Hythe, Kent, UK: Longhurst Refrigeration is using contract hire and fleet management company Prohire as its fleet management partner to provide its temperature-controlled contract hire and rental fleet.
It is a two-way relationship and one that has gone from strength to strength, says Jason Longhurst, director, Longhurst Refrigeration.
The business started in 2014 and was recognised as Transport Refrigeration Service Provider of the Year at the TCS&D Awards in 2016 and 2018. The company offers 24-hour transport refrigeration repair and service provision to temperature-controlled vehicle operators in southern England. It has eight engineers and an apprentice – with over 40 years of Carrier Transicold experience and 50 years of Thermo King experience between them.
“This business is devoted to keeping its customers’ vehicles on the road 24 hours a day, seven days a week as they should be; and we are particularly proud of our ‘first time fix’ track record, “ Longhurst says.
“To achieve and maintain the reliable and trustworthy reputation we have, it is vital that our own fleet of breakdown vans are equally reliable, so the relationship with Prohire is very important.
“The company is growing fast thanks to the quality and hard work of our engineers, and while I can ensure we only recruit the right people, I rely on Prohire to supply and manage their vehicles. This makes for a great two-way relationship as Prohire can also rely on Longhurst Refrigeration to support its temperature-controlled vehicles as it expands in this sensitive and time critical market. Being able to offer our customers great coverage and accurate ETAs in the event of problems on the road is crucial and I know that our reliability owes a great deal to Prohire’s.”
Prohire provides Longhurst Refrigeration with Mercedes Sprinter panel vans and has just supplied the eighth of these back in November. “In this business, with perishable and often high-value goods involved, communication is vital throughout the chain from our suppliers to us to our customers and their customers, so that everyone knows what to expect. That’s another reason that Prohire is such a good fit for us. We have a great connection with the Prohire team, from the accounts department, through account management, right to the top. The approachability and willingness to listen, combined with the flexibility of service makes the relationship work as both companies grow and prosper,” Longhurst says.
Mike Hunter, sales manager, Prohire says: ‘Temperature-controlled is a specialised market technically and both fleet uptime and vehicle appearance are critical. We are proud to work with Longhurst Refrigeration, supporting its success and to the obvious satisfaction of its customers.”
http://www.longhurstrefrigeration.co.uk/
Picured above is Jason Longhurst with two of the Prohire-supplied vehicles
