HIAB hire in Lancashire
Mill towns and motorway estates, and the difference between them
Lancashire work comes in two shapes. There are the mill towns, Blackburn, Burnley, Accrington, Darwen and Nelson, where a good deal of the industry still sits in Victorian buildings on streets that were laid out for carts. Narrow approaches, tight gateways, stone setts, low bridges and a yard that turns out to be half the size it looked from the road. Then there are the newer distribution units strung along the M65 and the M6 around Preston, Chorley and Leyland, where there is level concrete, room to set the legs down and a gate booking to keep to.
Both suit a HIAB, for different reasons. In the mill towns it is because the lorry carries its own lifting gear and can reach in over a wall or a fence from wherever it manages to stand. On the estates it is because one vehicle turns up, unloads itself and leaves, with nobody on your side needing to find a forklift.
We are based in Manchester, at Miles Platting, and we travel up. There is no yard of ours in Lancashire. What that means in practice is that the run matters, so we start early. We open at six and for anything beyond Preston that is when the lorry goes out, up the M61 and onto the M65 or the M6 before the traffic thickens. Blackpool and the Fylde are a full day and worth planning as one.
Across the county
The Lancashire jobs we get asked for
- Container deliveries, collections and yard repositioning
- Site cabins and welfare units set down and levelled
- Machinery in and out of mill units in Blackburn, Burnley and Darwen
- Plant moved between sites around Preston, Leyland and Chorley
- Palletised materials into distribution units off the M65 and the M6
- Steel and fabrication delivered to workshops with a narrow gateway
- Modular units and garden rooms lifted over fences and walls
- Tanks and vessels set into position on industrial sites
- Holiday park and caravan site work out on the Fylde coast
- Site clearances and relocations at the end of a contract
Tell us the approach, not just the address
A postcode in Lancashire tells us very little. Two units on the same street can be a ten minute job and a two hour job, depending on whether the lorry can get its nose in and the legs down. So when you email, describe the way in. The width of the gate, what is parked on the street, whether the yard is cobbled or sloping, what is overhead.
We are not after measurements. Tell us what it looks like when you walk up to it and we will tell you which lorry is coming, what time it can be there and what it costs.
Common questions
HIAB hire in Lancashire, answered
How early can you be on site in Lancashire?
We open at six, and for anything past Preston or out on the Fylde that is when the lorry leaves. Getting up the M61 and the M65 before the traffic builds is the difference between one job in a day and two, so early starts are normal rather than a favour.
Is there a travel charge for coming up from Manchester?
Not as a separate line. The mileage is inside the price for the job. Blackburn, Chorley and Preston are close enough that it barely shows. Blackpool, Lancaster and the coast are a longer run and the price reflects the day rather than the miles.
Can you get into an old mill yard?
Usually, and it is a lot of what we do up there. The gateways are narrow, the setts are uneven and the yard is often smaller than the building suggests. What decides it is whether the lorry can get in far enough to stand somewhere solid, not whether the load can be lifted.
Do you deliver to the distribution units off the M65 and the M6?
Regularly. Those estates are straightforward by Lancashire standards, level ground and room to work, so they tend to be quick jobs. Tell us if there is a booking window on the gate and we will work to it.
Do you work Saturday mornings in Lancashire?
Yes, up to half past twelve. It is a useful slot for town centre work in Blackburn, Burnley or Preston, because the streets are quieter and a parked lorry causes far less trouble than it would midweek.
Can you do a Lancashire collection and a delivery somewhere else?
Yes. A machine loaded in Burnley and delivered in Manchester, or a cabin picked up in Preston and taken to a site down south, is one job on one vehicle. We run nationally as well as across the North West.
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