JCB driver heads for China to help relief effort

8:33pm Thursday 15th May 2008

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A JCB worker from the region is flying out to China to help with relief efforts following the devastating earthquake.

For construction manufacturer JCB has donated a fleet of diggers to help clear rubble.

''Our priority is to ensure these machines are put to good use in the round-the-clock recovery effort by training local people to operate them effectively.''

Joe Cook

Six vehicles, worth about £300,000, and six operators are being sent from the firm's Chinese factory in Shanghai to the affected area in the Sichuan province.

Local drivers will be trained by the JCB team - which includes British employee Joe Cook, 30, from Malton, North Yorkshire - to operate the loaders.

Mr Cook said: ''Our priority is to ensure these machines are put to good use in the round-the-clock recovery effort by training local people to operate them effectively.'' JCB chairman Sir Anthony Bamford said: ''No one watching the scenes of devastation on television could fail to be touched by the plight of the thousands of people affected by this terrible tragedy.

''I hope in some small way that JCB's donation of backhoe loaders can help the thousands of people who have been left trapped and homeless by this earthquake.'' Staffordshire-based JCB has donated equipment during a number of natural disasters, including the Asian tsunami in 2004.