A treasure in the trash!

4 MinutesBy NZ Trucking magazineJune 21, 2017

Graham and Leeanne Pascoe have put a lot of thought into their standout Iveco, coming up with a jewel when it comes to carting the endless piles of junk to Canterbury‘s Kate Valley landfill.

Photo: Graham with his new ride.

A former army man, Graham Pascoe knows all about hard work. That work ethic has held him in good stead, helping him achieve his dream of becoming an owner-driver. Graham‘s driving career began courtesy of his brother Andrew, who worked at Car Haulaways. Graham was asked to help out for a week in December 1990 and ended up leaving 15 years later, following 14 years of driving MC Macks, Renaults, and various Japanese brands, as well as one year as a dispatcher.

After Haulaways Graham took a job in May 2005 as one of the original drivers at Canterbury Waste Services (CWS), driving a Mercedes-Benz hooker truck for three years, and then moving over to the landfill at Kate Valley as an off-highway tipper driver, eventually operating the loader and dozer also.

After a couple of years there Graham went to Mastagard where he was given the keys to their new 4884 Western Star, which he drove until Envirowaste bought out Mastagard. Graham took the opportunity to move into the office as bulk operations manager, a job he would continue to do until he and wife Leeanne purchased a new Iveco Stralis 10×4 truck and trailer unit under the name G & L Trucking; the truck that graces our pages as this month‘s Top Truck.

The truck is based in Rangiora, North Canterbury, and Graham runs the big Iveco to the Kate Valley landfill along with a trip south every once in a while. The truck is powered by Iveco‘s own 13-litre Cursor motor rated at 375kW (500hp), matched to a ZF Eurotronic II automated manual transmission, and is equipped with cruise control. This is the first waste trailer that Domett have put on the road.

Graham says, “After a lot of design and thought by the Domett team, it has come up a winner.” Permitted at 55 tonne means the unit is capable of a 29 tonne payload, which is exceptional for a hooker unit because of the usual pay-off between versatility and tare on such configurations. Graham also mentions that it could be permitted higher, but the increase in road user charges over 55,000kg makes it uneconomical. The Iveco Stralis was set up in this particular configuration so both truck and trailer are more compatible with loading weights.

In a normal 8×4 and 5-axle configuration the trailer bins cube out before they‘re up to weight, but not so the truck. Doing what Graham has done, speccing the 10×4, means he can get an additional four tonne in the truck, saving approximately 144 standard bin loads to Kate Valley annually, along with a lot of fuel, RUCs and carbon emissions.

Facebook
YouTube
LinkedIn
Instagram