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SOUTH EASTERN Electricity Board has moved over to chassismounted cantilever tail-lifts for its latest distribution vehicles. Bodymounted column lifts were previously used but these were less suited to the demountable body system used by Seeboard.
The new specification equipment is now operating in Kent and is designed to reduce manual handling to a minimum.
A Ford Cargo 1617 drawbar unit and Fruehauf trailer carrying up to four demountable bodies delivers to district depots, dropping individual bodies which have been loaded at the warehouse in customer order.
A 7.5-tonne gvw Cargo 0811 rigid with a Ratcliff REC 500 cantilever lift and Abel demount equipment picks up the bodies for local deliveries. The 500 kg capacity lift is manufactured at Ratcliff's factory in Dijon, France, which it acquired in its takeover of Peugeot's tail-lift business.
Weighing 260kg, the cantilever lift is light enough for use on weight-conscious non-hgv 7.5-tonne vehicles, particularly if the payload is already curtailed by the addition of demount equipment. The same lift has been specified by the London, Southern and South Western Electricity Boards.