A Unimog implement carrier can be seen tirelessly tending to the greenlands of northern England which are home to wild bees.

Get Cumbria Buzzing! This is the aim which drives the activists of the Cumbria Wildlife Trust. According to information from their conservationists, the county in northern England is home to around 30 different types of bee on the verge of extinction. Together with government-owned Highways England which is responsible for the operation, maintenance and construction of motorways and main roads in England, the Cumbria Wildlife Trust is committed to conserving the wild habitats alongside motorways. Among the companies tasked with maintaining these green areas is Green Valley Arborists Ltd. (GVA Trees), where their Unimog U 530 is setting standards.

Thanks to the optional VarioPilot® dual-mode steering, drivers at GVA Trees can shift the Unimog's steering wheel over to the left-hand side for maintaining green areas. This enables them to have a direct view of the working area.

A valuable contribution to the protection of flora and fauna.

"Pollinators like bees, bumblebees, hoverflies, butterflies and moths are essential in our eco-systems," explain the experts of the Wildlife Trust on their website. "They pollinate more than 80 % of our flowering plants, thereby also delivering a third of our food and thus accounting for around 690 million pounds in the British economy."

As living space in untouched nature is becoming increasingly scarce, the Wildlife Trust is looking for other solutions. One of these is planting flowers along the grass verges of motorways, ensuring that the flower types are carefully selected to offer nutrition and protection to insects. And it's down to contractors like GVA Trees to implement these ideas. Particularly in spring and summer, they are tasked with maintaining the green areas.

Not exactly an easy task in view of the location in question. The unpaved verges first have to be prepared and maintained, all whilst ensuring that the flow of traffic on the arterial routes remains unhindered. The safety of the employees must also always be guaranteed. And that's why GVA Trees has opted for the help of a true professional in this domain: a new Unimog U 530.

When you see what we use this vehicle for, there's no other vehicle that springs to mind which can fulfil the same breadth of applications.

Ian Whitaker, Managing Director, Green Valley Arborists Ltd.

Be it standard or with plenty of options: the vehicle can be configured to suit any requirements.

Ian Whitaker's company uses the new all-wheel drive Unimog to tackle the most varied range of tasks across the north of England – with anything from maintenance to the creation of new flower corridors. As part of this, the grass is cut and collected, then the ground is scarified ready for planting the seeds of the wild flowers.

To ensure that the specialists in green area maintenance always have a perfect view of their working area directly from within the Unimog, GVA Trees opted for the optional VarioPilot^® dual-mode steering. This system allows the driver to shift the steering wheel and instrument cluster from the right to the left-hand side of the cab. A clear view of the edge of the road is thus achieved. For driving back to base on regular roads, the steering wheel can then be moved back over to the right-hand side.

Plus, the new Unimog U 530 always delivers plenty of power to the road. The model equipped with a 7.7-litre six-cylinder engine has an output of 220 kW (299 hp) and a torque figure of 1200 Nm. Thanks to its gross combination weight of 36 t, the Mercedes-Benz truck can even tow heavily laden trailers with ease. Its fully synchronised, electro-pneumatic transmission features eight forwards and six reverse gears, whilst the optionally available working and crawler gears offer a further eight forwards and eight reverse gears each.

Permanent all-wheel drive, high ground clearance and further-developed portal axles with differential locks and extreme articulated steering contribute to the impressive off-road ability of the Unimog. GVA Trees also equipped their Unimog with the optional TireControl plus tyre pressure control system. This technology allows the driver to quickly and simply lower the tyre pressure without having to leave the cab. In doing so, damage to the ground – especially in soft terrain – can be minimised.

Once a Unimog, always a Unimog.

"Thanks to its unique combination of characteristics, the Unimog is overall the best choice for our requirements," says Managing Director Ian Whitaker, whose company has already worked with the Mercedes-Benz all-rounders in the past, having recently replaced an older Unimog model in its fleet with a new Unimog U 530. "When you see what we use this vehicle for, there's no other vehicle that springs to mind which can fulfil the same breadth of applications."

With its cruising speed of 56 mph (approx. 90 km/h), the Unimog is able to master large distances between the company's headquarters and the work locations much more quickly and easier than any agricultural tractor – and at the same time, it also uses much less fuel. Precision is also an important topic for Ian Whitaker and his team. "The hydrostatic traction drive enables precise control of the fork lift and its attachments, all whilst maintaining mowing speeds." No other vehicle would be capable of meeting all these requirements, tells the Managing Director, explaining his enthusiasm for the Unimog.

In action on the side of the road, the Unimog ensures roadside marker posts are clean.

True Mercedes-Benz quality, even in terms of advice.

The large variety of possible attachments and body combinations is what the Unimog is all about. And the landscaping specialists at GVA Trees are more than convinced. For mowing operations, they equip their Unimog U 530 with a Mulag mowing arm driven by the power take-off shaft, as well as a Harsh hook-loader trailer equipped with a grass cuttings box into which the aspiration system blows the cuttings while driving.

And even for tasks not related to looking after green areas, the contractor can quickly convert the Unimog to tackle all manner of operations at short notice. "Unimog vehicles are extremely complex pieces of equipment and can be specially adapted to suit various types of operations," explains Ian Whitaker. "It's great to be able to rely on appropriate specialists for that. For example, the team at our South Cave Tractors Unimog dealership is always a fantastic help."

GVA Trees knows that it can also rely on the ExtendPlus Warranty which they concluded upon procuring the vehicle. This additional warranty covers the vehicle from bumper to bumper for five years or a total of 450,000 km, depending on which is reached first.

For its work as a busy bee, the Unimog is thus perfectly equipped. All which remains is to hope that its buzzing around in the north of England helps attract plenty of insects.

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