Moffett Operators - Training and Advice Required

UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUMS THE UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUM (INTERACTIVE)
1

Hello all,

Hopefully a couple of quick questions for the gentlemen who use these interesting machines in their daily work. :unamused:

  1. Can anyone explain is there technically any difference between the two certificating bodies or whether only one is preferred over the other in the industry? As in, is there snobbery over the acronym preference that would be chosen by an employer using Moffetts.

The two bodies I am talking about is ITSSAR (Independent Training Standards Scheme and Register) and RTITB (■■?) haven’t got a clue what the acronym stands for?

  1. I’ve had one very helpful member on here YAMBOL57 who gave me one trainer in Blackpool that would do the training, supplying the equipment too!!!

That is very important to me as I can’t afford a lorry, let alone one to put a Moffett on the back too, to carry as an expensive ornament until I got trained on it!

Can anyone else recommend trainers they have used to get their certificate and even if not too much trouble post their details or if they are really nice PM them to me?

  1. I’ve never driven a fork lift truck before, uh-oh I hear you cry :unamused: . But I have used a manual pallet truck and electric pallet trucks extensively before in previous and current lives. How difficult are moffetts to drive and use in reality from a novice’s point of view when learning to use them for real.

As I would say I am a complete novice in this skill set in reality. I’ve seen courses where they reckon it takes up to 5 days to learn but thats with 3 students and this time period decreases exponentially with the less students that are on the course down to 3 days. Does that sound a reasonable amount of time to pick up the basics safely?

Also there are trainers now saying you can put 21 hours to DCPC doing one of their courses, which would be quite useful for me as I have not even entertained the idea of the card yet and really need to pull my finger out getting it sorted.

To help with my request for potential trainer locations I am based on the Essex/Suffolk border. However for the right training I am prepared to travel anywhere in the United Kingdom literally.

Finally I know Moffett is the same as using HIAB in general and I should be using Truck Mounted Forklift, but that takes too long to write everytime :laughing:

Thank you for taking the time to read and hopefully help me with my above queries.

Any relevant advice on the above is greatly appreciated.

C

2

Moffits are interesting to start as they are left hand drive and one peddle does forward / reverse / brakes and the other is engine speed.

After a little while playing it does make sense and then they are not much different to other forklifts.

Loading onto the back of a lorry is strange the first time but again easy with practice.

3

Can’t help you with trainers but I used to have one on the back of a turf trailer.
Couple of points I learnt the hard way 1st week i had it-
make sure it’s full of diesel, Durrrrr !
don’t leave the ignition on overnight because you get a flat battery, Durrrr !
They ar’nt the most stable of machines so be very carefull when unloading but they are very manouverable/get in/around almost any obstacle & don’t let lazy builders make you drive pallets over so called solid ground/MUD co’s once it’s stuck you will need the lorry to pull it out.

4

I have an RTITB (road transport industry training board ) licence, you soon pick up how to use one, not having used a fork lift before is probably an advantage for you as Moffetts are totally different to use, especially the side crabbing ones but it’s easy to learn and a very useful tool to have in any yard.

5

R.T.I.T.B. Road Transport Industry Training Board.

6

Thank all

albion1971 - Thanks for confirming that acronym. Couldn’t find that anywhere. Do you have a certificate to use one, if so have you heard of a preference of one to the other■■?

Trev_H - Thank you for answering the acronym. Interesting you said that it would be probably advantageous to have no formal FLT training. I like the sound of that :laughing: I remember how quick they are, I’m sure SCA used to use one when they picked up the recycling bales when I worked at the old Stanway Sainsbury’s. Don’t remember a crabbing one though■■? Is that similar to a crabbing telehandler, as they are cool and I have had a go one one them before whilst on a large construction site. No certificate or formal training…shhhh don’t tell anyone.

martinviking - Thanks for the advice, some useful points to remember. I take it they have been learnt personally? Yeah never trust builders, we are quite lazy when we want to be…understatment. :laughing:

Mark22_2 - Thanks for your reply bud they sound a completely new skill to learn which I would be very interested in learning and mastering. I look forward to learning it.

I’ve seen recently that an insulation company pays quite a lot more than what I am on a week gross if you have one and they are always looking for drivers. Can’t be that great a job if they have high driver turnover, but learning there maybe better for me before considering new pastures. Also I can imagine the sites they deliver to are a zb going by the product they are delivering.

Its this with, the HIAB I want to develop, so getting one and the other to also get rid of the DCPC is interesting me a lot.

Shame no-one has any information on trainers, so I take it you lot learnt on the job, with training done by your employerâ– â– ?

Thanks for yourall of your help and advice on all of the above. If you do happen to hear of trainers or could ask your employers if still working on them, that might be able to help me at least.

As at the moment bar one trainer from a member on here, everyone else wants me to bring the lorry and moffett before I train. Makes a lot of sense for employers as you have familiarisation on your own equipment however for me I’ve only got another £150,000 to save before I can do the training then! :unamused:

C

7

I used to work for T. Baden Hardstaffs of Kingston, Nottingham. They had loads of Moffets of all sizes and put me through my test on them. They had their own in house trainer who did train outside people on them. Might be worth a call but not sure if they still do outside training :wink: :wink:

8

Thank you so much tootman318.

I’ll look them up now, funnily enough I am coming up to Nottingham to do a artic assessment in February so I will write an email to these lovely boys and see if they can help whilst I am up there.

Bit like David Watson Transport do with the HIABs, makes sense if you have a spare hanging around in the yard as cover, may as well make some money out of it!

Thank you so much for taking the time again to reply to me with this information.

C

9

They are near the power station just off the M1 J24 A453 to Notts. Look at their website, might say on there. Good crowd they are, i only left to move to Cornwall and would probably still work for them now if still living in leicester.

10

Dear tootman318,

Just checked the website, they do moffett’s! Just need to check they provide their own moffett and truck and also whether the training could be used towards the DCPC.

Thank you so much for the information again. Just what I needed. Now I have three training companies to query tonight and I await their responses and costs accordingly. Not to worried about the later, just want good training on them, so I ain’t dangerous.

Only other thing I can think I need to know is what it is like to drive with one, overhang worries me a little. But I suppose I’ll only learn that the day I get a set of keys thrown at me. :laughing:

Also I’ve suddenly just realised where I know them from seeing another part of the website. They used to supply all our VCB’s for our sites on the Olympics and when we worked on Motorways and the roads too!

The whole operation was usually switched on from office to delivery and done the job asked of them and promised by them with no problems.

Definitely want to hear good news from these now!

C

11

One of the main things to know is they are not like a standard counterbalance forklift! You will have a brown trouser moment the first time you get the back wheel in the air! I collect cardboard bales from the shopping centres so no damage done if you drop one! with the lovely summer we had last year there were some very heavy wet bales to collect. :imp: :imp:

12

Ah no counter balance really on board then, I see what you mean and makes some sense to not drop the lorry’s payload even more.

Never driven a standard fork lift, so I wouldn’t know what would be different to a Moffett bar its shape and what you have all told me on here now. Only played in a all terrain telehandler on site and that set up is different as the pivot and body shape start to provide the counter balance with the wheelbase of it too accordingly.

What do you do then if the wheel goes up in the air, drop the object back down and try again and if that happens again, forget about it something bigger is need to get the beggar on the back now?!

C

13

19 001.jpg
19 001.jpg1468×1048 91.7 KB

21 001.jpg
21 001.jpg1422×1026 103 KB

Constantine:
Dear tootman318,

Just checked the website, they do moffett’s! Just need to check they provide their own moffett and truck and also whether the training could be used towards the DCPC.

Thank you so much for the information again. Just what I needed. Now I have three training companies to query tonight and I await their responses and costs accordingly. Not to worried about the later, just want good training on them, so I ain’t dangerous.

Only other thing I can think I need to know is what it is like to drive with one, overhang worries me a little. But I suppose I’ll only learn that the day I get a set of keys thrown at me. :laughing:

Also I’ve suddenly just realised where I know them from seeing another part of the website. They used to supply all our VCB’s for our sites on the Olympics and when we worked on Motorways and the roads too!

The whole operation was usually switched on from office to delivery and done the job asked of them and promised by them with no problems.

Definitely want to hear good news from these now!

C

Yep, used to run the barriers when the M25 was widened in the 90,s. Good times :smiley: :smiley:

14

I had mine on it’s nose once, i’d been driving it for a while and got a bit cocky ,as you do!! picked up a heavy wet bale and ran down a slope, as i raised it towards the trailer it went straight down on it’s nose. i stopped the engine and just sat there for a moment or two!! started up again with the bale still clamped and slowly lowered the forks, once it got to the point of balance it came back upright with a bang! the correct routine is to approach the object to be lifted with the forks retracted, then lower the stabiliser legs, move the forks forward into the pallet then raise it and then retract the forks back into the truck before raising the stabilisers. when empty you should run with the forks extended, when loaded, retracted.

15

Got loads of photos of us painting them red and white on the Olympics and then putting them into position, after Hardstaff had delivered and then having to repaint them again afterwards in the their final position. Stupid method statements.

Thank god I was not an operative doing that is all I can say. Plus my lot at the time must have paid a fortune for all that painting to be cleaned off in the end :laughing: Good times too!

16

17

ashbyspannerman:
I had mine on it’s nose once, i’d been driving it for a while and got a bit cocky ,as you do!! picked up a heavy wet bale and ran down a slope, as i raised it towards the trailer it went straight down on it’s nose…

Jesus that must have been scary. I’ll bear that in mind if I ever get the chance to work with one and use it anger. Its funny as you get more confident with equipment, it always tries to turn around and bite you on the ■■■, as if to teach you it is still in control subconsciously! :smiling_imp:

And that Artic is getting longer by the minute isn’t it! :laughing:

C

18

Constantine:

ashbyspannerman:
And that Artic is getting longer by the minute isn’t it! :laughing:

C

Fun and games in central London today. i managed to avoid picking any cyclists up with it though. :smiling_imp: :smiling_imp:

19

How long is it with the Moffett?

C

20

ashbyspannerman:
I had mine on it’s nose once, i’d been driving it for a while and got a bit cocky ,as you do!! picked up a heavy wet bale and ran down a slope, as i raised it towards the trailer it went straight down on it’s nose. i stopped the engine and just sat there for a moment or two!! started up again with the bale still clamped and slowly lowered the forks, once it got to the point of balance it came back upright with a bang! the correct routine is to approach the object to be lifted with the forks retracted, then lower the stabiliser legs, move the forks forward into the pallet then raise it and then retract the forks back into the truck before raising the stabilisers. when empty you should run with the forks extended, when loaded, retracted.

Good advice there, i too had a few scary moments with them but they are a brilliant bit of kit. just treat them with respect and never get too cocky cause they will catch you out :exclamation: :exclamation: