When a forklift stops, the expensive part is rarely the repair. It is the shift that stops with it.
We repair forklifts and materials handling equipment of every make, mostly on your own site, using our own engineers working out of eight depots. If a machine is down right now, go straight to urgent and critical repairs and ring us.
What we repair, and on whose machines
We are the dealer for STILL, Hyundai and Lonking, but our engineers are not limited to them. They work on Toyota, Linde, Jungheinrich, Hyster, Yale, Doosan, Clark, Mitsubishi and the rest, whoever supplied the machine.
The same is true of the equipment itself. It is not only counterbalance trucks:
- Counterbalance forklifts in diesel, LPG and electric.
- Reach trucks, order pickers and very narrow aisle equipment.
- Powered pallet trucks and stackers.
- Telehandlers and rough terrain machines.
- Access equipment and industrial cleaning machines.
Typical work runs from a speed adjustment to a full rebuild: brakes and steering, hydraulic leaks, mast alignment, chain and fork wear, tyres, engine diagnostics, motor controllers, chargers and traction batteries. If the machine needs a planned service rather than a repair, that is forklift servicing.
The faults that mean stop the truck now
A forklift almost never fails without warning. Operators notice first, and what they notice is usually one of these:
- Braking that is soft, long or pulls to one side.
- Steering that feels loose or heavy, or wanders.
- A mast that drifts down under load, lifts slowly or judders.
- Grinding, squealing or knocking that was not there last week.
- Hydraulic oil on the floor, on the mast or on the forks.
- Warning lights, fault codes, misfires or hard starting.
- Electric machines losing runtime or refusing to charge properly.
Anything affecting brakes, steering, the mast or the forks takes the truck off the job immediately. That is not a judgement call: under PUWER the machine has to be safe to use, and running a truck with a known defect can invalidate your insurance as well as put the operator and everyone near them at risk.
Operating a damaged forklift escalates the fault, creates a hazard and can invalidate your insurance. If you are unsure, a diagnostic visit settles it.
If the defect turns up during a thorough examination, you will get it in writing with a timescale attached. See LOLER and thorough examinations for what that inspection actually covers.
Most repairs happen where the machine is
We run over 70 mobile engineers in fully equipped vans, stocked with tools, diagnostics and the parts that fail most often. That is what makes the number below possible.
92% of our breakdown repairs are running again on the first visit.
Taking a truck off site costs you a day at each end, so we do not do it unless the job needs a workshop. Where it does, we can collect the machine, do the work at a depot and bring it back. If the repair will keep the truck off the road for longer than a shift, emergency forklift hire can put a stand-in machine on site, often the same day.
The office runs Monday to Friday, 8:00am to 5:00pm. Outside those hours the breakdown callout line runs 24/7, which is the number to use if a machine has failed overnight or at the weekend. For larger fleets we schedule regular site visits so that most of this never becomes a callout at all.
Make, model and what the machine is actually doing. That is enough for us to send the right engineer with the right parts.
What a repair costs, and what moves it
There is no useful single figure: a sensor and a mast rebuild are not the same job. What moves the number:
| What changes the price | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Parts against labour | A cheap part in an awkward place can cost more to fit than an expensive one that is easy to reach |
| On site or in the workshop | Most jobs are done on site. A rebuild needs a depot, and transport both ways |
| OEM or aftermarket | We quote both where a good aftermarket part exists. Everything we fit is warranted. See forklift parts |
| Age and availability | We hold parts for machines up to around 20 years old. Genuinely obsolete items get an aftermarket or refurbished alternative |
| Contract or ad hoc | Contract customers get priority response and discounted parts and labour |
| Access and hours | Restricted access, or work that has to happen outside your operating hours, changes the job |
You get a no-obligation quote before we start. When you compare repairers, compare first-visit fix rates and parts availability as well as the hourly rate: a cheap hour twice is not cheap.
Repair it or replace it
Sometimes the honest answer is that the machine is finished. The rule of thumb we use: if a repair costs more than half the truck’s current market value, or you are paying to fix the same thing over and over, replacement is usually the cheaper decision.
If the same fault keeps coming back, the fault is not the part.
We will say so rather than sell you the repair. If replacing is the right call we can quote new or refurbished, and we take part exchange against the old machine. Equally, plenty of trucks are worth keeping: a well-timed repair on a machine with parts still readily available is usually the cheapest year you will have.
Accredited for the audits you have to pass
If your own customers audit you, your handling equipment is in scope. Ours is set up for that.
- CFTS accredited. The Consolidated Fork Truck Services standard, created by the UK Materials Handling Association, is the recognised mark for forklift thorough examination.
- JOSCAR registered. The Joint Supply Chain Accreditation Register, which is what allows us to work on machinery in the aerospace, defence and security sectors.
- LOLER 1998 and PUWER 1998. We carry out thorough examinations covering both, and can do one on the same visit as a repair rather than booking you a second.
- Insured and documented. Public and employer liability cover, and a full repair history you can produce when somebody asks for it.
Our engineers are time-served, and a good number of them have between ten and twenty years on these machines. That is usually what decides whether a fault is diagnosed on the first visit or the third.
Repair contracts, and what they change
Ad hoc repair is fine for one truck. Across a fleet it turns into unplanned spend and unplanned downtime. A repair and service contract puts a floor under both.
- Scheduled servicing at intervals set by hours run, not by the calendar.
- LOLER thorough examinations planned in, so nothing lapses.
- Priority breakdown response, including after-hours callouts.
- Discounted parts and labour.
- Full repair history per machine, tracked and available.
If you want the argument for planned work rather than reactive, we have set the two costs side by side in why service my forklift. For a fleet across several sites, fleet management takes the administration off you as well.
Make, model and what the machine is actually doing. That is enough for us to send the right engineer with the right parts.
Forklift repairs: common questions
Eight depots across the UK
Our own engineers, out of our own depots - wherever you are, service comes from us.
Talk to us about Forklift Repairs
Monday to Friday, 8:00am to 5:00pm. For a breakdown, our callout line runs 24/7.
Additional Services
Checkout our range of other machine services below
