Latest Ransomes out front rotary fleet for Basingstoke & Deane BC

Basingstoke & Deane Borough Council has purchased a 12-strong fleet of the latest out front rotary mowers from Ransomes Jacobsen, the Ipswich-based turf equipment manufacturer.

The Ransomes HR 3300T was launched at Saltex last year, where it was seen by Steve Featherstone, the Council's General Manager for Environmental Care, who is responsible for all cleansing and grounds maintenance within the Borough.

"Over the past couple of years we have been moving away from cylinder cutting and introducing more and more rotaries to the fleet," he said. "We continued that policy this season and looked at the three main manufacturers' products. The process of evaluation centred on the predicted lifetime costs of the machinery over a five-year period and the HR3300T proved to be the best, so we purchased a fleet of 12."

Andy Dodds, one of six Environmental Care Managers responsible for dedicated areas across the Borough added,
"It's more cost-effective to run rotary machines, as they are more robust and less susceptible to damage, which means we have less downtime. The quality of cut is certainly acceptable to our residents and less end of season maintenance is required.

"The HR 3300T has excellent kerb climbing ability and the deck flips up almost vertically for easy maintenance. We have 26 operators using these machines and they like the carrying racks fitted over the fuel and oil tanks. Normally Ransomes products come in the traditional green livery, but we have chosen to have them in orange as they stand out better under operational conditions."

www.ransomesjacobsen.com