Member Article

Owen Pugh signs £3.4m truck deal with Mercedes Benz dealership

North East construction firm The Owen Pugh Group has agreed a deal worth £3.4m with Mercedes Benz dealership Bell Truck and Van to provide 34 new vehicles for the company’s fleet.

The partnership will see full service civil engineering contractors Owen Pugh, which operates from five sites across the North East including its head office in Dudley in North Tyneside, take delivery of 34 Mercedes Benz Arocs 3240K 8 X 4 trucks, comprising 28 tippers and six converted to hiab, grab and hook loaders, over the next eight months.

The vehicles will be utilised across the business, replacing older vehicles and complimenting the company’s 75 strong HGV fleet. The deal is Owen Pugh’s largest ever single investment in fleet.

Paul Cockburn, general manager of Owen Pugh & Co Ltd which is responsible for the company’s plant hire and haulage businesses, says that the investment will help the business to operate more efficiently, will cut monthly fuel costs by up to four percent and will reduce CO2 emissions significantly.

He said: “The investment in 34 new vehicles worth £3.4m is a significant move which underlines Owen Pugh’s commitment to delivering on time, on budget and to the highest efficiency and safety standards and ensures the company operates to its fullest potential. Once in use the new trucks and specialist vehicles will maximise up-time for the fleet and the downtime associated with maintaining older vehicles will be substantially reduced.

In 2014 we increased the tipper fleet by six and now in 2015 will increase again by a further four to meet increasing demand, both internally and from our external customers.“

Bell Truck and Van is a third generation family business, incorporated in 1919. The company, which has its head office in Longbenton and six depots throughout the North of England, is supplying the vehicles in a five-year deal.

Mr Cockburn added: “We made the decision to partner with Bell Truck and Van because we wanted to keep the business in the North East and because of their unrivalled levels of support as the Mercedes Benz aftersales dealer for 2014. We’re delighted to be working with the Bell team and look forward to developing the partnership in future.”

Trevor Simmons, group managing director for Bell Truck and Van, said: “We are thrilled to be working with the Owen Pugh Group to deliver this substantial order. We are committed to delivering exceptional customer service levels across the group and are pleased that Owen Pugh recognise this and have selected us as their partner of choice.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ellen Forster .