Vehicle mountable covering system

A vehicle-mountable covering system 100 comprising a control system and a framework connected to the control system. The framework being comprised of first and second arms 1 with a rotatable spool 5 mounted to the arms for carrying a flexible cover 9. The control system is operable to mechanically move the arms 1 apart from each other from a stowed position (Figure 4) to an operating position (Figure 3), and to move the arms 1 about a first pivot axis (2, Figure 5) in either a forwards or rearwards direction in said operating position. Also disclosed is a method of operating a covering system 100 comprising providing a covering system 100 comprising a pair of arms 1 carrying a rotatable spool 5, moving the arms 1 lengthwise from a forward position to a rear position while passing the spool 5 over the top of a container, skip or similar 7, attaching an unattached / detached part of a flexible cover 9 to the container, skip or similar 7 and moving the arms 1 lengthwise in the opposite direction to unfurl the cover over the open-topped container, skip or similar 7.