Charlton deliver complete package for Ovenden
Ovenden Tipper Services choose Charlton SuperLite bodies for latest batch of super-spec tippers
KENT-based Ovenden Tipper Services have turned to Charlton for their latest batch of tippers. Carried by Scania ‘Next Generation’ XT chassis with G cabs and 13-litre, 410hp engines, Ovenden have chosen lightweight all-steel curved floor Charlton SuperLite bodies fitted with air-operated automatic tailgates to provide an optimum blend of strength, payload capacity and practicality.
To complete the vehicles, each truck also features an Edbro TS32 underfloor tipping gear, a weather-sealed Shurco front-to-back sliding sheeting system (with full remote control), a rearward facing ‘traffic light’ load-weighing display mounted at the front of the body and a Brigade 360° ‘bird’s-eye’ camera system (including a view straight into the tipper body) – with everything being supplied and fitted by Charlton.
Resplendent in the company’s highly distinctive red and yellow colour scheme, Ovenden’s new trucks are some of the first Charlton-bodied Scania XT’s operating in the South East, regularly covering not just the company’s tipper work in Kent but also working in London and around the M25.
‘Our tipper work is changing, with higher demand for both recycled concrete and on-site earthworks projects, and the new trucks have been designed and specified to reflect that,’ said company director Alex Ovenden. ‘We continue to run some alloy bodies, but what you gain in extra payload you lose in durability. We need trucks that can handle any job that comes along, and these lightweight steel SuperLites give us exactly that capability.’
With the first of the new trucks now out on the road, driver Paul Bradford is also highly impressed. ‘Who wouldn’t want to drive a new Scania XT G cab,’ he said, ‘but the fact is that it’s the whole vehicle that really matters. I much prefer the underfloor tipping gear, both for its extra stability and higher angle of tip. The sheeting system is also great because I can open and close it by full remote control whether I’m inside or outside the cab.
‘Overloading is now a thing of the past too because the body-mounted traffic light display system immediately tells the excavator driver when the maximum limit has been reached. All small things, perhaps, but taken together they speed up the job and make the truck that bit more efficient.’
Charlton sales director Andrew Gunn said: ‘Whilst we’re delighted to have one of our leading local tipper operators come over to Charlton, we’re particularly pleased to have worked with Ovenden to give them a notably higher and more innovative vehicle specification.
‘We pride ourselves in being able to provide customers with exactly the vehicles they require, with us doing all the work required to deliver a vehicle fully finished and immediately ready for work.’
