A firm of tree specialists in Greater Manchester is offering customers a more productive, sustainable and safer service after investing in an Oil&Steel OctoPlus 21 spider lift supplied by Hird Sales.
Lakeside Tree Care is now using the tracked spider platform to support a wide range of tree management tasks, including tree pruning, tree removal, tree inspection and tree crown reduction.
The company, based in Marple, in the borough of Stockport, chose an Oil&Steel spider boom to replace a long-serving 14 metre platform because of its exceptional capabilities for tree surgeons.
Hird Sales is showcasing Oil&Steel spider lifts and truck mount platforms on stand C5 at APF 2024, the woodland management show, at Ragley Estate, Warwickshire, on 19 – 21 September 2024.
The OctoPlus spider lift has an industry-leading maximum working height of 20.7 metres and a maximum outreach of 10.6 metres and has been designed from the bottom up for working on trees.
Impressive working envelope
Carl Cooper, Sales and After Sales Manager at Hird Sales, which is the authorised distributor for Oil&Steel platforms in the UK, said: “We’re very pleased to supply Lakeside Tree Care with the platform.
“Everything about the OctoPlus 21 is focussed on supporting tree surgeons with their work. From the robust build, with all hoses and cables stowed in the boom, to its very impressive working envelope.
“As a tracked boom it copes brilliantly with rough and unstable terrain and with low load bearing ground, such as tiled patios and garden paths.
“Also, at just 785mm wide and 1990mm high when stowed for tracking, the Lakeside Tree Care team can gain access to rear gardens through narrow gates and archways.”
Crucially, for tree surgeons, the Oil&Steel OctoPlus 21 is light and compact – weighing just 2850kg – so can be towed on a trailer by a van or 4×4 pick-up, using a standard car licence.
Sustainable tree management
The OctoPlus 21, which has a maximum basket capacity of 250kg, was supplied with a Brian James Trailers plant trailer, which is ideally-suited to transporting the platform.
Lakeside Tree Care carries out tree maintenance for both domestic and commercial clients across Cheshire, Greater Manchester and north Staffordshire.
The company prides itself on managing trees as sustainably as possible, ensuring they always look their best, are healthy and can be guaranteed to have long life – all goals supported by working from an Oil&Steel OctoPlus 21 spider cherry picker.
Working from tracked MEWPs is becoming essential for maintaining or felling trees affected by ash dieback, which is spreading across the UK, because the disease makes branches dangerously brittle and unstable.
Automatic outrigger levelling
The Oil&Steel OctoPlus 21 platform selected by Lakeside Tree Care is powered by a low-emissions diesel engine.
It can also run on 110v mains electricity, which means it can be used for indoor working or where emissions-free or low-noise working is needed, for example near care homes, schools and hospitals.
Lakeside Tree Care has selected an OctoPlus 21 platform with the optional 420o boom rotation – the standard platform still has 360o rotation. It also has one button automatic outrigger levelling and basket homing.
The platform has multi-position tracks that can be widened to increase stability when tracking across slopes or particularly uneven terrain.
Like other spider lifts in the Oil&Steel range it also has among the highest ground clearances with outriggers deployed – 621mm in the case of the OctoPlus 21 – enhancing still further its all-terrain capability.
Find out more
Talk to Hird Sales about Oil&Steel tracked spider lifts and truck mount platforms.
Telephone: 01482 481960. Or email: info@oil&steel.co.uk.
