A NORTH Yorkshire firm which is one of the last vehicle manufacturers in Britain has announced a deal selling nearly £1 million worth of specialist equipment to South Africa.

Multidrive, of Thirsk, is supplying a range of equipment including its principal construction product, a 40-ton capacity earth-moving ejector hauler, to Roshcon, which shifts fly-ash from pits to make bricks.

Roshcon and another South African contractor, Fraser Alexander, have between them already put to use eight of the revolutionary vehicles, supplied by Multidrive through its Johannesburg office.

The announcement came hot on the heels of a visit by the Duke of York last week to Thirsk Industrial Park in York Road, when Prince Andrew met many of the firm's 53 workers. He also admired the giant M8 ejector hauler, which uses a four-axle trailer, with eight-wheel drive to make it rock steady, stable and fast in its earth-moving tasks, however rough the terrain.

The firm was founded by chairman David JB Brown, one of the world's most respected designers of vehicles for the construction, agricultural and military markets, who died last month when his Range Rover overturned near his home in Thirsk.

Updated: 08:10 Tuesday, March 09, 2004