A North Yorkshire manufacturer is benefitting from the recent extreme weather conditions, which have produced a surge in orders for its winter maintenance and road repair vehicles.

Econ Engineering, which is the UK’s largest manufacturer of gritters and pot-hole repair vehicles (and produces 80% of the UK’s salt spreading vehicles), is introducing a full night shift at its Ripon manufacturing base (www.econ.uk.com).

Sales director Andrew Lupton said: “We are boosting production of our iconic 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 we are looking for 20 new people, 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 vehicles that are manufactured right here in Yorkshire and are designed specifically for the UK’s roads.

"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.”