Lanes in Lilliput – our dinky drain fleet takes to the road

Sometime when you are delivering one of the UK’s biggest drainage services it pays to think…small. Not just small, tiny!

That is what two Lanes colleagues are doing, and it is helping get the company a little bit more attention.

Aberdeen Area Development Manager Mark Morrice was the first to reveal the little Lanes drainage fleet by taking his toy Lanes van, known as a van pack, out for a spin.

He explained: “I thought it would be fun to illustrate that we’re out and about in the community, working with clients to solve their drainage problems.

“So I took my toy Lanes van with me and took some pictures of it in locations around North East Scotland, and invited my LinkedIn follows to guess where it was.”

Famous lochs and spectacular mountain scenery certainly looked good set behind Mark’s drainage van and has been attracting plenty of likes and comments.

So much so, that Manchester Area Development Manager Ian Clapham could not resist getting in on the act – and he has a giant – well, actually, only slightly bigger – toy jet vac tanker.

Ian’s tiddly tanker has begun appearing at sites across Greater Manchester and the North West, much to the amusement of his LinkedIn followers.

“I think my bright pink and white jet vac tanker stands out nicely against the scenery,” says Ian. “As long as it doesn’t get hidden behind a clump of grass.

“I have to admit though, I haven’t had any customer orders for my tiny tanker. It could take a little too long to clean a sewer. On the positive side, it’s small enough to clean a drain pipe from the inside.”

The question is, who is winning the battle of the dinky drainage vehicles in the popularity stakes? Mark thinks he has the edge, helped by the impressive Scottish scenery. But Ian is seeking to match him all the way, snapping his tanker at a dramatic dam.

Mark said: “My titchy van pack was first to hit the road, and it’s still going strong. Health and safety is important at Lanes, so when the van is deployed on site, I carry out a full point of works risk assessment.

“We don’t want anyone tripping over it.”

Mark and Ian launched the UK’s most dinky drainage fleet after Lanes commissioned a batch of the toy vehicles to promote its service.

There is one vehicle that is staying in the cardboard garage. “I do have a jet vac tanker, like Ian’s but it’s still in its box and that’s where it’s staying,” says Mark. “It may be worth something one day!”