I was surprised to hear the areas that still buy the backhoe loader included the UK (so they say) , along with Eastern Europe, Russia, The Americas etc. You almost never see one on site over here, if you do it is an odd one about 20 yrs old. I saw a new owner operated Cat 428 a couple of years ago but no others. These things started out as a converted tractor (this tractor also had volume production bringing its cost down). Gradually they got more whistles & bells until they became unaffordable to the average builder. Why something only doing 20mph max needed a curved windscreen is beyond me. (Hanix made a point of only using flat glass for cheapness when a yobbo inevitably broke it!)
According to the sales map most of Western Europe have turned away from them as they did the Drott some years ago. They featured a big jobsite in Hertfordshire that did not have a single one on there!!! It was long ago said that their use was 80% backhoe & 20% front shovel.
The midi excavator is really a 'backhoe dozer' & if you compare cycle times the midi can swing 3 or 4 buckets over a truck in the same time that the TBL can do one front loader cycle. Basically you are buying a very dear forklift & the ability of self roading, over the midi, but at a cost of £70K. It surprised me that JCB did not feature stuff that does sell eg. their mini's, telehandlers, & maybe that new duck they make. I see many ducks on big road jobs. The above is sad as the TBL was an ideal owner driver machine. I myself was interested in a small simple TBL (similar to Terramite - but with a good roading speed) It just does not exist. Had to put my own restoration to one side after a huge tree crashed over into my dad's - neighbour has no insurance, Dealt with this & cut up some oil tanks at the school for the widow, weighed in £260 of scrap.
Must get back to it.