Storage giants Lock Stock deliver a £285K investment in new lorry

It took delivery of the Scania 450 articulated vehicle from Deeside Truck Services and has now had a special crane fitted by Shropshire-based HIAB Ltd, of Ellesmere.

The conversion was the last completed by the late Pete Silcox, a conversion engineer with HIAB at Ellesmere, and there is a plaque in his memory fitted to the lorry trailer.

Regional manager for Hiab UK, Ian Bebb, said: "Pete was one of the industry's finest who is sadly missed, so we wanted to acknowledge his contribution on our final work together with a commemorative plaque.

"We're proud to have worked with Lock Stock to deliver a bespoke crane which gives the business greater flexibility to manage the movement of containers in-house and one which will play a vital role in the regional economy.

"The Hiab X-HIPRO 858 is one of our flagship cranes which is perfectly suited for businesses like Lock Stock which regularly move storage containers across the UK."

Lock Stock, which has bases in Oswestry, Shrewsbury and Welshpool, is the UK's biggest containerised self-storage company with 20 parks across North and Mid Wales and the border counties with over 3,000 storage units.

Financial manager, Ben Caley, said: "This £285,000 vehicle is a significant investment for the business and is a sign of confidence in the way we are continuing to grow.

"The new lorry is on the road already, moving containers onto sites and delivering them to our sales customers as well.

"It is a significant upgrade on the vehicle we had previously. It's really amazing and the HIAB conversion with the new crane easily picking up 40 ft containers weighing four tons and positioning them safely and accurately.

"It's much more powerful, flexible and intuitive and the remote control is excellent. Our previous lorry proved a big success for us but this is much better.

"Our sales are going really well and rapidly increasing and it can deliver to those customers and also take new storage units to our existing sites.

"It enables us to carry out our rolling maintenance programme on our sites promptly because we are constantly checking on our storage units and moving them around as they require replacement or refurbishment or to cater for the changing needs of our customers.

"Previously we were having to sub-contract delivery of 40 ft units to other contractors which could lead to delays but now we are in control."

The new Scania is a 450 horsepower vehicle which is powerful enough to transport the biggest containers easily and the remotely-operated Hipro 858 crane can lift 40 ft four ton containers and position them over 50 ft away.

Driver Nigel Jones, from Ruthin, has over 27 years' experience of driving HGVs all over Europe. He said: "It's a brilliant vehicle, I can't fault it at all. It's comfortable with leather upholstered heated seats and full air-con.

"The crane is a lot better and more user-friendly and it can easily lift a 20-foot container out over the cab which the old lorry couldn't as well as lift four tons at a 16-metre extension."

One task scheduled to begin soon will be delivering storage units to Lock Stock's latest storage park, an ambitious development of the Interlinq site at Sandycroft, close to the A55 North Wales Expressway, into a revolutionary new business park combining storage and office space – all built from containers.

The 2.3 acre site, which is expected to have its first units in place by the autumn, will be based on London's Containerville in fashionable Bethnal Green and include eight office spaces on the second floor of a two-storey construction on a 2.3 acre site which can hold over 250 storage units.