The UK’s largest supplier of building materials to the construction industry has taken delivery of the 1,000th vehicle from its local Mercedes-Benz Dealer.

It was in 2008 that Northampton-based Travis Perkins plc placed its first orders with Intercounty Truck & Van, whose own headquarters are in nearby Wellingborough. Since then the partnership between the two companies has gone from strength to strength.

Fittingly, the landmark vehicle is a 3.5-tonne Sprinter. Intercounty has provided its high-profile customer with a variety of trucks, as well as three Vito vans and 11 small Citans. It is, however, the multi-award-winning Sprinter that accounts for the vast majority – 851, to be precise – of deliveries made over the last seven years.

One of 19 identical 314 CDI chassis cabs from the same order, the ‘special one’ is fitted, like all of Travis Perkins’ tool hire-specification vehicles, with a roof-mounted beacon, while its dropside body is by PPS Commercials, of Bury.

It is now working from the operator’s newly-opened branch in Cambridge, where customers are left in no doubt as to its significance by a strip of text across its front sun visor which announces: “Celebrating Travis Perkins’ 1,000th Mercedes-Benz Vehicle Supplied By Intercounty Truck & Van”.

The vehicle was painted on the production line in Travis Perkins’ familiar shade of green – the operator provided a sample and it has been an official Mercedes-Benz colour since 2014. However, the Travis Perkins Group owns more than 20 businesses and other Sprinters are now hard at work in the colours of well-known brands such as Benchmarx, City Plumbing, Tool Station and Wickes.

Travis Perkins Group Fleet Director Graham Bellman is responsible for more than 10,000 pieces of equipment. “We carried out a rigorous tender process before committing to Mercedes-Benz, and the Sprinter is now firmly established as the light commercial vehicle of choice for our business. It is a premium product in every respect, exceptionally reliable and safe, with a good payload, and a fantastically high level of driver acceptance.”

www.travisperkins.co.uk