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Posted: Sun Dec 18, 2005 11:31 pm
by Paul1
Hi, a truly brilliant website,
I have a large area of scrub and rubbish to clear and level and am thinking of hireing a JCB for a couple of days. Do in need a licence to operate one ? I am experienced with teleporters and 3 ton mini digers so canot see any problems operating it.
Paul
Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2005 12:06 am
by Tony McC
You'll be remarkably lucky to find anyone willing to let you loose with their Sitemaster! Normally, they come with an experienced driver. Occasionally, a hire company will allow a Sitemaster to be hired out without a driver if they can be certain that it will ONLY be used by an experienced operator.
You might think it's a good idea to drive the machine yourself and thereby save the cost of forking out 100 quid or so for a driver, but believe me: an experienced operator will have 3-4 times the productivity of someone unfamiliar with the machine, and what might take you, say, 2 days of frantic effrt on your own,a good driver would have done and dusted by dinnertime of Day 1!
Never underestimate the value of a good machine driver. 
Posted: Mon Jan 09, 2006 4:40 pm
by mouldmaker
I have to agree with Tony. I'm competent with a JCB to the point where our local lads will hire me one without a driver, but competent and proficient are different things. An experienced operator will work at least twice as fast as me, and do a neater job.