Super-Duper Space Cab

Neil Yates is no stranger to upping the profile of his recovery fleet – but the extended-cab, highly-customised Daf ‘XXF’ featured here is a veritable spaced-out special

- Bob Beech

Rarely have we heard anyone complain that Daf’s Super Space Cab is short of space – there is a bit of a clue in the name. Over the years it has become the cab that others are invariably compared with, but there is always someone who thinks otherwise and wants something just that bit better.

Snodland, Kent-based Neil Yates, boss of Neil Yates Recovery Ltd (NYR) and Alco Plant Hire Ltd, is just that individual. He has long been known for his high-profile fleet and has often graced the pages of this and other publications over the years. Numerous American bonneted conventional and cab over wreckers have been run by his recovery operation, along with many high-spec vehicles from European manufacturers.

Daf figures strongly in both the recovery and transport fleets, with many different versions of the XF and CF ranges, but the latest Daf to enter service is truly different from anything that went before.

When we first saw a picture of the completed vehicle on the internet we knew instantly who it was destined for; if anyone in the UK was to have a Daf tractor unit with a cab extended by 900mm, it had to be Neil!

Snodland bound

We ventured down to Kent to see the new Daf ‘XXF’, as it has been termed, and to speak to the owner and proud driver. The truck is finished in NYR’s trademark colours of red and white with subtle gold stripes edged in black, a livery that has adorned a number of trucks in the fleet, including a four-axle Kenworth K100 Aerodyne wrecker – a previous T&D Editor’s Choice in 2011.

The livery was modelled on an earlier K100 that was featured in a 1970s TV series,