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Nationwide Platforms at centre stage of striking Covent Garden PR stunt

The action of an extravagant PR stunt taking place in the heart of London has been captured thanks to a truck mounted platform supplied by Nationwide Platforms’ Specialist Vehicles division.

Public Relations specialists The Ministry of Fun, who are known for their creation of unique publicity stunts, utilised the powered access platform to photograph and film 200 people in flesh-covered body suits creating the shape of a gigantic human hand.

The stunt, which took place in Covent Garden at the end of last year to raise awareness of Dupuytrens Disease (a condition that affect the hands), was commissioned by Pfizer; and the video of the event gained over 40,000 hits on YouTube in its first week.

Nationwide Platforms deployed a 27 metre Ruthmann truck mounted platform from their market leading fleet to allow the agency to capture all the action from above.

The machine also came with its own operator, allowing photographers to concentrate on securing the perfect shots whilst the platform was manoeuvred into the perfect position.

James Lovell, Managing Director of The Ministry of Fun, said: “The machine provided to us by Nationwide Platforms was ideal for helping us capture this stunt in a short space of time. We hired the machine over two days, taking the opportunity to have a test run on the first day before the stunt was completed on the second day.”

With the event taking place in London, a specialist truck mounted platform was ideal because of its mobility, meaning it could be quickly driven onto and away from the site as required.

Providing access to a working height of 27 metres, the machine was also ideal for allowing a film crew and photographers to capture the ‘hand’ from the kind of aerial angle that really captured its life-like movement.

This event is one of the latest examples where Nationwide Platforms has provided powered access for photography, broadcasting or cinematography, having recently supplied equipment for the 2011 Golf Open Championship, the latest Harry Potter film, RAF Fairford, and the Royal Wedding broadcasts.

Watch the video of the machine in action here.

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