David MacKrill Engineering
Bury St. Edmunds, England
Many thanks to Tim Byrne for information used to create this page


    David MacKrill had worked for Sheppard Fabrication, who built the Meiller ship hoists under license. When he left Sheppard to form David MacKrill Engineering (DME) in 1975, the MacLIFT skip loader was introduced and become a popular choice among British bulk haulers. Two 1978 examples are shown below, mounted on Leyland Clydesdales for Grundon.




    Throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, MacKrill was the UK licensee for the German Haller rear loaders. Dubbed the MacREL (for Rear End Loader ), this was essential the Haller X-Series, which used a conventional slide-sweep type packer system. Regarding MacREL's acceptance among commercial haulers, CRT contributor Tim Byrne relates that former fleet engineers, who used to buy them for their fleets, emphasised there was nothing any stronger at the time.

    Slide-sweep packers are exceptionally well-suited for bulk/industrial service, and MacKrill found many customers for the giant 27 cubic metre version (35 cubic yards), typically equipped with a heavy-duty skip hoist and riding atop a four-axle cabover chassis. Smaller capacity versions (through 22cm) on two and three axle chassis were badged as MacLOAD for domestic & trade waste. The packer mechanism is essentially the same as on the MacREL.

    The so-called Paladin bins were perhaps the world's first successful commercial trash containers. They were introduced in England by Pagefield nearly two decades before the containerization of America began in earnest during the 1950's. Some of these round bins are still in use, and this Cleanaway MacLOAD was equipped to handle them in the 1980s:


The variety of bins serviced by the DME Europal container lift system




10/5/08 (Updated 9/15/19)
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Photos from factory brochures/trade advertisements except as noted