At a glance
Make & model: Scania R540 Highline
Engine: DC13 12.9-litre six cylinder Euro 6D
Power: 540hp @ 1800rpm
Torque: 2700Nm @ 1000-1300rpm
Gearbox: Opticruise 12-speed automated manual
Operator: L.E. Jones Ltd, North Wales
The MD of Welsh specialist operator L.E. Jones Hauliers, Rhys Roberts, knows plenty about driving livestock trucks as well as running them. He was employed in the game himself for 20 years, before taking on the current business with his partner Ceri Llwyd. The L.E. Jones name is familiar in the region with good reason and although the livestock side is now completely separate from the firm, most people think of that when they hear it.
“It was my uncle, who started the original L.E. Jones in 1973,” Ceri explains. She worked in the office - that’s where she met Rhys, a long serving driver with the company. Long story short, despite having no children of his own, Trefor Jones still wanted to pass the company down through the family, so he offered the livestock side to Ceri and Rhys ten years ago, to be run as a standalone concern.
“We had some sort of a plan when we took over,” Rhys recalls. “We had four trucks, and I always said in ten years I wanted to grow to ten trucks.” There was no particular reason for this, but everybody has to have a goal. “If I hadn’t reached ten it wouldn’t have bothered me, but we did it. This Scania is our tenth truck in our tenth year, and I don’t think there’ll be any stopping us now!”
The rest of the fleet are Scania too, the oldest a 64-plate.
This story is from the February 2021 edition of Truck & Driver.
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This story is from the February 2021 edition of Truck & Driver.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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