He said SHB Hire sells on service rather than price.

A key attraction for customers is that the vehicles are all maintained, serviced and repaired on site. All the customer needs to do is fuel the vehicle and insure it.

Van hire is an area that SHB Hire believes has the potential for further growth.

It was recently awarded the Fleet Van rental company of the year and sees large blue chip companies as its core business.

Running a variety of different rental packages, short- and long-term, SHB Hire will rent out job specific equipment alongside the vehicle rental to meet customers’ needs.

Key to winning new business, according to Street, is having enough vehicles available at a moment’s notice.

To ensure this, SHB Hire advance purchases vehicles and runs utilisation as low as 60%.

Specialist equipment, like gritters and tippers, command a much higher rental fee than more common vehicles so they do not need high utilisation rates to be profitable.

Rates for the standard van fleet are higher at around 80%.

This approach has brought significant success with SHB’s annual turnover set for £65 million this year, a £12 million improvement on 2011.

“Customers need immediacy when they are ready to order vehicles,” said Street.

“If we don’t have the allocation ready, then we lose the business.

"We will advance purchase and spec the vehicles to what we believe the industry needs.

“We are a service business and don’t mind taking risk on stock to be able to service business that is reactional –
as long as its profitable and the company is performing efficiently.”

SHB Hire entered the FN50 this year for the first time in 40th position and hopes this means companies will begin to recognise it as a key player in the industry.

“We want to be considered for every hire opportunity there is,” said Street. “We won’t win every single one because we are not the cheapest, but we genuinely want to partner with our customers and support them.”