Spider Excavators hit the Headlines

One of the amazing spider excavators owned and operated by WM Plant Hire has been making the days, which is quite ironic as one example is also featured in my report in the latest edition of Earthmovers Magazine.

The Staffordshire based national specialist plant hire firm deployed its largest spider excavator the Euromach R1055 to work on the Llangollen Canal boat recovery job.

Readers may recall that part of the Llangollen Canal collapsed just days before Christmas in dramatic and apocalyptic style, sending gallons of water into nearby agricultural fields, in Whitchurch, Shropshire, with two of the canal boats falling into the bottom of the hole, and one hanging over the edge.

In a difficult to navigate area it was also going to be challenging operation to retrieve the stricken canal boats, and it was clear that the operation was going to require specialist equipment. Enter stage left, WM Plant Hire who are well-known for providing special machines for demanding applications.

Once the spider machine landed on the site, my phone didn’t stop pinging as a number of followers and industry connections were keen to give me a heads up about it.

I naturally assumed that in the seat it would be long serving WM Plant Hire employee Bob Waters, who had made the spider machines his speciality over the years, however, in one message, I was told that the operator was a woman, so a few more messages were sent, and I was informed that Bob had retired at Christmas. Then to my upmost delight, I discovered that the operator in question was our friend, the one and only Aimee Pooley who I consider to be the original Digger Girl on the internet from the days when she displayed her talents as Duck Girl on You Tube.

Aimee has always been one to want to challenge herself and her undoubted skills as an operator, and this job role should be an ideal position for her going forward.

As the spider machines are so unusual to see in the UK, we sometimes don’t realise just how useful they are. It was a joy to see the smaller R555 on site with operator Dave Bromley just before the Christmas shutdown last year and a real eye opener for what these machines can achieve in the right hands.

Checkout the video below from WM Plant Hire’s You Tube channel which demonstrates the unique machines versatility.