Plant hire group lifts JCB with £25m order
Staffordshire excavator manufacturer, JCB has been boosted by a £25m order from a UK plant hire group.
The order placed by Haydock-based Plant Hire UK is its largest ever with the manufacturer.
Plant Hire UK (PHUK) is buying 450 new JCB machines in the massive deal. The bulk of the order is for 350 Loadall telescopic handlers but also includes site dumpers, mini excavators and tandem rollers. The machines will be supplied by JCB dealer Gunn JCB on a national basis.
The investment comes as the plant hire company’s new headquarters becomes fully operational. It also means the group’s fleet continues to comprise exclusively JCB machines.
Dan Thompstone, sales director, JCB UK and Ireland, said: “It is fantastic to receive such a large order as we head towards 2018.
“While this deal is for a wide range of JCB equipment, we are delighted to receive such a large order for Loadalls as we celebrate the machine’s 40th anniversary.”
Plant Hire UK was founded by Graham Jones and Finance Director Wayne Illidge.
Mr Jones said: “We are extremely confident about the future of the equipment hire business in the UK which is why we have placed our biggest order ever for JCB machines. 2018 is just around the corner and we want to ensure we are well placed to react to the national market’s needs next year and that includes having one of the youngest and most innovative machinery fleets around.”
The order includes JCB’s smallest telehander, the 1.5 tonne four-metre lift 516-40 model, through to the flagship 20-metre lift height 540-200 model. The site dumpers ordered range from the one tonne through to the nine tonne models and mini excavators from 1.5 tonnes to eight tonnes.
Pictured: George Bamford (left), with Plant Hire UK managing director Graham Jones, JCB UK & Ireland Sales Director, Dan Thompstone and Gunn JCB managing director, Paul Hartshorn.
