Royal Parks Director welcomes LPG powered mowers

ROYAL PARKS DIRECTOR WELCOMES LPG POWERED MOWERS TO ENHANCE ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY

Speaking at the recent handover in Regent's Park, Mike Fitt, OBE, Deputy Chief Executive Director of the Royal Parks Agency said,"Wherever possible we run as much of our equipment on low or zero emission fuel and encourage our contractors to follow our lead. This is an integral part of ISO 14001, the international standard for environmental management, which we have just achieved for the Royal Parks and these latest mowers certainly meet this requirement.

Serviceteam are also ISO 14001 accredited and I understand that Ransomes Jacobsen have also achieved this milestone, the first turf equipment manufacturer in the UK to do so. This means that from manufacture through to delivery of service we are being true to our environmental principles."

The Highway LPG has been developed in collaboration with Ford and is powered by a 1335cc VS6413 engine. Two 35-litre tanks, mounted on the nearside of the machine, provide enough capacity to ensure that it can provide a productive day's work, comparable to the diesel version. Fitted with standard Autogas connections, the tanks can be filled at any filling stations with an LPG facility. It has a transport speed of 15 mph and a maximum cutting speed of 7.5 mph. The cutting units consist of three 76.2cm (30") reels, with 4 or 6 blades on the fixed head version and 8 or 11 blades on the floating head derivative.

Philip Quelch, Fleet Director at Serviceteam added, "Legislation and pressure from clients will inevitably result in the requirement for 'greener' equipment and, in fact, we are seeing this already. For the Royal Parks contracts we run our vans and small trucks on LPG and also use a fleet of E-Z-GO electric powered utility vehicles for landscaping and grounds care duties.

He continued, "These Ransomes Highways are the first commercial ride on mowers on the market to be powered by LPG, so we are at the forefront of current technology. We shall be monitoring them, with the assistance of the manufacturer, to measure their performance and productivity against the diesel powered Highways, but already the operators report that they are much quieter than the diesels and cut just as effectively."

"Ransomes Jacobsen has also included operator and technical training in the package, which will be undertaken within the parks and at their Ipswich manufacturing facility to ensure that everyone is competent with all safety and maintenance procedures."

Picture caption: Mike Fitt, far right, with (r-l) Nigel Church, Ransomes Jacobsen, Serviceteam's operator Ann Toumisto, Francis Duncan, Area Manager, Serviceteam and Steve Bush of Ernest Doe & Sons."

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