Most questions come up before a first cross-border collection. Below are the ones asked most often, followed by quick links to the customs systems and documents a UK → Europe consignment can involve.
If your question isn’t here, call or WhatsApp us on 01172 353 247. If it’s important to you, we’ll always take the time to help.
Yes, we can usually accommodate a specific delivery time. Get your estimate first, then contact us with it so we can discuss what you need.
Please get in touch. Consignments above 200kg fall outside our online estimate, but there are usually solutions and we would rather talk it through than turn the work away.
Tubes, unboxed items and fragile pieces are all things we handle. We provide a high-care service from collection through to delivery, so please contact us if this applies to your consignment and we will plan for it properly.
You may already be covered. Business senders should check their commercial or goods-in-transit policy; private senders should check whether their contents policy extends to possessions away from home. Be aware that many policies specifically exclude items while they are in a carrier’s custody, so it is worth confirming that point rather than assuming.
If you are not covered, we can put you in touch with a broker. Cover is based on what you disclose during the quoting process, so the values and descriptions you give us need to be accurate.
We carry our own goods-in-transit cover, but we still recommend you arrange insurance of your own. A carrier’s liability is limited by its conditions of carriage, so your own policy is what protects the full value of what you are sending.
The list below covers what is normally prohibited. It is not exhaustive, and some restrictions apply only to shipments leaving the UK.
We are a private courier, so we can sometimes carry items on this list where a larger network could not. If your consignment includes something above, contact us to discuss it rather than assuming the answer is no.
Televisions and display screens are the exception, and the refusal is firm. A screen can develop a fault that is impossible to attribute once the box has been opened away from the driver, which leaves both of us unable to show what actually happened. Where we do carry electronics, we will ask the recipient to open and power on the item while the driver is still present — it protects you as much as us, because a working item confirmed at the door is the cleanest possible record.
Our vehicles are almost always unsignwritten, so nothing advertises what is inside, and they are tracked throughout the journey for the customer.
When parked, vehicles are kept under CCTV, and most are fitted with deadlocking. If you would like a driver to stay with the vehicle overnight, ask — some of our drivers will do this on request.
Our pricing is always competitive, but it is tailored to what each client actually needs rather than sold from a fixed rate card.
Part of the value is in how your delivery is run: your consignment is usually collected and delivered by the same driver, rather than passing through a depot network.
Where your quote contains all the information we asked for, and the collection and delivery can be completed within the timeframe agreed, we guarantee to carry out the delivery set out in that quotation.
Covering multiple transport routes and customs controls means some situations are genuinely outside our control. We consider those risks when we quote, and we will tell you about anything that concerns us before you book.
If we fail to deliver, what you get back depends on the reason — see clause 11 of our Terms & Conditions. Where the failure is ours, we refund the part of the job we did not carry out and return your consignment at our cost. Fixed costs already committed on your behalf, such as ferry or tunnel charges and any packing already done, cannot be recovered once a booking is confirmed and are not refundable.
Since the UK left the EU, a van crossing the Channel carries a set of references rather than just a delivery note. These are the ones that come up most often on our routes. Each links to the official source.
The single reference that ties every customs declaration for a vehicle into one movement, created in HMRC’s Goods Vehicle Movement Service (GVMS). Without a valid GMR the vehicle cannot board at a UK port. It is generated before travel and scanned at check-in.
France’s counterpart to the GMR, for the Smart Border. It consolidates the customs and transport references for a vehicle — MRNs, safety and security data, vehicle details — into a single barcode presented at check-in.
The ELO barcode became compulsory on 20 April 2026 for every vehicle using the France–UK Smart Border, including full loads, groupage and empty trailers, in both directions.
Issued once an export declaration has been accepted. It carries the Movement Reference Number (MRN) as a barcode and travels physically with the consignment, so the goods can be matched to their declaration at the point of exit.
Export Accompanying Document (EAD) and List of Items — GOV.UK
Transit documents that let goods move across customs territories with duty and VAT suspended until they reach their destination. T1 covers non-EU goods moving through EU territory — the usual case for a UK consignment crossing France. T2 covers EU goods moving through a non-EU country.
A transit movement must be discharged at an approved office of destination. Failing to close it correctly leaves the guarantee holder liable for the suspended duty.
The EU’s safety and security programme. An Entry Summary Declaration (ENS) must be lodged in ICS2 before goods arrive in the EU, giving customs advance data to risk-assess the consignment. For road freight this is the haulier’s responsibility, and its reference feeds into the ELO.
The standard customs declaration form used across the EU, known in France as the DAU and in English as the SAD. It is the underlying declaration for imports, exports and transit, and most of the other references here ultimately point back to one.
The unique reference identifying one consignment across every declaration made against it in HMRC’s Customs Declaration Service. DCR is the document-type code used to declare the DUCR on a customs entry. Declaring a DUCR is mandatory, and it is the reference used to trace a consignment through the system.
A “passport for goods”. It allows items to be taken abroad temporarily and brought back without paying duty or import VAT — used for exhibition stands, professional equipment, samples and instruments.
The goods must return in the same state and within the carnet’s validity, and the carnet must be stamped at every border crossing. A missed stamp can trigger a claim against the guarantee, so it matters that the driver presents it correctly.
If you are moving or returning to the UK, Transfer of Residence relief lets you bring personal belongings, pets and a private vehicle in without paying duty or import VAT. You apply on form ToR1 before the goods travel, and the reference it produces goes on the customs declaration.
The main condition is having lived outside the UK for at least 12 consecutive months, with separate provisions for students and for people relocating on marriage or civil partnership.
Every item crossing a border needs a commodity code, which is what determines the duty and VAT payable. Getting the code wrong is one of the most common reasons a consignment is delayed or charged unexpectedly, so it is worth checking before you book rather than at the border.
Trade Tariff: look up commodity codes, duty and VAT rates — GOV.UK
These links are provided for reference. Customs requirements change — the ELO becoming mandatory in April 2026 is a recent example — and the official sources above are always the authority. If you are unsure what your consignment needs, call us before you book rather than after.
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