Ten blue tractors, prepared to do it all

After a very busy winter, the ten brand new New Holland Groundcare T3000 tractors that arrived at South Lanarkshire Council in November, will now be out and about carrying out their summer duties in the county's parks and on the golf courses.

The ten tractors, supplied by the Groundcare division at Bryson Tractors in Lanark, spent the winter clearing snow from pavements and gritting surfaces to keep the ice away.

The council already runs several large New Holland machines including T5000s and T6000s, which they use for grass and verge cutting. But this time they needed something smaller to handle the heavy snowfalls that were predicted last winter.

Bryson Tractors has been working with South Lanarkshire Council for eight years - in fact ever since the company became a New Holland dealership. In the past they'd supplied the council with their big, agricultural New Holland machines. But two years ago, Bryson Tractors began dealing in smaller New Holland Groundcare machines.

Bryson Tractors managing director Nancy Bryson says this contract works really well: "We took on the Groundcare side of the business to run alongside the Agriculture side. We were already supplying South Lanarkshire Council with big machines so when they needed to replace their fleet of smaller ones, we could help. The Groundcare side of the business has its own sales team and its own mechanics - so it is separate, but fits in really well with the Agricuture side of things. In fact lots of our customers involved in landscaping use large and small machines, so we are able to supply the lot.

"When South Lanarkshire Council originally came to us about the T3000s, it was the summer. We talked to them about what we could do and they told us they needed ten tractors with snowploughs on the front and gritters on the back. Once we'd discussed all the specifications, the order was put through in September. The tractors were delivered on a Friday in November and it started snowing on the Saturday morning! I'd like to say it was planned, but it was just sheer luck!"

South Lanarkshire Council's Fleet Manager, Dave Gibson said: "It's the first time we've had the smaller New Holland tractors and, through Competitive Tender these vehicles were secured from Bryson Tractors. The service and quality of vehicles are of a good standard which has been working well for us. We have found that the combination of weight and usability has improved our footpath snow clearing ability. These small tractors will also be deployed in the summer with trailers on our parks and golf courses."

For more information on New Holland visit www.newholland.com