Steel plates with a tread surface that bridge an open trench, so traffic, deliveries and people keep crossing while the work carries on underneath. Two point four metres by one point two, with lifting eyes on every plate so they are quick to set down and move along as the trench advances.
They are what turns a trench across an access from a shutdown into an inconvenience. On a drive, a yard or anywhere a vehicle has to get past, they are usually the difference between working in one go and working in halves.
Getting it to the job
Four hundred and seventy kilos each. Nobody carries these: they come off a machine and go down off a machine, which means a digger, a forklift or a lorry with a crane at both ends of the hire.
Tell us what you have on site when you ring. If there is nothing to lift them with, that is worth knowing before they arrive on a wagon rather than after.
The numbers
Road Plates specification
Size0.0x 1.2 m
Thickness0to 55 mm
Hire typeDry hire
Getting it to the job
Carried in by hand, so access is not the question it is with the plant.
It still has to get to site: collect it from the yard in Etruria, or we will run it out with the rest of your hire.
The rest of the sheet
Getting it there
Collect or delivered
Ring the yard if a figure matters to your job and we will check it against the machine before you travel.
What comes with it
Checked over between every hire
Lifting eyes on every plate
Delivery to site, or collect them from the Etruria yard
Off hire from the day you ring, not the day they come back
What you will need
A machine to lift them, at both ends of the hire
Enough bearing either side of the trench
A way of stopping them moving once they are down
Dry hireCollect or deliveredServiced between hiresSame day when we have it
What people hire it for
The jobs it actually gets used on
Six of the jobs the road plates goes out on most. Keep scrolling and they stack.
01/ 06
Trenches across a driveway
A drainage or service run across the only way in, where the car still has to get on and off.
02/ 06
Keeping a yard working
Deliveries and vehicles crossing an excavation while the work continues underneath.
03/ 06
Overnight cover
Making an open excavation safe when nobody is on site, rather than leaving a hole and some tape.
04/ 06
Pedestrian crossing points
A firm, level surface across a trench where people have to get past.
05/ 06
Protecting a finished surface
Spreading the load of tracked plant crossing paving, a new drive or a sensitive surface.
06/ 06
Long runs, moved along
A trench that advances a section at a time, with the same plates leapfrogging down it.
How it works
Hiring the road plates start to finish
01
Ring, message or send the details
Tell us the job and the dates. We will say whether it is in, when it is back if it is out, and whether it is the right machine for what you are doing.
02
Collect it, or we run it out
Pick it up from the yard on Brick Kiln Lane in Etruria, or we will deliver it to site. If you ring early enough and it is free, it can often go out the same day.
03
Ring when you are done
We off hire it from the day you ring rather than the day it happens to come back, and collect it from site if we delivered it.
Before you book
What you need to know
Road Plates, in the yard on Brick Kiln Lane, Etruria.
01
You need a machine at both ends
Not just to put them down. You need something to lift them again when the job is done, and people forget that half.
02
Get proper bearing either side
A plate wants a good margin of firm ground on each side of the trench, not an inch of crumbling edge. Undermined edges are how plates tip.
03
Stop them moving
Vehicles crossing will shift a loose plate over a day. Pin, ramp or bed them so they stay where you put them.
04
Steel is slippery
Wet or icy plate is treacherous underfoot and under tyres. Think about it if pedestrians are crossing, and about the noise if it is outside somebody is window.
05
Know the loading
What crosses them matters. A car is not a loaded wagon. If heavy vehicles are going over, say so when you ring rather than assuming.
06
On the public highway, ask first
Working in or across an adopted road brings permits and conditions that are nothing to do with us. Sort that with the council before the plates turn up.
From the Google profile
Used Elite for the first time after using other companies before, wow what a breath of fresh air, prompt replies to messages, Cameron dropped the micro digger off and what a credit to the company he is…
Neil Gerrard · Micro digger
Fantastic experience with Elite Plant Hire! I hired a mini digger and a tracked dumper, and both were top-quality, modern, and reliable machines…
The yard is on Brick Kiln Lane in Etruria, a couple of minutes off the A500, so most of Stoke-on-Trent and Newcastle-under-Lyme is a short run either way. Collect it yourself if you have something that can carry or tow it, or we will deliver it to site and collect it when you are finished.
They come in more than one thickness, from 12mm to 55mm, and all of them are a machine lift rather than a manual one, so you need a digger, a forklift or a crane at both ends of the hire.
That is what they are for, provided they are properly bedded with good bearing either side. Tell us what is actually crossing when you ring, because a loaded wagon is a different question.
Pin or bed them, and ramp the edges if vehicles are crossing at speed. Plates left loose will creep over a day of traffic.
If it is an adopted highway, yes, and that comes from the council rather than from us. Get it sorted before the plates arrive.
Get it booked
Tell us the job. We will tell you the machine.
Ring the yard and you get a straight answer on whether the road plates is available, when it is back if it is out on hire, and whether it is the right thing for what you are doing. If it is not, we will say so.
