On the back of two and half successful years since the company was appointed as the Authorised Bobcat Dealer for Greater London, Essex, West Sussex, East Sussex, Kent and Surrey in the UK, Versatile Equipment Ltd has now been appointed to represent Bobcat in two more counties - Norfolk and Suffolk in East Anglia. To serve the new area, Versatile Equipment has opened a brand new depot based at impressive facilities at Willow Grove Farm in Lakenheath in Suffolk.

Lee Chater, Managing Director, and co-owner of Versatile Equipment, said: “It is a happy coincidence that the expansion of our area on behalf of Bobcat has happened as we mark our 20^th anniversary as a company. Back in 2003, we were established with a dedicated focus on the supply of compact loaders and attachments and over the intervening period, we have gained huge experience in the Compact Equipment Market in the UK.”

 Sales Director, Barry Gass, co-owner of Versatile Equipment with Lee, added: “Over the last 30 months, the strong investments we have made as Bobcat dealer in our team and facilities have really paid off. We are delighted to take on a larger area, with our appointment by Bobcat to handle Norfolk and Suffolk - our new depot at Lakenheath will allow us to offer a premium service for customers in the new area.”

Andrew Wolton, District Manager UK South, Sweden & Finland for Doosan Bobcat EMEA, said: “Based on their accomplishments as a Bobcat dealer, it was the obvious choice to award the additional responsibility for Suffolk and Norfolk to Versatile Equipment. We are very impressed with the facilities at the new branch in Lakenheath, which offer excellent storage, service and showroom space as well as ample external areas.”  

New Depot Celebrated with Open Days

To celebrate the opening of the Lakenheath depot, Versatile Equipment held a two-day Open Day event for local customers and families at the new premises in July 2023. Against the background of live demonstrations of Bobcat equipment, visitors were able to try out the latest Bobcat mini-excavators, compact loaders, telehandlers and compact tractors, together with the vast array of Bobcat attachments available from Versatile Equipment.

Quality Service for Customers in Every Market

Versatile Equipment is dedicated to increasing Bobcat’s share of the construction, rental, agriculture, landscaping, industrial, recycling, waste management and other markets in London, the South East and East Anglia. As well as sales of the entire Bobcat range of machines and attachments, Versatile Equipment offers a full selection of genuine Bobcat accessories and parts to support customers in its area. This is backed up by a substantial stock of brand new; Certified Used and second hand Bobcat machines for sale. Customers also benefit from Versatile’s on-site service network, covering everything from emergency repairs to routine maintenance.

 Specialist Rental Fleet

For general hire and more specialist applications, Versatile Equipment runs a state-of-the-art rental fleet of compact loaders and attachments, which is one of the largest of its kind in the UK. The company has a team of experts who are on hand to offer customers advice they might need regarding the best machinery to hire for their work. 

Lee Chater added: “Not only do we offer one of the UK’s largest rental fleets of compact loaders, we also have a huge fleet of attachments to increase the versatility of the machines. We can cater for a wide range of needs - whether you want to rent a skid-steer or compact track loader with just a bucket or with a selection of attachments to undertake numerous tasks. All machines in our hire fleet are under three years old, fully certified and have a thorough Pre-Delivery Inspection prior to delivery to a customer.”

A Growing Product Range

In the last three years, Bobcat has entered the European wheel loader market for compact wheel loaders and small articulated loaders, as well as launching the company’s new generation R-Series telehandlers and compact loaders. The product portfolio has now been further extended with a new range of compact tractors from 25 to 58 HP and a new line of mowers coming very soon.

The Bobcat R-Series telehandler range for agriculture and construction provides a choice of 21 models with Stage V engines. There are eight machines aimed at agriculture covering maximum lifting capacities between 2.5 and 4.3 tonne with lifting heights from 6 to 8 m, complemented by 13 more for construction covering maximum lifting capacities between 2.5 and 4.1 tonne and lifting heights from 6 to 18 m. The Bobcat range also includes a selection of 10 rotary telehandler models.

The Bobcat range offers 10 skid-steer loaders including the brand new R-Series S86 model, complementing these wheeled machines with a selection of five compact track loaders, including the latest R-Series T86 top-of-the-range model. Bobcat also offers an extensive portfolio of mini-excavators from 1.0 to 9.4 tonne, including two electric models and a full range of light compaction machinery.

For more information about Bobcat and Bobcat products, visit www.bobcat.com