Smart Platform Rental Ltd goes from strength to strength as it continues to grow its fleet, with the welcome addition of the first Z19 truck mounted cherry pickers in the UK; available from their Midlands and recently opened Hemel Hempstead branches.

"Many rental companies are freezing their capex for this year but we're committed to on-going fleet expansion and replenishment. In the last 12 months, we’ve spent £1m on fleet development. In fact, the only thing we’ve frozen this year are our hire rates!" stated Guy Willett, Commercial Director. "We take pride in our fleet - we’ve the largest fleet of self drive truck mounted platforms in the UK, yet the average age of our trucks is between two and a half to three years. Of course, this commitment to replenishing our fleet means that we also sell ex-rental platforms, with prices starting from £16,995."

The Z19 is on a 3.5 tonne Nissan Cabstar chassis, so can be driven on a normal driving licence, has a zero tailswing articulating boom with a working height of 19m, 8m outreach and a basket load capacity of 230kg (507lbs/36 stone). Guy continued: "We're responsive to customer insights and certain sectors, particularly building maintenance contractors, said they would be interested in the trade off between a slightly reduced platform height and outreach to have an increased basket load. The Z19 significantly addresses this need with an additional 30kg (66lbs/4.7 stone) capacity more than our Z17 and Z20 models."

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The new purchases closely follow the recent opening of the brand new 8,000 sq ft facility situated just off Maylands Avenue in Hemel Hempstead, which runs a fleet of 48 truck mounted cherry-pickers. "We chose the new site since it’s only a three-minute drive to the M1 and we moved just when the lane expansion at Junctions 7 and 8 had been completed. The move has helped serve contractors commuting into London and since we’re the next junction up from the M25 we’re still ideally located for clients who serve the orbital area," explained Guy.

Smart pioneered the hire of self drive truck mounted aerial platforms in the UK. "With daily hire rates starting from £99 per day, no down time waiting on site for a machine to arrive and the ability to control when the machine is collected and returned, more property refurbishment businesses are seeing a positive impact on their margins by adopting the self drive model. What is more, in the current climate everyone is looking for more cost effective work at height solutions, so we’re confident in investing now for on-going success in the future."

(CD/KMcA)