One year on from taking delivery of four new PFB1500 pedestrian control load carriers, London Borough of Hackney is reaping the rewards from its deployment at its historic Ridley Road Market.
Having started with around 20 stalls in the late 19th Century, Ridley Road Market has played an important part in Hackney’s history over the decades.
Today, the traditional market features over 150 different stalls, offering a diverse range of quality goods from food and vegetables to household items and jewellery.
Maintaining the market and the surrounding streets is a major undertaking, with Hackney Council spending over a million pounds annually to keep the area both clean and welcoming to visitors.
To assist in this endeavour, last September London Borough of Hackney took delivery of four PFB1500 pedestrian control load carriers from long-term supplier Bradshaw Electric Vehicles, a leading UK-based industrial electric utility vehicle provider based in Peterborough.
Operated by the Council’s Environmental Services team, the load carriers have quickly become an indispensable part of daily operations at Ridley Road Market, being used to move waste and assist stallholders pack up as well as clearing the streets after the Market’s close, ensuring the surrounding areas remain clean for the next day.
Designed to facilitate efficient waste collection and transport in urban environments, the robust PFB1500s each have a payload capacity of 1,500 kg and a towing capacity of up to 2,000 kg.
Their compact design also allows access to areas that are perhaps challenging for larger vehicles to enter and operate within, making them ideal for navigating the narrow and often congested streets surrounding the Market.
London Borough of Hackney, which has been working closely with Bradshaw EV for around 20 years, is no stranger to Bradshaw’s PFB1500 models, having hired a total of 12 over the years.
By integrating its latest lineup into its daily operations, London Borough of Hackney is once again reinforcing its commitment to maintaining visitor experience at the Ridley
Road Market, helping to preserve its long-standing role as a vibrant community hub within the Borough.
Norman Harding, Corporate Fleet Manager at London Borough of Hackney commented: “The operatives working out of the Ridley Road Market compound are impressed with the operational functionality of the PFB 1500 machines, from the compact design, ease of use, high storage capacity to the manoeuvrability enabling access to dense pedestrian traffic zones.
“The EVs have good overall safety features including indicators, audible warnings and emergency brakes as well as being highly visible due to the bright colour scheme.”
London Borough of Hackney also operates other Bradshaw Group vehicles such as their Club Car Utility Vehicles in their Parks & Landscapes department and are trialling the Goupil G2 and G4, which are homologated all-electric utility vehicles.
