Wrings Transport is celebrating its silvery anniversary with a limited edition Mercedes-Benz Actros.

It has opted for the new Actros Edition 1 – one of only 400 on the market – which stands out from the rest with its anniversary message ('25 years of service 1995-2020’), darkened headlamp covers and rims, and an Edition 1-branded sun visor incorporating four extra LED main-beam headlamps.

Other features include MirrorCam, which replaces conventional mirrors, a Multimedia Cockpit, and enhanced versions of the Active Brake Assist emergency braking and fuel-saving Predictive Powertrain Control systems.

Wrings can trace its roots back to 1927 when Sidney Joseph Wring began using a horse and cart to deliver coal to hospitals and schools throughout the Bristol area. In its current form, however, the company was founded in 1995 when Sidney’s youngest son Royston, and his two sons Stuart and Martin, began trading with a single 3.5-tonne dropsider.

Today, Wrings Transport operates 31 tractor units by three manufacturers – Mercedes-Benz claims the majority of the line-up, with 14 vehicles. All but one of Wrings’ 27 rigid trucks of various sizes are also Mercedes, as are three of its four vans. Last year, Wrings Transport acquired 10 Actros 2545 tractors from City West Commercials, together with 10 Antos at 18 tonnes GVW, and a pair of Atego 7.5-tonners.

Managing director Stuart Wring resolved to purchase the Actros Edition 1 as his company’s anniversary truck after attending a transport conference in Cardiff last year at which Sam Whittaker, now sales director at Mercedes-Benz Trucks UK, delivered a presentation on the new Actros.

“Until then I’d been torn between a Mercedes-Benz and a Swedish V8,” recalled Wring. “But Sam’s introduction to the new Actros, together with the video he showed us, is what sold it to me. After that, my mind was made up.”

Wrings either purchases or contract hires its tractor units. It has bought the Edition 1 and will “keep it forever”, according to Wring.

“We’re proposing to open our own heritage centre, and that’s where the Edition 1 will be going when it finally reaches the end of its life, although that’s a very long way off yet,” he said.

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