LEADING UK hirer Fork Rent is continuing its programme of major expansion in 2012 with an order for 600 JCB Loadall telescopic handlers.

The major investment by one of the UK’s largest privately owned plant hire companies comes hard on the heels of its purchase of in excess of 1,000 JCB telehandlers over the past two years - bringing the Ipswich based firm’s tally of JCB machine purchases past the 4,000 milestone figure. The company, owned by Guy and Trudi Nicholls buys its machines from JCB dealer Watling JCB and invests in the full range of JCB telescopic handlers from the 515-40 through to the 515-170.

Fork Rent Managing Director Guy Nicholls said: “In the last two years alone, Fork Rent has invested over £40 million in new machinery and purchased 1,000 telehandlers through a strong global partnership with JCB.

“The latest investment means that by April 2012 all machines in Fork Rent’s fleet will be less than 24 months old, providing customers with reliability and peace of mind. Fork Rent is recognised as having the best fleet of telehanders in Europe in terms of specification and age but is also proud to offer the very highest level of back-up service for customers for breakdown response times, service planning, communication, management information and invoicing.”

Fork Rent’s investment follows the announcement of plans to construct a new purpose-built national headquarters in Ipswich in addition to a brand new depot in Hullavington, situated just off the M4 corridor, ideally placed to serve the South West, South, South London and the Midlands. The fast growing company is also looking for a new location in Northern England to further improve their network and accessibility for customers.

Fork Rent Managing Director Guy Nicholls said: “While the UK market remains highly competitive, it is really important that we concentrate our efforts on offering all our customers the best value for money machines in the market and that they can rely on us in terms of our back up services. Our target is to win customers and keep them happy for many years, not just one term. This takes effort, but we are prepared and will continue to put that effort in to keep our customers happy.”

The high specification of Fork Rent’s JCB telehandlers include the latest HiViz models and they all have air conditioning, Sway control for chassis levelling, turbo engines and hydraulic side shift forks as standard. To minimise downtime and enhance security for customers, Fork Rent has the latest JCB LiveLink and keypad immobilisers fitted on all new machines whenever this function is available.

Guy Nicholls added: “Throughout 2012 Fork Rent will continue to invest in customer service, providing customers with management information that will give them a much better understanding of their total costs on site, enabling them to reduce costs.”

In 2010, Fork Rent paid £70, 250 for a colourful JCB digger painted in Union Jack colours in an online charity auction in aid of Help The Heroes. Since then, the machine, one of only two in existence, has travelled around the UK raising money for Help The Heroes.

Picture caption: Fork Rent owners Guy and Trudi Nicholls and (right) Elaine Miller, the company's Operations Director, pictured with some of their JCB fleet.