18.01.2009

Max Access in Administration

Max Access, the Oxfordshire, UK, based company that introduced the spider lift to the UK has gone into administration, following a long period of difficult trading.

The company was founded in 1984 by the late Barry Baker and his son Nigel. The Bakers had been importing and selling self erecting tower cranes as B&G Cranes, and then in 1982 became the UK agent for Falck Schmidt, the Danish based manufacturer of the original spider lifts.

By 1984, the lifts were beginning to take off while it became clear that the UK was not ready for self erecting cranes, the business was renamed Max Access after the family’s black Labrador – Max.

The company sold the lifts to end users and ran an extensive marketing campaign in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s with advertisements featuring its black Labrador logo. The Bakers also began to build a rental fleet and at one time claimed to have the largest Falk Schmidt rental fleet in the world.

The news came to us late last week, and we have not yet spoken with Nigel Baker – Barry Baker passed away in 1999. So we do not yet know what he plans to do or if the company has a future.