He set up his own construction business, Richards & Wallington, with Ray Wallington, and branched out into plant hire in the 1960s. According to friends, the inspiration to enter the plant business came almost by chance, after a neighbour asked to borrow a cement mixer that he had parked outside his house. When the neighbour paid him, Richards saw the potential of plant hire, and set up what was to become British Crane Hire.
In 1976, he started making cranes with some former Coles sales managers, setting up Crown Cranes (which renamed as Cosmos, after a trademark dispute). Cosmos built two mobile cranes in four years. One operator who knew the cranes well, said: “They were a driver’s crane, with a sexy cab and a long boom.”
Cosmos went out of business in 1980, after the exit of co-owner Clark Equipment. Richards left too, and went on to found the British Motorcycle Museum.
