Thompsons of Prudhoe, Northumberland, has purchased its first Volvo excavator which takes charge of prime extraction duties at the company’s Bishop Middleham Quarry located in County Durham.

Whilst Thompsons of Prudhoe are not strangers to Volvo Construction Equipment products, having operated articulated haulers for many years, the purchase of a Volvo 36-tonne EC360CL is a new departure for the company.

Bought purely on the machine specification and overall package on offer from Volvo the EC360C has gone to work loading blasted dolomitic limestone into trucks at the company's Bishop Middleham Quarry. Within a short space of time the excavator will be teamed up with two new A35E Volvo articulated haulers that are currently on order. Besides hauling rock to the plant for crushing, the trucks will perform a secondary role in hauling waste to another part of the site which is being used for landfill. Between them the machines will be expected to produce around 500,000 tonnes of extracted material from the quarry. Both the excavator and haulers will be serviced and maintained by Volvo service engineers, with Volvo's blue customer service agreements offering the care and peace of mind Thompson's are looking for.


Commenting on the deal, Director John Thompson Junior said: "We enjoy a strong relationship with the local team from Volvo and have been impressed with their level of care and support over the years. With this in mind we felt pretty confident in investing in the Volvo excavator product for the first time and so far we’ve been pleased with our decision."

(CD/JM)