About Us
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Abbey offers the largest short term hire fleet of forklift attachments in the UK, as well as numerous operational solutions. Building off of 40 years of heritage, Abbey is committed to improving safety and efficiency in the UK forklift industry through manufacturing excellence, innovation, and outstanding service. We work collaboratively with forklift manufacturers and dealers, and give them the peace of mind that all solutions are implemented seamlessly and professionally.
WHERE WE WORK
Abbey operates out of a wholly owned 4,400 m2 purpose-built facility located in Manchester, UK. Our in-house engineering team specialises in the end-to-end reconditioning of forklift attachments for major material handling OEMs and dealers.
We stock over 2000 attachments for immediate hire or purchase and offer a range of innovative material handling safety solutions focused on the forklift aftermarket – all fully supported by our team of expert field service engineers.


THE ABBEY WAY
The Abbey Way is how we stay focused on what matters most and how each of us plays a part in reaching our goals, both individually
and as a collective.
It’s built around 11 values that guide how we work, support each other and keeping finding way to improve the service we offer.
Want to know more? Click below to hear our team share what the Abbey Way means to them.
WHERE WE'VE COME FROM

1984
Vincent Saunders establishes Abbey Attachments Ltd after a long career in the forklift industry.

1985
The company moves from a small, rented facility in Rochdale to larger premises in Bury.

1991
Abbey takes the first steps to represent third-party material handling brands and is appointed the UK distributor for 𝗞𝗢𝗢𝗜® 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗙𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀.

1993
Vincent’s son, Paul joins the business.

2002
Growth drives a move to the current premises, initially 2,500 m2

2003
Abbey is appointed the UK distributor for 𝗢𝗿𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗼 𝗰𝗮𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗮 𝘀𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺𝘀.

2008
Abbey is appointed the UK distributor for 𝗥𝗔𝗩𝗔𝗦 𝗺𝗼𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗲 𝘄𝗲𝗶𝗴𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺𝘀.

2013
The business continues to grow, and 500m2 additional warehouse space is built to house attachments for immediate hire.

2015
Paul Saunders takes over from Vincent as Managing Director.

2018
The facility is extended to 4400m2 and Abbey becomes a leading supplier to the UK forklift industry.

2020
Paul’s son, Jacob joins the business.

2022
Abbey anticipates the transformation of the MH world by partnering with 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗚𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗽, and 𝗦𝗮𝗳𝗲𝘁𝘆 𝗦𝗵𝗶𝗲𝗹𝗱 to introduce 𝗦𝗠𝗔𝗥𝗧 𝗔𝗜 𝘁𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗻𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘆.

2023
The company rebrands as ‘𝗔𝗯𝗯𝗲𝘆’ to reflect the wider scope of operations: attachments and forklift safety solutions.
HOW WE CAN HELP YOUR BUSINESS
Hiring reconditioned forklift attachments from Abbey reduces your cost and environmental footprint when compared with hiring or purchasing forklift attachments from new.
Our forklift equipment and safety solutions are designed to help you meet your KPIs and prevent penalties by improving on-site safety, productivity, and efficiency.
Abbey’s firm commitment to innovation investment and collaboration will help you to compete effectively and stay ahead of ever-changing legislation.
A wide range of solutions integration options including AI and SMART technologies, is available to meet your complex operational needs.

Abbey has the people, solutions, knowledge, and expertise to seamlessly integrate with your operations, and become an extension of your business.
Our forklift material handling solutions have been designed to work collectively to help you drive efficiencies in the simplest and most cost-effective manner.
Abbey’s best-in-class forklift safety solutions will help you improve site safety and compliance, by protecting the lives of your most vulnerable workers.
Abbey is a family owned and run business with in-house customer support and engineering teams, and can
respond quickly to any number of situations.

Where we've come from
Mission
Raising standards
in our industry.
Abbey is dedicated to improving safety, efficiency, and productivity in the UK forklift industry through the manufacture and supply of world-class material handling solutions, service excellence, and continuous improvement and innovation.

Where we are now
Culture
Our inside-out
approach.
We believe that getting things right on the inside makes it easier to deliver great service on the outside. Our culture sits on five pillars, and we call this the ‘Abbey Way.’
- Communicate clearly
- Do the right thing
- Be caring
- Put people first
- Stay sharp
OUR EXPERTS
Meet some of our talented family

I feel privileged to lead Abbey, an exciting and dynamic business established by my father in 1984. It’s a living, breathing entity and an integral part of our family, as is every individual in our loyal team who go above and beyond to deliver excellence always.
Lifelong lover of rock music, cars, food, and interesting beers.

I’m responsible for all aspects of Abbey’s after-sales delivery including our field service engineering team, central parts department, and workshop re-manufacturing facility. I enjoy the exciting, fast-paced environment and solving different challenges every day.
Junior rugby coach, passionate about developing young people through sport, and family man.

I’m an out-of-the-box thinker supporting engineers, end customers, suppliers, and fork truck sales teams to develop innovative, and often unique commercial solutions that improve safety, efficiency, and productivity. I lead on new product development, equipment integration and staying ahead of ever-changing industry standards and trends.
Competitive dinghy sailor, canal boat owner, radio-controlled equipment enthusiast, and hillwalker.

Meeting customers, understanding their individual challenges, building relationships, and `using my extensive industry knowledge and experience to help them find the optimum solutions for their needs is central to my role. I enjoy the rich variety of my work and that every day is different.
Dog owner, garden potterer, fair weather tennis player, boxset, cuppa, and log burner lover.

I enjoy using my company and industry wide expertise to understand customers’ challenges and provide them with solutions, often in collaboration with our in-house technical team. Being able to help customers, meet new people, and build strong, lasting relationships brings a strong element of fulfilment to my role.
Supportive ‘rugby dad’ to three talented boys, walker, and outdoor lover.

I’m a recent recruit to the Abbey team. I provide specialist advice on our telematics product, supporting engineers with hardware installation and customers with website training. Drawing on my experience in material handling, I also provide general support for our sales team, with site surveys and product support.
Caterham car owner and enthusiast, and self-confessed petrol head.

My role is very broad. It includes supporting our sales team and my dad, Paul, overseeing internal operations, including our new ERP and CRM systems, and being a company-wide point of contact and source of information.
Lover of live music events, family time, and astronomy.

I’m responsible for the smooth running of our busy workshop and the day-to-day management of our talented engineering team. We’re passionate about excellence across all stages of our forklift attachment remanufacturing process and as a team we achieve incredible results.
Carp fishing enthusiast who enjoys downtime with family.

I recently joined Abbey after a long career in customer service across material handling and energy sectors. Here, I work cross-functionally across the business to lead on the delivery of support and service excellence for our customers, suppliers, and internal teams.
DIY enthusiast, globetrotter, gymnastics fan, and ‘mum’ to two rabbits and a tortoise named Elvis.

I can just pick up the phone to them and they’re really quick and on the ball.
If we’ve forgotten something, they’ll remind us.
HEAD OF SHORT-TERM RENTAL AND USED EQUIPMENT
Linde Material Handling (UK)