IT’S A GAS (100% NATURAL) AT NICHOLLS TRANSPORT!
Customised promotional model vehicle specialists, Search Impex, are pleased to announce the release of a 1:50 scale Iveco Stralis S-Way NP460 (6x2) tractor unit and 3 axle, curtain trailer, customised in Nicholls Transport’s livery.
The models have been produced exclusively for Search Impex by WSI Models as a certificated Limited Edition (115 pieces).
The origins of the business lie with Ernie Nicholls who, in 1957 and at the age of 19, purchased a special A Licence. “Hire and reward” was a brave new post-nationalisation concept back then, but Ernie saw the opportunity and started the business in 1961. Initially running as a sole trader in Rainham and operating from his Father’s farmhouse yard at Station Road in Sittingbourne, his main business was transporting fruit and vegetables to Covent Garden in London. By 1967, he found himself running a fleet of 11 vehicles and at that point decided to change the status of the business to that of a Limited Company.
Some 10 years later, the business had out-grown its existing site and moved to a new site where it continued to grow its haulage operations, including starting to undertake European import and export work as well as making a strategic expansion into warehousing and storage. By the early 1990’s the business was passing safely into the stewardship of the second generation of the Nicholls family which saw, in the mid 1990’s Ernie’s son, Paul, being appointed as Managing Director – a position he continues to hold to the present day. In 2008, Paul’s son, Alex, became the third generation of the family to join the business and growth continued apace, including the opening of further sites and the addition of more trucks to the fleet.
Nowadays, the Company runs in excess of 100 trucks and operates a variety of trailer types, predominantly curtainsiders and walking floors. With its Head Office in Kent, Nicholls Transport provides tailor-made haulage operations for many blue chip clients throughout the UK, Northern France, Belgium and The Netherlands. Its services are designed and delivered to meet each client's specific requirements and great effort is made to develop intelligent, cost-effective transport solutions to help its customers achieve their individual business objectives.
The Company’s on-going investment in its state-of-the-art logistics park, its vehicles and technology, as well as driver and career training all stem from an embedded philosophy for continuous improvement and a desire to provide unrivalled flexibility, service and value. Particularly known for its efforts to help reduce its carbon footprint, the Company were the winners of the Greenfleet “Fleet of the Year” award in 2020 and MD, Paul Nicholls was listed amongst the top 100 people for achieving reductions in CO2 emissions. In this respect, the Company had already opted to start operating gas powered trucks in 2019 and in 2021 it made an additional and significant investment in a further 21 gas powered Iveco trucks. As a result, the Company is proud to have be recently appointed as Green Ambassadors for IVECO because of their reduction in CO2 emissions and of course, the model trucks are to be based on one of these Iveco Stralis S-Way NP460 units!
Models available from Search impex are priced at £158 (including UK delivery & VAT).
For details of availability of this and other models, collectors can visit the Search Impex website at www.search-impex.co.uk or call on 01332 873555.
