Fenland District Council continue their long association with Kent based manufacturer Scarab Sweepers Ltd and recently took delivery of another Scarab Merlin Hydrostatic heavy duty road sweeper mounted on a DAF 45 series 12 tonne GVW chassis. Mark Gregory, Fleet Manager of Fenland District Council commented on the manoeuvrability of the chassis, extremely impressive suction power and large payload capacity necessary for the arduous conditions encountered daily in the Fenlands.

Commented Mark, “The Scarab vehicles that we have in our fleet are essential to us performing our street cleansing duties in Fenland. They complement the work completed by compact and pavement sweepers, covering many tens of thousands of miles each year.”

“Fenland District Council has its own, four bay, well equipped workshop facility staffed by 7 fully skilled apprentice trained technicians. The work load is varied with cars, vans, trucks, tankers and refuse vehicles to look after.” Mark Gregory proudly boasts of the range of work undertaken by the workshop and its ethos of walking towards any challenge thrown upon it.”

“The technicians are keen to keep up with the advances of modern vehicle technology. A training plan maps the training needs of the staff to prepare them for the challenge of keeping trucks where they belong, on the road performing their duties. Staff have attended the Scarab training centre to learn in detail the maintenance, repair and fault finding diagnostics of the Scarab chassis mounted sweeper. Future plans are to receive training on the latest CANbus system as fitted to the latest Scarab acquisition.”

“The principal of good regular and effective preventative maintenance has clearly paid off. The Scarab “3000” sweeper on a DAF 45 series chassis is now 13 years old and in daily use. Under normal circumstances a vehicle would not be kept on the fleet for such a long period of time. However there is always a case for judging each case on its merits and without question this vehicle has proved to be an asset worth looking after.”

The issues in Fenland might well be unique. Although many rural local authorities have to respond to the effects of agriculture on the highway, in Fenland with its particular soil quality, and very open nature, blown topsoil and the effects of agricultural activities, such as sugar beet harvest and transport, means that frequency of sweeping has to be such that operatives are always on top of these issues. As a result Fenland aim to sweep all kerbed roads at least every four weeks, with many on a daily or weekly pattern, dependant upon need and location.

“The new Scarab Merlin sweeper with its larger capacity (over 6000kgs) will help to improve even further the efficiency in sweeping the rural villages at the required frequency to achieve Fenlands targets for the cleansing Best Value indicator BVPI 199”. commented  Mark Mathews, Environmental Services Manager, adding “Fenland is proud of the improvements made through its “Streets Ahead” programme over the past three years that has seen substantial investment in cleansing, street sweeping and “Fly tipping” removal. The best value indicator BVPI 199, which is a measure of street sweeping and street cleansing, has improved from 24% below standard to 9% within these three years. This is without doubt due to the ability of Fenlands sweeping fleet and their drivers to keep on top of their work during all but the most difficult times of year. This effort is complemented by other cleansing staff who are committed to delivering a high standard. This commitment has also been equally matched by the Council in providing staff with their preferred options when it comes to the best possible tools to get the job done.”

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