It’s not every day you stumble across an R-Series 8×4 tipper, especially not a 540hp model. What’s sure is that it stands a good chance at the traffic light grand prix with that power and that the driver will be wearing a smile at all times.
Still, if the driver is also the managing director, then she can have the truck she wants.
The company is Shepton Mallet-based Father & Daughter Transport and will be using the truck on its roadstone and tarmacadam delivery contract with construction materials supplier John Wainwright & Co. Limited.
The vehicle joins the Scania G 450 8×4 tipper which Father & Daughter has operated since it was purchased new in 2018.
Supplied by Scania (Great Britain) Limited’s Shepton Mallet depot, which will also maintain the truck, the new 32-tonne gross vehicle weight R 540 8×4 is equipped with a PPG Fabrications aggregate body. It is a replacement for the Scania driven until now by Father & Daughter Emma Stevens, who is the company’s Joint Managing Director together with her father Joe.
“I’ve been around trucks all my life, my dad has always been a Scania man and I’ve driven them too, so Scania was always going to be in the frame for me,” comments Emma. “That said, I have driven other trucks as well, but nothing comes close to Scania – that’s why I went for the R 540. Scania’s Shepton Mallet depot is also just five minutes away from the quarry we work out of and I cannot fault their service; from reception to parts and to the technicians they’re just excellent. Their sales executive, Paul Faramus, is always really helpful, and the technicians are the unsung heroes who don’t get enough credit – Andy Hamann being one of them; his outlook and attitude within Scania is exceptional.”
Both Emma and Joe Stevens previously worked for Joe’s father’s company, C. A. Stevens before creating Father and Daughter Transport in 2013. In addition to her transport activities, Emma has an enthusiastic 47,500-strong following on Tik Tok, to whom she regularly speaks about the transport industry and her life and work as a female truck driver.