Spectacular jobs
New Meaning to Heavy Recovery
We were requested recently by the Highways Agency to recover a crane from the A34 near Sutton Scotney, the crane was blocking lane one and causing traffic chaos.
We attended with the Foden and discovered that the crane had 8 axles and weighed 130 tonnes. The engine did not run due to overheating problems, luckily the steering works off of the transmission. The crane was flat towed from the breakdown location to Rownhams Services which was the first place of safety large enough to take it. The Foden managed 20mph (the maximum speed we travel with a crane) on the flat/downhill, however we only managed 5 mph uphill! Due to this we were escorted by Highways back to Rownhams, the trip took over an hour.
Cream Job!
radianhomes
We were recently requested by a local dairy to recover one of their milk tankers that had tipped over at a roundabout near Winchester; also in attendance were the HazMat Team from Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service as the tank was leaking.
Following inspection by the dairy staff it was decided that due to the damage it would not be possible to off load the milk with the vehicle on its side.
We therefore set up air bags and the rotator to lift the casualty. The Volvo was placed to catch the vehicle so it could be lowered back onto its wheels safely.
The casualty was uprighted without any further loss of load. Once back on its wheels it was then off loaded and recovered to Portsmouth.
40 Tonne Crane
radianhomesThe Heavy Recovery Department were recently called out to recover a 40 Tonne Crane belonging to Marsh Plant that had tipped over on the slipway by Portchester Castle.
radianhomesWe were requested to upright and remove the crane.
The whole operation took three days due to the tide. Day 1 involved Marsh Plant removing some boats and cutting three quarters through the mast of the casualty crane. We attended and organised how we could assist and where our equipment could be set up.
During day 2 we set up 5 air bags to catch the crane. Marsh Plant set up a 100 tonne crane to upright the casualty. The remainder of the boom was cut and that section removed. The crane was then uprighted and the boom lowered, but as the tide was coming in the crane was left for another night on the slipway.
Day 3: A 40 tonne carne was set up to take the weight off the legs of the casualty so they could be raised manually. We then rear suspended the crane off the slipway and out of the water. After the boom was retracted (this was done manually as well due to the crane suffering water damage). We again lifted the rear and travelled down the very narrow track to the car park. The crane was then loaded onto the Landoll low loader for onward transportation to Birmingham.
Mixamate
From the initial phone call it appeared to be a reasonably straight forward stuck in (if there is such a thing) apart from the vehicle being 90 degrees to the road.
The concrete mixer had driven onto a sailing club car park, with a view of reversing up to the area that needed the material. Unfortunately, when the mixer turned on the car park, the tarmac gave way and the mixer sank on the n/s. We attended with our ex Army 6x6 Foden and assessed the scene but decided that there was no way that it was coming out with a pull. By now there was a gathering of people, one of whom knew that beneath the car park was marshland that flooded every high tide.
A meeting was held on site with the owners of the car park and the decision was taken to have a temporary road laid out to allow the casualty to be lifted. To assist the recovery the vehicle owners removed as much of the load as they could, along with a tracked wheel barrow and emptied the water tank. This removed about 6 tonnes, leaving the vehicle still weighing approximately 30 - 32 tonnes.
A few days later the track was laid, double thickness to allow for the lifting. We set up the Foden in front of the casualty and our Daf Rotator to the side. We used all 4 winches on the rotator to lift the rear and the crane of the Foden to lift the front. We placed a track section under the rear wheels, moved position and relifted. Once in a suitable position, the casualty was driven off of the car park, then recovered to the local dealer for inspection.
LGV Recovery - A27
We were called out to recover an LGV involved in an accident east bound on the A27, just by Eastern Road Portsmouth, and to help rescue a suspected trapped person.
On arrival we found the casualty vehicle had gone straight through the crash barrier, down the embankment and dropped over a 4ft wall onto a footpath. Fortunately the driver had managed to get out of the vehicle.
We arranged with the Highways Agency to close two lanes of the A27 to facilitate recovery and while waiting for the lane closure and the Highways Agency to inspect the damaged cabling, we removed the remaining load of tiles from in between the cab and trailer, and secured the crane unit on the rear of the trailer.
Once the lanes were closed, we set up the Volvo eight wheel heavy recovery unit to winch the unit back and upwards and set up the Foden 6x6 heavy recovery unit to lift the front of the crashed LGV.
When it was off the footpath and all wheels were on the embankment, we removed the crash barrier and with the Highways Agency's assistance, closed the remaining lane, placing the Foden across the outside lane and winching the stricken LGV on the rear of the unit.
The Volvo was reattached to the LGV just behind the cab in order to lift the near side away from the communication cables that run along side of the motorway.
Once the whole vehicle was back on the road, we towed it away, under Police escort.
Wolseley Recovery
We were requested to attend this incident by Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service; a person trapped in an LGV vehicle.
On arrival we found the tractor and trailer combination had left the M27/A27 eastbound carriageway after swerving, when trying to avoid another vehicle. The vehicle had collided with a bridge barrier then travelled along the top of the embankment between the east and westbound carriageways before careering down the embankment and becoming wedged under the bridge of the westbound M27.
Once the driver had been removed from the vehicle we set up our Volvo and winched the casualty backwards from under the bridge. The police then closed one lane of the westbound M27 so we could recover the unit and trailer. We set up the Foden and using the crane, first removed the load by lifting it onto one of our slide back vehicles.
Next we separated the trailer from the unit and lifted the trailer from below the bridge and onto our low loader. Once this was secured, we re-rigged and lifted the unit back onto the roadway, where we rear ended the unit back to base.
Thankfully the driver was not trapped and had only sustained a dislocated elbow.
18 Tonne machine stuck in!
We were called out to this machine after the bank to the lake gave way, tipping the machine into the soft mud/clay.
The closest we could get our Foden was in the field next to the lake. We set up the winch on a 2 to 1 pull and winched the machine backwards onto firmer ground.
18 Tonne Tracked Machine Upside Down!
We were requested by a local shipping company to assist in righting an 18 tonne machine that tipped upside down while they were attempting to load it onto a ship.
Using the onsite crane to lift and support the machine, we set up the Volvo at one end and the Daf at the other. Using both winches on each recovery vehicle we winched the machine back up the correct way end over end.
Loaded Container Vehicle Rolled Over!
We were called out to Hedge End to attend a roll over of a unit and fully loaded container trailer.
We removed the unit first as the fifth wheel had broken away. The Volvo was then set up at the front of the trailer and the Foden at the rear. Using the crane boom and winches on the Volvo we lifted the front of the trailer. We then righted the trailer.
22 Tonne Tracked Machine Stuck In!
One evening in December 2006 we received a phone call from the manager of a sand pit in Sussex requesting if we could assist in removing a 22 tonne Volvo machine that was stuck in silt at the bottom of the sand pit. We travelled to the scene with the Foden and the Volvo. Once on site we used a smaller 360 to dig away the front of the casualty to allow the winch cable to be attached to the tow eyes. We set up the Foden at a 2 to 1
winch and winched the machine out.
Peugeot takes flight!
We were requested by the insurance company to recover this vehicle from Purbrook near Portsmouth. The vehicle had come up a motorway slip road, over the roundabout, through the crash barrier and landed approx 50 ft down the embankment taking with it several trees.
First we had to cut down the trees to make a pathway to the casualty, then using the winch from the Daf, we winched the vehicle up toward the top of the embankment still on its roof. When it was near the top we placed a second winch cable to the rear of the casualty to allow it to be uprighted.
Amazingly the driver walk away from the accident to signal for help, although he did sustain a broken neck.
