Six Ford Ranger pick-ups have gone into service with Salford City Council's street-cleansing department. Finished in pink — the department's standard colour — they are all Regular Cab 4x2 tippers with cage bodies.Rising 300mm above the cab, the body has a nearside sliding door and barn doors above the tailgate.
“We decided to use Rangers because our concern is with paper bulk rather than weight and they're less expensive than acquiring standard 3.5-tonne tippers,” says council transport manager, Terry Dixie. “They provide superior fuel economy too.” The newcomers run on biodiesel.
In service for the next five years they're expected to clock up a, surprisingly high, 75,000 miles-plus apiece. “We anticipate higher residuals than we would with a conventional tipper,” says Dixie.
