DIFFLOCK.com - Buyer's Guide

THE SEVERN TRENT Water Authority covers an area of8500 square miles, serves 8.5 million people and in geographical terms stretches from Scunthorpe to Stroud and from Newtown in Wales to Nottingham. Within the authority are eight operating divisions which are virtu-ally autonomous for mechanical equip-ment like plant and transport. Between the eight divisions there are nearly 300 Land Rovers in use. Their central control comes under Jim Elias as assistant region-al co-ordinator transport and mobile plant. He is based in Birmingham.

The Land Rover fleet is mainly 109in wheelbase models of the estate and hard top type. The authority has had consider-able experience with various types of Land Rovers and still has the 110 forward cab model on the fleet. Although the 101 model was introduced to replace the 110 it did not meet the specific needs of the authority as its load capacity was still not sufficient to justify the additional cost.

There are slightly more petrol versions than diesel, reflecting the fact that drivers often have to work in remote areas where petrol is more easily obtainable. Further-more, the drivers themselves prefer the petrol versions claiming that the diesel engine has a rather flat performance. Two Land Rovers have been converted to LPG but despite all the built-in safety factors which makes them basically far safer than petrol-powered vehicles in an accident, there is still reluctance on the part of drivers to accept them.

The only accessories normally specified are front-mounted winches, for which there is a continuous use, and the adaption of some models to free wheeling hubs.

Although the work of the authority frequently calls for concrete, rock and tarmac breaking few Airdrive versions are purchased for the fleet. This is because when the Land Rover is fitted with the compressor conversion there is insuf-ficient weight capacity left within the legal limit to carry anything but its own working tools. Instead a large number of air vans are in use which give the additional capacity that the authority requires for its work.

The authority also runs Bedford CF 4 x 4 vehicles and Transit 4 x 4 vehicles. They experimented with a version of the Stonefield but found this too expensive in purchase price and running costs for its application.

Jim Elias stressed the need for load capacity on his transport and pointed out that as well as carrying men and working equipment across poor ground there is also a need for an all-terrain mobile workshop and he had, in fact, carried out a successful conversion to a standard long wheelbase Land Rover for this purpose.

Detailed operating procedures are set out in the transport manual covering both servicing and replacement of vehicles. Servicing is carried out at the 32 work-shops within the authority and also by local garages where there is no convenient-ly located depot.

The fleet life of each vehicle is deter-mined by a combination of age and mileage. These are set out as guide lines but not as specific rules but the general policy for the Land Rover category is for a seven-year fleet life. This contrasts with the three-year life for cars and four-year life for light vans where the road mileage is considerably higher. Furthermore, as Jim Elias pointed out, a body like the Severn Trent Authority gains no par-ticular tax advantages by selling vehicles at any specific point in their lives as the financial basis is completely different from that of a commercial tax-paying company.

Public opinion

The authority is keenly aware of public reaction to any purchase other than British. This reinforces the policy of buying British products wherever these offer at least equivalent performance. In fact, a competitor would have to offer not only a superior performance but at a more competitive price backed up with very considerable servicing facilities before the authority would be prepared to consider a change. But such a change would be considered if the commercial and technic-al advantages were obvious. In this connection one of the major advantages that Land Rover enjoys is its historically high residual value in the open market.

But having said this Severn Trent has experienced problems of spares with some local dealers. Furthermore, the authority describes the spares as ‘expensive’ especi-ally in view of the fact that from this particular customer’s point of view the Land Rover is now becoming over-specified.

Additional features, it is felt, such as interior trim make it attractive to mem-bers of the general public but tend to detract from its appeal as a 100 per cent commercial vehicle. Working in dirty conditions as many of them are, authority drivers like to hose out their cabs and therefore do not welcome fitted carpets and velour-faced seat coverings.