Britannia AuctionsPlant and construction equipment auctions in Middlesbrough
Teesside runs on heavy kit. The chemical and process plants along the river bring in generators, compressors, lighting towers and access platforms for every shutdown and turnaround, the scrap yards run excavators with grabs and shears, and the plant hire firms supply all of them. When a contract ends or a hire depot closes, that plant has to be dealt with, and a machine standing idle still costs money in space, insurance and any finance on it.
We sell plant and construction equipment by online timed auction, from the yard at Riverside Park or Cannon Park where it stands, or from our own premises when the site has to go back to the landlord. Bidding runs for a week or two with a viewing day before the close.
Send a list through the contact form and we will come out and look at it.
Shutdown plant comes back all at once
A turnaround on a process plant is a short, intense job. Scaffolding by the lorry load, generators for the temporary offices, compressors for the tooling and access platforms for every vessel and pipe rack. When it finishes, the contractor is left with kit bought for that job and no job to follow.
Plant of that kind catalogues well because it is well defined. A generator has a kVA rating, an hour reading, a service book and a plate to photograph. A scissor lift has a LOLER certificate or it does not. Scaffold tube and fittings are sold by the tonne and by the bundle. We catalogue lot by lot so that one compressor can be bid on as readily as twenty.
Timing follows the plant's calendar, not ours. If the next turnaround is months off, a sale before then puts the money in the bank rather than leaving the kit standing, and we will give you a view on the date.
Riverside estates and the road out
The riverside estates were laid out for heavy industry, and the yards at Skippers Lane and Cargo Fleet often have the concrete hard standing, the wide gates and the roads to match. Even so, the gate, the turning space, the loading point and what the ground will take are checked before anything is listed, and what we find goes in the catalogue. From there the A66 takes a low loader west to the A1(M) at Scotch Corner and the A19 takes it north or south.
The trade at Stockton, Billingham, Hartlepool and Darlington is within easy reach of a viewing day, and the scrap and recycling trade at Redcar and Thornaby is closer still. Bids are placed online and the sale is open to the whole of the UK, and Teesport is on the doorstep for anything being shipped.
Lots are offered as seen under the auction terms, so buyers are expected to inspect before they bid.
What these sales can include
- Excavators and mini diggers
- Dumpers and site dumpers
- Telehandlers
- Generators and lighting towers
- Compressors and breakers
- Rollers and compaction equipment
- Site cabins and welfare units
- Scaffolding and access equipment
- Concrete mixers and pumps
- Buckets, quick hitches and attachments
- Plant trailers
- Surveying equipment and small tools
- Fuel bowsers and tanks
How the auction works
Each machine is a lot with a full description, photographs and the hour reading. Bidding runs online for a set period, usually one to two weeks, and lots close in sequence. A bid in the last minutes extends the close for that lot.
Plant is offered as seen under the auction terms, and buyers are expected to inspect before bidding. The buyer pays the hammer price plus a buyer's premium, with VAT charged where it applies and shown separately on the invoice. Payment is required before removal.
Buyers arrange and pay for the removal of their lots within the agreed window. What that takes depends on the machine: wheeled plant with road registration can be driven away, and tracked or heavy machines go on a low loader. Nothing leaves the site until it is paid for and signed out.
The plant and construction equipment auctions page covers what buyers want to know, finance and ownership checks, where the sale runs from, reserves and the market, alternatives.
Questions about selling in Middlesbrough
- We run a scrap yard. Can you sell a material handler and the shear excavator in the same sale as ordinary plant?
Yes. A material handler or a shear excavator is catalogued alongside ordinary plant, with the attachment described separately from the base machine, its own serial number and any hydraulic modifications noted, because a buyer may want the machine without the shear or the shear on its own. Both get photographed in place. One catalogue with a viewing day and a single collection window is also simpler for you than splitting the yard across two sales.
- The yard lease ends on a quarter day and the landlord wants it empty. Is a month enough?
A month is often workable, and what it depends on is the number of lots, the access and the paperwork. It has to cover cataloguing, a sale of a week or so with a viewing day, and collection days before the keys go back. Finance is what usually eats time, since a machine on hire purchase stays with the funder until the agreement is settled and can only be sold with their agreement. If the date is too tight for a sale from the yard, we can move the plant to our own premises and sell it from there.
More questions about plant and construction
Related services
Guides
- How used machinery is valued
Buyers pay for what a machine will do for them, less what it costs to get it out and running. This guide explains how make, hours, tooling, demand and removal cost feed a guide price, and why that price is not book value.
- Selling a commercial vehicle fleet
Fleet sales turn on paperwork as much as on price. This guide covers the V5C, MOT and plating documents, clearing finance before listing, keys and livery, recording mileage and tachograph data, and how to defleet in batches while still trading.