STAFFORDSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL STANDARDISES ON SPEEDLINER® FOR TRUCK BEDS AND VAN LININGS.

The County Fleetcare Department at Staffordshire County Council has standardised on the world’s toughest spray liner material - SPEEDLINER® - for truck bed linings and for the lining of special-purpose vehicles in the County’s huge fleet of vehicles.

The reasons, “Protection against abrasion, corrosion and chemicals, easy clean and a professional finish,” says Staffordshire County Council’s Workshop Manager, Barry Pearson, “and, of course, the most competitive price too!” he adds.

Typical of the 30-plus vehicles that have received the SPEEDLINER® finish, is a Citroen Relay MW3 Trading Standards van, completed this month.

Specially fitted out in plywood sections to accommodate around 1 tonne of standard calibrated weights as well as compartments for liquid containers and designed to include a covert video camera, the van had to meet certain practical criteria.

“It is essential that the van can be hosed out,” explains Barry Pearson, “because there can be spillages of liquids, including petrol and diesel fuel. We need a tough, anti-slip coating that stops the contents moving about – and one that prevents corrosion”.

“With SPEEDLINER®, it’s our experience that it can be repeatedly hosed down and, even after three or four years of a hard life, it still looks as good as new. And there’s no doubt that it adds value to the vehicle when we do dispose of it.”

The vehicle’s floor, the box sections and lids and the lower walls were all coated with grey SPEEDLINER® material. This was carried out on site by the SPEEDLINER® technicians at Staffordshire County Council’s department, County Fleetcare, in Stafford.

Staffordshire County Council has used SPEEDLINER® on a wide range of vehicles, including 11 Citroen Relay SWB panel vans for the white-lining department, which had sides and back doors coated as well as the floor, grounds maintenance vans and pick-ups that have a particularly hard life and 4x4 Land Rover pick-ups for path reinstatement and general road maintenance duties.

Its anti-slip properties have also been used to good effect on a number of vehicle ramps.
SPEEDLINER® is commonly used as a truck bed liner as a direct alternative to the problematic black plastic ‘drop-in liner’, with unparalleled strength (tests show it to be 80% stronger than its nearest competitor).

In the UK its biggest growth area has proved to be for van interiors, giving a permanent seal to protect from corrosion, an anti-slip surface and even producing a quieter ride. SPEEDLINER® is widely used by Local Authorities for highway working vans, Trading Standards vehicles and by the Police, MoD and Customs and Excise for dog vans.

Genuine Kevlar® fibre, by DuPont, can be mixed in to give an even greater cut and tear resistance plus non-aggressive rubber crumb or aggressive aluminium oxide grit can be added to make SPEEDLINER® even more anti-slip.

“SPEEDLINER® has remarkable impact and abrasion resistance, is completely waterproof and seems to shrug off fuel and chemical spillages such as lime (used for pitch marking)”.

“We are finding more and more applications for it,” concludes Barry Pearson.

The County Fleetcare Department at Staffordshire County Council has standardised on the world’s toughest material - SPEEDLINER® - for truck bed linings and for the lining of special-purpose vehicles in the County’s huge fleet of vehicles.