Basildon RCV fleet benefits from Allison transmissions
Basildon Borough Council’s fleet of refuse collection vehicles has been enjoying maintenance, diagnosis and support advantages through the specification of Allison fully automatic transmissions, according to fleet provider NRG Riverside.
Operating out of Barleylands Depot in Basildon, Essex, the refuse collection fleet is subject to a contract hire partnership between the council and NRG, a municipal and specialist fleet hire company running close to 3,000 vehicles nationwide.
The arrangement has run since 2011, and in addition to supplying the vehicles, NRG operates a dedicated workshop at the council’s own depot, with its own team working alongside council staff every day.
James Hendry, assistant director for environment, climate change and open spaces at Basildon Borough Council, oversees the frontline services that depend on that fleet – recycling collections, commercial waste, open spaces, car parking and more.
The council runs 56 HGVs within a wider fleet of 120 vehicles, with refuse collection built mainly around Mercedes-Benz Econic and Dennis Eagle chassis.
The arrangement works because NRG carries the reliability risk: under contract hire, the council buys an outcome, not equipment.
“Ultimately, our residents don’t care who’s providing the vehicles – they just want the services delivered to them,” said Hendry.
For NRG, that means a clear commercial promise.
“One thing customers can be certain of with our model is that they’ve got the same costs every month,” said Liz Hardman, head of central services at NRG Riverside.
“They don’t need to worry about maintenance or compliance – just putting a driver in the seat and getting that service delivered to the public.”
Around 1,700 vehicles in NRG’s specialist fleet run Allison fully automatic transmissions – the majority of those vehicle types where the product is applicable.
“We take advice from the manufacturer – they know the kit, they know what works well, the configurations that are best,” Hardman said.
“A lot of our fleet is Mercedes and Dennis, and that’s their preferred transmission.”
At Basildon, that decision is tested daily by David Stephens, NRG’s workshop manager, who has worked on local authority fleets since 1985, including 28 years at a London borough.
“From my earliest days, we’ve always had Allison transmissions,” said Stephens.
“I don’t think there’s a stronger gearbox out on the market for what these guys do with them. They’re easy to maintain, easier to diagnose when something goes wrong, and the backup support is second to none.”
Stephens’ team inspects vehicles every six weeks under the council’s O-licence requirements, but the transmissions need far less attention: oil and filters are changed every three years, an interval Stephens attributes to Allison’s long-life fluid, even on duty cycles defined by constant stop-start collection work.
“We get no issues whatsoever on the gearboxes,” he said.
“I can’t remember the last time we had a breakdown on the transmission.”
That reliability also underpins NRG’s Flexi-Hire option, says the fleet provider, which lets the council – or any customer – bring in an extra vehicle at short notice. With a fully automatic transmission, a driver can step into an unfamiliar vehicle with no handover on gear changes.
“They can just jump in, drive and get on with the job,” said Hardman.
When a problem does arise, the response runs through NRG rather than the council.
“If we’ve got a problem we can’t fix with our own diagnostics, we’ll give Allison’s authorised distributor, Mitchell Powersystems, a call, and they’re usually straight out to get the vehicle back on the road,” Hardman explained.
The council and NRG meet monthly to review contract performance, including the replacement cycle that typically retires vehicles at around seven years, and the ongoing work of adapting specification to drivers’ needs – not least within the tight confines of a day-cab refuse vehicle crewed by a driver and three loaders.
For Hendry, that extends to the transmission manufacturer directly.
“I’ve found the relationship with Allison in the UK to be very supportive,” he said. “They are very keen on getting genuine, real-life feedback from people using their products, and they take that on board.”
As UK local authorities face mounting pressure to decarbonise fleets and adapt to changing recycling legislation on tighter budgets, the contract hire model that NRG and Basildon operate is said to help absorb that uncertainty without compromising the one thing residents notice: whether the bins get collected.
For Stephens, four decades in the industry haven’t changed his verdict. “I’ve been in the industry a long time now, and they are the strongest products out there, in my personal opinion,” he said.
