Why we’re still Narrow-minded

When faced with challenging waste collection environments, it is so important to ensure your refuse collection vehicle (RCV) is up to the task. A lot of the time, this requires a sufficient degree of flexibility and adaptability to enable your crews to do their jobs as effectively as possible, wherever they’re collecting from. That’s why our Narrow chassis and body options are the go-to choice for many of our customers. They were built specifically with hard-to-access locations in mind.

Oh, the places we’ll go 

Across the UK, there is a broad and diverse spectrum of different environments that can make up a crew’s collection round. Built-up urban areas like city centres have restricted routes and tight turns that can make collections feel impossible, and sprawling country lanes that connect multiple villages are narrow and often single-track – not the ideal situation for a standard 26-tonne truck.

What’s more, ever since the pandemic, even the most commonplace of areas such as housing estates are becoming increasingly difficult to negotiate. More than ever, streets are packed with parked cars due to many residents now working from home throughout the week. The cost of living crisis is also adding to this congestion issue, seeing more single households host to multiple cars.

As a result, RCVs now need to be as compact, agile, and streamlined as possible in order to readily take on these environments, all while maintaining the ability to collect large and varied payloads. As a business, we pride ourselves on pioneering innovative solutions to our customers’ evolving challenges, so were well ahead of the curve when introducing our versatile range of Narrow vehicles to the market. We know just how important it is to ensure collections are quick, efficient, and straightforward, and our Narrow range is the perfect fit to help operators optimise their rounds.

We’ve narrowed down exactly why these vehicles are such a popular choice for our customers: 

Narrow package, optimal payload

While it almost goes without saying that a smaller, more compact vehicle is the best choice for difficult-to-access locations, it’s also essential to ensure you’re still collecting the largest payload possible to maximise the efficiency of your rounds. We’ve therefore made certain our up to 26-tonne Narrow vehicles not only manage tight, hard-to-reach places with ease, but also enable you to pick up a substantial load, depending on your requirement. That way, you get peace of mind in knowing your crew is empowered to conquer narrow and challenging spaces while still collecting an optimal payload. Achieved through carefully considered engineering, the Narrow is a whole 250mm narrower than our Standard chassis while maintaining the same cab dimensions, chassis rails, and suspension. This ensures it remains operationally and driver familiar, ready to easily integrate with the rest of the fleet.

Manoeuvrability in the tightest spaces

When space is a premium, manoeuvrability is critical. Navigating busy, car-lined streets is never easy at the best of times, a task made infinitely harder in an RCV. Our Elite+ Narrow chassis range provides 4x2, mid-steer, mid-lift, and rear-steer configurations to give customers the ultimate flexibility, all purpose-built to improve manoeuvrability. Particularly popular for farm-based collections, our Narrow trucks offer excellent accessibility when passing through gateways and cattle grids, as well as readily traversing narrow farm tracks.

Safety at the heart of every RCV

In addition to enhanced manoeuvrability, safety should always be a top priority. Our Narrow RCVs were designed to maintain the same integrated safety features available on our Standard vehicles. A low-entry step on our cabs enables a safe, seamless, and convenient entry and exit for crews, further supported by a recessed outer seat, a low seating position keeps the driver at eye level with other road users, and large panoramic windows offer world-class visibility with five-star rated direct vision. These features and more ensure drivers, crews, and members of the community are kept safe during daily collection rounds.

Robust, resilient, and ready to go

As well as being streamlined and incredibly versatile, it’s important for Narrow RCVs to be durable. If they’re travelling down tight, confined country lanes or taking on urban city streets, they need to be built to last. What’s more, if your RCVs are being used for more complex waste streams such as glass or food collections, you need to know they’re fit-for-purpose. Our robust, resilient range of Narrow vehicles is ready to tackle even the most challenging collections.

Giving your crews confidence

Adding Narrow vehicles to your fleet can even improve morale among your people. Narrow RCVs ultimately make your crews’ jobs easier by improving access to difficult locations, increasing manoeuvrability, and boosting efficiency, helping them gain greater confidence when completing their rounds. Our Narrow vehicles put their needs first, offering enhanced ergonomics, better comfort, and contemporary convenience.

Narrowing the gap for our customers 

When asked about their experiences using our Narrow vehicles over the past few years in comparison to Standard RCVs, here’s what some of our customers had to say:

“We did complete several trials of alternative chassis and configurations, but only the Dennis Eagle Narrow track rear-steer vehicles could be 100% proven to reach the required properties.” - Brian Ashby, Head of Municipal Collections and Streetscene, FCC Environment

“Immediately, rounds improved by 30-45 minutes because it was suddenly easier to get around the narrow streets… Our drivers love the fact we’ve got Dennis Eagle’s Narrow body vehicles back in because they can operate with much greater confidence now.” - Sandy Anderson, Service Manager for Waste Operations, Fife Council

“Our teams handle a huge number of lifts—often 1,300 per day, five days a week—and the Narrow Elite+ is the preferred truck that we can safely use on certain domestic rounds. The vehicles work hard, with typically a seven-year lifecycle, so we need something functional and fit for purpose. The Dennis Eagle vehicle is ideal.” - Julian Minta, Head of Fleet and Transport Operations, Environment and Communities Directorate, Enfield Council