Ryder and Plastic Coatings mark 20-year anniversary with fleet upgrade

Ryder has sealed a contract hire deal with West Midlands-based Plastic Coatings for three new 18-tonne DAF CF230 rigid trucks.

The deal comes ahead of the 20th anniversary of Ryder and Plastic Coatings’ working relationship this summer.

Carl Allison, Plastic Coatings commercial manager, said: “Our delivery and collection service is a key part of our business. Our customers range from manufacturers of small items, like screws and washers, to motor parts and engines, right through to rail and construction beams.

“Many of our customers don’t have the transportation to bring the items to us for the finishing application, so our delivery vehicles play a vital role in our customer offering."

To allow for any overnight trunking work, Plastic Coatings specified sleeper cabs for the new vehicles.

Allison said: "Around 50% of our customers are within a 30-mile radius of our site in Kingswinford, West Midlands, so the majority of our runs are local. However, we do have customers in Kent, South Wales and Aberdeen, so our drivers can cover the length and breadth of the country and therefore require an overnight stay in the truck from time to time."

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Ryder also manages the vehicle maintenance and servicing for Plastic Coatings’ fleet, which Allison said enables the transport manager to focus on the running of the vehicles, drivers, and planning of deliveries.

"We have around 3,500 customers and, at any one time, 300 of them will have a live order with us. Having the vehicle maintenance and servicing schedule handled by Ryder gives us peace of mind that that side of things is taken care of," he added.

Allison also praised Ryder for coming to the firm’s aid after a series of break ins.

He said: "During our Christmas shutdown period, we had several incidents of break-ins to our yard with vandals punching holes in the bottom of the trucks to steal the diesel.

"It caused £3,000 to £4,000 of damage to the truck each time. Ryder now stores our vehicles securely for us at one of its own manned sites over the shutdown period.”

Ryder account manager Fiona Rennie said: "Ryder is honoured to have looked after Plastic Coatings’ fleet requirements for the last 20 years.

"It is a fantastic company and we look forward to continuing to support, manage and provide vehicle solutions to enable it to service its customers and remain the leading coatings specialist."