A UK company's £11 million investment in more than 200 new JCB T4i telescopic handlers has proved to be a huge milestone. Haydock-based Plant Hire UK (PHUK) bought its first JCB Loadall telehandler when it started out in business in 2005 and the latest fleet deal pushes their JCB machine purchases past the 1,500 mark.

Plant Hire UK Managing Director Graham Jones said: "We are a relatively young company and in the space of nine years have achieved a tremendous rate of growth, illustrated by the fact we have now purchased more than 1,500 JCB machines since 2005.

"One of the keys to our success is having a young and modern fleet and all of our JCB Loadalls are under two years old. Our telehandler fleet is also exclusively JCB: that's a conscious decision we've made, driven by our customers who demand the JCB Loadall product.

"As the world and UK market leader for this product, JCB's telehandlers are the most reliable, most user friendly on the market with fantastic visibility and lifting ability, which is important for our company because we provide new machines nationally on any type of project. The 24 hour parts and service back up we get from Gunn JCB is exceptional and means downtime is kept to an absolute minimum."

The deal is for Loadalls ranging from the four metre 520-40 model through to the 20 metre lift height 540-200.

Supplied through JCB dealer Gunn JCB, the Loadalls are powered by JCB's Tier 4 Interim/Stage IIIB Ecomax diesel engine, which meets the latest emissions standards without the requirement for a costly diesel particulate filter (DPF).

Graham added: "The advantages of not having a diesel particulate filter are immense for any business like ours because it reduces running costs substantially when you run a fleet of large machines. It's also great for operators, because without the need for a DPF, a low engine cover line has been maintained which gives excellent visibility."

Plant Hire UK was started by Graham Jones and Finance Director Wayne Illidge and its latest fleet of machines will be delivered throughout 2014. Plant Hire UK is also investing heavily in its facilities, building brand new offices in Haydock as well looking for opportunities to expand with a new depot in Birmingham, which would create new jobs for skilled fitters, apprentices and drivers.

The new JCB Loadalls also come with immobilisers and JCB LiveLink fitted as standard, the advanced telematics system which provides customers with essential fleet management data. The fleet management tool can improve machine utilisation, cut running costs, increase productivity and manage servicing. Through integration with the immobiliser, machine tracking, geo-fencing and curfew options, JCB LiveLink also provides an extremely powerful deterrent to thieves - making machines harder to steal and simpler to recover if they are stolen.