Taking South Tyneside’s fleet in a new direction

Councillor Tracey Dixon, Leader of South Tyneside Council

Confident in understanding which capabilities and features would offer the most benefit to their waste collection services, the next step for South Tyneside was to seek a strong replacement that would enhance their fleet moving forward. Having seen success in other local councils across the surrounding area, South Tyneside liaised with their peers to determine which vehicles might be the best fit. Following a thorough competitive tender process, the decision was made to proceed with Dennis Eagle RCVs.  

Councillor Tracey Dixon, Leader of South Tyneside Council, said: “I was delighted to welcome our newest fleet of bin lorries to South Tyneside. This investment reflects our ongoing commitment to providing reliable, high-quality services for our residents while making sure our frontline teams have the modern equipment they need to do their essential work safely and efficiently.”quality services for our residents.

Scott Robertson, Workshop Manager at South Tyneside Council, said: “One of the biggest appeals of working with Dennis Eagle was the fact the business is a one-stop shop for every part of the RCV. We’d experienced some pain in the past having to deal with multiple suppliers for different components, which often led to significant downtime across the fleet, so having everything come from one expert would make things so much easier.”

Keeping on the straight and Narrow 

Another main advantage of employing Dennis Eagle vehicles is the ‘Narrow’ option we offer for both our Elite+ chassis and Olympus bodies. South Tyneside is home to a broad network of narrow, generally terraced housing estates which can be difficult to navigate with a big refuse truck. For that reason, the council selected 20 6x2 rear-steer Elite+ RCVs with Olympus 19 Narrow bodies and Terberg electric bin lifts, and a further two with Trade bin lifts. 

“Realistically, a 26-tonne RCV is the biggest vehicle we’re able to use within many of our residential areas,” added Darren Mason, Service Lead Fleet for South Tyneside. “The Narrow body is ideal for traversing more challenging streets while still enabling us to collect a substantial payload on daily collection rounds. Importantly, the safer we can make this the better, which is why we opted to have 360-degree cameras installed to enhance visibility around the entire vehicle.”  

Sustainability was also top of mind for South Tyneside when placing their order, having decided to proceed with Terberg electric bin lifts on their vehicles. Driven by ambitions to make their fleet as green as possible in line with carbon neutral goals, the electric bin lifts will be paired with the latest emission-conscious engines that produce the least amount of carbon possible.

RCVs with their own identities 

The new RCVs will be used to collect domestic, recycling, and green waste streams. South Tyneside cited that the way in which the Olympus bodies are able to collect recycling waste offers a key difference to their previous fleet. “The new vehicles allow us the flexibility of collecting a full payload of recycling in one, where this was only a 70/30 split before,” Darren explained. “This vastly simplifies collections while increasing the achievable payload and is a huge positive for recyclable waste.”  

The council has also requested a few bespoke features to enrich its fleet further, including manual button stations fitted on both sides of the vehicle, a reinforced Hardox floor, and our five-camera DVR system installed on every single vehicle. “We recently welcomed Darren, Scott, and several of the council’s RCV drivers to our Warwick site to give them the opportunity to see how their trucks would come together on our factory floor,” said Tom Fullerton, Regional Sales Manager, Dennis Eagle. “The visit was well received, and we look forward to working with them to fulfil their requirements from the new fleet over the next year.” 

Excitingly, each of the new RCVs will be given a unique fleet number and name as they are introduced into the community. Over 200 names were put forward by residents and schools in the local area with ‘Obi One Binobi’, ‘Trash Gordon’ and ‘Thomas the Trash Wagon’ selected as some of the favourites. 

Councillor Dixon added: “Giving the vehicles their own names adds a bit of fun, but it also helps build pride in the service and strengthens the connection between the Council and our local communities.”