Britannia AuctionsPlant and construction equipment auctions in Peterborough
A mini digger interests a farmer as readily as a builder here. Peterborough sits on the edge of the fens, and the drainage contractors, growers, hauliers and agricultural engineers from Wisbech, March, Spalding and Whittlesey use the same dumpers, mini diggers, tracked machines and telehandlers as the groundworks trade in the city. Two trades within reach of one viewing day is one of the reasons we like selling plant from this corner of the country.
The sales themselves run from yards on Fengate, from engineering works at Orton Southgate and Woodston, and from the compounds left behind by the logistics builds beside the A1(M) at Alwalton. Where the yard is not suitable we collect the plant and sell it from our own premises.
Start with the contact form. A list of machines and a postcode is enough.
Drainage work and the kit the fens use
The fen towns run on land drainage. Dykes are cleaned and field drains are laid every winter, and the firms that do it run long reach excavators, tracked dumpers and small diggers that they replace from the used market. In a Peterborough sale that trade is within easy reach of the same viewing day as the housebuilders and the groundworks contractors from Huntingdon and Stamford.
That shapes what we advise. Long reach and ditching buckets are listed as their own lots with the pin size and the hitch type stated, so an attachment can be bid on without the machine. Tracked dumpers and other low ground pressure kit are described with the ground they are built for, since that is what the local work asks of them.
The season matters too. Drainage work runs from autumn to spring, so the date of a sale is worth discussing before it is fixed, and we will give you a view on it.
Fengate yards and the parkway to the A1(M)
Fengate, or Eastern Industry to anyone local, is where most of the contractor yards sit, and the A1139 parkway runs from there to junction 17 or 18 of the A1(M) without a village or a housing estate in the way. We still check the gate, the turning space, the hard standing and the loading point before the sale, because a collection day with twenty lorries in and out is quieter when none of them has to reverse.
We catalogue at the yard. Each machine is photographed with the hour meter and the plate in shot, the machines that can be run safely are started on video, and any faults we find are written into the description. The viewing day is at the yard so that buyers can look at pins, tracks, tyres and hydraulics before bidding.
The logistics compounds at Alwalton were built for artics, and they are checked in the same way.
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 Peterborough
- We are an agricultural engineer at Woodston with a telehandler and a compressor that we no longer use. Will they sell with construction plant?
Yes. A telehandler is judged on its certification, hours and condition rather than on whether it has spent its life on a farm or a site, and a current LOLER certificate counts for more than the address. Compressors and generators from an engineering works often carry lower hours than site machines, and we say so where the meter supports it. Two items would go into a mixed plant sale rather than a sale of their own, so they sit in a full catalogue.
- Can buyers from Lincolnshire collect from a yard on Fengate without coming through the city?
Yes. The A15 comes in from the north and the parkway carries lorries around the built up areas to the estate, so a buyer from Spalding or Lincoln stays on dual carriageway for most of the run. Collection is by booked slot in the days after the close. The buyer pays first, arrives with the right lorry and loads under supervision. We hand over a release note for each lot so the yard owner knows what has left and who took it.
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.