Foods distributor Essential Trading Co-operative has taken delivery of the first of five new Isuzu trucks, citing their versatility and reliability.

The Bristol-based company ordered an 11-tonne F110.240(E) and four 7.5-tonne N75.190(E) rigids to replace older Isuzus in its mixed fleet.

Transport manager Rob Baird said it tried other manufacturers before AK Commercials introduced it to Isuzu in 2015: “Other vehicles with similar payload capacities are substantially larger, which makes them difficult to operate on the smaller winding roads in the Bristol area,” he explained.

“We also noticed that the Isuzu vehicles spent significantly less time in the workshop, which obviously helped to improve fleet efficiency and allowed us to better serve our customers.

“We genuinely haven’t looked back.”

Clocking up an average of 70,000km annually, the new trucks will be used primarily for local multi-drop deliveries, with occasional longer distance trips.

Essential Trading Co-operative has taken delivery of the first of five new Isuzu trucks

Essential Trading Co-operative has taken delivery of the first of five new Isuzu trucks

Source: Garnett Keeler