Page 31 - ITUK Press Cuttings March & April 2017
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Hot stuff ND Brown's customers are
When it comes to rentlng out trucks fitted the utilities companies that have
with hot boxes to transport asphaLt then to reinstatc road surfaces they have
ND Brown is the specialist to turn to dug up; local authorities; major colltractors
that specialise in maintaining the highway network; and
By slqyq !q!!gl subcontractors who work for them. "Demand for our
vehicles is verv strong," says Fernyhough.
GIVEN THE STATE of Britain s roads. ND Brown's On the face of it that's surprising, given that budget
customers are unlikely to run out of work anY time soon. cuts rnean most local councils are chronically short of
The Slade Heath,Wolverhampton-based company, cash' "In an ideal world thel'would resurface roads
chaired by Nigel Brown, specialises in renting out trucks galore. but they haven't got the funds so they have to
fitted with hot boxes designed to transport asphalt at patch and repair them instead." he says. "That's when
temperatures that should ensure a road repair lasts' our ki1 comes to the fore."
These vehicles gross from 75 tonnes to 26 tonnes and Workshops at depots
Brown also hires out 75-tonne,12-tonne. and 1S-tonne
insulated tippers with asphalt chutes,26-tonne and Austerity also means local authorities do not have the
32-tonne tipper/grabs, 75-tonne cage tippers and cash to acquire assets such as vehicles, so they often rent
75-tonners with beavertail bodies. instead. "When they don't need a truck they can simply
off-hire it." Fernyhough says.
"The rental fleet is just over 450 vehicles strong and
around 220 of them have got hot boxes," says MD Mark ND Brown also operates out of depots in Witheridge,
Fernyhough. "We've got gulley-emptiers and road near Tiverton in Devon, Plean, not far from Stirling and
sweepers available too. We added them within the past Falkirk, and Tonbridge in Kent, which opened a couple
12 months." of years ago. Like the head office, they all have their own
workshops.
The former are bodied by Whale Tankers, while the
o latter are typically 15-tonne truck-based sweepers "We've got a presence in Belfast as well," says
Fernyhough. "We've got about 20 vehicles there."
bodied by Johnston. "We're also bringing small
ui volumetric asphalt plants on to the fleet that can mix rl
E asphalt in 200kg batches on site," says Fernyhough.
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