JCB LOANS $1.25 MILLION FLEET OF MACHINES TO BRITISH FLOOD DISASTER ZONES

Leading heavy equipment manufacturer JCB is reacting to Britain's flood disaster by deploying a machine fleet worth $1.25 million plus operators to help stricken families.

Four of the company’s high-speed, high-ground-clearance Fastrac tractors equipped with trailers and two of its iconic backhoe loaders are being dispatched to the hardest hit areas. The Fastrac tractors will be deployed in areas where people and livestock need to be moved from advancing flood waters. The JCB backhoes, with their ability to both load and dig, will play a vital role in shoring up flood defenses and eventually in clearing debris left by the floodwaters.

JCB has already supplied a 541-70 Loadall telescopic handler to support farmers who have been left without feed and bedding for livestock that have been evacuated to dry land from the flooded regions. The machine is being used to load donated forage on to trucks at Sedgemore Cattle Auction in Somerset where distribution is being coordinated.

“The scale of the floods and the anguish being caused is devastating for all concerned,” said JCB’s Lord Bamford. “As Britain’s largest manufacturer of construction equipment, we are in a position to provide machinery quickly to help families and farmers who are suffering so dreadfully through the floods. It’s my hope that the JCB machines we’re providing will help alleviate that suffering.”

The machines are being shipped from JCB’s World Headquarters in Rocester, Staffordshire. They will be operated by drivers provided by the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB). JCB machines are already at the forefront of efforts to assist in the flood zones thanks to the company’s rental customers who are deploying their fleets to help.

JCB has a long history of helping countries affected by major natural disasters and recently provided $500,000 worth of machines and generators to the Philippines when Typhoon Haiyan struck.