Tile and bathroom retailer Tile Mountain Group has taken delivery of nine new DAF LF18-tonne low height curtainside trucks from Dawsongroup truck and trailer.

The new fleet is on a three-year contract hire package and covers every running aspect, except tyres and fuel. 

The DAFs have all been liveried by the operator with the group’s three brands - Tile Mountain, Bathroom Mountain and Walls and Floors.

Mark Wood, Tile Mountain Group transport manager, said: ”Previously, we owned and operated a sizable fleet of vehicles, including twenty-four 7.5-tonne trucks. However, following the Covid pandemic, we reevaluated various aspects of our business operations and identified transportation as an area that required adjustments.

”Although we already possessed a few 18-tonne and 26-tonne vehicles, after consulting with Dawsongroup, we discovered that contract hire was a more cost-effective solution that would also provide us with a brand-new fleet.

”Out of the nine trucks we acquired, seven were intended as replacements for existing vehicles while the remaining two were to accommodate the group’s growth.”

Wood added that a key consideration was the low 3.9m body height of the vehicles.

”There are low bridges on many of our regular delivery routes, and that can add as much as 40 miles to a round trip, which is expensive, both in terms of driver hours and fuel costs. The height of the new fleet will enable us to make financial savings whilst also being kinder to the environment,” he explained.

Wood, who started as a driver and is now a 25-year veteran with the business, estimates that the extra mileage driven to avoid low bridges could have previously cost the Group up to 1,500 gallons of additional fuel a year.

The DAFs have all been liveried by the operator with the group’s three brands.

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