UK general rental company Plantool Hire Centres has been formally admitted to The Access Alliance the UK / Ireland association of independent regional access rental companies.
Plantool is the second new member to join the Alliance this month and following the appointment of React at the end of June. The company covers Northamptonshire, Warwickshire and Leicestershire from five locations in the English south midlands.
Mike Webb of the Access Alliance (L) hands Plantool’s membership certificate to Ben Jones
Alliance chairman Mike Webb said: "We are delighted to welcome Ben Jones and Plantool to the Access Alliance. Their commitment to quality and customer satisfaction closely aligns with our values, and we are confident they will bring valuable expertise to our group."
Plantool’s managing director Ben Jones added: "I am thrilled to collaborate with likeminded, independent businesses within the Access Alliance. I look forward to working closely with fellow members to enhance our services and uphold industry standards."
Family owned Plantool Hire Centres operates from depots in, Daventry, Kettering, Lutterworth, Nuneaton, and Warwick.
A Plantool depot
Ben Jones started out working for his father’s company Handi Hire while still at school, having started by going to work with his father on Saturday mornings doing things like folding invoices and putting them in envelopes. When a little older he moved to work in the yard at the events and site services division on Saturdays and in school holidays. In 1996 he joined full time as a trainee fitter in Long Eaton's central workshops.
He progressed to running a workshop at the Coalville depot before moving on to be an emergency staffer stepping into various roles whenever a depot was a man down. He left the family firm in 1999 at the age 21 and headed to Australia to work for Kennard's Hire. He stayed with Kennard's for three years, building his knowledge base and gaining experience, while working in over 20 branches in that time. In 2002 he decided it was time to settle down and returned to the UK.
Ben Jones
Arriving home he joined the Hire Supply Company, after a few months with the company he was offered the job as Warwick depot manager which he snapped up. He ran the depot for three years before moving to Lutterworth to set up a brand new depot. In April 2007 he was promoted to area manager and in May the company opened another new branch in Nuneaton which fell into his area. In the July he was promoted to operations manager in charge of all six branches and in late 2009 was invited to join the board as operations director, taking over as managing director in September 2011.
When the company’s founder and managing director Rodger Webb decided to retire in mid-2013, he agreed a management buyout deal with Jones.
The company has continued to prosper in the 11 years since then, moving into a new headquarters depot in Daventry and relocating several of the depots to larger more modern premises to cope with the growing product range which now includes boom and scissor lifts, spider lifts, low level platforms and lifting gear. It is also an approved IPAF, PASMA and IOSH training centre.
The Access Alliance now has a combined fleet of more than 17,000 machines available from over 65 locations across the UK and Ireland.
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