Rental, hire and leasing specialist Dawsonrentals is adding 70 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter vans - all 5.0-tonne gvw models - to its rental fleet of more than 2,000 vehicles.

This order includes 10 factory-built Sprinter Traveliner 513 CDI minbuses with 17 seats and 10 516 CDI panel vans, which will be transformed into luxury coaches by Irish converter EVM.

Most of the new vehicles, though, are Sprinter 513 CDI chassis cabs, which will be fitted with wheelchair-accessible bodies by Treka Bus, of Brighouse, West Yorkshire.

Paul Sainthouse, managing director of Dawsonrentals, said: “We’ve been running Mercedes-Benz Sprinters for some time now, but they’ve played an increasingly important role over recent years as our business focus has shifted and we’ve expanded the fleet to include more van-based vehicles and minbuses."