Large Item Courier
For the one thing that is too big, too heavy or too awkward for a parcel network. A dedicated van with your item and nothing else in it, collected today, and a driver who loads it, carries it and hands it over.
£55 within the M25 • £1.90 a loaded mile beyond, £95 minimum • second person £45 • collected today • seven days
Get a price for your large item
Three quick steps. Fixed price before we collect.
Would rather talk? Call 07400 640002 or send a photo on WhatsApp.
Quick Answer
A large item courier run with Van Thats Quick is one item, one driver, nothing else in the van, collected today where the diary allows. Inside the M25 it is £55. Outside the M25 it is £1.90 a loaded mile from the collection door to the delivery door with a £95 minimum covering the first fifty — Brighton about £114, Birmingham £238, Manchester £380, Edinburgh £760 overnight. Add £45 where the item genuinely needs two people. No depot, no sorting hub, no shared load.
Every parcel network has a line, and a lot of useful objects sit on the wrong side of it. A fridge freezer. A treadmill. A double wardrobe. A pallet of boxed goods. A washing machine bought from a seller two counties away. Van Thats Quick is a dedicated large item courier: one item, one driver, one van, and nothing else in the back, from the collection door to the delivery door, usually the same day you ring.
Pricing is by the loaded mile and fixed before we collect. One large item inside the M25 is £55. Outside the M25 it is £1.90 for every loaded mile between collection and delivery, with a £95 minimum that covers the first fifty. Oxford or Guildford works out at about £105, Brighton £114, Bristol £228, Birmingham £238, Leeds £371, Manchester £380, Liverpool £409 and Edinburgh £760. A second person, for the things one pair of hands should not lift, adds £45. The empty leg home is inside the rate and there is no fuel surcharge.
Why the platform prices are lower than ours. A shared-load quote is cheap because your item is one of eight or ten on a van built around the driver's week: the collection window is several days wide, it can move, and you rarely speak to the person who turns up. That is a genuinely good deal when the item is not urgent. What we sell is custody and a date — the item is the only thing in the van, it is collected today, and the driver who loads it is the one who hands it over.
We are based in Uxbridge (UB8) and Chalfont St Peter, we work seven days from 7am to 10pm, our vans are ULEZ-compliant, and trolleys, straps, moving blankets and floor protection come as standard. The Congestion Charge (£18) is passed through only where it genuinely applies. Ask us for the current insurance certificate, cover limits and exclusions before you book.
What counts as a large item, and why parcel carriers refuse it
"Large item" is not a vague description — it is defined by the limits of the networks that will not take it. Most UK parcel carriers cap a single item at around 30kg and a longest side of roughly 1.5m, with a further limit on length plus girth combined. Anything past that is either refused outright, surcharged heavily, or accepted and then damaged on a conveyor.
- Too heavy. A washing machine is 65–80kg. A fridge freezer is 60–90kg. A treadmill is 90–130kg. All of them are multiples of a parcel network's ceiling.
- Too long. A double wardrobe, a dining table, a rolled carpet, a ladder, a surfboard, a bed frame — over the longest-side limit before weight is even considered.
- Too awkward. Odd shapes cannot be stacked or sorted mechanically. A parcel hub is built around boxes, and anything that is not a box gets handled badly.
- Not boxable. Furniture, appliances and equipment that arrive without packaging cannot survive a conveyor and a shelf, whatever they weigh.
- Needs carrying, not dropping. A parcel carrier's contract ends at the doorstep. A large item usually needs to end up in a room, up a staircase, with the floor protected.
That is the whole gap this service fills: one item, one van, hand-loaded and hand-carried, collected today, with a person on the phone who knows where it is. If your item is genuinely small and boxable, a parcel network will be cheaper and we will tell you so — our guide to the cheapest way to send a heavy parcel sets out where the crossover sits.
One driver or two
Courier work here is one driver by default. That is not a corner being cut — it is the reason the price starts at £55 rather than at an hourly crew rate. With a trolley, straps and a set of stairs that goes straight up, one experienced person handles most single items safely. Where that is not true, a second person is £45.
- One driver is right for a washing machine or fridge on level access, a chest of drawers, a mattress, a dining table, a boxed appliance, a bike, a rolled carpet, most single boxed goods.
- Two people are right for an American-style fridge, a full-size treadmill, a double wardrobe that will not come apart, a corner sofa, a safe, a slate or granite top, or any of the above with a turning staircase in the way.
- The staircase decides it more often than the weight. A straight flight is manageable alone with a stair trolley. A half-landing with a 90-degree turn is not, because the item has to swing through an arc while somebody takes its weight.
- Say so when you book. Added at the quote stage, the second person is inside the fixed price. Discovered on the doorstep, it is a job that may not be able to go ahead that day.
- Waiting time is not a lifting problem but it is a cost one. The first twenty minutes at each end is inside the price; after that it is £15 per fifteen minutes.
If the honest answer is that you have several items rather than one, we will say so: a second item from the same pickup is £25, a van load is £195, and a full crew job is two movers at £89 an hour with a 2-hour minimum, or £340 for a half day. See man and van.
How the distance price works
One flat price inside the M25, and a straightforward per-mile rate outside it. Loaded miles means collection door to delivery door — the run out to you and the empty leg home are already inside the rate, so you are never charged for a van driving back to Uxbridge.
- Within the M25 — £55. Any London borough, plus the ring immediately outside it. The same figure whether the run is three miles or twenty-five.
- Outside the M25 — £1.90 a loaded mile, £95 minimum. The minimum covers anything up to about fifty loaded miles, which takes in most of Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, Berkshire, Surrey, north Kent and south Essex.
- Worked examples. Oxford or Guildford, about 55 miles, £105. Brighton, about 60, £114. Bristol, about 120, £228. Birmingham, about 125, £238. Nottingham, about 130, £247. Cardiff, about 155, £295. Leeds, about 195, £371. Manchester, about 200, £380. Liverpool, about 215, £409. Edinburgh, about 400, £760.
- A local marketplace collection — £45. The cheapest job on the list: one item, one seller, a short run. An appliance or white-goods delivery is £55.
Where a whole load is going one way rather than a single item, the day-rate bands take over: £450 for a van load to the Midlands and £600 to the North. See London to Birmingham, London to Manchester, London to Leeds and long distance. Northern Ireland, the islands and anything needing a ferry are quoted separately.
Same-day and urgent large item delivery
Same-day is what this service is, not something bolted on to it. Where the diary allows we collect today — usually within about two hours of your call — and deliver today anywhere up to roughly 200 loaded miles. Beyond that it runs overnight at the same per-mile rate and lands the next morning. There is no urgency surcharge: a same-day item inside the M25 is the ordinary £55.
- This is the part a shared load structurally cannot do. A backload only exists when somebody else's route happens to fit, and today is exactly when it usually does not.
- Ring early. One van does one job at a time, so slots are allocated in the order they are booked. A morning call almost always gets a same-day answer; a late-afternoon one usually becomes first thing tomorrow.
- We do not publish a cut-off time. There is not an honest one to publish — it depends on where the van is and how far your job runs. Ask, and you will get a straight yes or no in a minute.
- Seven days, 7am to 10pm. Evenings and weekends are ordinary working time, not an out-of-hours premium.
- Breakdown and failed-delivery rescues are common same-day work: a retailer's own delivery has failed, a seller is moving out at five, a site needs a part before the shift ends.
Long runs are the one thing to book early rather than late. A Manchester job at £380 still goes today, but it wants an early start, and Edinburgh at £760 is planned as an overnight so the driver is not doing 800 miles in a day. See same-day delivery and our emergency and last-minute delivery guide.
Packaging, protection and how it travels
Nothing travels loose. Blankets, straps, a trolley and floor protection are on the van as standard and are inside the price, not extras on a line item.
- Wrapped, then strapped. Furniture is blanket-wrapped and strapped to the van's load rail so it cannot shift. An item that cannot move cannot rub, and rubbing is what actually causes transit damage.
- Appliances stay upright. A fridge or freezer travels vertical wherever possible. If it has to be laid down, it needs to stand for a few hours before it is switched on so the compressor oil settles — we will tell you how long.
- Washing machines need their transit bolts. If you still have them, fit them. Without them the drum swings on its springs during the drive, which is the usual cause of a machine that arrives noisy.
- Original packaging beats ours. If the item is still boxed, leave it boxed. If it is not, we blanket it — but a manufacturer's carton and polystyrene corners are better than anything a courier carries.
- Photographed at collection. Anything already marked gets a photograph before it goes in, so a pre-existing scuff is not an argument at the delivery end.
- Fragile and high-value pieces are a different specification — see fragile items, art transport, antique moving and piano moving.
Because there is only ever one job in the van, nothing is stacked on top of your item and nothing is unloaded and reloaded at a depot on the way. Ask us for the current insurance certificate, the cover limits and any exclusions that apply to your job before you book, and we will send them over. We would rather you read the paperwork than take a claim on trust.
What we cannot carry
A short and honest list. It is better to read it now than to find out when a van is outside.
- Anything that needs a hoist or a crane. We do not lift items through windows or over balconies. That needs specialist equipment and a different kind of cover.
- Hazardous goods. Gas bottles, fuel, solvents, paint in bulk, pool chemicals, fireworks, anything with a hazard diamond on it.
- Cash, jewellery and high-value small items. Standard goods-in-transit cover across this industry commonly excludes them outright. Ask before you assume, and use a specialist where the value warrants it.
- Live animals, plants under quarantine, and anything perishable that needs refrigeration in transit.
- Waste and clearance loads. Getting rid of something is a different service line with its own rules and its own ladder — ask and we will price it properly rather than dressing it up as a delivery.
- Palletised goods needing a tail lift or forklift. Our vans are hand-loaded. A pallet is fine if it can be broken down or if the site has a forklift at both ends; it is not fine if it needs mechanical handling and there is none.
- Items over roughly 150kg as a single piece, or anything that cannot be moved on a trolley by two people. Safes, industrial machinery and full-size pianos need equipment we do not carry on a courier run — piano moving is quoted separately.
If we cannot take it, we will say so on the phone before you book rather than on your doorstep. That is the whole point of quoting from a photo.
Large item courier prices
Priced by the loaded mile and fixed before we collect. One item, one driver, one van, collected today where the diary allows.
One large item collected, carried in and placed anywhere inside the M25.
Per loaded mile, collection door to delivery door. £95 minimum covers the first fifty.
American fridges, treadmills, safes, wardrobes and turning staircases.
No same-day surcharge. Delivered today up to about 200 miles, overnight beyond.
A local marketplace collection is £45 and an appliance delivery is £55; a second item from the same pickup is £25. Congestion Charge (£18) passed through only where it applies; vans are ULEZ-compliant. See our full price list.
Our large item courier prices by distance
The whole ladder. Inside the M25 it is a flat price; outside it, £1.90 for every loaded mile with a £95 minimum. The worked examples are the routes we run most.
| Job | What it covers | Fixed price |
|---|---|---|
| Marketplace collection | One item from a local eBay, Facebook Marketplace or Gumtree seller | from £45 |
| Appliance or white goods | A fridge, freezer, washer or dryer delivered and positioned | from £55 |
| One item within the M25 | Collected, protected, carried in and placed anywhere inside the M25 | from £55 |
| Outside the M25 | £1.90 for every loaded mile, collection door to delivery door | £1.90/mile, £95 minimum |
| Oxford or Guildford | About 55 loaded miles — same day, there and back | £105 |
| Brighton | About 60 loaded miles — same day | £114 |
| Bristol | About 120 loaded miles — same day | £228 |
| Birmingham | About 125 loaded miles — same day | £238 |
| Leeds | About 195 loaded miles — same day with an early start | £371 |
| Manchester | About 200 loaded miles — same day with an early start | £380 |
| Liverpool | About 215 loaded miles — same day or overnight | £409 |
| Edinburgh | About 400 loaded miles — overnight, delivered next morning | £760 |
| Several items, one run | A van load — a few pieces or roughly a room in one journey | from £195 |
| Van load to the Midlands | A whole load one way, Birmingham band, as a day rate | from £450 |
| Van load to the North | A whole load one way, Manchester and Leeds band, as a day rate | from £600 |
| Second person | Where one pair of hands should not lift it | add £45 |
Collection today is included, not surcharged. Hourly crew work is a different product — two movers at £89 an hour with a 2-hour minimum, £340 for a half day and £640 for a full day.
Typical large items and what they cost
The items we are asked about most, at three worked distances. Where an item normally needs two people, the second-person charge is shown with it.
| Item | Within the M25 | ~60 miles (e.g. Brighton) | ~200 miles (e.g. Manchester) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fridge freezer (upright) | £55 | £114 | £380 |
| American-style fridge freezer (two people) | £55 + £45 | £114 + £45 | £380 + £45 |
| Washing machine or dryer | £55 | £114 | £380 |
| Treadmill or rowing machine (two people) | £55 + £45 | £114 + £45 | £380 + £45 |
| Double wardrobe (two people) | £55 + £45 | £114 + £45 | £380 + £45 |
| Mattress (single or double) | £55 | £114 | £380 |
| Pallet or boxed goods, hand-unloadable | £55 | £114 | £380 |
| Dining table or desk | £55 | £114 | £380 |
| Rolled carpet, ladder or long boxed goods | £55 | £114 | £380 |
Distances are loaded miles at £1.90 a mile with a £95 minimum — your own route may be shorter or longer than the examples. Add £45 for a second person on anything the driver cannot safely carry alone. A pallet needs to be hand-unloadable or have a forklift at both ends — our vans have no tail lift.
How we compare with other large item couriers
What the same item costs elsewhere, and what each price actually buys. A shared-network headline and a dedicated same-day van are not the same product, so they are marked as such.
| Provider | Job | Published price | What it buys |
|---|---|---|---|
| Van Thats Quick | One large item, London → Manchester, collected today | £380 | Yes — one driver, today, loading included |
| AMV Couriers (rate card) | Dedicated same-day van, per loaded mile | Small van £1.20 · SWB £1.50 · LWB £1.80 · XLWB £1.90 · Luton £2.20 (min £45–£125) | Yes — same model as ours |
| Dispatchit Couriers (rate card) | Transit van, per mile one way | £1.70/mile, £30 minimum; waiting £30/hr after 10 min; weekends +20% | Yes |
| HG Same Day (cost guide) | Small / MWB / LWB / Luton, per mile | £1.30 / £1.40 / £1.60 / £1.80 | Yes — industry guide |
| Transport Executive | One item London → Manchester, fixed date | £175–£230 | Dedicated, booked date — not collected today |
| Porta Delivery | Sofa London → Manchester, collected today by 5pm | from £185 (from £120 flexible date) | Same-day only with three add-ons |
| AnyVan | Two-seat sofa, national | £58–£184 | No — shared network, multi-day window |
| Shiply | Backload examples (fridge Hampshire → Plymouth) | £40–£60 | No — spare space on someone else’s route |
Figures read 2026-09-11 from each provider’s published pages. Same-day dedicated couriers price per loaded mile — our £1.90 is the published rate for an extra-long-wheelbase Transit, and we send a Transit or Luton, not a small van. Shared-network prices depend on a driver already passing your route, on their date.
How it works
Send a photo
The item, a rough weight, and the collection and delivery postcodes.
Fixed price back
One number, plus a collection time and whether it needs a second person.
We collect today
Blanketed, strapped and photographed if it is already marked.
Carried in and placed
Into the room, not left on the pavement — anywhere on the mainland.
Large Item Courier — your questions answered
How much does a large item courier cost?
It is priced by the loaded mile and fixed before we collect. One large item inside the M25 is £55. Outside the M25 it is £1.90 a loaded mile with a £95 minimum covering the first fifty — so Brighton is about £114, Birmingham £238 and Manchester £380. Add £45 where the item needs two people. Send a photo and both postcodes for the exact number.
What counts as a large item?
Anything past a parcel network's limits, which are usually about 30kg and a longest side of roughly 1.5m. In practice that means appliances, furniture, gym equipment, mattresses, long boxed goods, rolled carpets, ladders and pallets. If it needs carrying rather than dropping on a doorstep, it is this service.
Do you cover the whole UK?
The whole UK mainland, at £1.90 a loaded mile with a £95 minimum. Anything up to about 200 loaded miles is collected and delivered the same day; beyond that it runs overnight for a next-morning delivery — Edinburgh, about 400 miles, is £760. Northern Ireland, the islands and anything needing a ferry are quoted separately. We are based in Uxbridge (UB8) and Chalfont St Peter.
Do you send one person or two?
One driver as standard, which is why the price starts at £55 rather than at an hourly crew rate. A second person is £45 and is the right call for an American-style fridge, a treadmill, a safe, a wardrobe that will not come apart, or any of those with a turning staircase in the way. Tell us at the quote stage and it stays inside the fixed price.
Will you carry it up the stairs and into the room?
Yes — that is the difference between a courier and a parcel drop. The driver carries the item in and puts it where you want it, with floor protection down at both ends. Tell us about stairs, lifts and parking when you book, because access is what actually decides how long a job takes.
Why are AnyVan and Shiply cheaper than you?
Because those are shared vans, not dedicated ones. A driver bids because your item fits a route they are already running with several other jobs, so the headline is low, the collection window is several days wide and it can move. We put one item in one van and collect it today, with the driver's number in your phone and nothing else in the back. Where you need a specific day, that is the difference you are buying.
Can you deliver a large item the same day?
Yes — that is the normal way this runs, and there is no surcharge for it. Where the diary allows we collect today, usually within about two hours of your call, and deliver today up to roughly 200 loaded miles. Beyond that it goes overnight and lands the next morning. Ring early: one van does one job at a time, and slots go in the order they are booked.
Can you move a fridge freezer or a washing machine?
Yes — appliances are among the most common jobs. An appliance delivery is £55 locally. Fridges travel upright wherever possible and should stand for a few hours before being switched on if they have been laid down. Fit the transit bolts on a washing machine if you still have them; without them the drum swings on its springs during the drive.
Can you collect from eBay, Facebook Marketplace or a warehouse?
Yes. A local marketplace collection is £45. Give us the seller's name, number and postcode and we will arrange the window directly — you do not need to be there. Trade counters and warehouses usually want a booking reference and ID; send us both and we will handle it. See marketplace delivery.
Can you take a pallet?
If it can be hand-unloaded, or if there is a forklift at both ends. Our vans are hand-loaded and have no tail lift, so a shrink-wrapped pallet of boxed goods that can be broken down is straightforward, and a single heavy palletised machine that needs mechanical handling is not. Tell us the weight and whether either site has a forklift.
What will you not carry?
Anything needing a hoist or crane, hazardous goods, cash and high-value small items, live animals, perishables needing refrigeration, waste and clearance loads, pallets that need a tail lift, and single pieces much over 150kg. Full-size pianos and safes need equipment a courier van does not carry — see piano moving. We will say so on the phone, not on your doorstep.
How is the item protected in transit?
Blanket-wrapped and strapped to the load rail so it cannot shift, with floor protection at both ends, and nothing else in the van to stack on top of it. An item that cannot move cannot rub, and rubbing is what causes most transit damage. If it is still in the manufacturer's box, leave it boxed. Anything already marked is photographed before it is loaded.
Is my item insured while you have it?
Ask us for the current insurance certificate, the cover limits and any exclusions that apply to your job before you book, and we will send them over. Note that standard goods-in-transit cover across this industry commonly excludes cash, jewellery and similar valuables, so declare anything unusual before booking rather than after.
Do you charge extra for the Congestion Charge or ULEZ?
The Congestion Charge (£18) is passed through only where the job actually enters the zone on a charging day — it is not added to every London job. There is never a ULEZ surcharge, because our vans are ULEZ-compliant. Both are stated in the quote before you agree to it.
Related services
Van courier service
The full courier ladder, from a marketplace pickup to a 400-mile overnight run.
Appliance delivery
Fridges, freezers, washers and dryers delivered and positioned from £55.
Furniture courier
Sofas, wardrobes, beds and tables on the same ladder, from £55.
Washing machine delivery
Machines collected, carried in and positioned — transit bolts and all.
Long distance
One item anywhere on the UK mainland at £1.90 a loaded mile.
Same day delivery
Collected today, delivered today up to about 200 miles — no surcharge.
A recent job
See how a same-day booking runs end to end in our Wembley furniture delivery case study — the brief, the access challenges and the result.
Move the thing nobody else will take
Send a photo, a rough weight and both postcodes. We will come back with one fixed number and a collection time, anywhere on the UK mainland.