Another operator who agrees with this sentiment is Alex Lohman, Head of Property and Direct Services for South Northamptonshire Council. He has taken the extra step of combining the Lowline cab, complete with air-suspension and the single entry-step, with a Scania rear-steer chassis to provide extra manoeuvrability when negotiating the narrow lanes of rural Northamptonshire.

"Our new vehicles have been optimised for operational and environmental performance," comments Alex. "This is the first time we have specified Scania trucks and this is because, to our knowledge, Scania is the only manufacturer offering both 26- and 32-tonnes gross vehicle weight rear-steer chassis with low-entry cabs.

“The 32,000 properties we collect from are scattered amongst a hundred or so small villages and the two market towns of Brackley and Towcester, so we require refuse collectors with maximum manoeuvrability – which is why we have gone for rear-steer chassis."

South Northamptonshire Council has specified eight Scania Lowline-cabbed refuse collection vehicles in an order that will see its entire standard-width fleet replaced with new, state-of-the-art equipment. The order comprises six 6x2*4 and two 8x4*4 rear-steer rigids, of which the latter are the first eight-wheel rear-steer Scania RCVs to enter service in the UK.

The vehicles will cover approximately a 30-mile radius from the Council's Towcester base and will be used to collect domestic, trade and compostable waste, complementing

the Authority's kerbside recycling collection service. Reflecting population growth within the area, one of the new vehicles is an addition to the South Northamptonshire fleet.