Nationwide's European powered access counterpart, Zooom, has opened a second depot in Austria. The new Vienna depot will provide customers in Eastern Austria with the opportunity to hire a selection of the latest scissor lifts, booms, trailers and truck mounts.

The opening of the Vienna depot in March of this year comes just over six months after the company's first Austrian depot was opened in Innsbruck. Such has been the success of this first venture that there are already plans to expand both depots hire fleets to meet the fast-growing demand.

The new depot - indeed the decision to enter the Austrian powered access market - is part of Lavendon Group's much-publicised European expansion plan, which has been spurred on by a £168 million investment programme rolled out over the past two years.

"We see Austria as a developing market and over time we will look to expand the network, building on the performance that has been achieved at our Innsbruck depot," says Nick Selley, Zooom's business development director based in Austria and neighbouring Germany.

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March 2002 Nat2.031a