Chichester Council extends Bandvulc supply/management contract

Chichester District Council has extended its tyre supply and management contract with Bandvulc for its fleet of 26 Mercedes-Benz ‘Econic’ refuse collection vehicles. The Continental Tyres-owned tyre retread specialist has worked with the council for the past four years, offering a complete service on tyre management for its fleet that includes four-weekly checks, new tyre fitting, casing returns and fleet tyre-management reporting. The council has now taken up the option to renew for a further two years.

“As a public-service operation we take these decisions with great care, looking at safety, economy and service performance levels,” said John Hoole, fleet workshop manager for Chichester District Council.

The Chichester fleet operates across the region, handling a variety of domestic and trade waste collections. The work, including eventual deliveries into a local Transfer Station, takes the vehicles onto a challenging mixture of paved urban and town centre roads, industrial sites and off-road tracks. As John Hoole points out, “This is work that punishes tyres and can put schedules and public service levels at risk.

“The stop-start nature of the work and constant contacts with kerbs and other abrasive obstructions can cause tremendous pressures and wear on tyre side walls and ‘shoulders. We’re pleased with the tyres and the support service, which are both meeting our needs,” Hoole continues.

Bandvulc now fits the Chichester fleet with its purpose-designed and fabricated Wastemaster tyres. These are specifically constructed to counter the knocks and scuffs the refuse vehicles encounter as part of their everyday operations.

Bandvulc’s ‘Armorband’ technology offers protection around the sidewall of the tyre, providing an extra safety barrier against curbing, while a coloured internal strip on one side provides an early warning to operators if that barrier is compromised. The Wastemaster uses Bandvulc’s advanced pattern designs to deliver outstanding product life, automatically lowering pence per kilometre operating costs, and is constructed using an exclusive ‘high polymer’ compound developed with higher levels of natural rubbers to offer high tear and puncture resistance.

The company produces a 315/80R22.5 size tyre for both drive and steer axles, supplementing these with its BIG D products for drive axle applications on similar vehicles up to and including multi-axle tippers.

The Bandvulc service for Chichester District Council is fully supported by the highly professional team from its Horndean Tyres dealer. They undertake the four-weekly checks, monitoring wear, damage, pressures and general compound performance. Based on this they also deliver a full tyre removal and replacement service, taking all used carcasses back to Bandvulc, which reuses them and credits the Chichester District Council as part of its on-going contract.

All the information gathered by Horndean Tyres is pulled together into a regular management report for John Hoole, so that all parties are aware of every aspect of the contract’s execution. “It makes sense, both environmentally and economically,” says Hoole. “We are very happy with the services we are receiving – it’s a partnership approach and it’s working well for us.”