S & G Plant

Published on: 7th August 2019

Preston plant hire and heavy haulage specialist S&G Plant Services Ltd. has taken delivery of a bespoke multi-wheel rigid to service the company’s growing third party transport operations.

The Operator

Preston-based plant and haulage operator S&G has added a new HIAB crane-equipped Scania R500 8×2 rigid with Sterling bodywork. The firm’s Managing Director Greg Pinder says the new addition will be used to transport both their own plant equipment and third- party crane and/or ramp mounted loads across the UK. The R500 will join S&G’s eight other Scania’s in the ten truck, 10 trailer fleet. The latest deal was put together by Dave Bale from Preston Scania. “We moved across to Scania a number of years ago purely for the level service and back up,” Pinder explained.

The Body

Operating a wide range of plant and machinery-related trucks and trailers, S&G have specified this rear-steering 8×2 Scania R500 for maximum flexibility, with a HIAB X-HiPro 558, 55 tonne/metre front-mounted crane and Sterling’s innovative cheesewedge body. The Stokesley, North Yorkshire-based company says this design facilitates the ability to fold forward to provide a totally flat deck, ideal for crane-mounted trucks, but still offers a ‘best-in-class’ loading angle.  This allows even small scissor lifts (or any other machine renowned for their lack of traction and ground clearance) to be loaded safely.  It also can easily be stowed vertically to give more deck space.

Other features on the body also include Rail Channels fitted into the deck to transport rail equipment safely, and a rear mounted VBG Coupling to operate as a drawbar combination. Sterling galvanise many components of the body, which provides much better protection from corrosion, helping to reduce downtime and increase longevity of the body, whilst maintaining the residual value and reducing the overall cost of ownership. Aftersales support will be provided by Sterling’s Support Centre based at the same location as its factory in Stokesley.

Pinder says the decision to go with Sterling was born from the experience another local company had with the brand. “We looked at the competitors but in truth, there isn’t a huge amount of choice in the plant body market.” S&G were also impressed by Sterling’s salesman, 20 year old Kelvin Carruth. “It’s rare to find someone who actually tells the truth. Everything was done as and when he said it would,” he continues, explaining the issues with this type of build can be worrisome. “In our experience it’s not the OEM who causes the delays, it’s everyone else who’s bolting bits onto the chassis,” he concludes.