Swede spot

Once all-Volvo, the D&M Jones crew are now familiarising themselves with a trio of new Scania XT tippers. Which Scandinavian do they favour?

-  Tim Cotton

The eight-strong fleet of D&M Jones is one of the most visible in North Wales, an area that hosts a large number of operators which service the local limestone quarries. Immaculately turned out in its striking green, white and red livery, the Caerwys-based firm was, until recently, all-Volvo. This changed with the addition of three new G450 Scania XT 8x4s. Two are in D&M Jones colours, while another – and this is a first – is painted in the green and yellow livery of Thorncliffe, a local builders’ merchant.

Regular driver of one of the XTs is Colin Harper. When T&D spends a morning with him, the vehicle is only one week old. Colin was featured in these pages several years ago with a Volvo FMX Globetrotter and, at the time, was very enthusiastic about that truck – so how does the Scania XT compare?

“It seems smoother and quieter. There isn’t as much grunt as I was expecting, but perhaps that’s because it is just bedding itself in. The hardest thing has been getting used to the gears. They’re back to front after 18 years in Volvos!”

In notoriously wet North Wales the automatic, rain-sensing wipers draw praise from Colin. “The Volvo didn’t have them; I haven’t had to touch the Scania’s wiper controls all week.”

Plenty of space

Despite being used to a Globetrotter cab on his FMX tipper, Colin has been won over by his new Scania’s interior storage. The sleeper cab has a single bunk and the overhead lockers at the front and rear of the cab provide plenty of space for his belongings.

Nights out are rare for the D&M Jones team, although occasional jobs come along that require them to be away for extended periods, so the vehicles are specified accordingly. “The bed isn’t as soft as the Volvo’s. I have had a couple of kips on it during breaks,” he says.