The Full Mounty

Truck-mounted forklifts were one of the great inventions of the 1980s.

- Steev Hayes

How many drivers remember the bad old days delivering to building sites and having to wait for an on-site loader to finish his tea/coffee/lunch break before he ambled round and made his way to the queue of trucks – which by now had built up – waiting to unload?

It was quite a problem as site workers became less helpful and construction companies on the lookout for savings skimped on equipment necessary to unload trucks. Drivers often had to assist construction workers to unload their trucks with onsite machines which were not actually designed for the job. Of course, Health & Safety regulations would prohibit such practices nowadays, but back then things were very different.

Then, in 1984, along came the Moffett Mounty. A versatile forklift load/unloading machine which could be attached to the rear of a truck or trailer, demounted, used by the truck driver to load or unload the vehicle, then remounted onto the truck, before the driver set off for another delivery, or to fetch another load. It was an ingenious device which helped increase productivity through quicker turn around.

Site managers were happy because they didn’t have to organise the unloading of a vehicle, although some supervision was still needed regarding where the truck could park safely so the driver could unload without causing any problems (even ground with plenty of space either side was a basic requirement, which the driver himself would have to evaluate).

Drivers were happy because they could get delivery instructions from the site manager and have the load off in next to no time, rather than have to hang around, or seek out an onsite forklift to unload their truck.