Tanker trucks are a familiar sight on the roads, taking petrol, food products and even hazardous materials all over the country and abroad.  We have all gone to fill up the car to find the forecourt is closed while they refill the main tanks from one of these vehicles, but have you ever really considered how these vehicles get filled in the first place and what about the maintenance?

Well, those in the industry know that a very special type of ladder is required for filling, cleaning and maintenance and that little ladder fixed to the rear of the vehicle won't cut it when serious work needs to be done.  It's important to bear in mind that while the vehicle could be accessed via that ladder, at the rear that the top is not always perfectly flat and therefore, it is dangerous to walk along the top of the tank without safety precautions.

We offer a great tanker ladder made by Zarges, a big name player in the ladder industry.  Tanker ladders are designed to allow safe access to any particular point on the top of a tanker, without the need for anyone to balance precariously on the top of the tank as they walk along – that's best left to tightrope walkers and acrobats!  These specialist ladders can also be used to access the roof of any vehicle that can take the weight of a person standing on top, so they are also ideal for HGVs with solid roof structures, trains and trams – the ladder can be used to access heights of between 2.77 metres and 4.1 metres, making it a very flexible piece of equipment for accessing the tops of large vehicles of any description.

The ladder, which is built to order for each customer, is self-supporting and uses counterbalancing technology to support the extension ladder part of the equipment even when it is fully extended.  It has been developed to never touch the vehicle itself, so there is no danger of damage to paintwork, livery or the body itself, not even from steel toe-capped boots.  A 30cm deep exit platform sits at the top of a two section extension ladder, operated by a winch on the side, allowing the ladder and platform to be set up at the right height from the safety of terra firma.  The standard price includes twin octagonal guard rails with a diameter of 1.5 metres and the standard chassis with alloy wheels and stabilisers.

There is the option to have a narrower chassis unit for tight spaces and the octagonal guard rail attachment can be replaced with a rectangular one, measuring 1.5 by 2.01 metres, to provide a larger safe working area.  The exit platform can be changed for longer ones, ideal for vehicles where the access point is further away from the side of the vehicle.  An anti-static kit can be added for potentially explosive environments like oil and petrochemical refineries.  All these options are available on the website, just select the modifications before you add the ladder to your shopping cart. 

The Zarges tanker ladder is built to order, so delivery will be approximately 4-6 weeks from the date of order.  Because each model is built to specifications set by the customer we can offer a fully bespoke service for tanker ladders, so if the options available on the website are not quite what you need please call us and we can work to your exact requirements – there's no problem we can't overcome.  Your brand new tanker ladder comes with a 10 year warranty and can take a load of 150 kilos.

It's no surprise that we love ladders, and we're delighted to be able to offer such a specialised ladder alongside our more general range.  Call us today on 0300 303 22 99 and let's get your new tanker ladder specified and under construction.