16.04.2021

Socage goes with Working At Height

Italian truck mounted and spider lift manufacturer Socage has appointed Working At Height as its full line distributor for the UK.

Operating from two locations - Milford, Surrey and Sheffield, Yorkshire - Working At Height sells and supports a wide range of access equipment across the whole country and increasingly overseas. In addition to standard powered and non-powered access equipment the company provides a great deal of bespoke equipment to meet specific customer requirements. Working At Height is currently recruiting additional sales and support staff to help handle the Socage account and has ordered its first two stock units.
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Working At Height will start with 3.5 tonne Socage truck mounted lifts

The Working At Height company was set up by managing director Ottie Whittle in late 2004 and began operating in early 2006 - see: What’s in a name. He already had almost 20 years experience under his belt having started out with John Rusling in 1987 as a salesman (Rusling became Instant Zip-Up and later UpRight UK). Frequently one of the company's top salesman he left in 1992 to work with the start-up business High Tech Solutions. In 1994 he joined Pete Pemberton at Planet Platforms, helping set up Planet Platforms Southern and developing a speciality in the aviation and specialist access field.

10 years later he decided to do his own and set up Working At Height, initially working with his brother Nick. His formula was to almost act as a working at height consultant type supplier. His target market was companies with specific working at height challenges, helping find the best solution for them, regardless of what type of equipment it was and then supplying it complete with training and after sales support. In the early days Genie equipment figured prominently and the company became known for supplying equipment for high profile projects, such as the big booms for the Millennium Dome and a boom and scissors package for Earls Court. Nick moved on to set up as a contractor, but Paul Whittle joined Ottie and now plays an increasingly prominent role in the business.
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Paul Whittle said: "The Working At Height team is delighted to enter into this new venture with Socage, we choose our supply partners carefully as we have built our reputation on safety and reliability. This decision has been in the making for 18 months or more and have decided that Socage was the right fit for our business. We know a thing or two about the UK access platform industry and supplier longevity and could see that Socage simply needed a well established and trusted UK access company to represent them. Being based just outside London with engineering coverage across the UK we are also ideally positioned to hit the ground running."

Vertikal Comment

Socage has a chequered history in the UK when it comes to full line distribution, although it had a strong run for a number of years working with CPL, which sold a large number of Socage platforms mounted on pick up trucks in the UK. Working At Height has a strong and steady reputation, and a very experienced team and as such should do well with a wider variety of its products from the Socage range.