The rise of Jack Allen Ltd as one of the largest solid waste vehicle suppliers in the UK.
Timothy Byrne
Jack Allen (Motor Bodies) Ltd, which later became Jack Allen (Sales and Service) Ltd, was a family owned business with a history dating back to 1927. Jack Allen’s was the largest supplier of waste collection vehicles across the UK from the 1970s through the 1990s. The company had its first factory at Buckingham Street, Birmingham and then, in 1994, moved to Northgate, Aldridge, West Midlands.
The Managing Director of the business was John Allen, an entrepreneur in solid waste handling equipment. Initially the company was an agent for the Dennis Brothers range of waste collection vehicles until forming a relationship with Heil, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of waste collection vehicles in 1970.
Investing in Equipment
On one of John Allen’s visits to the U.S in the mid-1970s, he saw the ‘Big Bite’ Mark V and thought that, with its large 3 cubic meter hopper, it could be used with skip lifting equipment to collect large volumes of waste in heavily built up areas, such as London. He purchased a Mark V ‘Big Bite’ of 25 cubic yards capacity from Heil and imported it to the UK. Without telling Heil what his plans were for the ‘Big Bite’, it was mounted onto a Seddon DD6 6X4 24 tonne tipper chassis. A tank recovery winch was acquired from the Abingdon MOD sales and a skip hoist was configured to lift skip containers of 10 cubic yards capacity into the hopper of the ‘Big Bite’ using a series of pulleys, cables and a hoist. The ‘Big Bite’ was born in the UK and was launched in 1973.
In 1974, staff from the then Dumbarton District Council visited Jack Allen’s Birmingham factory and saw the ‘Big Bite’ in action. Dumbarton’s staff could see that massive financial savings could be made by purchasing a ‘Big Bite’ waste collection vehicle. They held a committee meeting at Jack Allen’s Buckingham Street facility and agreed to purchase the first prototype unit there and then. The vehicle was painted in Dumbarton’s deep red colour and was exhibited at the 1974 Institute of Solid Wastes Management (ISWM) Bournemouth exhibition.
The original winch type lifting system was soon replaced with the mark one series roll up type skip lifting arms operated using hydraulic rams capable of lifting skip containers up to 14 cubic yards capacity.
The Big Bite
Orders then followed for 25 cubic yard ‘Big Bites’, complete with the mark one series roll up type skip arms, from Alyn and Deeside and Harrogate councils and Black Country private sector operator WASTE PLAN Ltd, a subsidiary company of Leigh Interests plc in 1975. These ‘Big Bites’ were of 25 cubic yards capacity and were mounted onto Dodge 500 Series 6×4 24 tonne chassis. The popularity of the ‘Big Bite’ grew and was a favourite with local authorities and private sector contractors for the collection of industrial waste.
The ‘Big Bite’ became such a success that, in 1978, Jack Allen’s launched the ‘Big Bite Junior’ model at the 1978 Institute of Solid Wastes Management (ISWM) Brighton exhibition. The ‘Big Bite Junior’ was based on the successful ‘Colectomatic Challenger’ series waste collection vehicle of 20 cubic yards capacity. The ‘Big Bite Junior’ was able to collect both domestic and trade wastes in open back form, with a new series two skip hoist fitted to lift skip containers up to 14 cubic yards capacity. This enabled the ‘Big Bite Junior’ to empty skip containers on the same round, thus reducing operating costs. The product became popular with both local authorities and private sector operators. In the early 1980’s, the series two skip lifting arms replaced the mark one series used on the larger 25 cubic yard Mark V ‘Big Bite’.
Jack Allen’s also introduced a larger 32 cubic yard ‘Big Bite’ in the early 1980s. The launch of the larger ‘Big Bite’ was driven by customer demand for the product and the larger volumes of wastes requiring collection using ‘Big Bite’ type vehicles. The larger ‘Big Bite’ also used the mark two skip lifting arms and was mounted onto four axle 8×4 30 tonne chassis.
A larger four axle ‘Big Bite’ of 27m3 capacity was introduced by the company in the mid 1980s, with the mark three series skip lifting arms giving an increased skip lifting capacity of 16 cubic yards.
The Mighty Bite
In 1989, Jack Allen’s launched the largest waste collection vehicle ever constructed in the world at the 1989 Institute of Wastes Management (IWM) Torbay exhibition. This was a 38.2m3 50 cubic yard ‘Mighty Bite’ rear end loading trailer, complete with the mark three series skip lifting arms and a Donkey/auxiliary engine. The ‘Mighty Bite’ was pulled by a Renault ‘G’ Series two axle 4×2 41 tonne tractor unit supplied by Renault Trucks of Birmingham. The unit was fitted with a Donkey/auxiliary engine so that it could work independently without the tractor unit. Interest in the ‘Mighty Bite’ saw units being supplied to Pembrokeshire Council for the collection of civic amenity site wastes, while Wimpey Waste Management Ltd purchased one for industrial skip container collection. Finally, Jack Allen’s own refuse collection vehicle hire company, Municipal Vehicle Hire Ltd, also acquired one for both short, medium and long-term hire to both public and private sector waste management operators.
The company launched the 31 cubic meter ‘Big Bite’ at the Institute of Wastes Management (IWM) Torbay exhibition in 1993. This 31 cubic metre unit was suitable for mounting onto four axle 8×4 chassis. The gross vehicle weight of the 8×4 chassis had increased in this period from 30 tonnes to 32 tonnes. The advantage of the 31 cubic metre ‘Big Bite’ was its additional four cubic meters carrying capacity which would achieve an additional two tonnes net payload. The use of 31 cubic meter ‘Big Bites’ proved popular with private sector and local authority waste disposal companies (LAWDC’S) purchasing them for collecting both dense and volumous wastes.
Jack Allen’s offered an optional container handling equipment device for all models of ‘Big Bites’. This was called the S&M trunnion lifter which could empty 660 and 1100 litre Eurocarts and 2 cubic yard Easicarts. The S&M lifter was fitted in conjunction with the conventional mark three series skip lifting arms.
Meeting Market Demand
In conclusion, Jack Allen’s was the number one waste collection vehicle supplier across the UK from the 1970s to the 1990s. The company’s success was achieved by developing new products like the ‘Big Bite’ to meet market demand. The company was renowned for listening to its customers and delivering products the customer wanted and requested. All of Jack Allen’s products were supported by a first class after sales service and support division which also influenced customers to repeatedly reorder new waste collection vehicles from Jack Allen’s.
Timothy Byrne B.Sc. (Wastes Management), MCIWM, ISWA IWM, is a worldwide waste collection and transfer systems consultant and a freelance waste management technical writer based in Birmingham, UK. He has worked in the waste management industry for 25 years. He lives in the UK and has carried out a lot of work and research into waste collection and waste transfer systems in Mediterranean countries. He has also visited New Delhi to carry out research into waste collection and waste transfer systems in India’s capital city. He can be reached at 0044 1384 211001 or 0044 7545 616110 or via e-mail at [email protected].