DVSA weighbridge win is Axtec anniversary
Axle weighing specialist Axtec has announced it has again secured the contract to maintain and certify the Driver & Vehicle Standards Agency’s (DVSA) national network of 46 roadside enforcement weighbridges located throughout the UK, coinciding with a major milestone in its relationship with the agency.
The Runcorn-based company has now held the DVSA contract for an unbroken 25 years, during which time it says it has dramatically improved the efficiency of routine maintenance and calibration, while significantly reducing downtime across the network.
The company reports that it was subject to a rigorous pre-contract examination before being awarded the renewal, and says it is “particularly proud” of having scored an ‘excellent response’ against all quality criteria questions in the tender.
Axtec has not incurred a service credit in the quarter-of-a-century following its first DVSA contract award, and has consistently reached contractual key performance targets, with DVSA said to benefit from 99.7 per cent uptime.
Under the contract, routine maintenance and calibration will be undertaken using Axtec’s unique axle weighbridge test equipment, first commissioned in 1997, and currently hauled by a new DAF XF 480 4×2 tractor unit.
The purpose-designed truck-and-trailer combination efficiently delivers highly accurate, reliable results, says the company. Now supplemented by a new, 32-tonne rigid test vehicle, its team of dedicated service engineers carry out routine six-monthly verification tests to support DVSA in keeping operators’ vehicles safe, reliable and legal.
The Axtec test vehicles enable the company to carry out any emergency repair work not only during normal working hours, but also at night or weekends, so that repair and recertification can be completed quickly and within the contractual deadlines.
The contract also includes annual level surveys, to certify that the flat weighbridge approaches are within the stringent limits specified by law. Any remedial work is completed by Axtec’s own in-house construction team.
Axtec managing director, Keith Gresham, said: “We’ve been awarded this contract for a sixth consecutive time, testament to our ongoing commitment to quality and performance – for our products and our customer service.
“We’re very proud of this achievement; it also sets the benchmark and inspires us to maintain the highest levels of quality and service.”
Axtec’s latest Series 5000 Dynamic Axle Weighbridge is now approved to Class 0.2, requiring accuracy of +0.1 per cent. It is capable of checking all six axles of a tractor / trailer combination, plus gross vehicle weights, in 40 seconds. Axtec’s Series 5000 is the only dynamic weighbridge authorised for use in the UK as a public weighbridge.
