The company now has seven of this type of loader, more than any other company in the UK, according to the Caterpillar dealer, Finning. Smiths has 20 Cat machines across it various quarry sites in Oxfordshire, including excavators, backhoe loaders, dozers, and articulated trucks. Of these, nine have been bought new this year.

Plant manager John Middleton said: “We’ve worked with Finning for a long time now, and in light of how busy we’ve been over the past three years, our partnership with them has proven invaluable. I’d say we’re at our highest peak of production at the moment, and with our brand new 972M machines, we won’t be slowing down any time soon.”