Happy 40th Birthday to us!

Today marks the 40th year since our company was founded by David Woods in 1982!
We would like you to join us in celebrating our 40 years of success built on quality service! Priding ourselves on all things Materials Handling Equipment, including Sales, Hire, Servicing and Training.

Since being founded by David in his Bishops Stortford home in 1982, Acclaim has gone from strength to strength. We became the 1st and original dealer of the STILL product in to the UK. Constructed our Head Quarters and workshop in Purfleet from scratch in 1985. We became an exclusive Hyundai dealer in 2013, increasing the range of equipment that we offer. We won FLTA (now known as UKMHA) Dealer of the Year in 2017 and have gone on to be UK wide with additional depots in Kent, Reading, Portsmouth, Rugby, Norwich, Spalding and Liverpool. Our casual hire fleet has grown dramatically since Acclaim’s 30th anniversary. Ensuring that our customers have access to the right equipment when they need it. We’ve increased our driver trainer head count to provide training on a wider scale as well as developing a new driver training centre in Kent. Our Engineer Apprenticeship program has been ongoing since 1990, making it the UK’s longest-standing Forklift Apprenticeship programme. Five apprentices are now enrolled in the apprenticeship programme, which is run across the depots. Since having only two apprentices in September 2020, we have successfully grown our apprenticeship scheme by introducing apprentices at Norwich, Reading and Purfleet. The success of our apprenticeship scheme is not only down to the college tuition and individuals but our Mentors who guide the apprentices at work. A thank you to all Engineers involved in the success stories from Acclaim Handling’s Apprenticeship Scheme over the years. We see this as a vital resource to further strengthen our engineering team and long may this part of Acclaim’s DNA continue to grow and be a success.

Health and safety is a core value of our business, we pride ourselves on being Health & Safety Compliant. Over the years we have successfully grown our accreditation to ensure that we are a key supplier with health and safety focused businesses. This includes; BSi ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 45001:2018. We have sustained Thorough Examination CFTS, SafeContractor, SafePQQ and JOSCAR accreditation for 2022. We are also proud members of UKMHA (formerly FLTA and BITA) and an Accredited RTITB Partner.

Our employee’s mental health is important to us, that’s why last year, 16 members of staff participated in a successful Mental Health First Aid course, this ensures that people can get the support they need in the workplace.
We also recently purchased 7 HeartSine 360P Fully Automatic Defibrillators for each of our depots, which should arrive shortly. We will be conducting training on the units and CPR with our employees and first aiders in the near future.

This year, in memory of David Woods and Gill Parrett, Chief Executive Sam Woods, alongside his sisters Ellie and Rosie, will be completing a bike ride covering the length of the UK. Sam, Ellie and Rosie will be starting this ride later on in the week all whilst raising money for the Cruse Bereavement Charity.
We would like to thank all of our team members for their hard work over the years, they have contributed so much to the success of the business. Finally we would like to thank you, our loyal customers for all the support and business you have given us for the past 40 years.
Here’s to many more years of Acclaim!