Following the success of its first eight Isuzu arb trucks, specialist south east arboriculture and land management company Maydencroft Ltd has extended its affiliation with Isuzu by taking delivery of further nine Isuzu Grafter trucks during 2020 with four more new Grafters joining their fleet in time for the spring 2021 season.
Maydencroft now run 21 Isuzus in total covering both 7.5 tonne and 3.5 tonne variants, as the Isuzu marque has become the mainstay of its specialist arboriculture fleet.
“The initial eight Isuzus did really well for us as they proved to have a great turning circle and excellent payload. We have been particularly impressed with the overall performance from the new Grafter range at 3.5 tonne. These trucks are unbelievably good, we do use them to tow 2.7 tonne diggers, and we can still get a one tonne payload on the back of the Grafters, even when towing. No other truck can fulfil this criteria, which is why we have now made such a significant investment in Grafters over the last 12 months,” said Tom Williams, managing director, Maydencroft Ltd.
The latest new Isuzu Grafter N35.125 order was split into two batches and included two arb tipper vehicles and eleven of the Grafter Utilitruck model.
Tom continues, “Not only are these Isuzus the ideal truck for Maydencroft from a business and operational point of view, but the drivers themselves are also very complimentary about their performance and ride quality, which is very important to us. We normally work in a mix of two and three gang teams which suits the Grafter, however due to social distancing guidelines, we are currently only working in teams of two at the moment.”
Maydencroft currently has an 80-strong commercial vehicle fleet and the switch over to Isuzu is part of the company’s planned fleet replacement programme, where they are upgrading many of the company’s older fleet vehicles.
All the new Isuzus have been supplied by family-run Isuzu dealer Arlesey Car and Commercials, based locally on the Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire border. The trucks will be covering approximately 20,000 km per annum working for a minimum of four years within the Maydencroft fleet, and possibly even longer.
Currently the latest new Isuzu Grafters are working on various contracts, ranging from Barnard Castle in the North to Brighton in the South.
“We cannot sing the praises of Isuzu highly enough, in terms of their suitability for our tree surgery division where the combination of manoeuvrability, light weight and amazing payload makes them the perfect truck for our business,” added Tom Williams.
At Maydencroft, all the new Isuzu Grafter are generally towing a trailer fitted with wood chipping equipment that reduces the larger timber pieces into smaller woodchips, which are then projected into the main body of the Isuzu Grafter.
“The success of Isuzu in the Maydencroft fleet, and in particular the Grafter, is part and parcel of our substantial long-term involvement in the arboriculture and landscape management industries. Without doubt, Maydencroft is benefiting from the industry leading payload afforded by the Grafter and we look forward to continuing the work we have done with them over the past few years to develop further their commercial vehicle fleet, based around the Isuzu marque,” said Lee Tansley, national fleet sales manager, Isuzu Truck UK.
