The Jet Set

Keeping our sewers clear is a job for a specialist – and Duncan McClymont, along with his Mercedes Arocs 3245, is just that

- Tim Cotton

 

Sewers are not something most of us give much thought to – unless there’s a problem with them. We expect our bath water to drain, our toilets to flush and heavy rain to simply flow away without inconvenience. Duncan McClymont is rather different though: sewers are the bread and butter of his job and he has spent most of his working life ensuring that the rest of us can take them for granted.

Working for Glasgow-based Clearwater, Duncan’s current vehicle is a Mercedes Arocs 3245 fitted with a Müller Canal Master jetting system, supplied by RoadVacs, the UK agent. This allows him to send a hose along a sewer, propelled by water jets that push a ‘nozzle’ forwards and over obstructions before being drawn back,

Clearwater Mercedes Arocs Müller Recycler Words & images by pulling any detritus with it, where it can be removed at the manhole.

Duncan has amassed a wealth of experience in operating sewer cleaning equipment. “I’m 56 now so I’ve been doing it for 36 years. I started as a wee boy, as an apprentice, helping out at a company called IMP,” he says.

“It’s always been jet work – I’ve never veered away from it. I liked machinery. ‘What does that do? How does that work?’ I was always one of those types of kids.

“I took my test at 21 and started driving the four-wheeler Ford D Series jet vacs. I would help out in the garage at weekends and picked up how to recondition pumps and things like that,” he says.

Fixing problems on site

Duncan likes to be able to fix problems on site, allowing a job to continue rather than abandoning it. “If it was safe enough to do so, you could keep working. Some boys would just drive off,” he says.