24.09.2006

Lightweight operator

Brighouse-based Ploughcroft Building Services firm invested £70,000 last year in a Cela TJ170 truck mounted lift. The lift which is mounted on a 3.5 tonne truck features a telescopic boom with long jib, which allows it to carry out a certain amount of under-bridge work.
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Stepney Calvert operates the Cela TJ170

When looking for a driver, Ploughcroft employed one of the most compact operators possible in the form of 5’ 5” (1.6 metre), 50kgs Stepney Calvert – a 26-year-old girl from Halifax.

Ploughcroft MD Chris Hopkins said: “Stepney and the cherry picker are a perfect match. She is small and light just like the lift she operates, but she is physically very strong and highly confident in her approach, with a mindset that is all about pushing boundaries and striving to do things better. We are delighted to have her as part of the team.”
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Stepney Calvert at the controls, (One assumes she snapped that harness shut before going up?)

Calvert joined Ploughcroft in August after seven years working as an HGV Class-one driver for the army at Gutersloh in Germany.
She lists cars, motorbikes, and bungi jumping among her interests – “anything that’s a bit rugged and a challenge!” she says.

Since qualifying for her IPAF- PAL card at Ploughcroft’s own training centre, she has been involved in a number of projects, including maintenance to the roofs of local schools, and is currently working on a ten-week contract at Ashton Under Lyme, where she is using the cherry picker to fix exterior fascia panels to a new Ikea store.

“I‘m really enjoying my new job” she said “Yes I’m a woman in a traditionally male domain and I suppose I don‘t look like a typical builder – but 8 stones (50kgs) or not, I’m no lightweight!”

Ploughcroft Building Services employs 21 staff and specialises in domestic and commercial building, roofing and maintenance work throughout the North of England.