Collection day is the one part of the move where our world and yours have to line up: a van working its way across London, and you with your pieces ready. London collections run on Wednesdays, and this guide explains what happens, why it works the way it does, and how to make your stop a smooth one.
The four hour window
You get a four hour collection window rather than a fixed time. That is not vagueness for its own sake. A London collection round threads many stops through traffic that can add forty minutes between two postcodes for no visible reason, past roadworks that appeared overnight. A window absorbs that chaos; a fixed time would be broken by mid morning.
What it means for you is simple: be at the property for the whole window with your phone on and the ringer up. If the driver cannot reach you at the door or by phone, the stop cannot simply wait, because every later stop on the round depends on the schedule holding.
Flats, buzzers and actually reaching you
Most London collections are from flats, and the weak link is usually the buzzer. Before Wednesday:
- Test your own buzzer. If it does not ring, or rings somewhere you cannot hear it, plan to watch for the van from the window instead
- Put your flat number, block name and any gate or keypad codes on the booking. A note like "flat 4, rear block, gate code on booking, buzzer broken, call on arrival" is the single most useful sentence you can give us
- In a concierge or managed building, tell the desk a collection is coming, since some buildings insist vans use a service entrance or loading bay
Parking and loading: the honest reality
London is the hardest place in the country to stop a van. Red routes forbid stopping almost entirely, and controlled parking zones, residents' bays and bus lanes cover most of everywhere else. Double yellow lines generally allow a vehicle to stop for active loading but not for waiting around, and kerb markings can ban even that.
The practical consequence: the van may stop a few doors down, on the nearest legal spot rather than directly outside, and the time it can legally stay is measured in minutes of genuine loading, not open ended waiting. Nothing you do changes London's kerbside rules, but having everything ready at the door converts a tight stop into an easy one.
Having your pieces ready
Ready means:
- Boxes sealed with proper packing tape, not folded flaps
- Every piece labelled with your name and the destination postcode
- Bags zipped or tied shut with nothing loose; an open bag of hangers is how things get left behind
- Each box at a weight one person can carry safely; books split across two boxes beat one immovable cube
- Nothing still being packed when the van pulls up
Count your pieces the night before and write the number down. You will be glad of it when confirming everything is on board.
Kerbside or Assisted on the day
With Kerbside, from £199, you bring everything to the street door of the building and the crew load from there. In a flat, that means staging your pieces in the hallway or lobby just before the window opens, not carrying them down one at a time while the van waits.
With Assisted, from £349, we carry from inside the property, which is the right call from a third floor walk up, with heavy boxes, or when you simply cannot manage the stairs part yourself. Furniture items, at £45 each, and bikes, at £59, come with a two person crew, because stairwells and sofas are a two person job. For a bike, lower the saddle, remove lights, pumps and panniers, and let the crew do the manoeuvring.
If you are sending a larger batch, the per piece rate is £15 for five to ten pieces and £12 from eleven pieces, so there is no penalty for splitting one awkward heavy box into two sensible ones.
After the van leaves
Your pieces travel to our Oxfordshire hub, where they are sorted onto the run for your destination. Each of the 86 postcode areas we serve across England and Wales has its own weekly run day, so delivery follows on your area's next scheduled day. The same applies in reverse for anything coming into London, where deliveries also run on Wednesdays.
The night before checklist
- Boxes sealed, labelled and counted
- Booking notes updated with buzzer quirks, codes and anything odd about parking
- Phone charged, ringer on for the whole window
- Pieces staged by the door, or a clear carrying route if you booked Assisted
- Keys to any gates, bike stores or sheds in your pocket, not inside a packed box
Do those five things and your part of Wednesday takes about ten minutes.