Pink excavator to raise money for charity

Waitings directors Robert Waiting and Adrian Ash with JCB UK and Ireland sales director, Steve Smith.

PLANT hire business Waitings has taken delivery of a 22-tonne JCB excavator, which has been painted pink in tribute to a much-loved member of the founding family.

Every time the 220X tracked digger is put into action, it will be raising money for charity.

The machine has been given the pink paint job in memory of Victoria Waiting, who died aged 44 of a brain tumour in 2016.

Victoria’s brother Robert and fellow director Adrian Ash, who run the Cumbria-based drainage, civil engineering, pipeline and plant hire firm, have decided that each time the machine is hired, a percentage of the revenue will be donated to charity, including local Cumbrian hospices and Brain Tumour Research. The new model follows in the tracks of another pink JCB excavator bought in 2015

The late Victoria Waiting with the original pink JCB in 2015

Adrian Ash said, “Our existing pink JCB has been fantastic in terms of productivity and in the awareness it raised. It delivered an excellent return not only for the business but also the chosen charities. It is poignant that soon after it had been introduced, we lost Victoria to the very disease we were raising money fund research into.

“That is why we are so keen to continue with the pink theme and raise vital funds for those cancer-related charities which are so close to our hearts.

“We would like to thank JCB and Scot JCB again for their hard work and support in commissioning this machine – it is testament to the factory’s flexibility. Their willingness to engage in such a special project is hugely appreciated.”

The original pink JCB machine – which has helped Waitings raise over £100,000 for charity over the years – will soon be auctioned off with a portion of the proceeds going to charity.