Creating drug-free environments and safer workplaces has been TDDA’s vision for more than 15 years in which time the company has grown from three to 300 staff, 90 mobile health clinics, and more than 65 locations in New Zealand and Australia.
TDDA is led by founder and chief executive Kirk Hardy, a former NZ Police drug squad detective, chief operating officer Glenn Dobson, a former police senior sergeant, and cofounder and group technical manager Rod Dale, a former NZ drug squad detective.
Given the background of the senior leadership team and that the company provides professional education and policy advice around substance testing in the workplace, it was also very aware of its obligation to provide its staff with the safest possible vehicle yet for use as a mobile health clinic.
Dale says the top priorities in choosing the Volkswagen Crafter 30 were the on-road safety, stability, and comfort it offered to the TDDA staff operating the vehicles, in addition to competitive whole of life costs and strong residual values.
“The Crafter 30 just ticked all of the boxes for us around emissions and fuel economy, as well as providing a spacious cabin and a stable driving experience,” Dale says.
TDDA has six new Crafter 30 mobile clinics on the road, and another four units will be travelling around the length and breadth of New Zealand by the first quarter of 2023.
As well as meeting TDDA’s desire for an economical and emission-friendly vehicle, the Crafter 30 also offered a competitive five-year 250,000km warranty, variable service intervals up to 30,000km, and a five-year roadside assistance package.
“Although payload was not a priority for this particular application, the key criteria for TDDA was ease of accessibility into the cab, a practical interior with plenty of storage, and also the longer length of the Crafter was better suited to our operating environment,” Dale says.
The Crafter’s safety features were other compelling reasons for purchase, particularly the side wind compensation, forward collision warning, lane departure warning, blindspot monitoring, tyre pressure monitoring, and post collision braking.
The specialist transformation of the Crafter 30 from a panel van to a mobile clinic is carried out by Michael Short from Genesis Motorhomes in Northcross on Auckland’s North Shore to the exacting design and standards required by TDDA.
Dale says Short has been “brilliant” at meeting TDDA’s unique requirements and desired build quality.
TDDA says it has a huge demand for its onsite workplace substance testing from the forestry sector, so the availability of the Crafter 30 with 4Motion permanent all-wheel drive was a huge advantage.
“We can fit a decent set of grippy winter tyres to the Crafters equipped with 4Motion for forestry and other off-highway work when required,” Dale says.
To further its off-highway capability, the Crafter 30 can be ordered with a suspension lift kit fitted by Seikel, a Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles approved supplier.
“This is an approved factory option if we want a Crafter 30 4Motion with an even greater ground clearance for forestry and agricultural applications,” he says.
Dale says another factor in choosing the Crafter 30 was the support from Volkswagen New Zealand which has a dedicated fleet team to provide ongoing customer support.
That support included a full vehicle analysis including a weight and emission study, as well as confirming that the Crafter 30 could be specified with dual sliding doors, and met TDDA’s safety requirements.
“Mark Wadman and Gill Littlefield from Volkswagen New Zealand were absolutely brilliant at helping us work through what we want and also liaising direct with the factory,” says Dale.
“They just kept us fully informed along the delivery journey which was greatly appreciated.”
