Truck & Driver UK – September 2019

BRIARWOOD VOLVOS

Truck & Driver August 2019^31

when he called in to see

Briarwood as a company and

asked if he would be interested

in a 540. While Janes said the

fleet was Scania-based, he said

he wouldn’t mind having a go

with a demonstrator.

Janes had had demonstrators

from other marques in recent

years but decided they wouldn’t

be suited to the sort of farm work

done by Briarwood. He picked up

the Volvo demonstrator from the

Avonmouth depot, “and within 10

clicks of being outside the depot

I’d semi bought one”, he says.

Janes says he instantly

noticed the ride comfort and was

impressed with the I-Shift

gearbox. He then did some

research and found that the

Volvos had a high resale value,

down to the fact that currently on

the second-hand market there

are very few tractor units with the

spec that Briarwood requires.

Specific needs

With most of Briarwood’s work

involving deliveries to farms or

building sites, Janes was very

particular with the spec of the

trucks he bought.

“They have full air suspension

and a special medium-height

chassis,” says Janes, “This gives

a low centre of gravity, resulting

in a better drive, but, so that

nothing gets damaged, the air

suspension means we can lift the

whole truck when we go off-road

going in and out of farms.

“We’ve never had the option

to do this before. With direct farm

deliveries, it’s a matter of trying to

get the biggest vehicle possible

into the smallest physical size.”

The cabs are highly specced

too. “Our drivers are away three

to four nights a week because

we deliver nationwide, right up to

Wick. Because of that they need

decent-sized cabs equipped with

everything – microwave, coffee

machine – as driver retention for

us is a massive deal. It is so hard

to find people who can go into a

farm and be switched on enough

not to rip out a gatepost.

“They are paid well for it – no

one within 30 miles pays as

much as we do – but because

we don’t earn a profit out

of the truck, we earn a

profit from the product;

Briarwood boss Oly Janes:

“First impressions are important”

“That’s the key thing with Volvo,

I could have what I wanted, the

spec was very flexible. I am

very picky and because I could

go for anything, I sort of did,

even to fifth wheel height and

position, the type of tyres on the

truck – there was nothing we

didn’t change from the original”