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London, every borough

Is this a van job,
or have you got this wrong?

Most of the time it is a van job. Five times out of a hundred it is not, and we will tell you which this is before you book.

Every other van website in this city lists what it will carry. This one is arranged around why you would book a van at all instead of a removals firm — and it has a page saying which jobs we turn down and what to book instead.

Get a price What we turn down
Marketplace and auction collections You bought something from a stranger and it will not go in a car. Two peopleSame vehicle throughoutSeller's addressNo cash handled One large item and nothing else It is one object, it is heavy, and you need it somewhere else. Two peopleBlankets and strapsDismantling if neededPlaced in the room A room, not a home You are moving your own things out of somebody else's furnished flat. Student movesFlat-sharesEnd of tenancyBoxes and a bed Into storage, out of storage Something is going into a unit, or coming back out of one. Ground-floor unitsTrolley providedTwo addressesPart loads Work, not home It is a business load, and it is small. Markets and fairsStudiosSmall officesStock and kit When it is not a van job Sometimes the answer is no, and this page says which times. We turn these downBook a firm insteadNo upsellFive of them

The jobs

Six reasons somebody books a van

Five of them are ours. The sixth is the one we send elsewhere.

Buying and collecting

You have bought something. It needs collecting.

Marketplace and auction collections You bought something from a stranger and it will not go in a car. Two peopleSame vehicle throughoutSeller's addressNo cash handled The single commonest reason anybody books a van in this city. Something was bought from a marketplace seller, a saleroom, a shop with no delivery or a warehouse, and it has to get from their address to yours intact. Read the page One large item and nothing else It is one object, it is heavy, and you need it somewhere else. Two peopleBlankets and strapsDismantling if neededPlaced in the room A sofa to a relative. A wardrobe to a new flat. A dining table across town. One object, two addresses, and no interest whatever in a removals survey — a van is exactly the right tool and a firm would be the wrong one. Read the page

Moving a room, not a home

You own less than a household. A firm would be overkill.

A room, not a home You are moving your own things out of somebody else's furnished flat. Student movesFlat-sharesEnd of tenancyBoxes and a bed Flat-shares, student rooms, lodgings and anywhere the furniture belongs to the landlord. What you actually own is boxes, clothes, a bike, a desk and maybe a mattress — a quarter of a van, and nothing a removal firm would know how to price. Read the page Into storage, out of storage Something is going into a unit, or coming back out of one. Ground-floor unitsTrolley providedTwo addressesPart loads Storage runs are their own thing: a unit with a corridor and a goods lift, a booking window, and a load that is usually going in stages rather than all at once. Ordinary van work and rarely worth a firm. Read the page

Work, not home

It is a business load and it is too small for a contract.

Work, not home It is a business load, and it is small. Markets and fairsStudiosSmall officesStock and kit Stock to a market, work to a studio, kit to a shoot, a few desks to a new office. Business loads that are far too small for a commercial removals contract and far too large for a car boot. Read the page

Not a van job

The jobs we turn down, and what to book instead.

When it is not a van job Sometimes the answer is no, and this page says which times. We turn these downBook a firm insteadNo upsellFive of them The page most van websites do not have. Five jobs we will not take, why they are not van jobs, and what to book instead. It costs us work and it is the most useful thing here. Read the page

Collections

Marketplace pickups: six ways it goes wrong

Nearly all of it is avoidable with two questions asked the day before.

Collecting from a stranger's house is half the van work in this city and almost none of it appears on removals websites. Here is what actually goes wrong, whose problem it is when it does, and what we do about it. We are blunt about the ones that are yours, because knowing that in advance is the whole point.

01

The seller has not taken it apart

The listing said "dismantled for collection" and it is standing fully built in an upstairs bedroom with the tools in a drawer somewhere.

Whose problem

Yours, unfortunately. The seller has your money and no further interest.

What we do

We will dismantle it if it comes apart and there is room to work. If it does not come apart, it does not come down the stairs, and we will tell you that before anybody starts unscrewing anything.

02

The measurement in the listing is wrong

Listings are measured optimistically, or measured across the wrong face, or copied from a manufacturer's page for a different model.

Whose problem

Yours. It is the single commonest reason a collection fails.

What we do

We ask you for the seller's own measurement and your doorway before the day. If the two do not work, we say so while it is still cancellable.

03

There is nowhere to park at the seller's

You have never been to the address. Neither have we. It turns out to be a red route, a permit bay, or a first-floor flat above a parade of shops.

Whose problem

Shared, and solvable in about two minutes on a map beforehand.

What we do

We look at the seller's address before the day and tell you if it needs a longer carry or a different time. It is a two-minute job that saves a wasted trip.

04

The seller expects cash on collection

Payment was supposed to happen on the platform and the seller now wants cash in hand from whoever turns up.

Whose problem

Yours, and it needs settling before we go.

What we do

We do not handle money on your behalf. Not cash, not transfers, not a card tap. Pay the seller yourself, however you agreed, before we arrive.

05

It is bigger than the photographs

Photographs flatten everything. A "two-seater" that is a deep three-seat with a chaise is a genuinely different object from the one you thought you bought.

Whose problem

Yours, and we would rather find it out early than on a landing.

What we do

Ask the seller for a photograph with something ordinary beside it — a door frame, a kitchen chair. It reveals more than a measurement and takes them ten seconds.

06

The seller is not in

It happens, it is nobody's fault, and there is nothing at the address but a locked door and a phone that is not being answered.

Whose problem

Yours, and it is the reason we confirm the day before.

What we do

We confirm the collection with you before setting off and ask you to confirm it with the seller. A wasted journey is a real cost and it is almost always avoidable.

The fourth one is not negotiable. We do not handle money on your behalf — not cash, not a transfer from our phone, not a card tap at the door. Pay the seller yourself, however you agreed, before we arrive.

Van or firm

What a removals firm would quote for, and we would not

Five of these six are not van jobs, and we will not pretend otherwise to get the booking.

Man-and-van sites tend to accept everything and then discover on the morning that the job needed four people and two vehicles. This is the list we say no to, with the reason and with what to book instead.

A three-bedroom house Firm

It is a loft, a garage, a shed, two floors of furniture and a kitchen. That is four or five people and two vehicles, and anybody quoting it as a van job either has not understood it or is hoping you have not.

Book insteadA removals firm with a survey and a written inventory.

A full flat where everything needs packing Firm

Packing is a separate trade done by separate people on a separate visit. A van crew packing on the morning is a day that loses its shape before it has started.

Book insteadA firm that sends packers ahead of the moving crew.

Anything with a piano in it Firm

The weight sits high and off-centre and it does not behave like furniture at any crew size. We do not attempt them and we will not take a booking that includes one.

Book insteadA specialist piano mover with the right equipment.

A move with storage in the middle Firm

Loading, storing, and reloading later means one party responsible for your things across weeks and an inventory that survives the gap. That is a contract rather than a booking.

Book insteadA removals firm with its own storage and its own inventory.

A completion-day chain Firm

Keys and solicitors are not in anybody's control, and a plan that has to survive them needs a crew standing by and a vehicle that can hold a whole house for as long as it takes.

Book insteadA firm quoting a full crew with the load held on the vehicle.

One heavy thing between two addresses Van

This is precisely what a van is for. Two people, blankets and straps, one object, two doors. A removals survey for it would be a waste of everybody's afternoon.

Book insteadBook the van. This is the job.

If you send us one of the five, you will get a reply telling you it is not a van job and roughly what sort of firm to look for. No quote, no call-back sequence, no attempt to talk you round.

Overland

Four small countries you can actually drive to

Where a container would be absurd and a lorry would be a permit problem.

These are the destinations a van is genuinely the right vehicle for: small countries, no port of their own, mountain or hill approaches, and household loads too modest for a shared container to make any sense. Nobody else in this network covers them, and there is a reason we chose them.

How an overland run works
London to Andorra A mountain road, a customs post, and no railhead at all. London to Monaco Where a full-size lorry is a permit problem and a van is not. London to Liechtenstein Landlocked, small, and reached through two other countries. London to San Marino On a hill inside Italy, with the last road doing the deciding.

Asked most often

Straight answers

Is my job a van job?
Probably. If it is a collection, one large item, a room rather than a home, a storage run or a small business load, yes. If it is a whole house, a full pack, a piano, a move with storage in the middle or a completion chain, no — and we will tell you that rather than quote it.
Can you pay the seller for me?
No. Not cash, not a transfer, not a card tap at the door. Pay the seller yourself, however you agreed, before we arrive. That is a flat rule and it protects both of us.
What if the seller has not dismantled it?
We will take it apart if it comes apart and there is room to work. If it does not come apart it does not come down the stairs, and we will say so before anybody starts unscrewing anything.
How many people come?
Two on anything with furniture, stairs or a machine in it. One where the load is boxes and flat-pack and somebody is waiting at the far end. We say which when we quote.
Will you take the old one away?
Only to a person or an address — a charity that has accepted it, a buyer, a relative. We hold no waste carrier licence and do not dispose of anything, and the liability for waste disposed of improperly attaches to the householder as well as the carrier.
Do you go outside London?
Single long runs across the UK, and overland into Europe. We cover four small countries by road that nobody else in this network does, because a van is genuinely the right vehicle for them.

More on the questions page — van or firm, collections and marketplace pickups, what happens on the day, overland to Europe, and prices and cover.

Tell us what it is and where it is

If it is not a van job we will say so, and say what to book instead.

Both addresses, what the item is, what floor each end is on, and a photograph of the biggest thing. That is enough for a straight answer and a written price.

Get a price What we turn down