Plant and skip hire specialist Shorts Group has taken delivery of a new vehicle for transporting plant: a DAF LF55 4x2 rigid, mounted with a bespoke plant body manufactured by Andover Trailers.

This is the second vehicle the company has bought from Andover Trailers for transporting diggers, dumpers, access platforms and rollers to customers in the area surrounding its base in Ascot.

Plant Transport Manager Jason Southam says the last Andover purchase the company made - a Mercedes-Benz Atego truck with a similar plant body - is still goingstrong.

"It looks good; it's durable; it's tough: it's exactly what we wanted," says Southam.

"We didn't even consider another manufacturer this time round. We knew we wanted the same kind of quality as last time, so we went straight to Andover - and we haven't been let down. It's the kind of manufacturer you can rely on."


The new vehicle has an eight-metre-long LPPB18 single crank plant body with beavertail, a cab-high headboard fitted with wisadeck and mesh. It is finish-painted green.

It has side raves made from special lightweight steel to maximise the vehicle's payload potential, and 2.5-metre-long by 450-mm-high aluminium dropsides with removable pillars for added flexibility.

Plant is loaded via hydraulic power-toe ramps fitted with Expamet, and an electric 8,000 lb Superwinch and hydraulic steady legs facilitate the process.

Eight pairs of lashing points in the floor hold the machinery securely in place, and the vehicle is also fitted with a red diesel tank and pump to fill the machines on site.

The vehicle will operate five days a week, performing approximately ten deliveries a day to customers in the 30-mile radius surrounding Ascot. It will cover an estimated 25-30,000 miles a year, and should remain with the company for at least eight years. It joins a fleet of over 40 vehicles, three of which are used for plant hire.

Shorts Group offers skip hire, gritting and demolition as well as agricultural and construction plant hire. The plant hire department of the company began in 1957.

For information on the heavy haulage and specialist transport solutions provided by Andover Trailers, contact Ivan Collins at Andover Trailers Ltd, Unit 75, Columbus Way, Walworth Industrial Estate, Andover, Hampshire, SP10 5NP. Tel: 01264 358 944 or e-mail: sales@andovertrailers.co.uk Website: www.andovertrailers.co.uk