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WA07JPX DAF TRUCKS LF FAN55.220 DAY E4 TANKER 5900cc (17/05/2007) DIESEL Tinknell 21 Aug 07

As Featured in On The Road Plymouth A 2 Z

The company, which has been a Shell distributor for over half a century, serves an area from Land?s End to Bristol from six depots. It?s a largely rural patch that?s laced with narrow roads for which Mike Brown, Tincknell?s Operations and Lubricants Manager, says the LF55 is well suited.

?We have to cope with narrow country lanes and numerous properties with difficult access,? he says. ?Here the FAN really comes into its own, with its narrow width suiting the local roads and the steering rear axle making it much easier for our drivers to position the vehicle precisely, especially in tight situations.?

Tincknell?s have opted for the short 3.8 metre wheelbase FAN, which has a turning circle of just 12.47 metres. It?s also only 2.35 metres wide, making it a very compact truck, and yet it can take a 16,000 litre tank, compared to an 11,000 litre tank on a typical two-axle 18 tonner, which is also less manoeuvrable.

?With this capacity we can achieve up to 20 drops a day from the FAN, making it a very productive machine,? says Mike Brown. ?It?s got a four compartment, bottom-loading Magyar tank that can carry a mix of domestic fuel oils, derv, red diesel and gasoil, or we can use it exclusively for petroleum. This enables us to use it for both small domestic deliveries and bulk loads, giving us extra operational flexibility.?

The truck bristles with safety features that include guard rails that are pneumatically raised when the driver has to get on top of the tank. There are hazard beacons front and back and a highly visible LED display at the rear for use when it has to park on the road when discharging. And there are two cameras to cover blind spots at the rear and below the front nearside door.?

This is the first truck in Tincknell?s fleet to meet the Euro 4 emission stand and this resulted in a truck that?s got more power than its earlier Euro 3 FAN stablemates. The 6.7 litre GR165 engine in the new FAN is rated at 285 bhp (210 kW) at 2500 rpm, giving it a very comfortable 13.8 bhp/tonne of power to weight. There?s plenty of torque too, with 1020 Nm at between 1200 and 1500 revs. And the nine-speed manual gearbox offers a good spread of gears to meet all road and load conditions.