In a top-ten survey of the UK's best suppliers of powered access equipment, Nationwide came up trumps with the Skylift Bronto 72HLA. The unit is Europe's highest truck mounted rotational boom with an astonishing working height of 72 metres and an outreach of more than 27.7 metres. It is, says Nationwide, the daddy of the Skylift fleet, which currently consists of 166 truck mounted telescopic and articulating access booms, with nearly two dozen models from which to choose.

Truck mounted booms are able to move on and off site quickly and efficiently and be fully operational within minutes of arrival on site. Most models are able to rotate a full 360 degrees and are manipulated via controls located on the work platform. The outreach capabilities also enable the work platform to reach over obstacles, gaining access to areas not easily achieved by equipment where movement is limited to vertical elevation. They are especially popular with cleaning contractors, pest control companies and building maintenance specialists.

Every Skylift machine is supplied with a fully qualified and experienced Nationwide operator. However, with many of the units of up to 22 metre working height, self-drive options are available in Nationwide's Skylift line-up. Self-drive Skylift's start with the 15 metre working height, seven metre reach 159T, through to the 22 metre working height, 14 metre reach 22LDT, and can be operated by anyone with a standard driving licence.

However, Nationwide goes to great lengths to stress the advisability of always hiring a trained operator with a truck mount, or at the very least, ensure that the self-drive operator is properly trained.

While every one of the 50 or so Nationwide depots can arrange the hire of Skylift equipment and a driver/operator, specialist help is also readily available from the Master Skylift depots in Bellshill, Coventry and Stockport, St Albans, Newton Abbot, Gateshead, Leeds and Cardiff, Bristol, Wednesbury and Lisburn.

Nationwide is part of the publicly-quoted Lavendon Group Plc and is headquartered in Lutterworth, Leicestershire. Its hire fleet is twice the size of its nearest UK competitor and all of the company's depots comply with Nationwide's ISO 9002 accreditation. The Group is also a major player in the European powered access market, trading under the name Zooom in Germany, France, Spain and Austria.

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January 2002 Nat2.016a