WhoshouldIsee Tracks

Cumbria Waste and SM UK

SM UK recently spoke with Dave Crabbe, Fleet Manager at Cumbria Waste, here’s what he had to say.

SMUK-Logo-Blocked SM UK

What was the solution installed by SM UK?

Cumbria-Waste-Logo-RGB Dave Crabbe

Having had a look through the full list of what SM UK offered, we decided that the 4-camera system was the most appropriate for our needs. It provided our drivers with a full view all around their vehicle – ideal for some of the places we operate in. We also had a recordable 360 view camera system installed which greatly helped when moving around in tight spaces!

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How many vehicles do you have in your fleet? And how many have we installed safety systems onto?

Cumbria-Waste-Logo-RGB Dave Crabbe

50 vehicles total in the whole fleet. Made up of 24 bin lorries, curtain sided lorries and other HGV’s too. Currently 20 vehicles have the system installed and due to feedback from the fleet drivers and other staff, we are looking to slowly roll this out across more of the vehicles as it’s the “best thing we’ve ever bought”.

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Did you know that a safety system like this existed before?

Cumbria-Waste-Logo-RGB Dave Crabbe

A few years ago, we previously had a single dash cam installed onto our vehicles. These were very expensive for what they were and couldn’t record a lot of information. It was a single camera which only recorded what was happening at the front of the vehicle, and we felt like we needed some more.

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Is this a system that is known in the industry?

Cumbria-Waste-Logo-RGB Dave Crabbe

We were getting fed up with how unreliable our dash cams were becoming, and how little they recorded. We’d heard that something similar had been installed by a company located around the corner and decided to investigate further with the help of SM UK.

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Have you ever had any problems with your system?

Cumbria-Waste-Logo-RGB Dave Crabbe

We’ve had no problems with the equipment itself, and even use the system when training current and new staff. Each of our vehicles has a ‘Reversing Assistant’, who is an additional person who helps the driver manoeuvre their vehicle around when reversing. The camera system helps the driver to be able to see the assistant and clearly see their instructions on the monitor mounted in the cab. We have also used the footage recorded when our insurance company has had to be involved. We actually found out that more cases than what we initially thought were not our fault.

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What sort of feedback have you received from your drivers?

Cumbria-Waste-Logo-RGB Dave Crabbe

When the camera system was initially installed, the drivers originally thought they were being recorded and watched, so we experienced a little friction there, however they were assured that they weren’t being watched.

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How have you found your experience with SM UK?

Cumbria-Waste-Logo-RGB Dave Crabbe

Lloyd, our Account Manager, has been very good. For example, we had a vehicle land with us late in the month and we needed it on the road as soon as possible. We gave Lloyd a call and within a few days we had an engineer on our site installing the equipment, so we could still meet our deadline.

Products installed

  • 4 camera system – forward facing, 2 side and a rear view/reversing camera
  • 7 inch monitor mounted in cab to show live feed to driver and allow a full 360 view for the driver
  • 500GB hard drive to store footage from cameras (depending on quality can store anything up 60 days footage).

Looking for something similar?

Whether you want the same solution as you’ve seen in one of our case studies, or you’re looking for a bespoke solution, get in touch with one of our specialists today, and we’ll be able to help from there