MANMagazine Truck 02/2016 United Kingdom

02/2016
MY MAN
On the roads of the
Passionate driver:
May-Wenche Figenschau
received her truck driver’s
licence three years ago.
Arctic Zone
May-Wenche Figenschau is working as a
truck driver in the Tromsø region of northern
Norway. After many years as a taxi operator,
she got her truck driver’s licence in 2013 and
today is one of two female truck drivers
working for the transport company Pedersen &
Sonn AG, which owns a fleet of 62 commercial
vehicles.
Ms Figenschau, which truck do you
drive? Mine is an MAN TGS with a D26
engine. The 8 x 4 dump truck with automatic
transmission was delivered just last year,
meets the Euro 6 standard and features an
automatic transmission.
You work north of the Arctic Circle and
therefore often drive on snow and ice.
What makes this a different experience?
The most important factor is to remain calm
and not to become frenzied, for it actually
happens time and again that especially the
tyres on the front axles won’t obtain enough
grip and will start to slide.
What are the special challenges for your
truck? In my vehicle, I transport slag from a
tunnel construction site. As the time frame is
rather tight, we load as much as is technically
feasible – with the total weight then exceeding
50 tonnes. That’s permitted because we don’t
use public roads and might merely cross a
few. Considering the overall load, the many
potholes on the off-road paths are fairly
daunting, but the MAN suspension absorbs
the impact really well.
En route at the polar circle: The MAN
TGS also handles snow and ice
conditions in a reliable fashion.
© Richard Kienberger
What must a truck driver in northern
Norway be mindful of? The critical factors
are the weather and the road conditions, and
we also must look out for the many elk and
reindeer when on the road. Yet we’re used to
that up here in the north.
What do you particularly appreciate
about your MAN vehicle? I’m very happy
with my truck. Ergonomics are great, the
driver’s seat and steering wheel can be
adjusted perfectly. I’m not especially tall,
which poses a problem in many other trucks.
In addition, the MAN has an awesome sound
system. That’s a good thing in this line of
work, for you normally sit alone in your cab.
When you look back, what would have
been the most remarkable experience
you’ve had as a truck driver so far? I
remember it like it was yesterday. We were
working on the Sørkjos Tunnel. The temperature
dropped to 0° Celsius that day, so the
ground was very slippery. Just before reaching
the hill summit where we were supposed to
dump our load, there was no moving forward
any more. I therefore had to manoeuvre that
heavy truck backwards down a steep, icy
slope, with my heart racing as I did, of course.
In that situation, I was very grateful for my
MAN, because it can handle even such intimidating
conditions.
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