Soldier z:
An edition of Classic and Vintage commercials credited Richard Biffa as the man who invented the modern skip as we know it.
I think the article mentioned that Biffa’s worked with a local engineering company VAPSCO to build a skip loader to their requirements as the French made Bennes Marrel loaders were not to their liking.The first pic shows an early Vapsco loader on a Biffa Thames Trader and second pic showing Vapsco advert with a Biffa Dodge
Looking further it seems the French Marrel Multi-Skip system was first used in the UK in 1959, and it seems the Dinky Toy version was a simplified replica of this even using the same vehicle as in the pic below, however as you can see the real item was a much more complicated thing with pulleys, cables, chains and the hydraulics. The previous TEHA system above was much more recognisable as to what we know today, having re-read the article on that it says it was the first TEHA system used in the UK rather than the first Multi-Skip system, however it seems this was an improvement on the Marrel. I also read in another article that Boughton bought out Marrel around 1969 and continued with the hydraulic skip loader system.
