The need for forklift versatility has led garden centre chain Country Homes & Gardens to take five new 4x4 telescopic JCB Teletruks.
The three-tonnes capacity Teletruks are now in use at their garden centres at Play Hatch and Winnersh, both near Reading; Seven Hills near Weybridge; and Chipping Ongar and Upminster, both in Essex. With two Teletruks already in use at its Royston site in Hertfordshire, the new additions mean Country Homes & Gardens now has a fleet of seven. Furthermore, the company has hired an extra machine to help handle its current peak period.
The JCB Teletruks are used mainly for unloading delivery vehicles of anything from hard landscaping material to garden furniture as well as general lifting of heavy garden centre products such as pallets of paving slabs, top-soil and sand. All the sites have some areas of uneven ground and so JCB 4x4 Teletruks are the perfect choice.
These JCB TLT 30D 4x4 machines can lift their 3 tonnes capacity to 4 metres high, while the forward reach ability provided by the telescopic boom allows it to load and unload 1500 kg at a 2 metres forward extension. So the benefit comes in reaching over to the far side of a trailer, or over block-stacked pallets, which a traditional lift truck cannot do. The permanent four-wheel drive gives the machine some roading capability over parts of a site with unfinished ground surfaces.
“The JCB Teletruk is the most versatile forklift we can find for our business. As well as being useful in confined spaces, we can unload a delivery vehicle from one side without the vehicle having to turn round. The Teletruk provides everything we want in a single package,” says Brian Williamson, the company’s Fencing & Landscaping Development Manager.
Brian had considered a variety of other trucks but finds them less than ideal: “Masted counterbalanced forklifts cannot do what we require and they are not very good on the rough surfaces found in most of our fence and landscape departments.”
Country Homes & Gardens decided to have their Teletruks on a five-year contract hire deal with full maintenance from dealer Greenshields JCB . “We’ve always found Greenshields JCB offer a good service– with just a phone call they are there,” concludes Brian.
www.jcb.com
Greenshields JCB was established in September 1996 as the sole dealer for the full range of JCB equipment in the South East of England. In 2000 Greenshield JCB became the world’s largest selling dealer, retailing over 1200 new and 300 used machines. From six strategically placed locations throughout the South East the company offers full sales, service and parts support. It specialises in new and used equipment, service and parts support, attachments and power packs.