Man and van FAQ. Straight answers.

You ring us or fill in the quote form, we take the details, and a written fixed quote follows. Tell us what is moving, the two addresses, the floors and whether there is a lift, and roughly when you want to go. Photos of the bigger pieces help. Once you accept, the van turns up on the agreed date, we wrap, lift and load, and the same crew drives it and unloads at the other end. There is no sub-contractor, no depot hand-off and no different team on the day. For local London jobs the clock runs by the hour; for the four European routes the quote is a fixed figure that already includes the drive, the crossing, the paperwork and the insurance.

A man-and-van is one van and one crew from your door to the destination door, while a full removals firm usually runs bigger lorries, separate packing teams and depot consolidation. That set-up suits a large house with a lot of furniture. For a flat, a few rooms, a part load or a single item, it means paying for capacity and hand-offs you do not need. With us the people who load in London are the people who unload in Lyon or Lisbon, so nothing sits in an unknown warehouse and there is one person to ring. If your move is too big for our vans, we will tell you at the quote stage rather than squeeze it in.

Yes. Moves from London to France, Italy, Spain and Portugal are a big part of what we do, alongside local London work. A single van runs the route directly, the export paperwork is lodged by us before it leaves, and the relief claim for your household goods is prepared for the destination country's customs. We have taken part loads to Provence, a full van to Lisbon and a single sofa to Tuscany. All of it is man-and-van scale.

We use two sizes. A long-wheelbase Sprinter (around 500–600 cu ft) takes part loads, single rooms and student moves. A Luton (around 1,000–1,200 cu ft) takes full flats and small houses. We size the job from your list and photos, or at a survey, and use whichever fits.

Locally, we cover every London borough and the Essex and Kent edges near our yard at Purfleet-on-Thames. Abroad, we cover four countries: France, Italy, Spain and Portugal, and nowhere else. Staying narrow keeps the routes, the paperwork and the people at the far end familiar. International collections usually start in London, and we can quote for collections elsewhere in the UK when the route makes sense.

Local London jobs are charged by the hour and international moves are a fixed quote, written down before you book. For local work, the time depends on how much there is, the stairs and lifts at each end, parking and whether you want one person or two. For France, Italy, Spain and Portugal, the figure is built from your inventory and route: van size, crew, access at both ends, and whether your load has the van to itself or shares it with another move heading the same way. Each of those is itemised on the written quote, so you can see what you are paying for and what would change it.

Yes. A part load shares van space with another move on the same route, so you pay for the space you use rather than the whole van. The trade-off is timing: the van leaves when the run is ready, so the delivery window is wider than a dedicated van. Part loads suit students heading home, single-room moves and flat shares. Your written quote sets out the window for your route.

Yes, for the goods. We lodge the UK paperwork and prepare the EU-side claim with you; your own visa and residency are for you to arrange. On the UK side, we lodge the export declaration as the remover, so a private customer does not need to register for anything. On the EU side, household goods moving with someone who is changing their normal residence can usually enter free of import duty and VAT under the EU's transfer-of-residence relief (Council Regulation 1186/2009). We prepare that claim for the destination country's customs: the itemised inventory plus the residence evidence each country asks for. Clearance happens where the van enters the EU, typically at the Channel ports. The ToR1 form you may have heard of is HMRC's relief for goods coming into the UK, so it is not used on these outbound moves.

Yes. Every move carries goods-in-transit cover, and all-risks cover is available for fragile, high-value or art items if you flag them at the quote stage. The certificate comes with your written quote, so you can read the sum insured and the excess before you book.

You are covered by goods-in-transit insurance from the moment the first item leaves your property to the moment the last one is set down, on UK and European moves alike. All-risks options are available for fragile and high-value items. Tell us at the quote stage so they are itemised rather than discovered on the day. The certificate of insurance comes with your written quote, so the sum insured, the excess and the claims window are readable before you book. If something does go wrong, raise it with us in writing and we will reply in writing. Your rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 apply in full.

It depends on the route, how much you are moving and whether your load has a dedicated van or shares one. A dedicated van runs the route directly, so it gives the tightest delivery window. A part load waits for the van to fill on the run, so its window is wider. Customs at the point of entry and access at the destination can also shift timing. Your written quote gives an estimated window for your exact route, and we confirm the delivery slot with you before the van sets off.

Yes, from any London postcode, inner or outer: E, EC, N, NW, SE, SW, W and WC, plus the outer areas such as RM, DA, IG, CR, BR, HA and UB. Our yard is at Purfleet-on-Thames, just off the M25 on the eastern edge of London. That puts east and south-east London close by and the Dartford Crossing a short run away for the Channel ports. Collections in the Home Counties can be quoted on request.

Yes. International conveyancing rarely runs to plan, so we can hold your goods in storage until you have the keys and then deliver. Storage is charged separately and kept flexible, and we would rather hold a load than force a delivery into a property that is not ready.

Tell us as early as you can and we will move the slot or hold the load. Storage is available at our yard in Purfleet, and if a delivery has to wait at the far end we can book a local storage unit near the address, charged separately. The same crew still does the delivery. A booking that moves is ordinary on international jobs, and the written terms set out how changes are handled.

You sign the quote and pay the deposit, and the booking is confirmed. The balance is due before the van leaves. Everything sits inside our standard written terms, which come attached to the quote.