Continuing growth has seen Fairalls builders' merchants take on two more DAF vehicles, taking the size of its all-DAF fleet to 11.

A DAF CF 330 FAN 26-tonne 6x2 rear-steer has just started work at the company’s Godstone headquarters in Surrey, with a DAF LF 180 FA 16-tonner joining it. Both vehicles carry rear-mounted Atlas cranes.

Paul Burke, transport and plant manager at Fairalls, said: “In truth, the 26-tonner was going to be a replacement vehicle, but the work keeps growing, so we have kept the older vehicle and both new arrivals are now pure fleet additions.

“The 26-tonne DAF CF 6x2 was spec’d with rear steer to cope with the rear-mounted Atlas crane.

"It will deliver 1.8t at its maximum reach of 7.5 metres, so it needed a good solid base to work from.

"The rear-steer CF gives us great manoeuvrability as well as a genuine 12-tonne payload, even with the big crane, so we can get into tight corners of sites and deliver right where customers want.

"The DAF LF 16-tonner is a 4x2 of course, but for the same reasons of wanting to get the rear-mounted crane onto a stable base and delivering into tight corners, this one specifically for our retail work in urban areas, we spec’d the short wheel base version. Both work well for us."

Fairalls buys its trucks on outright purchase with standard DAF MultiSupport R&M. It then relies on local dealer, Channel Commercials, for routine maintenance and service work.”