Valley Grown Salads of Roydon, near Harlow in Essex has taken delivery of three Volvo FH-500 6×2 tractor units from Volvo Truck and Bus Centre London, Enfield.
The three tractor units are already in service delivering Valley Grown Salads’ produce across the south east, as far as Milton Keynes. “Our biggest customer is Waitrose, which we have worked alongside for 27-years,” says Transport Manager, Joe Russo. “Representing such a great brand and being depended upon, year-round, for deliveries of fresh produce is what gives our business its energy and what drives many of our decisions as a company. And one of these decisions was investing in these Volvo trucks. We’re really pleased with them as they look fantastic and purposeful and our drivers love them.”
Joe’s father and Managing Partner, Jimmy Russo adds: “We’re all about fresh produce so our trucks have to look good and clean and be reliable. Volvo absolutely ticks these boxes and our drivers are happy, which means a lot to us as a family-owned business. I must add the interior of these new trucks is beautiful and of an exceptionally high standard, which really improves the working environment.”
The trucks, which the company has on a 5-year contract hire agreement with Volvo, will cover some 80,000 miles per annum and will be looked after by the dealership in Enfield via a Gold Repair & Maintenance contract.
“I cannot express enough how helpful Steve Askew and the great people at Volvo Truck and Bus in Enfield have been,” says Joe. “It is simply a nice experience dealing with the team there and this makes a real difference.”
Valley Grown Salads operates from a 3,000m2 packaging facility, cold store and office complex in Roydon and boasts its own nursery a stone’s throw away at which it currently grows some 1 million kg of peppers each year. “We acquired our first glasshouse some 15 years ago,” says Joe. “We currently have 8-acres under glass, although by the end of this year we will have a new glasshouse completed, which will give us an additional 12 acres of growing capacity.”
