Ashbrook Reaches Milestone with £8m Caterpillar Fleet Expansion

Ashbrook Plant Hire has taken delivery of its 1,600th Caterpillar machine as part of an £8m order from Finning. The package includes Cat 302.7 and Cat 305 mini-excavators with air conditioning and hydraulic quick hitches to reduce cycle times and operator fatigue on housing and infrastructure sites.

Finning will be stationing field service engineers full-time at Ashbrook's two depots, aiming for higher availability across the expanding UK project pipeline.

The fleet expansion is combined with the replacement of ageing assets, indicating a rolling renewal capital expenditure strategy. Onboard Caterpillar technology is being used as a performance gate, selecting machines that meet preset standards.