Sam Ostle takes his 400th DAF

A three-axle CF85 delivered by Carlisle dealer Solway DAF to Sam Ostle & Sons Limited of Kirby Stephen is the 400th DAF to join this long-established Cumbrian fleet.

Sam Ostle, who runs the business now owned by Turners of Soham with his sons Ian and Tony and grandsons Neil and Mark, bought his first DAF in the early 1980s. Since then he’s operated every tractor model to come out of the DAF stable, including the renowned 2800 and 3300 models, the CF85, this year’s ‘Fleet Truck of the Year’, and the XF105 ‘European Truck of the Year’.

Although the Sam Ostle fleet is relatively modest in size – it reached 26 at one stage, but is now just 14 – a policy of annual replacement has resulted in a lot of DAFs seeing service with the company over the past quarter of a century.

The 400th DAF to join the fleet is a FTP XF105 tractor unit with a mid-lift axle. It’s being used on bulk powder work with a Feldbinder trailer and will average around 90,000 miles a year. The FTP is particularly suited to this type of work as the smaller lifting axle allows almost another 500 kg of payload.

“I started the business over 50 years ago with a Bedford,” says Sam, “but when DAF came along in the early 1980s I thought I would give them a go and have stuck with them ever since. They’ve proved reliable and good on fuel, but I particularly value the excellent support I get from our local dealer, Solway DAF. They react quickly when problems arise to make sure our vehicles are back on the road and earning with the minimum of disruption to us and our customers.

“Our policy has always been to replace vehicles once they are out of warranty. In the past that’s been one year, but now it’s gone to two years. The reason for that is that I’ve always wanted to run the best of equipment and give my customers a dependable service. Running a fleet with a low age profile enables me to do that.”

The company also has a one driver, one truck policy. Some of their longer serving employees began their driving careers with the company - in a DAF, naturally. And whilst they’ve moved regularly from one model to another, some have never driven any other make.

“My drivers are very happy with their DAFs,” says Sam. “They find that they’re a good truck for the driver with a lot of thought going into features that improve driveability and driver comfort, such as the layout of the controls and instruments, storage space for their personal gear, and a comfortable bed.”

The DAFs are based at Sam Ostle’s premises in the old station yard at Kirby Stephen alongside the famous Carlisle to Settle railway line. Its location on the A685 gives the company good access to the M6 at Tebay and via the nearby A66 to the A1 and the North East of England. With customers locally based and in Derbyshire and the North East it’s not only a picturesque location but a strategically good one.