub-frame, has a tipping body with split dropsides and is equipped with a battery-powered Penny Hydraulics PH380 crane with maximum capacity of 2,650kg. This is used by the Council team responsible for maintaining playground equipment and park benches.

The 6.5-tonne Canter 6C18 chassis comes with selectable four-wheel drive, a raised ride height, and a body and payload allowance of 3.8 tonnes. The vehicle is powered by a 3.0-litre common rail turbodiesel producing 129 kW (175 hp).

Steve Kerry, fleet services manager at Leicester City Council, said: “Due to other commitments and the tight financial constraints under which we’ve been operating, some of our vehicles were older and were becoming costly to maintain.

“We’ve therefore amended our replacement policy and launched a fleet modernisation initiative, with the Bevan-bodied Canters among the first new trucks to be commissioned.

“The arboreal tippers have replaced 7.5-tonners, while the Parks job was previously being done by a 3.5-tonne vehicle. As well as having the 4x4 driveline that was a key requisite for these applications, the Canter is impressively robust and offers an excellent payload.”

The new trucks are scheduled for delivery in the first quarter of this year and will be maintained at Leicester City Council’s own workshop alongside the 4x4 vehicles already in operation.

Last year, MAN teamed up with Bevan Group to deploy a new fleet of eight purpose-built logistics vehicles for St John Ambulance.

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