A NEW Bulmers Logistics bulk tipper is the first to arrive at the British Sugar factory in Boroughbridge Road, York, to kick off The Campaign - the annual gathering of the sugar beet harvest for processing which formally begins today.

The tipper, driven by Mick Johnson and welcomed to the weighbridge by British Sugar operator Shaun Davis, is one of a fleet of four which has been entirely replaced specifically for The Campaign, with the capacity of each rising from 26 tonnes to 30 tonnes. The total investmment is about £120,000.

Jonathan Bulmer, managing director of Bulmers Logistics, which has a depot at Great Habton, near Malton, says that by the end of the Campaign next February his vehicles will have loaded 35,000 tonnes of beet from 35 farms all over North Yorkshire and beyond - gaining about 10,000 tonnes on last year.

"We have been delivering beet for 25 years and, with 12 loads per day, we like to be first in the queue," said Mr Bulmer.

The Campaign, named after Napoleon's rush to gain victory over the Russians before the winter closed in, always means big changes at the 75-year-old sugar factory.

Where normally 100 local people are employed full time all the year round, a further 60 will be taken on to deal with the 1.2 million tonnes of sugar beet from 1,600 growers.

Ultimately the growers are likely to receive about £37 million in payments from British Sugar.