A CONSTRUCTION firm is spending nearly £3.5m on trucks to improve its fleet.

The Owen Pugh Group has agreed a deal with Mercedes Benz dealership Bell Truck and Van for 34 vehicles, including 28 tipper trucks and six grab and hook loaders.

Bosses added the investment is the company’s largest ever single outlay on its fleet.

Owen Pugh employs more than 400 North-East workers, with its headquarters in Dudley, Northumberland.

Paul Cockburn, general manager of Owen Pugh and Co, which is responsible for the firm's plant hire and haulage businesses, said the trucks will help cut monthly fuel costs.

Trevor Simmons, Bell Truck and Van group managing director, added: “We are committed to delivering exceptional customer service levels and are pleased Owen Pugh recognise this.”

The Owen Pugh Group operates across civil engineering, drainage and groundworks, plant hire and haulage, quarrying, and waste and drain cleaning.

It has an aggregate site at Marsden Quarry, South Tyneside, runs the HCS Drains Service division, in Stockton, and previously moved its GDC subsidiary to a new depot in Blaydon, North Tyneside, to grow the business, which carries out drainage, flood alleviation and regeneration work.

Last year, The Northern Echo also revealed Owen Pugh had secured an £800,000 deal to carry out earthmoving work on the busy A174 and A19 junction close to Thornaby, near Stockton.

The project, overseen by Costain for the Highways Agency, includes dualling the route and adding extra lanes to a roundabout.