26.10.2005

Manitou “on a roll”

Manitou has until now never managed to do more that skim the surface of the UK boom lift market. But this is changing rapidly with UK orders this year at record levels.

At the start of 2005 Manitou announced a change in its distribution policy, appointing Russon Access to look after the major hire companies. Success came rapidly with the Platform company ordering 60 units, click here along with AFI, AMP and others.

With the sale of Gamble Jarvis, the owner of Russon Access and the departure of Alan Russon, the Manitou account is no longer with Russon access, but that is not stopping the momentum, with another major order from the Platform Company and a number of new customers.

A recent announcement included the purchase of four 180 ATJ 17.6 metre working height booms by Peter Hird. Hird has a reputation for conducting in depth analysis of a product before adding it to its fleet. It was this evaluation policy which resulted in the Hird test, a widely accepted measurement method for evaluating comparative battery life on aerial lifts.
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Peter Hird stands astride the first two Manitou booms into the Hird fleet

Hird, a dedicated Genie user, has thoroughly tested and scrutinised the latest Manitou Rough Terrain articulated boom and like what it found enough to place its first order.

“After years of buying Genie and JLG etc, I found it very very hard to break the family tradition. But when looking at Access Equipment in the 18metre Construction Range. Up popped the infamous Alan Russon and offered me a demonstration of the 180 Manitou, we crawled all over it and had our service and operations staff do the same and found very little wrong with it.
So for now we have bought four and they are doing really well for us, our customers are specifically asking for these machines hence better hire rates too. Well done Manitou”. Said Peter Hird jnr