High Access Group was established in 2004, commencing with just a few cherry pickers to capitalise on the pay TV boom that occurred in that period which necessitated overhead lines to be connected to houses and support the existing electrical business.
Owned and operated by brothers John and Michael Newton, the company has steadily expanded and today has over 100 pieces of machinery including scissor lifts, boom lifts and travel towers in its extensive fleet. The company operates up and down the entire East and South coast of Australia from Brisbane through to Adelaide from its base in Melbourne.
High Access Hire essentially acts as a conduit for councils, road authorities, major telcos and their contractors, window cleaning companies, sporting arenas, signage companies and the like – renting vehicles out to companies to access high reach areas. In addition, High Access also operates an associated company that does a lot of public lighting maintenance work, especially around Melbourne and its freeways.
The operation of any high access vehicle requires comprehensive training and licensing and the company’s expertise in this area is well recognised.
With business growing, the need to offer platforms with the longest reach and highest extension necessitated the company to look into additional heavy duty trucks.
“There were a lot of reasons why we selected MAN for this role. Firstly they had an excellent reputation and importantly the travel tower manufacturer had MAN as the preferred platform. Their adaptability to the intricate requirements of the travel tower machinery was also very good,” said John.
Like MAN trucks, the towers are made by a German company, Ruthmann, and are installed in Germany before being shipped to Australia for final pre delivery. “Ruthmann towers are very high tech, adaptable and strong yet lightweight which gives them the ability to reach higher and further from the same platform,” John added.
High Access now has two TGM 6×4’s fitted with 46 metre high towers and two TGM 4×4’s fitted with a 40 and a 33 metre tower. In addition to the height, these 46 and 40m towers are also capable of reaching 31 metres out – an important consideration when access is tight and there is a need to go both up and across.
As John says, it was a complicated process organising all of this and he heaps praise on Patterson Cheney Sales Consultant Tony Lamanna, who he says did a fantastic job. He has also found the after sales service excellent with the 24 hour servicing facility that Patterson Cheney offers being a major benefit to minimising downtime and keeping the trucks on the road.
Feedback on the new MANs from the drivers is excellent. “We try and keep one driver for each truck and the drivers certainly love the MANs – in particular the cab comfort, quietness and overall ergonomics,” John went on to say.
John also reports that the fuel efficiency is good considering the tare weight and the kind of work that the trucks do.
In keeping with High Access Group’s ongoing growth, another TGS 6×6 and 8×8 are currently on order with Patterson Cheney.
