Andrew and Michael Stevens from Stevens Equipment Rental had visited the picturesque village on Wednesday 9 December prior to the second flooding to see if the village could utilise any of the machinery Stevens Equipment Rental had available from their yard, only 45 miles away in Silloth, Cumbria. The village originally decided to wait until later in the week for the machines once they had removed stone from the river but when the village awoke to the scenes of further flooding the following morning the local councillors and flood team were on the phone asking Stevens Equipment Rental to mobilise machinery as soon as they could. On Thursday 10 December using local sub-contract hauliers, Stevens Equipment Rental mobilised two Volvo articulated dump trucks (Volvo A30G and A30F) to Glenridding. Andrew and Michael Stevens operated the initial two machines. The project
was designed so that the Volvo A30F and A30G articulated dump trucks would reverse down a ramp and into the river. They would then reverse 100–500m downstream where they were loaded by a 20 tonne excavator, with a 14 tonne excavator also assisting the clearance of the river bed. The Volvo articulated dump trucks then follow a designated haul route through the village to a holding area at Jenkins field, approximately quarter of a mile away from the river on the outskirts of the village. The river had diverted across Jenkins field during the flood and the field was already covered in a layer of material so it was decided this would make a good area to stockpile the material until the authorities could decide on a more suitable location for the 8,000–10,000 tonnes of differently sized stone. Following a site meeting with Beckside Construction and the team on-site a decision was made that they could utilise further Volvo Construction Equipment from the Stevens Equipment Rental fleet. A Volvo L110G wheeled loading shovel and a further articulated dump truck (A30F) were immediately mobilised to start work on the Friday morning. Andrew Stevens commented: “We wanted to help our local community as we
have friends in the village of Glenridding and had machines off hire locally in our yard at Silloth. Trying to assist was important to us as it was people’s homes and livelihoods that were being affected.” When the extra Volvo A30F and Volvo L110G were delivered on the Friday morning, Stevens Equipment Rental Engineer Michael Adams operated the Volvo A30F and an operator from Beckside Construction operated the L110G. While the Beckside operator was mainly experienced in operating Telehandlers, he was shown how to fill the bucket of the L110G and was easily able to load the A30F in 4–5 passes from a large stockpile that Beckside Construction had built up over three days.
“...we have friends in the village of Glenridding and had machines off-hire locally in our yard at Silloth. Trying to assist was important to us as it was people’s homes and livelihoods that were being affected.”
Photography by: Russell McLean – Stevens Equipment Rental
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