DIFFLOCKEDTHE REGISTRY NAMED MODEL · 1968
NAMED MODELSpecial · GPO/MailUnited Kingdom

GPO Platform Elevating Simon M28.

30cwt petrol Series IIB Forward Control fitted with a Simon Hoist M28 elevating platform, WLA 990G, one of a fifteen-vehicle Post Office batch of 1968, photographed as a training unit at the GPO Regional Training Centre at Bletchley Park.

Drive it in the gameSources & evidence
GPO Platform Elevating Simon M28 — front three-quarter render
BASE VEHICLESeries IIABUILT BYLand Rover (Series IIB Forward Control 30cwt)IN SERVICE1968OPERATED INUnited KingdomPRODUCTIONAbout 15LAYOUT4 wheels · 110″

The record

For overhead line work the Post Office Telephones fleet used hydraulic platforms, and in 1968 it took a batch of about fifteen Land Rover Series IIB Forward Controls — the 30cwt, 110-inch petrol chassis with the cab set over the engine — carrying the Simon Hoist M28, a two-section articulated boom with a single-man bucket that folded down over the cab for the road. britishtelephones.com's works photograph shows WLA 990G at the Regional Training Centre, Bletchley Park, where linesmen were taught to use the hoist; it wears TRAINING UNIT on its locker body and the Post Office Telephones fleet lettering on the cab door, with an amber beacon on the roof.

The registry's model is a Series IIB Forward Control in GPO green with the locker body, folded M28 boom and bucket, beacon and WLA 990G plate; in the game it carries the amber warning lights.

Specification

MANUFACTURERLand Rover (Series IIB Forward Control 30cwt)
MODIFIER / COACHBUILDERSimon Engineering, Dudley (M28 hydraulic platform)
MANUFACTURED1968 batch
ENGINERover 2.6 L six-cylinder petrol
PRODUCTION RUNAbout 15
COUNTRY OF ORIGINUnited Kingdom
OPERATED INUnited Kingdom
STATUSretired
REGISTRATIONWLA 990G
PLATFORMSimon Hoist M28 articulated hydraulic platform
BASERegional Training Centre, Bletchley Park
RECORD KINDNamed model
MODEL LINESeries IIA
WHEELS4
NOMINAL WHEELBASE110″
CATEGORYSpecial · GPO/Mail

Catalogue fields describe the vehicle's structure and body as this registry records it. They are not certified factory measurements, and no performance figures are published here.

Sources

  1. 1Land Rover Forward Control — Simon M28 hoist (hoists 001) ↗britishtelephones.com · accessed 2026-09-11SOURCE
  2. 2https://www.britishtelephones.com/vehicles/hoists/001.htmhttps://www.britishtelephones.com/vehicles/hoists/001.htm ↗REFERENCE

Registry record updated 2026-09-11T16:08:27.696Z · status: researched