Ready to roll: Fullers Contracting three new Mercedes-Benz Unimog U500s offer the power, comfort and speed for the agricultural haulage business – and they are legal and licensed for the job.

Two of the new Unimog U500 vehicles are fitted with hydraulic hooklifts trailers to haul steel containers and the third has a purpose-designed tank fitted to the payload behind the cab, with an additional tank trailer. All are tested and plated to meet VOSA’s requirements for ‘hire or reward’ operations.

“We bought three eight-wheel hook-lift trucks and three Unimog U500s, which are operated as on and off road articulated trucks. The effect has been remarkable and dramatic. The Unimogs can haul and carry on every type of land we have been faced with, and then on roads they travel at the speeds of normal trucks,” Matthew Fuller adds.

“Central Tyre Inflation (which lowers and raises all tyre pressures from within the cab) means we get traction and motive power where even the tractors had difficulty, and it reduces damage to growing crops.”

VOSA’s decision to take Fullers to court to prevent them using fast tractors for their agricultural haulage business had a serious impact on the business. Customers needed to retain this service and move waste for spraying and spreading on the land. This meant they looked elsewhere – to Fullers’ competitors.

“We have got most of the business back, but it is really galling when, as a result of us being prosecuted for using tractors, the customers turned to those who still use tractors, even though it is clearly illegal.

“However, credit to VOSA – they have approached over half the people who took our business, so for the first time we can see that the law is being imposed impartially, and we do not feel quite such a target,” Matthew Fuller adds

The increasing need for traction units that will tackle fields and off road work, as well as roads, means that for the future Fullers Contracting will be investing in Mercedes-Benz Unimogs, not trucks, and certainly not tractors.