Expanding self-storage giant Lock Stock have made a major investment of over a quarter of a million pounds in a brand new delivery lorry.
They took delivery of the Scania 450 articulated vehicle from Deeside Truck Services and have now had a special crane fitted by Shropshire-based HIAB Ltd.
The firm, who have bases in Oswestry, Shrewsbury and Welshpool, are the UK’s biggest containerised self-storage company with 20 parks across North and Mid Wales and the border counties with over 3,000 storage units.
Financial manager Ben Caley said: “This £285,000 vehicle is a significant investment for the business and is a sign of confidence in the way we are continuing to grow.
“The new lorry is on the road already, moving containers onto sites and delivering them to our sales customers as well.
“It is a significant upgrade on the vehicle we had previously. It’s really amazing and the HIAB conversion with the new crane easily picking up 40-foot containers weighing four tons and positioning them safely and accurately.
“It’s much more powerful, flexible and intuitive and the remote control is excellent. Our previous lorry proved a big success for us but this is much better
“Our sales are going really well and rapidly increasing and it can deliver to those customers and also take new storage units to our existing sites.
“It enables us to carry out our rolling maintenance programme on our sites promptly because we are constantly checking on our storage units and moving them around as they require replacement or refurbishment or to cater for the changing needs of our customers.
“Previously we were having to sub-contract delivery of 40-foot units to other contractors which could lead to delays but now we are in control.”
The new Scania is a 450 horsepower vehicle which is powerful enough to transport the biggest containers easily and the remotely-operated Hipro 858 crane can lift 40-foot four-ton containers and position them over 50 feet away.
The conversion was the last completed by the late Pete Silcox, a conversion engineer with HIAB at Ellesmere and there is a plaque in his memory fitted to the lorry trailer.
Regional manager for Hiab UK, Ian Bebb said: “Pete was one of the industry’s finest who is sadly missed, so we wanted to acknowledge his contribution on our final work together with a commemorative plaque.
“We’re proud to have worked with Lock Stock to deliver a bespoke crane which gives the business greater flexibility to manage the movement of containers in-house and one which will play a vital role in the regional economy.
“The Hiab X-HIPRO 858 is one of our flagship cranes which is perfectly suited for businesses like Lock Stock which regularly move storage containers across the UK.”
The vehicle has been smartly turned out in Lock Stock’s trademark green and gold colours and is already becoming a familiar sight on the roads of North and Mid Wales and even further afield with containers being delivered to customers as far away as Yorkshire and the West Midlands.
Driver Nigel Jones, from Ruthin has over 27 years’ experience of driving HGVs all over Europe and he said: “It’s a brilliant vehicle, I can’t fault it at all. It’s comfortable with leather upholstered heated seats and full air-con.
“The crane is a lot better and more user-friendly and it can easily lift a 20-foot container out over the cab which the old lorry couldn’t as well as lift four tons at a 16-metre extension.”
One task scheduled to begin soon will be delivering storage units to Lock Stock’s latest storage park, an ambitious development of the Interlinq site at Sandycroft, close to the A55 North Wales Expressway, into a revolutionary new business park combining storage and office space – all built from containers.
The 2.3 acre site, which is expected to have its first units in place by the autumn, will be based on London’s Containerville in fashionable Bethnal Green and include eight office spaces on the second floor of a two-storey construction on a 2.3 acre site which can hold over 250 storage units.
Each 1280 square foot office will be fully insulated and fitted with air-source heating systems with additional power supplied by solar panels fitted to other units on the site to create comfortable, modern work spaces that are ideal for businesses with high speed internet and storage space on hand.
The new Interlinq site will be added to Lock Stock’s existing storage parks at Holyhead, Bangor, Llandudno Junction and Rhyl on the North Wales Coast, on the Dee at Flint, Sandycroft and Saltney, and inland at the Colomendy Industrial Estate in Denbigh, Mold, Wrexham and Newtown in Powys, and at Oswestry and Shrewsbury in Shropshire.
The company was founded 21 years ago in Denbigh by brothers Nick and Shon Powell and it has grown rapidly to become Wales’s biggest self-storage company and one of the largest in the UK.
As well as offering units to hire on their sites they sell a range of used and new containers delivered by their lorry – for more information on Lock Stock go to http://www.lockstock.biz/
