4-Way (Multi-Directional) Reach Truck training in London

About four-way reach trucks

Anyone who has tried to turn a 6-metre length of box section or a pack of timber round a corner on a counterbalance knows why the four-way truck exists, and in London there is rarely a corner to spare. Its wheels rotate so the truck can run forwards like a reach truck, then switch modes and travel sideways with a long load carried along its length. Racking aisles for long products can therefore be as narrow as the truck, not as wide as the load. London's timber merchants, steel stockholders, scaffolding contractors, glazing and curtain-wall fabricators and the joinery shops that fit out the capital's offices and restaurants run them in numbers, from Charlton and Erith on the river to Enfield, Wembley and Croydon.

Combilift is the name most people know, but Hubtex, Baumann and others build multi-directional trucks too, in electric, LPG and diesel and in sit-on and stand-on layouts. Most have a platform or guide rollers to steady the load during sideways travel, and many can also carry pallets in the normal way, making them a one-truck answer for a mixed yard that has to earn its rent.

The course deals with the extra thinking the operator has to do: which direction mode the truck is in, how a long load behaves when the truck turns, load centres on the platform, and the wide swept path at the ends of aisles. Many candidates arrive with a reach or counterbalance certificate and convert in a day.

What the course covers

• Pre-use checks including wheel rotation and the load platform or rollers
• Switching between forward, sideways and crab-steer modes
• Picking up and setting down long loads on and off racking
• Load centres and stability with loads carried lengthways
• Travelling sideways in narrow aisles and through doorways
• Working outdoors on yard surfaces where applicable

On site, on your truck, anywhere in London

We bring an accredited instructor to your premises in any London borough or surrounding town. You provide the truck and a safe working area; we provide the theory material, test papers and the HSE-recognised certificate. Novice Forklift Training, Semi-Experienced Forklift Training, Refresher Forklift Training, Conversion Forklift Training are all available for this truck.

Other truck categories

Counterbalance Forklift, Reach Truck, Double Deep Reach Truck, VNA Truck (Man-Up and Man-Down), Bendi and Flexi (Articulated) Forklift, Pivot Steer Truck, Powered Pallet Truck, Pedestrian Stacker Truck, Telehandler (Telescopic Handler), Order Picker (Low, Medium and High Level), Rough Terrain (Masted) Counterbalance, Side Loader.