New vehicles won't be a drain on Cooper's resources

Cooper Drainage has been supplying solutions in water management systems for more than 25 years.

The company operates three depots – in Gloucester, Ammanford and Stoke-on-Trent – from which it distributes an extensive range of plastic pipes and fittings to the UK's building, agricultural and civil engineering markets.

Cooper has recently upgraded the vehicle fleet at its Stoke-on-Trent and Gloucester sites with the introduction of two DAF FA LF45 vehicles supplied by commercial vehicle hire and fleet management specialist, Prohire Plc.

The vehicles were supplied on a five-year, fixed-price contract with maintenance.

The vehicles were modified in a number of ways to meet Cooper's particular needs. For example, in both cases, the customer's requirement was to increase the body length in the new build by one metre to allow the extra long cargo of pipes to be accommodated.

In addition, a rear step was incorporated into the build for improved access to the rear body section, while the toolbox was removed. The introduction of the rear step gives Cooper's staff three points of contact to the rear of the vehicle – an important health and safety consideration – while dispensing with the toolbox allowed costs to be trimmed.

Also, the vehicles' traditional mesh bulk head was replaced with a solid fronted version, which is expected to give improved fuel consumption and load security was enhanced with the introduction of additional load security poles along the length of each vehicle.

Cosmetically, the vehicles have also been upgraded with an improved livery and the introduction of full address details of the respective locations from which each new vehicle will operate added to the cab doors. Both the vehicle enhancements and livery design changes were handled by Prohire at no extra cost to Cooper Drainage.

Steve Skipp, a Cooper Drainage director, commented: "This is a new relationship with Prohire and they have impressed us with their proactive professionalism. Our Stoke-on-Trent facility is very close to Prohire's head office, so we had no hesitation in turning to them for advice on the specifications of the vehicles and ultimately placing the business with them.

"Prohire listened carefully to our requirements and configured the DAF vehicles to exactly match the needs of our business."

Ray Stephens, Prohire's business development manager, comments: "We like to take a consultative approach to our client relationships and by doing so we are able to share best practice from a wide range of industry sectors."