AA Recovery patrol of the year Tony Doran has become one of the first to collect the keys to a new breed of Mercedes-Benz truck.

Doran, who is based at the AA’s depot in Runcorn, Cheshire, was a guest of honour at the Milton Keynes headquarters of Mercedes-Benz Trucks UK, which he visited with senior colleagues from the country’s largest motoring organisation.

Supplied by the Rygor Commercials Group, his 13-tonne Atego 1323 has a factory-fitted crew cab and is part of an order for 30 identical vehicles.

The AA runs 280 recovery vehicles, which are based across a network of 50 depots nationwide. The Atego are the first Mercedes-Benz trucks to wear its familiar yellow and black colours since 2001.

However, the fleet includes 14 FUSO Canter 7.5-tonners which were also supplied by Rygor – fitted with beavertail bodies, these vehicles entered service in 2014-15 and are used primarily in London.

The AA is the first UK operator to run the latest Euro VI Atego crew cab variant in significant numbers.