In 1963 Gerry Coke, a highly innovative and well respected engineer, set up a small business based in Bexleyheath to design and market automatic sheet feeders for the woodworking industry.

By 1966 the company had moved into an industrial unit in Sittingbourne and started to manufacture its own products.

With continuing success the business again moved in 1971, this time to its current location in Sheerness, at the same time adopting the name Trepel UK in recognition of a financial tie-up with Trepel AG, a German manufacturer of high quality scissor lifts,.

After a period of sustained growth and the development of a new range of standardised lifts the company bought out the financial involvement of Trepel AG and traded as Trepel Ltd until 1988 when, to emphasise its independence, the name was changed to Britannia Lift Ltd.

Today the company operates from an impressive 38,000 square foot site, employs some 40 staff and has an annual turnover of approximately £2 1/4 Million.