Jack Richards & Son has placed one of its largest fleet orders with a deal for 130 DAF Euro-6 XF 460 FTG Space Cabs.
DAF’s Liverpool dealer North West Trucks is supplying all the units to the Fakenham and Northwich based haulage firm, which will give its new fleet an updated livery while retaining its red-and-yellow colour scheme.
Championing the DAF Transport Efficiency programme, Jack Richards & Son has specified a number of optional enhancements including Predictive Cruise Control, Lane Departure Warning and Advanced Emergency Braking.
This especially large order is made up of 94 fleet replacements, with 36 being added onto new contract work.
Jack Richards & Son is also installing DAF Telematics across its entire 220-strong fleet to future-proof operations. The Microlise technology provides remote downloads of driver and vehicle tachograph information and visibility of vehicle location against planned routes, plus comprehensive management of delivery information.
Jack Richards & Son Chairman Tony Richards said, “We’ve enjoyed a great working relationship with DAF for 15 years. We entered negotiations with our eyes wide open and aware of other truck makers’ products and services, but the Euro-6 DAF was the clear winner on fuel-efficiency, and the whole-life package over three years was extremely attractive.
“Our drivers are very important to us, so, we’ve provided Space Cabs and a number of safety devices to underline their worth to the company. They’ve responded very positively to the new trucks.”
Lisa Richards, Regional Director at Jack Richards & Son’s Northwich base, is responsible for the company’s telematics operations.
“We had to step-up to the mark on fleet utilisation,” said Lisa. “A better understanding of vehicle movements is the only way we can better utilise them, and DAF Telematics is really the only way we can achieve that.
“It provides such a wealth of information. In addition to knowing where our vehicles are at any one time, we know how many hours our drivers have left to work and we can download their tachograph information. Also, we can see vehicle location against plan and, by using geo-fencing, deliveries are recorded automatically thus drastically reducing the 1,500 calls from drivers made into the business each day.”
