Episode 1 The Crane Gang

Ainscough is Britain's biggest mobile crane hire company.

At dawn every day, their cranes crisscross the country.

Let's go for it.

Apart from my family, this is the second love of my life.

It's the family and then cranes.

-They lift everything.

-Nice and steady.

From wind turbines to priceless artworks.

I'm feeling a little nervous.

Keep going!

-What if it slides out?

-It won't.

It's not going to slide out.

Their life's in our hands up there. One wrong move from us

and it's game over for them.

24 hours a day...

Hold it.

You just have to get it right cos if you don't,

you could pull the crane over.

It's got to go.

..seven days a week...

Don't pull it, Joe!

You wouldn't get me up there.

..they keep Britain lifting.

Yep, happy on the hoist.

Not many people can say they've had the opportunity to work with a ship like that.

We're a small cog in a big machine,

which helps make this country...better.

But facing increased competition

and having invested millions in the latest cranes,

the company is at a crossroads.

If we don't deliver,

it's a bit like football management. We have conversations

about whether you get to stay for next season.

Do I have sleepless nights thinking about that? Yes, I do.

Preston HQ.

I'm in the centre here, yeah.

Home to the company's Heavy Crane Division

and some of the biggest machines in the country.

Still in the centre.

Yeah, still good.

The cranes range from 500

to 1,000 tonnes.

It's getting warmed up.

And the drivers are amongst the most experienced in the crane world.

The bigger the crane, the more in demand the individuals are.

They're using bits of kit, machinery, that weigh

several tonnes. They're operating gear that's worth

hundreds of thousands of pounds.

It's dangerous and complex

and we have complete faith in our guys.

We go wide on this one, mate, so we want to take that lane up.

I'll take the outside lane

-and go round to the right.

-'Yeah, no worries.'

John's been a crane driver for 26 years

and today he's taking his traffic-stopping 500-tonner

to Dorset.

There's one already, look.

Police.

Generally, they'll leave you alone.

He's letting us go, look.

Watch while they pull us now out the road.

HE LAUGHS

Normally,

we're not allowed to go during rush hour or peak times.

No-one wants to be stuck behind a vehicle doing 30 miles an hour.

Especially if you're on a long A-road

and there's nowhere to pull in and when you do pull in,

you get the hand signals and people tooting the horn

in frustration, I suppose.

What can you do?

John and the team are heading to Poole harbour,

home to the UK's largest luxury yacht maker.

Millionaire's playground, you can say that.

There's some wealth where we're going today.

I think I'll go to the shop next door and get myself a little rubber dinghy(!) That's all I can afford.

They need to lift a fibreglass yacht hull free from its mould

and transport it across the boat yard to be fitted out.

The front wheels got to be on the white line, mate.

We're going to pick it up and completely turn it round

180 degrees in that position,

that will allow us to slew around and put the bow of the boat into the dry dock.

The last thing we want to do is rip it out and damage it.

It's expense, isn't it?

You're talking about £5-£6 million-pound boats or even more.

As you can see on the wagon, we have four steel mats.

They need to go on the ground first.

Plenty room here, Matt.

Once they're on the ground, we'll extend the legs

onto the mats and stabilise the crane.

A busy schedule means most of the heavies team eat

on the go.

I'm starting my healthy diet.

Unlike him over there.

Look at that - dancer!

Scrambled egg.

But when it comes to food,

crane driver John likes to think ahead.

Chicken tonight, we're prepping for dinner.

Used to be stop off at greasy spoons, that, this and the other,

as you can tell,

but now it's so easy to cook.

What's he up to? It's all right, not bad.

It's a bit hot and fiery

but it's not bad because he cooks it and we just eat it,

so it don't cost us nothing, so it's not often you get something for nothing off John.

Away for weeks on end,

the crane gang's vans are often where they sleep as well as where they cook.

It's a good job but you are sacrificing quite a bit, really.

You do miss being at home, and your own bed? Can't beat it, can you?

But when you're working away,

you've got to do the best you can do.

I don't mind being away.

He's not as good a cook as me wife but he's getting there.

If he could sort his presentation out, it would be all right.

THEY LAUGH

The fibreglass yacht hull is moved into position in its mould.

I'm just looking at that up there.

It's touching the roof.

Tight fit, wasn't it?

Very tight.

On mobile cranes, the driver sits in a cab close to the ground.

From here they extend and control the telescopic boom.

INDISTINCT RADIO

John has to lift the hull round to the opposite side of the wharf

to land it in an empty dry dock.

Start bringing her down, mate, please.

He'll be relying on his rigging team

to secure the yacht to the crane

and help guide him through the lift.

We're driving the crane by radio.

He's just pulling levers.

'OK, hold it there.'

When you're a crane driver,

you have to trust the bloke on the end of the radio

or the bloke that's banking you.

If you don't, we're all in trouble.

150 miles away,

two freight wagons have derailed on a busy railway line near Dartford.

TRAIN WHISTLES

The driver has escaped unhurt

but one of the lines is blocked and causing serious delays.

Experienced riggers Dave and Lea

are preparing to head to site and remove the wreckage.

We're always on call.

Got the phones with us so soon as we get a phone call, we'll go out.

In the past we've been called up one or two o'clock in the morning -

there's been an accident on lorries or roads and things

so we'll go out

-and do recovery work and stuff like that.

-It's a good challenge. More overtime.

It's unpredictable the jobs you get called out to.

You go there and don't know what to expect

and you have to put your heads together

and get it sorted out, do the job,

so it's more interesting

than your day-to-day site work.

Back at the crash site,

a specialist crane has been brought in for the lift

But setting it up is a difficult job.

The ground's terrible.

You wouldn't really want to set a crane up on this.

You can see it's just grass

and earth,

and you obviously have the rail track on the other side of that

mound over there, so hence why we have a big crane in

to be able to reach the distance to do the rate at distance.

Nice and steady up, now.

It's the largest telescopic crane in the world.

1,200-tonne telescopic crane.

It's quite a beast, takes some building.

It'll take us two days to build this rig.

Then hopefully Saturday night, we'll be lifting.

We've come from Teesside, near Middlesbrough,

and we were mobilised within 12 hours

to get down here and do the job. Took us about seven hours

to get here with the cranes -

we only travel at 35 miles an hour.

The problem is when you come into London,

wherever we go with the machine, we have to be routed around the country

and contact the local constabularies and councils

It's usually anywhere between three and five days' notice for a movement order.

But with a derailment and it being an emergency,

we managed to get one within 12 hours, which is very rare.

A little bit faster, Sam.

Second frame's coming up now.

Keep her nice and steady like that.

While the crane's rigged,

the crashed wagons need to be emptied of their 80-tonne load.

Inside these carts that we're lifting,

moist cement.

With the cement that's in the cart,

it would be too heavy for the crane to lift out of that radius.

So they're using that pump

to go inside the carts that have tipped over

and suck out the cement to make it lighter. That's what they're doing.

Once emptied, the team will work through the night

to lift the wreckage clear of the tracks.

'..30 tonne, just hold your radius, please.'

Down at Poole...

Just let me know when you're at 30 tonne.

..the crane gang need to break the fibreglass hull free of its mould.

Give me another five, please.

Lifting too hard or too quickly

could cause serious damage to the multi-million pound yacht.

'I think she's starting to move.

'Still moving.'

That's it starting to break out of the mould, basically.

'Now we're there, John.'

Pull that bow round a bit, please.

It's starting to slew round.

With the hull set free,

John and the team have to turn it 180 degrees through the air

to land it in the dry dock.

'Slew round a bit, please.

'Start jibbing in.'

Keep coming down.

'OK, John, hold it there.'

Just hold it like that and bring him in.

I'll bring him in and lower him off.

'Jib back and lower off, mate.'

A little touch of smooth at the same time.

Nice and easy.

OK, you're in line now.

OK, that's enough. Hold it there, fellas.

'Up a bit more, mate. You've got it loose.'

'Hold it there, don't stop.'

Job done.

I like it when it's sat on there.

HE LAUGHS

Good job, well done!

John's a good driver but don't tell him, cos his head will get bigger

and he won't be able to get out the cab.

Oh, yeah(?) You reckon(?)

It's been Wayne's first experience of working with the heavies gang.

Normally he works on smaller cranes for less money.

I'm a 200-tonne driver.

But my crane's off the road being repaired.

I'd rather be up there in the warm pulling levers

than here lifting heavy shackles about.

Keen to move up in the crane world,

Wayne's sending an e-mail to heavies'

operation manager, Jim.

I can't put "Dear Jim", can I?

You're supposed to put "Dear Jim".

He's only typed "Jim".

I'll never get a job with you lot.

-"Dear Jim..."

-What have you put so far?

Let's have a look. "Dear Jim"!

HE LAUGHS

I shouldn't have put that, should I?

Just scrub "Dear" out.

-God...like "Jim"?

-Jim.

THEY LAUGH

"Just dropping you an e-mail to say I'm interested in coming to

"heavy cranes..." No?

"I'm just dropping you an e-mail to CONFIRM my interest in heavy cranes."

See how hard it is?

It's gone. The moment.

It's gone.

I have a wife and two kids to feed so money's important.

Especially these days, innit?

Yeah, so...

Hopefully a bit more money , it'd be nice.

There's no time to rest for the team.

Their next job has already come through.

Yeah, no problem.

We're going to Swansea.

We leave first light in the morning.

Get there as soon as.

Look at them.

The family chicken.

Smells good, that does.

What's up, Wayne?

I told him his presentation's not the best.

-It's nice.

-Not bad, is it?

Gorgeous.

Not bad for roadkill, is it?

Life on the road, eh?

HORN BLARES

That was a loud one!

THEY LAUGH

Bauma Trade Fair, Munich.

The largest construction industry expo in the world.

It's a Mecca for crane enthusiasts around the globe...

I've been really looking forward to this.

..including Ainscough heavy crane driver Tristam.

This is my holiday.

Some people go to Disneyland and some people go to Devon.

I go to Bauma.

The Mrs won't be happy now

because I won't want to go on holiday anywhere else now.

Definitely some kit here, isn't there?

MUSIC: "I've Got The Power" by Snap

Very nice.

Tristam has spotted the crawler crane of his dreams.

-Hey, Tristam.

-Harry!

-Nice to meet you.

-You all right?

That, I want to get my hands on.

-That is what I want to get my hands on.

-I've left a key for you.

-Hey!

-Would you like to see the cab?

Definitely. Good lad, brilliant.

This is beautiful.

-Have you driven this?

-Yes.

-You have?

I absolutely love it.

I think I'll try to persuade the directors

that they need to buy one.

Would you mind taking a photograph for me?

Brilliant.

There will be a lot of jealous people in the UK right now.

The company's commercial director, Gareth,

is also attending.

If you like your cranes,

if you like your cranes, this is the Liebherr stand.

How you doing, mate, all right?

-Hello, Gareth, you all right?

-Good to see you.

-You, too, mate.

And he's taking time out from business meetings

to meet up with Tristam...

I've enjoyed it, it's been good fun.

Beautiful.

..who wants to push the drivers' case.

It's good for me to meet you out here

cos we don't really get to talk to the managers.

To be honest, the managers aren't really that interested anyway.

They're not worried about us.

I don't think that's true.

I understand why you say it but I don't think that's true.

We feel there is no personal touch any more with the company.

In what way?

-All the managers get to go home every night.

-Yeah, yeah.

-Or most nights.

-I know what you mean.

99% of the time,

they lock up at five or six o'clock.

We're still stuck out on site at midnight.

If you finish at midnight, the last thing you want to do is find somewhere.

I think I've had to sleep in my car about nine times.

That's no way to live.

-OK.

-You can see where we're coming from

No operator should be sleeping in the car.

No, I completely understand.

We have been stuck a few times. Even though we're crawler crane drivers,

we've still got standards.

Do you know what WOULD be nice?

If some of the higher management got their hands dirty

and come out and saw exactly what we do.

-Yourself as well, I think you should come out...

-I'll come out.

I'll come out.

So...

-it's been an absolute pleasure.

-And for me. Good to see you.

-See you later, Gareth.

He's open.

He's as honest as he can be,

he's a good guy.

And he knows his stuff, so hopefully he will

come up trumps, basically.

I have no issue talking to the crane drivers

about any issues they've got.

In Tristam's case, it's passionate.

Passionate people will always be vocal.

You have to take on board the comments

and see if it resonates across the business

and if it's something that needs to be addressed or not.

Midnight, near Dartford.

OK, mate.

Leave me wine gums alone.

Riggers Dave and Lea have arrived at the site of the rail crash.

You having coffee?

-Yeah, you want coffee?

-No, no.

It's yet another Saturday night away from home.

Over the years you get called up to go away anywhere at any time.

I think you just adjust to it.

It's harder the older you get.

Ain't no spring chickens now, are we?

That's the way it is. That's crane hire.

-HE LAUGHS

-And that's it.

Most of the women are pretty understanding.

They know we can be called away at any time

or stay a night out, so...

they're pretty good, the wives, really.

My wife, anyway, wants me to stay away all the time.

Right, gentlemen, now it's coming track-side,

can you go round to my van, please?

1am.

The gang have possession of the tracks

and just six hours to lift the two crashed freight wagons.

We'll be walking down to the derailment site.

I do not want you to step outside this track rail

because we're right next to a live line.

Any questions?

If you do step outside the railway, you'll be shouted out by me or Joe

to get back in.

If you keep stepping outside the rail,

we'll take you off site.

Any questions?

No.

OK, gentlemen,

follow Joe, please.

'I might need to rope this side first.'

Chain one side and weight the other.

Then pull it over.

Before supervising the lift,

Dave and Lea have to securely attach the chains

to the precariously balanced wagons.

Ready?

Where's your arm?

INDISTINCT

Where your wheel is.

All right, yeah?

INDISTINCT

Basically, we're putting wires

down either side of the container,

stitch them up underneath

and we cradle it underneath, pick it out

and hopefully it'll come up upright

and they want to get it out.

OK, Mark, start pinching up for me.

As soon as this gets nearly tight, Dave, get out the way.

Watch it when it comes down.

Are you all right, Jack?

Stay this side.

Don't forget to account for the roll on it, as well.

as it starts coming out, it'll start rolling up.

'That's coming up to 20 now, like.'

I'll get there.

'OK, mate.'

OK, mate, just starting to lift now.

'You've got that now, Mark.'

Pinch it up, pinch it up.

Keep going, keep going.

That's it, away you go.

The carriage is carried 70 metres away from the track

to a safe landing area.

THUMPING

OK, thank you.

'Thanks, mate.'

One down.

It's 4am.

The remaining wagon is on its side.

Leaving even less room to thread the chains.

-Is that enough?

-No, you're only about a foot-inch.

Right, hold it there.

Nice and easy!

A bit harder.

Come on.

All right, Shag?

OK, Mark, stop pinching up there for us.

Start pinching up.

The chains are safely secured

but the position of the wagon means it's dangerous to lift.

It's a lot further over, leaning over on its side.

So a little bit more care.

The other one was virtually upright.

It didn't matter but we knew what it was going to do.

This one's a bit more tricky.

We don't really know what it's going to do.

There's a sleeper here on that wheel.

I think we need to get that out, Shag,

because that's stopping us from pivoting.

Can you undermine it, Shag?

Try that.

OK, Mark, start pinching up for us again, buddy.

It's the most nerve-racking moment of all for crane driver Mark.

It's difficult

to get it just exactly right

because you never know what the chains are going to do.

The guys are obviously well experienced

but you've just got to get it right, cos if you don't,

suddenly you lose the weight, you have nothing

and then you have 25 tonnes dropping...

which can sometimes double/quadruple the weight

in gravity when it drops that quickly.

Which can then shock the crane, pull the crane,

can damage it.

If it was hard enough, it could pull the crane over.

It's commonly known as a shock load.

BANG

The wagon's off the ground.

'Just a little flick right. Give us a little flick right.'

But Dave and Lea need to turn it so it's upright.

Down you go on the hoist.

Down you go.

The plan is to roll one side of it onto railway sleepers

to try and shift its position.

Down you go.

'..Nice and easy for me, Mark.

'Keep your eye on the weight for me, buddy.

'You might get a bit of juddering where the chains are slipping round, hopefully,

'that's what we want. So, just to warn ya,'

THUMPING

'OK, we lost half the weight there, bud.'

'Superb, Mark,

'it's going exactly how we want it to go.'

That's it, buddy, it's all yours, you've got that. Up you go, Mark.

Chip it down for me.

Down you come. Down you go.

The guys are trying to turn the carriage onto its wheels now.

Got to be careful.

Trying to get it to go down nicely without shocking the crane.

Hopefully, it won't give us a shake.

Lost half the weight there, mate.

Hold it.

It's got to go.

Go on, give us some help.

Move round to your left a bit.

Move left a tad if you can.

Come on, get over!

Well done! Excellent!

Beautiful!

"Stop. Await instructions."

It's nice to work with people who know what they're doing.

It was going to be a difficult lift

and they've made it look easy, which is good.

The Network Rail guy

says, "Thanks, lads, great job."

Everything all safe -

it gives you a sense of achievement at the end of the day.

There's no book to tell you how to do it.

You have guidelines,

but when you're in the field and you have to do it,

it's a different story.

You get your heads together and sort it out

and it comes off.

Brilliant, great stuff.

I was pleased with how it went, the lads worked well.

Couldn't ask for no more.

Five to six.

It's home time.

-Well done.

-Cheers, mate.

See you later, mate, thanks for coming.

See you soon, mate.

Dee-dee-dee-dee-dee!

At heavy cranes HQ in Preston,

two of the company's largest cranes are heading to Scotland

for their biggest lift of the year.

Altogether, there's probably 1,200 tonnes of equipment

being delivered over the next two to three days

for those cranes for the weekend.

We have 20 loads going up for one of the cranes,

which is based in Leyland at the moment,

and we have 17 loads

on the Doncaster crane heading for the same job site.

So in total we have 37 wagons

heading up to that job site.

When these cranes start moving it's a massive operation.

All the associated vehicles and operations

that go on behind the scenes are quite in-depth.

We're the people that make it all happen.

The team are travelling to Inchgreen Docks

where a deep-sea carousel needs lifting onto a barge.

This gigantic bobbin weighs the equivalent of 20 trucks

and will be used to lay 80 kilometres of cable under the ocean.

While the mobile crane drives up,

the 600-tonne crawler crane's

transported in parts.

And driver Tristam is following by car.

The office have got a lot on their plate

on the logistic side of things.

There's two 600s.

There's my CC 2,800,

the flagship,

and then the TC 2,800.

Do you like being in Scotland?

No.

Not one bit.

It's always wet, windy

and cold.

I think I've come up to Glasgow once

and it was sunny

and everyone seemed to stay indoors cos I don't think

they were used to it, they were a bit frightened

of the big ball of flame in the sky.

I'll be glad once we get the hell out of here.

It's like going behind enemy lines

when you go past the Welcome to Scotland sign.

With such a heavy and difficult load,

Tristam and the gang will spend the next three days

living and working away from home to complete the lift.

The company have taken delivery of a new state-of-the-art crane.

I get first spin.

HE LAUGHS

Drivers John and Mark have been promoted to operate it

and they're getting used to their new toy.

It's a new machine, new technology.

Apparently it's very user-friendly.

So let's hope it IS friendly.

Just keep going till it stops.

If that's not at the right angle, it brings up an error in the system.

This is going to be a nightmare, innit?

It's a bit finicky.

There's a lot of bits and pieces.

BEEPING

Oh, no!

Only been here five minutes, it's broken.

Too many buttons at the minute.

BEEPING CONTINUES

John and Mark's promotion has left a vacancy for a new driver in heavies.

Today, manager Jim is holding

interviews for a position on a 500-tonne crane.

It's a full-time job.

The only downside is, when you're based in Leyland, you don't

get lodge because you're based here.

I'm a fully-qualified crane driver, as you can see.

The guys who come to heavy cranes predominantly want the larger money.

Talking 70 to 80 grand, some of them can make.

But they are working a lot more hours

and they're away from home quite a lot,

so they are entitled to get that amount of money.

Any problems you being away from home?

The guys can go away from home for weeks on end.

I can imagine, yeah. It won't be a problem.

After his earlier e-mail, Wayne's up for the job.

He wants promotion from driving a smaller crane.

A little bit nervous but all right.

I've never had a job interview before,

never needed to.

This will be a first for me.

It's down to the money, innit?

The more money, I can pay off... Everyone has debts, obviously.

The more money I get, I can pay them debts off

and live a bit more comfortable.

-Hi, Wayne, how are we doing?

-All right. Not bad.

Come in and we'll have a wee look in the office.

-Have a wee seat there, Wayne.

-Thank you.

Are you OK?

Give us a brief history of yourself. I know you worked for Beckton depot.

Yeah, I was an advanced operator.

Then I give that job up and I've been on a 200 since then.

You live down in the London area, don't you?

No, I live in Dungeness,

so I'm away from home quite a bit.

Good.

Married?

Er, no, I've got a partner. I've been with her

nearly 14 years now and two kids.

It's always been the same, I've always worked away.

She's OK with that.

As long as I get home now and again.

We're looking for a spare operator.

The spare operator's based in Leyland.

The downside is you don't get lodge and accommodation.

That you have to find.

Any questions on that?

Well, er...

I have a place to stay but is there anywhere I can plug into?

I'm 300 miles away from home, obviously.

Have you got a caravan?

It's a big car.

-A big van?

-Chrysler.

With a bed in it.

Put a lead through into it, there is facilities for that.

Any more questions or anything you can think of?

-No.

-I'll give you a call Thursday and let you know either way.

Thanks for coming up anyway.

-Thanks a lot, Jim.

-You take care.

-Cheers.

See you later.

A bit nerve-racking but it seemed all right.

I think I have a good chance

but Thursday night, we'll wait and see.

At Inchgreen Dock near Glasgow,

it's lift day for Tristam and the gang.

Got the brew on already?!

I love you!

These might fit me now I've been on a diet and I've lost, like, 20 stone.

The two cranes and 30 support vehicles

have descended onto site...

We all have to get on that one, Col.

..and have started setting up the lift of the deep-sea carousel.

Once ready, they'll have just two hours to complete the job.

It's definitely a challenging lift.

We have a time window to get on that barge.

The critical bit is the tide.

We have to wait for the barge to go down on low tide

and then we've got to get over it

as it's coming up to high tide.

Touch wood, nothing will go wrong.

Lifting the carousel isn't the only challenge for Tristam.

he also has to share the stage with another heavy crane.

The flagship sign

is the ongoing joke

between me and the TC crew

that this is the flagship, which it is, it'll always be

the flagship.

Technically, you can outlift me,

but you have to have a bit of friendly banter and rivalry.

HE LAUGHS

You leave that where that is!

He writes it everywhere and then believes it himself.

It's an unfortunate thing he's got going.

My crane can lift a hell of a lot more than his.

HE LAUGHS

In charge of the lift, and of directing both cranes,

will be lift supervisor Bernie.

The total weight of the load

is 275 tonnes plus equipment.

It's been calculated that each crane

will have 136 tonnes.

I'll bank the crane but there'll be the radio as well

and as always anybody can stop the job.

-Julian copy?

-OK, Bernie.

Mark?

'Yep, got you, Bernie.'

Tristam?

'I'm ready to go, Bernie.'

Thank you, so we're all on-channel, yeah?

OK, Tristam, hoist up, please, mate.

'Keep hoisting, pal.'

Just starting the table weight, we're going to float it,

get it off the deck.

'Keep hoisting, mate. That's looking beautiful.'

Just watch your weights.

To keep the carousel level, they have to ensure

that each crane takes an equal amount of weight.

Let's put 50 tonnes on whatever you are at the moment, both cranes.

'It's bang-on, that tonne.'

OK?

I'm 100 tonne, dead-on now.

It's going to lift it.

Get it clear of everything

and then we'll start heading towards the barge.

We're off the rollers here, Dave, by about 30 mil.

With the weight level staying steady, the carousel is on the move.

But harbour winds are starting to spin it...

..threatening to entangle the crane's ropes.

Bloody hell.

Let's put our hands on this and try and stop it spinning if we can.

It changes every two or three minutes.

It's up high at the moment, nine metres per second.

Their two-hour window is running out.

Until they stop the 275-tonne carousel from spinning,

the job's on hold.

It's got to find it's natural place it's going to hang.

It can't continue.

I'm Gareth. How you doing? Nice to meet you.

After his meeting with Tristam in Germany, Gareth's decided to

witness conditions on site for himself.

-Hello.

-Hello, how are you? Nice to meet you.

He's come to see heavies team John and Mark

out on a job with their new crane.

Hi, John, how you doing? You all right?

Looks impressive, doesn't it?

How you getting on with it? All right?

To be honest, I am a little frustrated with it cos it's slow.

-Slow?

-Yeah, it's slow. But you've just got to go with it.

It's the machine. Can't make it go faster.

We've got to just try and keep it busy now, that's the thing.

-So this is where you live then?

-This is where we live.

-Courtesy of the company.

-Wi-Fi as well?

That's er...

Better than transits, aren't they?

It's nice to have a shower.

For the last 15 years I managed without one,

but it's nice to have one.

-Smells a hell of a lot better now.

-Yeah.

-How much time are you spending in this then?

-Most of the time.

-Yeah?

-Yeah.

-Why is that?

-Home's Kettering.

-Family and stuff?

Yeah, family. Well, grandkids. That's why I'm knackered.

-Had the grandkids for three days.

-How long have you been with these guys?

Since 1998.

-I've only been here 13 years.

-Right.

And for you, if you don't mind me asking,

-is it about driving a big crane?

-I just like the...

-No, it's just a question.

-I enjoy the work.

What I like about it, all right, going from a 500 to 750,

it's The Flagship, know what I mean? Anything mechanically, I like.

-We need to move. Nice to meet you, mate.

-Good to see you, John.

-Appreciate it.

-Good to see the guys.

I don't think it does any harm to come out and see how they're doing.

Without those guys, we don't do lifts and we don't make money.

They spend a lot of time on the road,

sometimes four, five, six weeks at a time.

-It's a way of life for these guys.

-Jackie Charlton.

Jackie Charlton tea bag from Northumberland.

So although the guys have got the camaraderie with each other,

it's not quite the same as having your family with you as well,

so it's er...

Yeah, it's a lonely old job for the guys.

It's D-day for Wayne.

Today he'll find out if he got the job on the heavies.

Waiting for the big phone call.

Yeah.

I've had colleagues texting me. They want to know as well.

Just have to wait and see.

I keep looking at me phone.

I hate waiting. I'm impatient.

When he stops pacing around, he's wearing them

boots out at the moment.

But good luck to the bloke.

PHONE RINGS

It's the call.

Hello?

All right, Jim.

Yeah.

All right. Cheers, Jim.

Thanks a lot. Bye.

-Got it?

-Yeah.

I got the job.

Made me day.

We've already had the conversation, me and the girlfriend,

and she's fine with it. As long as I do get home, but er...

Yeah. I can't wait.

Bigger crane, more experience, more learning, so, yeah.

Yeah. Well chuffed.

OK, Tristam, let's go to your left.

Marcus, just follow him round to your right, please.

At Inchgreen Dock, the wind has died

and the carousel has stopped spinning.

We're moving again now. We're on the move.

Tristam and the team have just 45 minutes before high tide,

when the barge will be level with the dockside

and in the best position for the carousel to be lowered on.

RADIO: All balanced up now.

If you could just stop, Tristam,

I'm going to have to put more weight on me. Hold it there.

Hold it there, Marcus.

-RADIO:

-Yeah, I could do with a bit as well, mate.

As the cranes swing toward the barge, they have to be loaded

with more weight so that the 275-tonne carousel

doesn't pull them over.

-Try number 20 on either corner.

-Yeah, I've got it.

-That's it, yeah.

So as soon as we get Tristam balancing up now,

that's us now, that's the last push.

Just slewing it round now, getting it closer to the barge.

This is the most crucial bit here, basically.

Let the jib down a touch, Tristam, please. Jib down, Tristam.

Can you jib down as well, Marcus, please?

OK, can both cranes start lowering off, please?

Keep your eye on the beam, Mark, please.

Both cranes lowering off now.

To fit it on the barge,

the 15-metre wide carousel has to be landed with millimetre accuracy.

This is the bit where we're just starting to get it dead centre.

The eagle has landed.

It's been more than a year since the London Olympics came to an end.

As part of the games' legacy,

the former Olympic Park is being converted for public use.

And today the heavies are descending onto site to carry out a major lift.

I remember this when it used to be actual roads and houses.

A lot of gold medals won in there, yeah.

To think all those thousands of people that came here.

No more.

The team have 12 hours to bring down a 96-tonne beam

that supported extra seating for the aquatic centre.

That big thing up there, apparently, is coming down.

It's a heavy piece.

The first job is to set the state-of-the-art crane in position.

Got to get the crane square, so the front legs are over that side there.

Bluetooth.

This is fun and games.

Just very slow.

See the speed of the riggers coming out now.

Normally they fly out.

Bluetooth crane.

One hour in, and the crane's finally in place

and ready to be raised for the lift.

But there's a problem. Some steel girders are in the way.

It's an issue for us, cos when we throw that super-lift up,

it's going to hit the column.

We're snookered.

-I can't see us rigging till this afternoon.

-No.

Cos you'll need to get a crane in now to take them steels out.

I was hoping to be rigged by now. Six o'clock this morning,

and we haven't even put a pad down yet.

Before they can lift, the team will have to wait

until the girders are taken out.

All we need now is a campfire

and start singing Ging Gang Goolie Goolie Goolie.

Heavies HQ.

And Wayne's started weeks of training on a 500-tonne crane.

With the jib down, get to a reasonable height,

press FA and then the limitations button

and we can go back to the screen there.

-Happy with the height limitation?

-Yeah.

With no lodgings provided,

Wayne's getting accustomed to his new life away from home.

And this is where I stay.

It's all right like this cos I'm plugged in with a lead

and they've got showers, but if you didn't have that it'd be difficult.

I'd have to find a hotel.

I'm used to it. It's quite comfortable, actually.

It ain't that bad.

Right now I'd probably be

sitting on the settee...

..eating me dinner,

what's been made for me.

And helping me girls on the computer or something.

Leave it as you find it.

You can tell I'm from Essex originally, can't you?

You've got to smell good, don't you?

That's it.

Living the dream.

All right. Let's get that winch up.

Chop chop!

Over at the Olympic Park,

the problematic girders have been removed,

and the gang are finally able to rig the crane.

That's close the steel. Good job we took this bit out, isn't it?

Otherwise we'd have been knackered. We'd never have done it.

A second crane will be used to help lower the 90-metre long beam

to the ground.

Hold it there, please, John.

Nice and easy, mate. Dead slow.

With the whole operation overseen by lift supervisor Michael.

Not done nothing this heavy before.

Or this long.

Michael's first task is to be raised up 50 metres

on a hydraulic cherry picker to attach the cranes to the beam.

I tell you what, this is quite high up, mate.

Don't break the cable so we come crashing down.

Slew round to your right, please, John.

Each end of the beam has to be bolted to the crane by hand.

With each bolt weighing in at 20 pounds,

even a hard hat wouldn't offer any protection

if they were to be dropped from this height.

Just come down a touch more on yours, please, John.

Down on yours, mate. Nice and steady. Down you come.

Hold that there, John. Hold that there, mate.

That's tightening up. Keep going.

Got it, mate.

That's us now.

-We can lift that beam down now.

-Start pinching it up.

Just keep pinching it up, lads.

Safely back on the ground,

Michael has to direct both crane drivers with pin-point precision

to lower the massive beam into its narrow landing area.

Down here it don't look that big, but it's quite a size.

Going to need you to jib down, John.

And I'm going to need you to jib back, John.

That's you jibbed down, JD.

Nice and steady, mate.

Start coming down on your end.

Start jibbing back, please, John.

I'm a little bit confused cos both drivers are called John.

Communications aren't the only problem.

RADIO: Stop there. He's shaking his head.

Hold it there, John.

RADIO: They're going to move this cherry picker out the way.

-It's broken down at the minute.

-Just have to hold fire.

Just till they move that cherry picker out the way.

Well, the cherry picker is broke down

where we've got to land the beam.

I don't know why it's so complicated.

Let's start pinching up again, please.

Obstruction removed, the lift is back on.

RADIO: This John here has to jib down about another half a metre

-so he's clear of the steel work.

-All right.

I'm going to walk over to the other side

so I can see how it's coming down.

All right, lads. Nice and steady.

Just down on the hoist, please, lads.

Yeah, just keep it coming as you are, lads. As you are.

Nice and steady. Down on the hoist. keep it coming.

Yeah, come on, slew it left, mate. I'll keep slewing John right.

Keep it coming down, lads.

Keep it coming down as you are, nice and steady. It's looking good.

Coming down on the hoist, lads. Nice and steady.

Hold it there, please, everybody. Hold it there. All stop.

John, hold it there, mate.

Some days are easy, some days are long.

90 metres long and weighing almost 100 tonnes,

the beam has been landed safely.

Job done.

It's bad enough living here when you have to put up with this.

Someone's parked really close to my... Me mobile home.

It's just a bit of a struggle to get in.

Wayne's completed his training at heavies.

That's my 500-tonne certificate.

I'm trained on a 500, yeah. Basically.

By the manufacturer.

But living away from home is taking its toll.

Five weeks. I'm on my fifth week away from home.

Another one going home to his family.

I think it's about time I did that, but...

A couple of Father's Day cards off me two daughters.

That's the youngest one there.

She done that herself.

That's the both of them, that is.

It made me want to go home. Brought a lump to me throat, actually.

"Number one dad."

The hardest bit's just sat in here on your own every night

thinking what to do next.

I'll try and survive like I usually do.

Next time...

This is where we find out whether the engineers are any good.

It's stuck.

It's back to business for The Crane Gang.

John, that's just about spot-on. Whoa, there you go. Look at that.

Flying tigers.

But do the numbers add up...

It's a big dip. It's a four million dip.

..as they battle the elements...

It's blowing a gale. You can hear it.

You can see the wind well up, you know.

A bit of bush falling there.

..miles away from home.

This is it.

Living the dream.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd