22.05.2026

Alan Charlesworth 1940 – 2026

We have received the sad news that crane veteran Alan Charlesworth, formerly of Grove International, Krupp, Eurocrane Sales and Terex Cranes UK has died.

He passed away in mid-April at the age of 85. He leaves behind his wife Beryl and sons Simon and Matthew.

Alan Charlesworth began his crane career, as far as we know, at the end of the 1970s, initially as a member of the Grove sales team in the UK and was later appointed as district manager for southern Africa. During his time in the job, Grove’s market share was significant, while he also help grow sales in Kenya and Malawi by working closely with the local distributors.

Charlesworth remained with the company until the mid 1980s, when he left for Krupp Cranes, which was expanding its All Terrain crane production in Wilhelmshaven at the time. He initially worked with the company at its UK office in Southall, London, before setting up a Krupp mobile crane division in Abingdon. Grove acquired the Krupp mobile crane business in 1995, and around that time, Charlesworth left to set up on his own.

So in mid 1995, he set up EuroCrane Sales to sell new and used cranes, later changing to European Cranes, selling new PPM cranes as its dealer, and then Terex cranes, when it acquired PPM. Finally, in 2001, the company became Terex Cranes (UK) after Terex decided to take over the UK crane distribution and acquired the business, later rebranding it as Demag Mobile Cranes.

Alan Charlesworth left the business shortly afterwards, but remained involved, with the crane industry for several years after that, by helping set up Sunderland based Crane Parts in 2000 with Sam Walker and others, to distribute replacement parts for Krupp, Grove and Coles cranes, and then, as far as we know, he retired and was no longer involved with cranes.

Speaking of Alan, one person who worked alongside him said: “He was hard working and really a successful introduction of Krupp into the market, but also lots of fun with amazing events. Fortunately, I did not personally experience the sad closure of the Krupp Crane division in the UK in the mid 1990s. But most of the team joined Alan's new PPM set-up.”

“Alan was certainly an unforgettable crane legend and was, what you so nicely call in the UK, a 'character'. I would not want to have missed a minute of the time I spent working with him, something I am sure is true for most of my colleagues at the time and his customers. In terms of my career and business life, I owe him a lot.”

We hope to be able to add to this tribute to a crane veteran over the coming week or tow, if you have any material, photos or information, we would very much appreciate it.