Short, heavy and constant
A good deal of commercial driving around Castle Donington is short, heavy work. The rail freight terminal at East Midlands Gateway is built to take up to 16 trains a day, each up to 775 metres long, and has room for more than 5,000 TEU of shipping containers. The East Midlands Distribution Centre has its own railhead, and the nearby airport is the UK's largest for cargo carried outside passenger planes. Moving goods between terminals, warehouses and the motorway can mean a day of loaded starts, slow manoeuvring and waiting with the engine running, and that wears a vehicle in a different way from a steady run up the M1.
Intervals that fit the duty
The manufacturer's schedule is where we begin, whether it is set by distance, hours or time. Then we look at what each vehicle actually does. A unit that spends most of its shifts on short loaded moves between the Gateway, the distribution centre and the airport may need its clutch, brakes and filters looked at sooner than one that leaves Castle Donington on the A50 and spends the day trunking. If the wear we find at each visit is running ahead of the plan, we tell you and adjust it.
What a service covers
Servicing is done at our workshop at Calke Mill Farm, Ashby Road, Melbourne. It follows the schedule for the vehicle and covers oil, filters and fluids, the cooling system, brakes and air, steering, suspension and wheels, the electrics and charging, and the drivetrain. Anything that doesn't need doing now is written up as an advisory with a straight answer on how soon it will, so the work can go into the plan instead of turning up as a breakdown on the M1.
Where a vehicle's PMI safety inspection falls near its service date, both are done in the same visit, so it comes off the road once rather than twice. For an operator whose vehicles are in demand across several shifts, that saving matters.
Booking
The workshop is open for planned work Monday to Friday, 07:30 to 17:00. Ring 01332 916028 with the registration, the mileage or hours and the due date, and we will find a slot that fits around your shifts. Trailers, coaches, minibuses, vans and light commercials are serviced alongside HGVs, as are specialist and emergency-service vehicles.
