Helped by its status as a FORS Associate Supplier, Scammell Commercial continues to grow
The past 30 have been an eventful – but ultimately successful – period for Scammell Commercial. The Grays-based vehicle hire company has seen its fleet increase from 10 vehicles up to 75 and its presence grow all around the county.
Starting out in 1990, Dave Scammell saw the potential for a company offering the hire of waste and recycling vehicles, itself an industry that has grown, just like Scammell. Today, it boasts a mixed fleet of Mercedes-Benz, MAN, DAF and Volvo trucks and has also added some smaller vehicles as it moves into different market segments to meet customer demand. Add in five full-time workshop staff servicing the company’s own vehicles, a Veolia depot and the EMR Metal Recycling fleet and it’s a busy old place to be.
Around 95 percent of the refuse vehicles are from Mercedes-Benz because we think the Econic is the best chassis,” explains Neil Livermore, Operations Manager at Scammell Commercial. “The skip-lorries are split between Mercedes-Benz and DAF because customers like both, while 95 percent of our hookloaders are MAN because we thought they were the best on the market at the time.” Standalone Volvo and Mercedes-Benz tractor units, rear end loaders from DAF and MAN and 7.5-tonners from DAF, Iveco and Isuzu complete the company portfolio.
Site management
There have been plans in the past to relocate from the current location behind Lakeside, but, as Livermore points out, it’s easier said than done. “It’s very difficult to get land and buildings in this area because no-one wants trucks or a workshop around them; they would rather have a warehouse next to them,” he says. “We’ve taken on a bit more land – as much as we can at the moment – so while we haven’t moved, we’ve still managed to expand as much as we can on the current site.
Staying in the same place has done nothing to affect the company’s reach, however. “We’ve got vehicles in Cornwall, Milton Keynes, Southampton, Bexhill-on-Sea – there’s a fair spread around the country,” explains Livermore. “We’ve got some vehicles not many others have – such as 6×4 tractor units – so if a customer wants it, they need to come to us for it.”
FORS fortunes
The involvement with FORS proved to be a key turning point for the company and its fortunes. “One of our main customers is Westminster Hire, a Gold FORS member,” explains Livermore. “Our contact pushed us to get all of our vehicles up to Gold standard when we start working with the company and since then, we’re hiring to a lot of big companies such as Veolia and Biffa. Those customers all want the highest specification vehicles, so now when we buy a truck we fit it out with all of the equipment that it needs.”
Livermore says being the first FORS Associate hire company was a very proud moment for Dave Scammell and him. “We do get enquiries that tell us that the vehicles that have to be FORS-compliant and we can proudly say that anything we hire to anyone going into London is specced up ready to meet the requirements. One reason we bought all the Econics was for in light of the Direct Vision Standard – we were looking ahead and wanted to be ready with the right trucks. We’re the only company with Econic skip-loaders on our fleet, so that’s another feather in our cap.
Future plans
Expansion of the company’s fleet, but Livermore doesn’t see the numbers going much higher than 80 vehicles. “There is more and more demand for smaller vehicles, hence the investment in 7.5-tonne vehicles – they are all new lines for us,” he reveals. “It’s a new direction for us and the new rear-end loader is a rear-steer tridem, which can go around all the narrow streets very easily.
“Looking at the future and how hard it is to drive around London and surrounding areas, the vehicles have to be reliable, manoeuvrable or small,” says the Scammell man. “We’ve also invested in some small food waste vehicles that can go into underground carparks to collect food, as can the smaller refuse vehicles. That is the way we feel the market is going – people don’t want a skip outside their house or they don’t have room, so a cage tipper can go to the site, load up and leave in short amount of time.”
