New fleet for Leathams

Food distributor Leathams has sourced a mixed-weight fleet of DAF rigid vehicles from Ryder.

The new vehicles, a mix of 18 tonner, 12 tonners and 7.5 tonners, will replace some of the old fleet, delivering frozen and chilled foods, six days a week to customers located in and around the M25.

“Within the M25, we deliver to some of London’s well-known cafes, restaurants, and pubs. On average, the new vehicles will each make between 20 and 30 drops a day, with deliveries ranging in size from a box up to a pallet,” said Mark Ballard, operations director at Leathams.

“The mileage these vehicles will do, won’t be particularly high because they’re only travelling within the M25, but the number of hours worked will be significant,” said Ballard.

Due to the amount of idling Leathams’ vehicles do when sitting in congested London traffic, Leathams requested a specialist eco-friendly fridge from Carrier for all of the vehicles.

The truck bodies were built by Solomon Commercials and feature dual-compartment fridge/freezers. The new vehicles are also fitted with a telematics system from SevenEye that tracks temperature and door openings.