United Plant Services has responded to the upturn in the UK construction industry by investing in a new fleet of Mercedes-Benz vans.

Its 25 Sprinter 313 CDI Medium vans arrived via Central Belt Dealer Western Commercial, and are used by mobile engineers to repair and maintain machinery on site.

They are the operator’s first new vehicles since it underwent a re-branding exercise earlier this year. Formerly known as Mac Plant, it acquired United Plant Services in 2009 and has now adopted the latter name – which was better-known south of the border – for all its operations. The combined business has a team of 35 engineers based nationwide.

Managing director Mark Cooper said: “The market is definitely growing again, so we’ve taken the opportunity to extend the fleet size by six vehicles, while also updating 19 others that were ready to be stood down. We chose Mercedes-Benz Sprinters once again because they’ve proved to be tough and reliable, as well as being well-liked by our engineers.

“The newest models are even more driver-friendly, while the Sprinter is also the safest vehicle on the road, which is another important consideration given our Duty of Care obligations to staff and other road-users.”

United Plant’s latest vans are fitted with a new lightweight Bott racking system, which allows them to carry a wider range of tools and a more comprehensive parts stock.

Cooper continued: “Western Commercial has always looked after us very well too. The dealer maintains and repairs our Scottish-based vans outside normal working hours, which is a major advantage as our Sprinters are loaded with specialised tooling, so the engineers can’t just jump into a rented vehicle if their own is off the road.

“The service intervals on the Sprinters are very long anyway, but when work is required we simply drop the vehicle off at the end of the day and pick it up next morning, ready to go. Western’s back-up helps to keep our engineers mobile, so they can deliver on our promise of a speedy response to our customers.”