Tail lift

A tail lift (term used in the UK, also called a "liftgate" in North America) is a mechanical device permanently installed on the rear of a work truck, van, or lorry, and is designed to facilitate the handling of goods from ground level or a loading dock to the level of the vehicle bed, or vice versa.

The majority of tail lifts are hydraulic or pneumatic in operation, although they can be mechanical, and are controlled by an operator using an electric relay switch.

Using a tail lift can make it unnecessary to use machinery such as a forklift truck to load heavy items on to a vehicle. A tail lift can also bridge the difference in height between a loading dock and the vehicle load bed.

Tail lifts are available for many sizes of vehicle, from standard vans to articulated lorries, and standard models can lift anywhere up to 2500kg. Some heavy-duty models can even exceed this limit, making them suitable for industrial applications where extreme loads need to be transported.^[1]