| | “With the Unimog U500 we have found a vehicle that has the power and road-going ability of a normal commercial vehicle, and also off-road capability when it gets to site,” says Tim Hall, founder and owner of the nationwide Hall Plant Hire operation. |
In the UK it is illegal for an agricultural tractor to be used on a road for hire or reward. The solution is a vehicle that is capable of operating like a truck on roads, but also has formidable off-road ability.
Farmer Tim Hall has found that Unimog U 500 solution not only keeps him on the right side of the law, as he diversifies into a highly successful plant hire business, but he is also achieving fuel savings amounting to more than £32,000 a year, per vehicle.
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Tim Hall, who inherited a Derbyshire hill farm, founded Hall Plant Hire and, more specifically, PlantSafe – a simple and practical answer to the security problems of on-site plant and equipment. He now runs an exceptionally successful business renting and delivering construction plant throughout the UK.
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Theft and damage by vandalism of construction machines and equipment is a constant concern for builders and contractors, as well as the companies that hire diggers, dumpers and the plethora of vehicles and tools that are used on site. Removing this plant and equipment to a place of safety after every working day and week is time-consuming and very expensive. Tim Hall solved this by adapting large steel shipping containers to become transportable, safe and secure, on-site storage areas.
But, while heavy trucks could haul the containers on roads, he needed a tractor for the final stage of the journey, off the road and onto the construction site.
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The all-terrain Mercedes-Benz Unimog U 500 provides him with the ideal solution to operate the trailer’s hooklift and provide haulage from the Hall Plant Hire depot direct to the working site.
“The main criteria for selecting a host vehicle to haul the containers on the trailer is power,” Tim Hall says. “We need to be able to quickly and smoothly hooklift the container onto the trailer, even when it has a full load of, perhaps, a digger/backhoe and dump truck.
“The vast majority of driving time is spent on roads so a road-going truck is ideal because it can travel happily and economically at 56mph. The problems arise when we have to deliver the container off-road: 98% of the travel could be on road, but if there is just 2% or less off road then we need a traction unit with off-road capability, as well as power.
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The all-terrain Mercedes-Benz Unimog U 500 provides him with the ideal solution to operate the trailer’s hooklift and provide haulage from the Hall Plant Hire yard direct to the working site.
The immediate result is a big saving on fuel costs – 7.2mpg instead of the 3.8mpg of a fast tractor he previously used. That amounts to a conservatively estimated saving of at least £32,000 per 100,000 km, and as fuel costs continue to rise the savings just get greater. In a competitive industry, Hall Plant Hire is able to maintain profitability without passing on fuel cost rises to his customers.
Tim is also able to achieve much faster on-road speeds and a significantly more comfortable driving and working environment for his employees. The most important element is that he can haul anywhere, anytime, safe in the knowledge that his operation is legal.
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| Unimog benefits at a glance |
• Exceptional fuel savings compared with a tractor or fast tractor
• The power to haul heavy containers for many miles – and operate a heavy duty hooklift
• Off-road ability, so that containers can be delivered direct to the site without the need for another power unit to haul the container off roads.
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Model ranges
