Latest Company & Industry News

After trading for nearly 40 years we are sad to report that Scottish Tail Lift manufacturer Ross & Bonnyman have gone into liquidation.

We understand that a reduction in orders due to retail superstore and warehouse expansions being slower than anticipated along with public sector spending cuts affecting the ambulance lifts part of the business have contributed towards the company’s demise.

During 2011 Ross & Bonnyman ceased manufacturing their commercial Tail Lift range to concentrate on their other products including their Ambulance Tail Lift and in August 2011 they sold their Commercial Tail Lifts Parts business to Ratcliff Palfinger.

Future Ross & Bonnyman Parts Supply
Commercial Tail Lift Parts - We currently have excellent stocks of these parts and we are confident that our ability to supply these parts will be largely unaffected.
Ambulance Tail Lift Parts - We expect some initial disruption, however we are confident that this will be short lived and customers are encouraged to continue placing orders with us for these parts as normal.

The Commercial Vehicle Show returns in April and this year's show looks like it is going to be very busy with bookings to date up around 35%.

Del, Dhollandia and Ratcliff Palfinger are again exhibiting and other Tail Lift manufacturers returning this year are Anteo, Bar and Maxon.

This year we will be demonstrating the benefits of our new bespoke CRM system and we invite customers old and new to visit our stand and let us demonstrate to you how we are able to get your vehicles back on the road faster.

Manning the stand at this year show will be: David Conman (MD), Nicola Gardham (Operation Manager) and Julie Conman (Director).  

CV Show 2012 - 24-26th April 08.30 to 17.30 daily.

Parts4taillifts Stand No: 3E80 

We all hate spending more time than necessary when making a call to a supplier. We want it to be a quick and easy process whilst not having to remember who we last spoke to in order to get an answer to a previous enquiry. That's why Parts-4-Tail Lifts has recently invested in a major upgrade to their IT systems in order to provide the very best telephone experience and level of service for their customers.

Customer benefits include:

• Minimal Calls
By utilising a vast amount of previous information along with the daily collection of new data, we will be able to answer your technical queries faster whilst reducing the need for call backs.

• No Fuss
Want to order a part that you enquired about a day, week or month ago, without the fuss of having to explain your requirements all over again? We have the technology! All previous enquiries for every single customer are stored in our database, which can be found quickly using advanced search facilities saving you time and effort.

• MAXIMUM SERVICE                                                                                                                                The clock starts ticking the minute we take a new enquiry and call back times are closely monitored to help us maintain a consistently high level of service. All information is easily accessible by any member of staff, which means you don't need to remember who you initially spoke to in order to get an informative response.

Wow, where does the time go? We are now entering out 22nd year in business and I can still remember our first day trading.

Looking to the future, I believe as a business we will look back on 2011 as a pivotal year for us. During 2011, our whole emphasis has been on how we can improve the over all levels of service that we offer our customers and during 2011 we have invested huge resources into achieving this. (see news entry below)

I would like to sincerely thank all customers old and new for their business during 2011 and we look forward to being able to meet your needs with even greater efficiency during 2012.

David Conman MD  

We are very pleased to report that our major IT project is on course to be completed by the end of this year and we are all very excited about how this will help us to raise our Customer Service & Support levels even higher!

When our newly developed Customer Relation Management Software is fully up and running customers will see the following benefits: 

• We will be able to identify parts faster
  
• We will be able to answers general technical queries quicker
  
• On-going enquiries will be handled more swiftly and efficiently
  
• We will be able to find historical enquiries incredibly fast 
  
• Customers will have the ability to view their Account on-line 
  

Parts-4-Tail Lifts are committed to offering the very best levels of Service & Support to all of our Customers. 

Our Customers already know that we only sell Genuine Tail Lift & Shutter Parts and at the UK's Lowest Prices. They also know that we have a transparent pricing system and we always show manufacturer Part Numbers on all of our paperwork, this ensures that our Customers have complete confidence that they are getting the best discounts from real prices.

Coming Soon! ... We aim to upload all of the Manufacturers Parts Price List available to us onto this website, our Customers will then benefit from being able to log-in and view.

Genuine Quality Parts - Lowest Prices, along with total Pricing Transparency.   

After initially being referred to the Competition Commission, the purchase of Ross & Bonnymans Parts business by Ratcliff Palfinger has now finally been completed.

Ross & Bonnyman have now ceased to manufacture their commercial tail lift range and are now concentrating on their Ambulance Tail Lifts and other retained products.

Nothing changes for our customers other than Ross & Bonnyman Commercial Tail Lift Parts are now despatched to us from Ratcliff Palfinger’s National Parts Centre in Leeds.  

Discounts and Special Prices for Ross & Bonnyman Parts to our customers remain the same.

From the experts for Tail Lift & Shutter Parts.

With the introduction of additional staff to cope with our increased workload this year, our Parts Sales Team's accumalative Tail Lift and Shutter experience has now topped 100 years!  

With 14 incoming lines along with the largest stock of Genuine Tail Lift and Shutter Parts to draw from, we promise not only to supply genuine parts at the lowest prices, but we also promise to help get your vehicles back on the road faster! 

Drawing from our huge stock of Genuine Ross & Bonnyman Parts and supported by our vastly experienced Parts Advisors, Parts-4-Tail Lifts can help you get your vehicle back on the road faster.

Our technical Sales Team is complimented by Geoff Newton who worked as Parts Manager at Ross & Bonnyman for many years. Geoff can assist you with the most complex technical query and is extremely experienced with all of the R&B products.

We have added many lines to our genuine fast moving items on Special Offer and created a brand new A5 sized fully priced Special Offer Brochure for our customers. This brochure is available to named account holders only, lists over eighty of the most commonly used Tail Lift & Shutter Parts and offers savings of up to 75% against retail prices. 

Customers can request their copy by emailing us at dave@parts4taillifts.com 

We thought that the CV Show was much better this year and over all the attendance was very good. A lot of the chassis manufactures returned this year which is always a draw and their stands were very popular.

We were delighted with our own new stand design which had the desired effect and attracted a large amount of new visitors to us. We were also delighted with the amount of existing customers who came to see us and maybe meet Andy for the first time.

Thanks to everyone who took the time to visit our stand and helped make this years show a great success.   

To allow us to list even more Ross & Bonnyman Tail Lift parts on Special Offer we have created a new dedicated R&B Offer page on this website.

To view, click Ross & Bonnyman in the left hand index & then click on the first window. 

During 2011 we are planning a new major investment within our IT and communication systems.

A new telephone system will allow us to increase our incoming lines from 10 to 14 and will get our customers through to the person they need to talk to faster.

A new main computer server has recently been installed and this will allow us to develop and implement our new and very powerful Customer Service software.

We anticipate that this project will take around 6-9 months to complete and will enable us to offer even higher levels of service and customer support along with complete traceability.   

Geoff Newton has recently joined our Parts Team and has over 26 years Tail Lift experience.

Having worked for Ross and Bonnyman since 1985, Geoff was promoted to their Parts Manager in 2006 and worked in this position until leaving the Company at the begining of 2010 when he moved to the North of Scotland.

Recently Geoff has been working as a mobile Tail Lift Engineer for the last 12 months and joins us with a huge amount of tail lift experience and product knowledge.

The Commercial Vehicle Show is back! (12th-14th April, 08.30-17.30 daily)

Come and see us in Hall 5 - Stand 5B70 and let us show you the benefits and savings that you can make when using parts4taillifts for all of your Genuine Tail Lift & Shutter Parts requirements.

This years show promises to be a good one with Dhollandia and Del returning to the show and Ratcliff Palfinger exhibiting at the show once again. The chassis manufacturers are also returning to this years show with MAN, Daf, Mercedes Benz and Renault UK also exhibiting in Halls 4 & 5.

Manning our stand this year are: David Conman MD, Andrew James Parts Manager and Nicola Gardham Operations Manager. 

To register for this years show visit www.cvshow.com 

Due to increase demand and growth we are delighted to introduce an additional Parts Team Member.

Richard Clark joins us and will support the team by taking over many administration duties. This will allow our existing Parts Advisors more free time to deal with the increase in calls that we have experienced so far this year.

Watch this space for further recruitment announcements........

New Tail Lift Repair Specialist for Nottingham

When Nottingham’s established tail lift repairer Chaloss ceased trading at the end of November, Humberside Tail Lifts moved swiftly to offer employment to its two local Tail Lift Engineers.

Simon Perkins and Jonathan Buckley are fully trained and certified and join Humberside Tail Lifts having a combined experience of over 19 years with Chaloss working on Tail Lift and Shutter Doors.

“I was very sad to hear of Chaloss closing as I have known the people there for many years,” said David Conman MD, “After speaking to Simon and Jonathan we saw an opportunity to get together and set up a new operation in Nottingham and this geographically links up extremely well with our existing Lincolnshire tail lift repair business.” 

Trading as Nottingham Tail Lifts, this new venture is now fully operational and already has two well stocked and fully equipped mobile service vans covering Nottingham and the surrounding area.

For further information contact Cliff Reeder on 0115 704 3167 or info@nottinghamtaillifts.co.uk

Statement

RATCLIFF PALFINGER ACQUIRE THE ASSETS OF ROSS & BONNYMAN COMMERCIAL SPARES BUSINESS

After 37 years Ross & Bonnyman Limited has made a strategic business decision to cease manufacturing commercial vehicle tail lifts. Ross & Bonnyman will continue to manufacture ambulance lifts, yard lifts, lifting decks and other specialised engineered products.

Ratcliff Palfinger Limited has come to an agreement with Ross & Bonnyman Limited to acquire the assets of the commercial vehicle spare parts business and will transfer these to their operation at the National Parts Centre based in Garforth, near Leeds.

As part of the transfer, Ratcliff Palfinger will also undertake the existing commercial vehicle tail lift warranty obligations of Ross & Bonnyman.

Supported by the Ratcliff Palfinger 24-365 agent network, which generally overlaps with the Ross & Bonnyman agent network, there is a perfect synergy to maintain the customer service levels and supply of genuine Ross & Bonnyman spare parts.

This transfer is subject to OFT approval and until such approval has been received the business will continue as normal through Ross & Bonnyman.

Subject to OFT approval being granted, the trading of Ross & Bonnyman spare parts for commercial vehicle tail lifts will commence from Ratcliff Palfinger’s NPC. It is anticipated that this will be from 4th January 2011. Ross & Bonnyman will continue to supply spare parts for ambulance lifts and their other retained products from Forfar. A further communication will be issued in due course.

As another year flies by and we enter our 21st year trading it's nice to take 10 minutes to reflect on the past 12 months.

Taking into account the current economic climate, we have had a very good year and once again I would like to sincerely thank all of our customers for their much valued business. I would also like to thank our staff who have all worked hard and performed extremely well in such challenging times.

It is sometimes suggested that the importance of Tail Lift Platform warning flags are occasionally overlooked.

Legislation states that all Tail Lift Platforms must be visible in poor light conditions and whilst some manufacturers offer the option of platform marker lights, most tail lift manufacturers comply with this legislation by having high visibility marker flags fitted.

It is important that the reflective strip fitted onto this flag remains intact, should this reflective strip become damaged or insecure then the complete flag should be changed.

If you have any further queries regarding Tail Lift Flags or any other queries relating to Tail Lift legislation please call us and ask for David or Andrew. 

We hope that you like our new look website!

Whilst we have tried to keep the site of a similar layout for easy navigation, you will find many more useful additions.

We have a new Special Offer window showing our lowest priced weekly offer. We have a new web commercial window located on our about us page and we have a completely new Delivery page which shows the various low cost delivery options for our UK and International customers.

We have also added a huge amount of additional parts which are now available to buy on-line with more parts been added on a daily basis.

parts4taillifts.com – Lowest Priced Genuine Parts – Guaranteed!   

If you would like a Parts Manual for your specific Tail Lift or Shutter please email your request to customerservices@parts4taillifts.com. If possible please include in your email the following information: Tail Lift Make, Model, Year of Manufacture and Serial Number.  

But don't worry if you do not have all of this information, just email us what you have got, along with your contact telephone number, and we will take it from there.

Alternatively we have a good selection of Parts Manuals available for you to download from this website.     

We are delighted to announce that John Swallow has been appointed our new Customer Service Manager.

John's previous role was to keep customers updated regarding their current orders and backorders and many of our customers will know John in this capacity. We are happy to say that John will still be responsible for this area of the business but will now be assisted by Mark Chappell who recently joined the Company. Mark's appointment will allow John the time to work within his new role and help the business in its drive to give our customers the very best possible levels of service and support.

Feedback on how we are doing and your views on our performance are always welcome and will always be acknowledged, looked into and responded too.

Please forward all feedback to John at customerservice@parts4taillifts.com      

The World Cup approaches and it looks like the country will again be gripped by World Cup fever, and whether you like football or not, we doubt there will be any escaping!

We thought if you can't beat them you might as well join them, so for the first 500 orders we receive in June, which are dispatched from our National Parts Centre, we will be sending out a complimentary car mounted St George Flag!

As Official Parts Distributors for all of the UK's Tail Lift & Shutter Manufacturers we only sell Genuine Parts.

In today's "no-win no-fee" culture it is reassuring to know that all of our parts are backed by the Manufacturers guarantees, support and quality assurances.

            Low Prices

            Highest levels of Customer Service  

            Peace of mind

            parts4taillifts.com

The Commercial Vehicle Operator Show is back with us and starts next Tuesday(13th April). The show runs for 3 days from Tuesday to Thursday, opening times are 8.30am to 5.30pm and you can register on-line for your free ticket at www.cvoperatorshow.com

Please come and see us on Stand 5601.

Moving our offices from within our warehouse into a newly constructed building has enabled us the space to increase our stock holding.

And we haven't hung around. During the last month we have increased our stock range and stock holding by around a third. This will make our first time pick more successful and get the parts to you even faster.             

The CV Show is back at the NEC - April 13th - 15th.

Now re-named The Commercial Vehicle Operator Show, it promises to be the place to be for deals and inspiration.   

Whether you are an existing customer or a potentially new customer, please visit our stand for a very warm welcome. You will find us just to the right of the main entrance to Hall 5, opposite Vauxhall.

Our Stand Number is 5601.

We would like to introduce to you a new addition to our Parts Team. Lois Pearson has moved across to Parts from our Accounts Department having worked for the company for over 6 months.

In that time Lois has proven to be a very friendly and efficient individual and is currently undergoing product training. Lois’s role is in addition to our current team of Parts Advisors and has been appointed to maintain our high Customer Service levels during busy periods.

Like everyone, we found 2009 a challenging year. However despite the economic climate we did not want to sit back and rest on past laurels so were determined to continue to move our business forward. 

As a consequence of this we made plans during 2009 to create new warehouse space by relocating our Parts and administrative offices into a new purpose built building. This move is now complete and provides us with the perfect space to maintain and further develop our service. 

The extra space this has created within our warehouse has allowed us to reorganise our picking and packing area for greater efficiency and increase our stocking levels and stock range.

We have just entered our 20th year trading and things have certainly changed during the last 20 years.

When I set the business up in 1990 tail lift preventative maintenance was virtually unheard of, however with the introduction of LOLER in November 1998 and the improvement of general safety standards, most tail lifts are now well looked after.

Time flies past so quickly and this year been a blur, which is probably a good thing considering how it's been such a challenging time for everyone. 

I would like to take this opportunity and sincerely thank every single one of our customers for their business throughout this year and throughout the last 20 years.

David Conman MD 

Our new 24 page colour brochure is now available for free download - just click on the link on the left hand side of this page.

This colour brochure shows many fast moving tail lift and shutter parts and should be very usefull as a referance when away from your PC. If you require a quantity of hard copies of this brochure please let us know and we will happily forward them to you. 

Keep a look-out for our new Catalogue which will be out this month.

This will be available in hard copy and we will send copies out with parts orders. It will also be available for free download from this site.

At x 24 pages long, it will show pictures along with part numbers of commonly used tail lift & shutter parts and will be very useful to use as a reference when trying to identify parts particularly when customers are on the road or on site. 

It was bound to happen.......

Stock Control can be challenging to say the least and whilst we can't seem to keep enough on the shelf of a wide range of RSG parts, there are some parts which we find ourselves overstocked on. We aim to offer these parts to our customers at greatly reduced prices. Watch out for a new tab titled "RSG Parts - Special Offers", this will be located within the RSG index on the left of our website. 

The Commercial Vehicle Operator Show 2010              

The CV Operator Show will take place next year from April 13 to 15 in halls 4 & 5 of the NEC in Birmingham. The following year will see the first of a new Commercial Vehicle Show series. 

The CV Operator Show is designed to promote best practice in all aspects of transport, distribution and logistics. Aimed at helping operators to optimise the running of their existing vehicles, the Show will enable exhibitors to present the widest possible range of products and services used in the day to day running of commercial vehicles of all sizes and types, with a particular accent on environmental impact, improved efficiency and profitability. Underlining the need for regular vehicle maintenance will be “Workshop”, where the latest diagnostics technology, replacement parts and service equipment for car and CV will be presented.

We now hold a selection of new Tail Lifts on stock available for immediate delivery. Included in our current stock is a Ratcliff Palfinger Tail Lift RQ527 suitable for 3.5ton luton box vans. This lift can be fitted in 1 x day and does not require painting, (2080 outer column width). We also have a Dhollandia 1500kg Slider with an 1100mm platform complete with front Ramps & side ramps.

Call Cliff Reeder on 01482 575555 for further details.

Even with the economic downturn, Parts4taillifts.com says it has seen a significant increase in demand for Ray Smith Group Tail Lift parts despite it now being nearly 18 months since they went into receivership.

“We have been delighted with our RSG Tail Lift parts growth over the last 12 months, with many new customers ordering from us,” said David Conman MD.  “I feel these increased sales are partly down to the huge amount of RSG stock we now hold, and our ability to get the parts to our customers for the following day.”

The Commercial Vehicle Partnership, comprising the SMMT, RHA and SOE, and the CV Show Committee, made up of the partners and representatives from the commercial vehicle and component sector, agreed today to cancel this year's CV Show scheduled for 28-30 April at Birmingham's NEC.

"This was a difficult decision but, on balance, the right one.  What we learned from this exercise was that despite a generally negative response to 2009, there appears a much more positive approach to 2010 which encourages the Partnership to set plans in motion for a show in April of that year".Said RHA Chief Executive Roger King.

We just got bigger...and this isn't due to the amount of turkey we have eaten over the Christmas holidays! Over the past three weeks we have significantly increased our Stock Holding for our whole range of Tail Lift and Shutter Parts and these levels will be sustained throughout 2009.

This decision has been taken to allow us to give all of our customers an even greater level of support and service throughout 2009. In addition to this, our cut of times for the dispatch of orders sent from our National Parts Center is now 4.30pm with before 9.00am next day delivery also available.  

According to the Who's who Publication of business elite. (www.whoswho.co.uk)

Entry into this publication is by selection only and according to strictly determined financial and company performance criteria over the last 9 years.

"This is a great acknowledgement for the business, particularly during these challenging economic times." Said Julie Conman, Financial Director, "Since my husband and I formed the business in 1990 we have always made every effort to make the business as efficient as possible and always run it on a sound financial footing."     

With our genuine Tail Lift and Shutter Parts at the lowest prices.

- Official parts agents for every Tail Lift & Shutter manufacturer in the UK

- Our technical team will help you identify the parts you require faster

- Huge stock availability, reducing your vehicles down-time 

Where has the last year gone? It only seems a couple of months ago that I stated that we were just entering our 18th year trading, now we are a year further on and we've just entered out 19th year in business!

Time certainly flies when you're having fun!    

David Conman MD

Having now had 6 months trading history under our belts since the sad demise of the Ray Smith Group, we now have a much clearer picture of the market place. This has allowed us to bulk purchase popular lines and to build up our overall stocking levels. 

Our current stocking policy, which we have had in place for the last 3 months, is to purchase enough of an RSG part to last us the following 6 months. As a consequence of this we now have a huge wide range of RSG parts on stock and we are continuing this stocking policy which will ensure that these levels are sustained.      

An additional benefit of our bulk purchasing policy is that we can offer even greater savings on fast moving RSG parts. Please contact Dave or Andy on 01482 504444.

At the CV Show for the fifth consecutive year, parts4taillifts said this year's event produced the highest quality of new enquiries yet.  "It was great to see so many of our existing customers taking the time to come and see us whilst they were at the show," said David Conman, managing director.  "I was also absolutely delighted with the quality of new enquiries we received.  These could prove very significant to us."

Whilst price is very important in today’s market place, it stands for very little if a part arrives late or is incorrectly sent. The same applies when a customer is left wondering about the progress of their order, that is why it is crucial to us that our customers are kept updated.                                                                                                        The one-stop-shop for all Tail Lift & Shutter Parts - No.1 for Service. Visit us at the CV Show this week stand 19-045, or call us on 01482 504444.

In a move that will boost the confidence of many RSG Tail Lift operators and repairers, parts4taillifts have announced that they now hold a huge range of RSG parts.
Since the demise of RSG, parts4taillifts have been working tirelessly to establish new parts supply chains for the many RSG Tail Lifts that are currently operated by the UK’s haulage industry.
“Prior to Christmas we probably held the largest independent stock of RSG parts in the country,” said David Conman MD “Currently our stock holding is around 15 times that amount and now includes rams, PCB’s, controls, lift frames and platforms.”
parts4taillifts also continue to offer technical support for the full range of RSG Tail Lifts.

Chris Lane is leaving us at the end of the month for pastures new which are outside of our industry. Chris has been with us for 4 years now and whilst it is sad to see him leave I understand his decision and I, along with his work colleges, wish him and his family all the very best for the future.     
As it is important that the replacement for Chris has a great deal of product knowledge, we have recruited one of our own Service Engineers to become a Parts Advisor. Steve Crossland has been working with us as a Tail Lift & Shutter Service Engineer for the last 4 years and will be making the move into the Parts Department from the 1st of March.
We are also delighted to announce that due to a continued and sustained increase in our Parts Sales, we have created an additional position within our Parts Department. 
John Swallow will commence employment with us from the 10th March. John has worked within the motor trade all of his life and has over 18 years experience working as a Customer Service Manager. It is envisaged that John's Customer Services expertise will be fully utilised by the company in our drive to offer the very best in Customer Care.

We would like to announce that we are having a great deal of success in securing supply chains for Ray Smith Tail Lift Parts, a further announcement is expected shortly.

Where do the years go? We have now just entered our 18th year trading and we have now occupied our current, purpose built site, for over 10 years. I still clearly remember painting the new workshop floor on a Sunday when my wife and my 2-year old son brought me some lunch.

That cute 2-year old little boy is now going to become a teenager on his next birthday -  which is Christmas day. (but that's another story!)

Doesn't time fly!

David Conman - MD 

I am delighted to inform you that Andy James has been promoted from Parts Supervisor to Parts Manager.
Andy has now been with the Company for over 12 years and has actually worked within our Parts Department for around 2 years having previously been employed as a Tail Lift Service Engineer.
To allow Andy time to manage his new role and greater responsibilities Andy will now answer general calls from 9.00am, however he will be available if specifically needed.
Chris and Phill will of course be available to answer calls from 8.00am. 
I would also like to introduce you to relatively new member of staff. Richard Fryer has now been with the Company around 2 months working as our Stock Controller. It is intended that Richard will now start answering calls during busy periods. I have been very impressed with Richard during his short time with us and although it will take time for Richard to become  technically experienced he is fully competent to deal with more straightforward enquiries.