Way back in 1987, owner driver Jim O’Doherty bought his first ever truck – a Volvo FL10 fitted with a Thompsons body. Now, 35 years later, another 18 Thompsons – bodied Volvos have just joined what has evolved into today’s firmly established and highly successful J.O’D Group. Of these, 12 have joined the company’s core haulage business working out of Edmonton in North London, with the remaining 6 running with subsidiary company Widdington Recycling Ltd based just north of Stansted Airport in Essex.
Whilst a first glance these latest Loadmasters may look almost identical to their antecedents, J.O’D’s new tippers illustrate perfectly how much today’s tipper body designs have moved a whole generation forward.
Whereas original Loadmasters included double – skinned steel side panels and front cornerposts, these features are now largely unnecessary in Thompsons’ latest product updates. Ever more advanced materials technology makes the steel used in today’s Loadmasters significantly harder and stronger, thereby allowing real opportunities for improving / updating body specifications and reducing unladen weight.
For J.O’D, all these benefits have come together in their own examples of the top-selling Loadmaster Lite.
“The latest SSAB steels are making a huge difference in our order intake” says Thompsons Joint Managing Director Scott Burton. “Only for exceptionally arduous work is the double skinned Loadmaster now really necessary. With their 5mm Hardox 450 floors and single skin 4mm Hardox 500 Tuf sides, J.O’D’s tipper bodies are a perfect spec to handle the whole range of everyday tipper work. Not having the full length, inner side panels saves at least 250kgs, with a further reduction of around 120kgs by omitting the front corner posts.
These savings are significant, not least because at the very minimum our bodies can seriously contribute to offsetting the extra weight of today’s ever higher – spec tipper chassis.”
35 years of time has also brought great change to J.O’Doherty too. Still a family business, today’s J.O’D Group runs over 100 trucks and employs some 200 people in a structure that encompasses haulage, aggregates, plant hire, demolition, skip hire and waste management.
“Our business all began with that one truck” says Jim’s son James. “Quite simply, that truck WAS the business. It was rugged, reliable and could handle everything we could throw at it. Thompsons and Volvo have proved a great combination for us – right from Day One.”
As for Thompsons, the same period of time has seen the company expand enormously from its base in Croydon, building and taking on new factories in Blackburn and Edinburgh to make it easily the UK’s largest and most successful tipper bodybuilder.
All 18 of J.O’D’s Loadmaster Lite bodies are of identical specification which also includes the Thompsons AutoLoc air operated tailgate, heavy duty cabshield, electric sheeting, PM Onboard 4 – point weighing and Edbro front end tipping gear. Of particular interest, a bespoke ‘nice and tidy’ closing plate to the rear end of the chassis has been fitted with strobe warning lights, twin rear facing work lights and a reversing camera.
With shotblast and paint also done by Thompsons in Croydon, J.O’D’s traditional red – bodied London based trucks continue to serve the capital’s building and construction industries. Up in Essex, the Widdington Recycling trucks are of an identical specification but with their bodies outshopped in green. Set up in 2018 as a new company, Widdington Recycling Ltd provides both inert landfill and waste transfer station facilities to customers anywhere between Cambridge in the north and Harlow in the south.
As James O’Doherty says “With Thompsons, we get the complete package. Not only do they have the best and most advanced body designs, but unmatched build quality as well. These new Loadmaster Lites represent a step change in productivity.”
In addition to the 18 Loadmaster Lites, two further new Thompsons – built J.O’D tippers are also noteworthy. One is a Loadmaster tipper grab complete with an Epsilon crane and HARSH underfloor gear that’s also gone into the Widdington fleet. The other is a re-bodied 1980’s Volvo FL10 complete with a ‘retro’ Loadmaster specially built to the body specification of that time. Reflecting their very first truck, this tipper is now the centrepiece of the Group’s collection of historic company – owned commercial vehicles.
Monday 26th September 2022
