Francis tips the odds in its favour with new trailers

Francis Transport (Northwich) has acquired, on five-year lease, 30 replacement trailers from TIP Trailer Services.

The new curtainsiders – all 13.6m units from SDC with an internal height of 3.1m– will be used on low-mileage work within the UK for the transport of lightweight items, such as plastic bottles for major customer Alpla.

Francis Transport also moves tissue paper and other packaging products for a range of clients.

Director John Francis told Motortransport.co.uk that the firm was a long-term Boalloy user until the trailer maker went under, and always runs exactly the same spec in order to ensure consistency for its customers. "No trailer goes into their yard which they cannot load," he said.

It’s also a long-term TIP Trailer Services customer, though its longstanding preference for four-year leases has been tweaked up to five years with this latest deal to help keep costs down.

The vehicle acquisition strategy appears to have paid off. Francis said the company had been "picking up business all the time – funnily enough on the strength and quality of our service and the presentation and spec of our vehicles".

Francis Transport employs 34 people and runs a fleet of 30 trucks and 76 trailers from four sites across Northwich, Warrington and Milton Keynes