North Yorkshire manufacturer Econ is taking on 20 new staff to cope with increased demand for its winter maintenance and road repair vehicles after last winter's extreme weather conditions.

Econ Engineering is the UK's largest gritter and hot box manufacturer, producing 80 per cent of all the salt spreading vehicles used on the country's roads.

It is introducing a full night shift at its Ripon manufacturing base and recruiting 20 new staff after a dramatic upsurge in orders from local authorities and other clients.

Econ sales director Andrew Lupton said: 'We are boosting production of our iconic Econ snow clearing and pot hole repair vehicles to meet the huge demand from our customers throughout the UK.

'Councils are now in the process of patching up and repairing the roads after the ravages of a long cold winter ' as well as planning ahead for what next winter may bring.

'With orders across the board up on this time last year, we have decided to introduce a night shift at our factory in Ripon and are now looking for a further 20 enthusiastic people to work either day shifts or four nights a week with highly competitive rates of pay'

Econ is a family-run business and has a £30m turnover and is currently recruiting for the full variety of roles involved in the vehicle production process, including skilled fitters, welders and painters.

'We're incredibly proud of our people, who are without doubt our greatest asset and enable us to produce high-tech, quality vehicles that are manufactured right here in Yorkshire and designed specifically for the UK's roads,' said Mr Lupton.

'We have several members of staff who have been with us for more than two decades and it's fantastic that we are now in this position of being able to recruit more people to join the Econ team'