August 2005
The London Borough of Richmond has added two new Seddon Atkinson M5 Pacers to its fleet, purchased for the sole purpose of managing its new garden waste recycling service.
The delivery marks the first two new 23 tonne narrow-track M5 Pacers to enter operation in the UK, each benefiting from a specialist chassis which is 300mm narrower than that of the standard-track 6x2 mid-lift model.
The vehicles are fitted with 14.1m³ Norba recycling bodies and join a municipal fleet which already includes a large number of existing Seddon Atkinson vehicles.
David Ingham, Green Waste Recycling Manager for the London Borough of Richmond, says: “The garden waste recycling collections operate on a borough wide opt-in basis, with collections currently required from eight per cent of domestic residences.
“This means the Pacers need to be able to access even the most restricted roads in the Borough, which made specifying the narrow-track chassis essential,” he adds.
Both of the new vehicles will be in operation five days a week, and are expected to remain on the fleet for their full working lives.
The M5 Pacer benefits from the latest Iveco Group cab technology making it one of the most up-to-date refuse collection vehicles on the market, with a cab which can comfortably seat a crew of five plus the driver.
Designed by Stile Bertone, the new cab offers a spacious and well laid out cabin with a front bumper assembly which utilises a re-designed steel bumper bar complete with caged headlights, aided by an automatic headlamp levelling device. New front quarter panel air deflectors allow an improved level of airflow into the engine, and a front under-run protection system is included as standard for added safety.
Inside, the cab enjoys a high standard specification list which includes an air-suspended driver’s seat with integral seatbelt, and a single front passenger seat together with a rear crew bench seat (also with seatbelts).
The M5 Pacer is powered by Iveco’s 5.9 litre tector engine rated at 275 hp and driven through an Allison MD3560P five-speed automatic transmission, with a wide ratio variant making it suitable for stop-start applications.