The new vehicles will operate nationwide and have bolstered Tarmac’s total number of walking floor vehicles to almost 100 nationally, making it the largest fleet of its type in the UK’s highways industry.
Walking floor trailers differ from traditional articulated tipper trucks by using an in-built moving floor to ‘walk’ the product out of the trailer to discharge their payloads.
The trailers reduce risk with their increased stability and ability to operate without tipping, providing a number of health and safety benefits for their operators and those working on site. They are also able to discharge materials in locations that would otherwise pose a risk including underneath overhead power lines or in tunnels.
Sean McGrae, Tarmac’s senior manager, national transport, said: “Operating the UK’s largest fleet of these new, safer walking floor vehicles enables us to build on our capability to supply construction projects throughout the UK. Safety is our first priority and we are consistently working to improve standards, so the advantages of these vehicles are clear.
“Being able to offload material safely under overhead obstruction and restricted environments reduces risk for our drivers and site teams, and allows work to be completed more flexibly and efficiently. Other major benefits are that walking floor trailers can operate in tight areas as well as allow continuous laying, which increases site productivity.”
In addition to their enhanced practicality and safety credentials, the walking floor vehicles’ increased carrying capacity compared to rigid trucks means that they also offer improved environmental performance. The ability to deliver a higher payload per trailer results in a lower number of total vehicle movements on a project, thereby reducing transport CO2 emissions and improving carbon footprint.
