Johnston Sweepers has launched a new winter equipment rental arm to its business in preparation for the 2019-20 winter season.

Johnston, owned by Bucher Municipal, is building 30 Bucher Spreaders ready for the coming winter season, which will be available for rental throughout the UK. The spreaders, which are mounted at Johnston's Dorking-based factory, have been designed to save up to 20% salt usage in comparison to other spreaders on the market.

The fleet mix also includes the first electric spreaders for highway-use to be supplied in the UK ever. The Bucher Electra Spreader can be mounted on a wide range of chassis or flatbeds, and Johnston has selected to mount it on a standard Euro VI chassis.

Bucher manufacturers a wide range of spreaders from 1 m3 to 14 m3 hopper capacities and each of the rental spreaders comes with the Bucher Back to black snowploughs for improved snow clearing performance. The Bucher snowploughs have a negative attack angle and as such, they can squeegee off the fallen snow, instead of chiselling and scraping it off, which is the more common approach in the UK

Graham Howlett, UK Sales and Marketing Manager commented: ‘We have been demonstrating the advantages of the Bucher Spreader for some time now and many authorities have requested the opportunity of renting them over a full winter season, prior to purchasing. The Bucher rental fleet enables authorities to test the spreaders before committing to ordering or hiring on an annual basis. The council doesn't have to worry about equipment compliance, summer maintenance or off-season storage because this is all covered by Johnston.'

‘Hiring directly from the manufacturer has many advantages, including the use of fully trained and equipped engineers, online parts support, competitive rates and full fleet management support. Bucher is one of the biggest spreader manufacturers in the world and combined with Johnston Sweepers' national network, the companies can provide market leading rental services to the winter market.'