SHB 4x4 Group Keeps the summer music festivals rocking and rolling

AUTO CENTRAL - July 25, 2008: SHB 4x4, the leading four wheel drive leasing and rental company, celebrated more than two decades keeping the Glastonbury Festival rocking and rolling this year by supplying more than 200 Land Rover Defenders and Toyota Hilux vehicles to the event.

And on top of this long-running partnership, SHB 4x4 is also ensuring that the British weather doesn’t stop festivals including Big Chill, Gatecrasher, Isle of Wight, Reading, Leeds, V, T in the Park, Creamfields, Greenbelt, Greenman and the Summer Solstice coming to a muddy halt.

“It’s a logistical challenge to get such a large number of specialist vehicles such as Defenders and Hiluxes supplied to such a prestigious event as the Glastonbury Festival, but we’ve been working with Michael Eavis and his team for more than 20 years, and it’s an honour to be able to help out,” said SHB 4x4 director Paul Street.

The Glastonbury Festival, famous for legendary appearances from the greatest names in rock, pop, and now hip hop, is almost as well known for mud in those years when the rain comes, when SHB’s vehicles have an even more vital role than usual - getting rock stars and VIPs to the stage on time and helping the organisers keeping festival-goers safe.

“Over the years we’ve used the Defenders, and Range Rovers from our Luxury 4x4 Hire arm, to transport the likes of Paul McCartney, Robbie Williams, Kate Moss and others around the site, although I can’t tell you whether Jay-Z got to experience the particularly British delight of travel in a Defender this year,” said Paul.

“We might supply all the festivals with all manner of bespoke Land Rovers for different purposes such as policing, security, logistics, management and first aid, but so far we haven’t built one with 20 inch spinners and a blingy interior. Perhaps we might have to start.

“For SHB, to be associated with so many massive outdoor events shows how we can offer almost anything to any firm or organisation requiring four-wheel drive capability. We can also provide full-time on-site mechanics, as well as ATVs, vans, refuse lorries and tractors.”

Jackie Slade, deputy operations manager for the Glastonbury Festival organises the fleet. She said: “We’ve been working with SHB 4x4 for many years and increasingly we’ve used more and more of their vehicles in the months preceding and after the festival. It is a massive event and we have a lot of different organisations on site that require four-wheel drive. SHB fulfils all those needs.

“There are large number of vehicles to be checked in and out of our system at the same time – and at a time when the build and de-rig are at their busiest means the site can be pretty chaotic. Keeping tabs of all the vehicles can be tricky but we haven’t lost one yet – touch wood.

“There are always those last minute changes or mishaps, but I find SHB to be as helpful as they possibly can be and we appreciate that flexibility.”

Glastonbury’s close ties to environmental organisations mean that where possible SHB’s vehicles are run on biodiesel at the festival.

Working at such a unique event means that SHB’s vehicles end up in some stranger situations than the average hire vehicle. Says Paul: “We’ve had some odd things happen to our vehicles. You’ve got to be sure the cars are locked, especially when it’s raining, otherwise you find they become very attractive to festival goers as impromptu campsites.

“And the number of buses, caravans, burger vans and the like we’ve towed out of the mud over the years must run into hundreds.”