A manual pallet truck — also called a hand pallet truck, a pump truck, a hydraulic pallet truck or simply a pallet jack — is the workhorse of almost every warehouse, stockroom, workshop and delivery vehicle. A hydraulic hand pump raises the forks under a pallet; you pull or push the load to where it's needed and lower it with the release lever. No power, no charging, no battery to manage, and very little to go wrong.
Our GPC VULCAN manual pallet trucks are UK-manufactured, conform to EN 1757-2 and are CE marked and plated. Standard models carry 2,000–2,500kg on 1,150 × 540mm forks with a three-position control lever (raise / lower / neutral for towing) and tandem load rollers for smooth pallet entry.
The manual pallet truck range
| Model |
Type |
Best for |
| Standard VULCAN |
Hand pallet truck, 1,150 × 540mm |
General warehouse, stockroom and van work |
| HDPT501558 |
Extra heavy duty pallet truck |
Loads above the standard rating |
| SSPT1554 |
Stainless steel pallet truck, 1,150 × 540mm |
Food, pharma, cold store, washdown areas |
| GZR11N |
Rough terrain pallet truck |
Yards, uneven ground, outdoor surfaces |
| VULCAN Premium weigh scale |
Weighing pump truck |
Check-weighing pallets as you move them |
| VULCAN reel handling |
Reel and drum truck |
Horizontal rolls, reels and cable drums |
Which manual pallet truck do you need?
Standard hand pallet truck. The default choice. Rate to your heaviest realistic pallet rather than your average one, and match fork length and width to the pallets you actually handle — 1,150 × 540mm suits standard UK and Euro pallets, wider forks suit oversized or double-entry loads.
Extra heavy duty. Where pallets regularly run above the standard rating — steel stock, stone, drinks, dense bagged goods — the HDPT501558 heavy duty pump truck is built for the higher load rather than being run at the edge of a standard truck's capacity.
Stainless and galvanised. The SSPT1554 stainless steel pallet truck has 1,150mm forks at 160mm wide, 200mm raised and 85mm lowered fork heights, entry and exit rollers, and runs on 200 × 50mm black nylon steering wheels with 80 × 70mm nylon front rollers. Corrosion resistance is what you're buying here: wet, damp, chilled and washdown environments where a painted truck rusts within a year.
Rough terrain. The GZR11N is specified for yard and outdoor use where standard small rollers would bog down or jam on uneven surfaces. Standard pallet trucks are designed for flat, sound internal floors — running one outside is the fastest way to wreck it.
Weigh scale. A weighing pump truck lets you check pallet weight at the point of handling instead of walking loads to a platform scale. The VULCAN Premium weigh scale truck is accurate to ±0.1% in 0.5kg increments, has electronic lift-height indication, and is rated IP65 so it can go outside or on a lorry and be washed down under normal pressure. Its rechargeable battery runs 70–80 hours and recharges in about four hours. Note this is a check-weighing tool — it is not a trade-approved scale for selling goods by weight.
Reel handling. The VULCAN reel handling truck conforms to EN 1757-2 and is CE marked and plated, with a chassis reinforced at the 'A' frame and along the legs, a hydraulic pump with slow-lowering hand control valve, three-position fingertip control, and 200 × 50mm steering wheels with 82 × 70mm roller tandems. It carries horizontal loads — rolls, reels, cable drums — that a flat-fork truck simply can't hold safely.
Manual or powered?
Manual wins on price, simplicity and maintenance, and is the right call for occasional moves, short distances and light-to-medium daily volumes. Once you're moving pallets continuously, across long distances, up ramps, or repeatedly on and off vehicles, the operator fatigue and time cost start to outweigh the saving — that's the point to look at powered pallet trucks. Our manual vs electric pallet trucks guide works through the decision properly.
Safe use and inspection
Pallet trucks sit under PUWER 1998: suitable for the task, maintained in efficient working order, and used by people given adequate instruction. In practice that means pre-use checks on the forks, wheels, pump and release lever, keeping loads low and centred, pulling rather than pushing on the level so the truck stays in front of you, and never using a pallet truck on a gradient it wasn't designed for. This is a summary of good practice, not legal advice.
Related
Browse the full pallet trucks range, or the specialist sub-ranges: weigh scale pallet trucks, stainless and galvanised pallet trucks, rough terrain pallet trucks and high lift pallet trucks. For lifting to racking height rather than moving at floor level, see pallet stackers.
