Frequently
Asked
Questions

Waiting time: Every collection and delivery includes a 30 min period to allow our driver to load your items into the van and then offload again at the delivery point. This is felt to be a reasonable amount of time for even the largest delivery. We do understand that delays can happen and sometimes the goods are not quite ready for dispatch when we arrive. After this 30 min period we charge an additional fee to cover our vehicle and driver waiting on-site and being unable to proceed to their next job. This fee is currently set at £30 per hour charged pro rata after the included 30 min period. Examples of situations which often lead to waiting time fees: Loading or unloading heavy or large items. Waiting for a forklift truck to load/unload the van. Spending time checking in and out of loading bays or with security. Items not being ready for pickup at the agreed time. Delivery recipients not being ready to receive the goods at the agreed time. Hand-ball loading: Where our driver is required to load/unload a large number of items to a location anywhere other than directly next to our van then hand-ball fees may apply. An example of this would be where a pallet of boxes has been loaded by forklift but upon arrival there is no forklift at the delivery point. Our driver would have to unwrap and breakdown the pallet into boxes and stack them beside the van. If these items needed placing in another location, then the hand-ball fee would apply. This fee is currently set at £30 per hour or part thereof.

We cover the whole of Great Britain. That is England, Scotland and Wales. Where ferry services are required these can be added on at cost (e.g deliveries to the Isle of Wight). Due to the myriad of ever changing paperwork and red tape required for commercial deliveries since Brexit we are unable to offer deliveries to Northern Ireland, Eire or the EU. For local deliveries within our local postcode area (SG1 - SG19) we can offer a flat-rate delivery service. Use the contact-us button to find our more.

It might sound obvious but we do sometimes get asked this question. "Same-Day Delivery" = We collect your item from it's pickup address and deliver it to the recipients address on the same day. This service can be booked days, weeks or even months in advance. The name refers to the actual delivery being carried out in one day, regardless of how far in advance it is booked. The vast majority of our deliveries are Same-Day. Typically a customer will request a collection in the coming days for delivery on the same day. Example: You receive a quote and book the delivery in with us on Tuesday, we collect the item as scheduled on Thursday morning and deliver it Thursday afternoon - the same-day. "Next-Day Delivery" = We collect your item from it's pickup address and deliver it to the recipients address the following day, keeping it securely locked in our van overnight. This service can be booked days, weeks or even months in advance. The name refers to the actual delivery being carried out across two consecutive days, regardless of how far in advance it is booked. This is also a practical delivery method to choose for longer distances, where it would be difficult or even impossible to collect and deliver the goods in one day. Example: You receive a quote and book the delivery in with us on Tuesday, we collect the item as scheduled on Thursday morning and deliver it Friday morning - the next-day.

Absolutely! We are regularly asked to pickup items from all over Great Britain and bring them back to customers in our local Hertfordshire area. There are however a couple of helpful things to keep in mind: It can often be cheaper for you to book a courier service which is located close to the pickup address, rather than the delivery address. This is down to the way the courier industry works. A courier based near to the PICKUP address could collect the goods and deliver them to you, charging for a one way journey. A courier based near to the DELIVERY address would have to travel to the pickup location, then travel back to the delivery address with the goods - making it a round-trip journey rather than one way. This rule of thumb makes little or no difference for shorter distance deliveries and those where the goods being carried are of high value, but for longer distances or low value items, see below. For lower value items, furniture and eBay purchases it can often be much better value to try an online/virtual service such as Shiply where drivers can pickup oversized items on their way back from other jobs at a time to suit themselves. The caveat being that unlike using our dedicated hand-delivered service, online marketplaces such as these cannot offer anywhere near the same level of care and attention for your delivery. Perfectly fine for that heavy set of dumbbells you won on ebay, but not so good for the remote workers laptop and iPhone which need returning to the office securely. We offer this honest advice where others may not care to, hopefully it could save you money. If you are in any doubt, send us an email and we can prepare a no obligation quote so that you can compare services and make an informed decision. Our email address is at the foot of this page, just scroll down.

The 4 steps to booking your delivery: 1. Click the GET FREE QUOTE button to contact us. 2. We will email your quotation within 24hrs, but often much sooner. 3. If you wish to proceed, just email back and we will send you a payment link to allow you to pay online. 4. Once payment is received we will book in your pickup date and time. That's it! We then collect your shipment at the agreed time and deliver it for you with care.

For local business customers requiring regular deliveries we are happy to discuss account terms and invoicing. These are subject to a minimum number of deliveries per month being met. Please contact us in the first instance by emailing info@hitchincouriers.com

Once you have told us you wish to proceed, we will send you an invoice and payment link. This allows you to pay online. We accept all major credit/debit cards online (we cannot accept payments over the telephone). Your invoice email will contain a link to the secure online payment service. We also accept bank transfers - our banking details are written on your invoice. Please use your invoice number as the reference. All collections and deliveries must be paid for in full at time of booking. Only once we have received your payment can we schedule a van and driver for your collection and delivery.

Items we cannot transport, either due to legislation or insurance restrictions: Hazardous Goods / ADR Shipments As a non ADR carrier, we are unable to transport dangerous, hazardous, flammable, radioactive, explosive or controlled items. Generally this will apply to any items that are marked with a UN hazard label. The only variation is for small quantities exceptions made under ADR regulations, such as lithium batteries . Waste Hitchin Couriers is not a licensed waste carrier. As such we cannot transport waste items to recycling centres, incinerators or landfill sites. Alcohol and Tobacco Our insurance specifically prohibits us from carrying alcohol and tobacco products. Temperature Controlled Shipments** We operate standard vans with ambient non-controlled temperature in the load space. Therefore we are unable to offer specialist services such as temperature controlled shipments or frozen shipments. **Unless they are provided inside their own temperature controlled containers: Where the goods are pre-packed inside a chilled, refrigerated or frozen container (e.g a specifically designed cool box or transport case) then they may be transported in an ambient vehicle within a designated time period (e.g. same-day delivery of medical samples or products). If in doubt about any of the above, please contact us.

We currently operate 2.4m SWB (Short Wheelbase) Ford Transit Custom size vans. The maximum load space is: Length: 240cm Width: 139cm Height: 130cm Payload: 600kgs Our vans carry ratchet straps, blankets and a sack barrow/trolley to help with safely securing and moving your items. Drivers are single-crewed so any individual item cannot weigh more than 30kgs safe manual lifting weight. Forklifted pallets can weigh up-to the 600kgs limit, see "Pallets" below. Parcels and Boxes You are welcome to ship any number as long as they fit within the overall dimensions outlined above. This means we regularly ship one or two boxes (legal papers and box files for example) or twenty boxes (leaflets or brochures for example). Loose packets, sacks, envelopes and flight-cases are also welcome. Any individual item must not exceed 30kgs safe lifting weight for our driver. Hand-ball fees may apply for excessive quantities of items or where the goods are required to be off loaded to a location other than directly next to the van or to goods inward/reception. Pallets Where a forklift is available at both collection and delivery points, our SWB vans can carry a maximum of 2x pallets with a combined payload of up to 600kgs. If a forklift is not available at either the collection or delivery point then the "Parcels and Boxes" terms apply, see above. Remember to include the pallet itself in all weight/dimension measurements. A standard blue CHEP pallet adds 16.2cm to the overall height and weights 28kgs unladen - so it is crucial to factor these in when calculating. Please pay particular attention to measure from the ground to the top of the pallet, ensuring the overall height including the pallet does not exceed 130cm. Palletised items should not overhang the edge of the pallet on any side, to ensure it fits within the vans maximum width of 139cm between wheel arches.

We are afraid not. Our insurance specifically excludes removals. This means we are unable to carry items such as but not limited to: Furniture, antiques, white goods (refrigerators, freezers, washing machines etc), personal possessions (clothing, suitcases etc).

More than you would ever imagine! Due to the varied nature of the loads we transport we must carry a wide array of equipment, all designed to ensure your goods reach their destination safely. Tie-down ratchet straps Anti-slip matting Packing blankets Sack barrow / trolley Fire extinguisher First aid kit Full PPE including: Safety boots, gloves, hard hat, goggles, Hi-Viz clothing.