About John Hanlon & Co Ltd

The Hanlon name is well known throughout the UK. John Hanlon & Company Ltd was established in 1973 to provide repair, rebuild and fabrication services for heavy plant and construction equipment. Over the course of the last 50 years the business has gone on to diversify into becoming the leading specialist equipment hirer of over 320 premium branded machines, consisting of wheel loaders, material handling equipment, excavators, articulated trucks and telehandlers.

John Hanlon & Co founder, John Hanlon
Founder John Hanlon in 2023

Komptech


In 2016, Komptech GmbH and John Hanlon & Company Ltd started their partnership, with John Hanlon becoming the UK dealer for the brand. It is focused on serving the core business sectors of composting, biomass, wood recycling and mechanical biological treatment.

Service support

Service support is provided via two well located branches in Bedfordshire and Yorkshire. With a team of dedicated skilled workshop and field engineers operating out of each branch, the company is well placed to respond quickly to any breakdown, maximising machine uptime.

A family business

With three generations of Hanlon all in active roles with the company, John Hanlon & Co Ltd prides itself on being a family business and holds the same core values and expertise that were established by John Hanlon 50 years ago.

1973
The start of the Hanlon story
JJ&B
John Hanlon & Co started as JJ&B Engineering

Established as JJ&B Engineering in 1973 as specialists in engine refurbishments and repairs.

1970s
Our first home, in Watford.
The start
John Hanlon & Co started as JJ&B Engineering

The garage in Watford where the John Hanlon & Co journey began

1970s
Expansion begins
First service truck
John Hanlon & Co

The first service truck in the fleet. Now boasting over 10 dedicated engineers with nationwide coverage. (But still learning!)

1979
Move to Bedfordshire
A new home
John Hanlon & Co

With the business expanding, we needed a new home. In 1979 we moved to an old farm in Campton, Bedfordshire and started to focus on our hire division, where it now boasts over 300 machines on the fleet.

1980s
Our own transport
Our own haulage
John Hanlon & Co machine delivery

As the business grew further, we needed our own lorries to transport our machines. We now have multiple haulage vehicles delivering machines daily to our many customers.

1990s
Further expansion
Machine dealer
John Hanlon & Co

John Hanlon and a couple of his grandchildren trying out a Case CX13 mini excavator. Taken during our first expansion to becoming a machine dealer as well as a hire company in the 1990's.

2016
UK distributor
Komptech
John Hanlon & Co Komptech

In 2016, our partnership with Komptech began. We became the sole dealer in the UK, offering solutions in shredding, screening, and separating all kinds of waste.

2017
Further expansion
New depot
John Hanlon & Co Harworth depot

With the continued success of the hire division, as well as becoming the Komptech dealer for Great Britain, we expanded further to our depot just outside Doncaster in 2017.

50 year anniversary
2023
John Hanlon & Co 50 years anniversary

50 years and counting! 2023 marks 50 years since our humble beginnings in Watford. We have become the leading company in heavy machinery hire, and a distributor for one of the leading global brands of waste processing machinery, Komptech.