Mercedes-Benz Sprinter’s a winner on the streets of London

Balfour Beatty, the international infrastructure group, is using a new batch of Mercedes-Benz Sprinter tippers to perform general road and pavement maintenance work on its Westminster City Council contract.

The 13 Sprinter 516CDI crewcabs arrived via Derby dealer Mertrux. Key to the model’s appeal was its low-emission Euro 5 engine – in this case in 163hp trim – and 5.0-tonne gross weight.

Commenting today, Balfour Beatty WorkPlace Transport & Plant Manager Garry Merrills said: “Environmental measures are at the very top of the agenda for Balfour Beatty and our customer, Westminster City Council. The fact that the Sprinter now comes with a clean, ‘green’ Euro 5 engine was a crucial factor that weighed in its favour.

“The introduction of these new vehicles, with their low-emission engines, demonstrates Balfour Beatty’s ongoing commitment to sustainability in delivery of its highways and public lighting maintenance service to Westminster City Council.”

Mercedes-Benz was the first van manufacturer to achieve the latest round of tough EU emissions limits, which came into force last October.  As well as being cleaner, Euro 5 Sprinters are smoother, quieter and more powerful, and significantly cheaper to run.

Even with their crewcabs and relatively heavy steel tipping bodies, Balfour Beatty’s new Mercedes still offer payloads of about two tonnes.

The backs of their crewcabs were de-glazed on line at the Mercedes-Benz factory while as well as fitting its bodies, Mansfield-based IFT Services removed the rear bench seats and ply-lined these areas for use as secure tool storage. The vehicles are also capable of operation with small, interchangeable electro-hydraulic cranes. 

In addition to the 13 tippers scheduled to work in Westminster for the next six years (or 125,000 miles), Mertrux supplied three more Sprinter chassis fitted with dropside bodies. Balfour Beatty is using these as Incident Support Units on its highways contract in Kent.