January 1st 2007 sees Thompsons, the UK’s leading bodybuilder of rigid tippers, being appointed the new dealer for STAS tipping and moving floor trailers for East and South East England.

"Our new franchise gives Thompsons a complete portfolio of tipper products" says Group Sales Director Scott Burton, who adds that "we have been looking at making a move into the trailer market for some time. STAS, with its unquestionable reputation for product quality and performance, is the ideal partner to complement our own industry-leading range of rigid tipper bodywork."

Thompsons sales area for STAS includes the whole of eastern England south of Lincoln, moving through Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, East Anglia, Bedfordshire, London and the home counties, Kent, and down to the south coast as far west as Brighton.

The new franchise will be run as a separate business within the Thompsons Group, under the title ‘Thompsons Trailer Technologies’.

Based near Kortrijk in Belgium, STAS is now Europe’s leading manufacturer of tipping and moving floor trailers, producing some 2,000 trailers annually. In the last 5 years, approximately 1,500 STAS trailers have been bought by UK hauliers.

STAS trailers are well known for their advanced design and high specification, making them an exceptionally attractive long term operating proposition - precisely the same virtues that are inherent in Thompsons own range of rigid tipper bodies.

Goswin Timmermans, STAS network manager for the UK, comments "Thompsons and STAS are an ‘ideal fit’, with each company bringing key advantages to the other. In particular, we fully recognise the unrivalled experience and expertise that Thompsons has achieved in the UK tipper market. As such, both parties are fully confident that we can achieve considerable success in the future."

Thompsons is the third UK STAS dealer to be appointed in recent months, with Steadplan of Clitheroe covering northern England, north Wales and southern Scotland, and Kelly Holdings of Malmesbury looking after England’s west and south western areas.

With other Thompsons Group companies based in its new STAS territory - specifically Binotto at Loughborough and Charlton at Dover - Thompsons is ideally structured to make a rapid impact in the trailer market.

"Both new and existing STAS customers will benefit from the full Thompsons commitment" says Group Sales Manager Simon Shields "which will also include the recruitment of a dedicated trailer salesperson.

By providing operators with a combination of premium quality products with higher than ever standards of after-sales support, Thompsons will bring higher levels of activity to the UK trailer market."