Anglian Water is reporting increased uptime and cost savings from trialling Michelin’s Agilis CrossClimate van tyre.

The utilities company was one of a handful of international fleets to trial the tyres, which the manufacturer describes as summer tyres with winter certification, ahead of their launch in May.

The trial began in December 2017 and drivers have reported better grip and robustness compared to their previous tyres.

Dave Leggett, fleet operations manager at Anglian Water, said: “During the Beast from the East, when our drivers did go out, they felt like they had the extra confidence because of the additional grip.

“Now in the hot weather we are seeing the same level of performance.

“A lot of the vans have to go down dirt tracks, across fields and difficult terrains and the drivers have noticed a step up in grip and general traction.

“The trial’s been really positive and when other sizes become available, they will be going on everything we’ve got.”

Anglian Water already uses CrossClimate+ on its cars, and these have doubled the lifetime of its tyres from as little as 20,000 miles on its previous tyres to 44,000 miles on the Michelins.

According to Michelin’s internal calculations based on longevity tests carried out by DEKRA, by using Agilis CrossClimates, four tyres are saved on average every 62,000 miles thanks to their long lasting performance.

Leggett adds: “Because we only use one type of tyre now all year round, we’re also saving on storage costs, as well as the financial burden and downtime from swapping tyres.”