1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148 
Gap in repair market
Page 144
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
• THOMPSON Spares and Service, a wholly owned subsidiary of Thompsons (UK), based in Croydon, Surrey, is operating in what it has found is a gop in the market. This is operating mobile workshops for repairs to bodywork and hydraulics.
"To my knowledge no other bodybuilder is operating mobile repairs to this extent," says Thompsons (UK) managing director Allan Burton.
The company, established over 100 years, has been producing tipper bodies for some 20 years in its own right. Productivity over the past five years has increased from five to 17 or 18 units a week with at least 50% being eightwheelers.
In an effort to improve service back-up, the spares and service subsidiary was formed 12 months ago to carry out work in the expanding group. Thomspons is a main agent for Hyva, Hytec, Drum and Telehoist tipping gears and has recently signed an exclusive area distributionship for HMF Cranes.
A mobile service Transit van was acquired in order to serve London and Kent and fully equipped for tipping gear and bodywork repairs. Since then a more positive approach has been adopted to develop this side as a business in its own right and a second van is being bought to operate in the South West from Portsmouth.
"What used to happen," says Burton, "is that an operator went to a bodybuilder and perhaps after, say nine months, had to search around for a repairer which does not build bodies. We are filling that void in the market."