Midland Bacon Co has taken on a rigid truck with an aerodynamic Gray & Adams temperature-controlled body mounted on a 32-tonne Scania chassis to ensure it meets axle loading regulations.

Chris Cox, managing director of the West Midlands-based processor, said: “The DVSA (Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency) is becoming very hot on overloading issues and it’s easy to get caught out on the front axle with a 26-tonner.

"As a responsible operator I’ll do whatever it takes to ensure that my vehicles meet all legal requirements and I see this concept as being a template for the future.”

Midland Bacon Co is one of a small handful of privately-owned suppliers that provide a complete bacon processing service which encompasses butchering, curing and then slicing.

This allows it to minimise transit damage, so foodservice customers nationwide benefit from a highly consistent product.

The 32-tonner has lined up alongside the other 11 vehicles which work from Midland Bacon Co’s headquarters in Walsall.

As well as being the company’s biggest truck yet and the first with a livery – its other trucks are plain white – it is also the first with a Gray & Adams body.

The 9.0-metre insulated box was built and fitted at the manufacturer’s Doncaster production facility. Positioned very close to the back of the cab to reduce drag, it features an underslung Carrier Supra 950 u single-temperature refrigeration unit and Gray & Adams’ latest, aerodynamically profiled panel cappings.

The interior has a full chequerplate floor, stainless steel rear end and a PIR (passive infrared) lighting system.

The truck offers an 18-tonne payload and 18 pallet carrying capacity, compared to the 14-tonne payload with 16 pallet spaces that Midland Bacon Co’s 26-tonners can accommodate.

“We run out of weight before we run out of space with the six-wheelers,” added Cox, who founded his company in 1995.