To maximize its operating versatility, Gatwick – based tipper operator Cook & Son has recently invested in a range of new vehicles with three distinct types of bodywork – standard tippers, tipper grabs and an ultra – high spec hookloader.
Of particular significance to Cook, the Thompsons Group has supplied the bodywork for them all.
“The fact is that only Thompsons can give us the optimum product for every tipper application” says company director Chris Cook.
For general tipper work, Cook’s body of choice is Charlton’s all – steel SuperLite which, as its name suggests, is designed and built to provide the maximum possible payload whilst working over a wide range of everyday tipper duties. A single skinned weight – optimized body design, SuperLite is nonetheless built in Hardox 450 to provide outstanding strength, reliability and durability. By also featuring a curved floor, SuperLite also makes the ejection of wet and sticky loads notably easier.
Of similar design to SuperLite is Charlton’s GrabLite, the second Thompsons Group body in Cook & Son’s recent new tipper intake. Purpose – designed for tipper grab work, GrabLite features both a reduced height headboard and a flat floor to enable the easiest possible unloading of the truck when this is done by the crane’s clamshell bucket.
“Together, SuperLite and Grablite are the best designed and most productive tipper bodies out there” says Chris Cook.
With Cook & Son now settled on Volvo 8x4s as its standard tipper chassis, the third new vehicle in the fleet is a Hyva TITAN hookloader, mounted not on a standard FMX model but a big sleeper cab FH complete with a 540hp engine.
To work with this truck, Thompsons Croydon factory has built a demountable Wastemaster body, essentially to the same overall specification as the market leading full – spec Loadmaster model fitted to rigid tipper chassis all across the UK. A double – skinned design with four cornerposts, Wastemaster is therefore the ideal demountable body for heavy duty work on construction sites when handling really demanding loads such as demolition rubble, muck and hardcore.
Plated for 44 tonnes gtw, the new FH hookloader can also operate with a drawbar trailer for moving plant and machinery to and from construction sites across South East England.
Whether fitted out in either Croydon or Blackburn, Thompsons is now the UK’s leading third party supplier of Hyva hookloaders and skiploaders, delivering some 50 hookloaders and 100 skiploaders to truck operators over the last 12 months.
Andrew Gunn, Sales Manager for Charlton comments:
“As a long – standing Charlton customer we are delighted to have once again been able to supply Cook & Son with the full range of their tipper requirements. Each of our Thompsons Group factories in Dover, Croydon and Blackburn has contributed to this success, which in turn reflects that today only the Thompsons Group is able to deliver a product range as comprehensive as this.”
