With roots stretching back to the 7th Century, St Peter’s School in York plays a pivotal role in its historic city
Serving meals to 1,200 pupils daily, including 150 boarders, the school needed a small, economical, environmentally-friendly vehicle to help transport food and necessities not just within the school but within its local community.
Working closely with its neighbour of the last 1,400 years, the world-famous York Minster cathedral, it was important that the school was represented by a smart-looking vehicle which was economical, didn’t need much down-time and met with the school’s own environmentally-friendly requirements.
So when Craig Robinson, General Manager of the school’s Catering and Hospitality, met with electric utility vehicle specialist Bradshaw, he found the company’s range was most suited to the school’s needs.
The school’s last catering vehicle had broken down in September last year so Craig and his colleagues found themselves having to rely on a second vehicle which was primarily used for general estate management.
The Goupil G4 Box Van arrived in April. Available as pick-ups, vans and waste collectors, the Goupil G4 is totally versatile offering a multi-use solution. With an operational range of 68 miles and a maximum speed of 31 mph, the G4 is equipped with a variety of body types to cater to the customer’s specific requirements and features a safe and secure cabin with both left and right hand drive options.
“The vehicle we originally borrowed from our estates team wasn’t ideal,” Craig said. “It wasn’t designed for our needs and it meant that they were one vehicle down.
“Also, we are busier at certain times of the school year more than others, for example towards the end of June and in early July we had a lot of external functions to cater for, so ideally we needed our own replacement vehicle in place by then.”
Spread out over a huge campus spanning 47 acres, St Peter’s is made up of three schools and five boarding houses, three of which are off site.
So covering many miles on public roads around York, between the schools and the boarding houses, and between the schools and the Cathedral, reliability and presentation played a crucial part.
The only extra requirement from Craig was that the vehicle was equipped with a shutter at the side, as well as at the back, to facilitate the easy loading and unloading of the vehicle.
“We take certain foods to certain kitchens as well as other provisions such as milk, bread, jam, cereals, cooked ham and cheese. And through our work with York Minster we also drive into York. So it was really important for us that our vehicle could cater for our food transport needs, was secure whilst looking the part.”
He added: “Since its arrival the Goupil G4 has proven an excellent piece of kit, doing everything we need it to do. Our team love it as it has a DAB radio, but more than that there is a reversing alarm, we have winter tyres as we are required to drive on grass and other terrains and it has the extra shutter doors. The battery too is excellent as we never run it down and only ever need to charge it a couple of times a week.
“Our initial contact with Bradshaw was excellent – they kept me informed of timings all the way. And when we knew that the vehicle was ready before the specialist tyres they delivered it first and came out on site to fit the tyres within a couple of weeks. The service was seamless.”