Late Moves & Working Hours

P&M MOVERS

Removals - Storage - Distribution - Light haulage

Office: - 07397 957235

Late Night Moves & Working Hours

Risk Assesment - Health & Safety

Assesing the risks working in the dark.

P&M Movers asses each removal as it comes along and what the time constraints are for moving into your new home.

We are unable to control the solicitors and agents who on many occasions do not hand over the keys until 5 Pm or sometimes later.

Unfortunately handing over the keys at that time is of no use to a removals company during the winter months as it goes dark at 4pm or a little earlier. This puts our lads in a difficult position as they are unable to see due to having no light to work with and the risk factor is too high in some cases, which means they have no option but to stop work until the following day or until sufficient lighting has been arranged to create a safe working environment.

All our jobs are based on a flat 10 hours as this is the legal allowed driving time for our LGV & HGV drivers not including other work time which must include the legal driving hours to get back to our operating centre.

We do not charge key waiting time up to a reasonable hour but we do charge £60.00 per hour overtime rates after 6.00pm to cover the company and staff when they work outside of the legal working time directives.

For example: - If the keys arrive at 4.30 to 5.00 pm you know we are going to be outside of our working hours so a charge of £60.00 per hour to cover all overtime costs to the company. This charge is incurred by the client and it is upto the client to chase their refund from the solicitor or the person in the chain who is at fault for putting you in this position. This information is covered in the removals section under the heading completion and contract law. We only impliment this charge once we know the drivers and porters are going to be working outside of the allocated hours due to the completion or the handing over of the keys causing long delays through no fault of our own.

The overtime charge covers the overtime hours worked by the porters and the drivers outside of the allocated hours under the working time directive. There are some cases where it is impossible for the lads to carry on working due to the high risk of injury in that location and the lack of lighting on drives, pathways and gardens. If this is the case we will work directly with the client to resolve the situation and at the worst the client would have to pay the wages and cover the cost of the van for the time needed to finish the unloading the following day.

You need to confirm with your solicitor who is responsible for putting you in that position and take action to claim back your costs due to late completion and the unacceptable time the keys were handed over to client.

Options

Late night removals

Removals are constantly falling through or completing late holding up the handing over of keys due to solicitors leaving things till the last moment.

Charges you incur due to late completion can be claimed back from solicitors or the persons responsible for the late completion and handing over of the house keys. All this can be avoided quite easily as we have found out working in Scotland and Europe. Solicitors do not tell you when you are moving and what date you are moving on it is not their job. Solicitors work under your instruction and they do what you ask them to do at a time that is good for you not them. Speak to the people in the chain and work it out to complete the day before you move then do the handover of the keys the following morning. We do this on almost all our distance removals and we have not had a single problem yet. It is simple and straight forward and it removes the stress of moving and it gives you the whole day to move into your new home. That simple action alone is reason enough for you to simply speak to the others in the chain and come to a simple agreement.

Responsibility

Winter snow, ice and lighting

Winter weather brings along with it all the major risk factors any removals company no matter who they are fear the most, (Ice, Snow & Frost).

Before we arrive it is the client’s responsibility to clear the paths and drives of snow and ice. This means you need to shovel the snow away and salt the paths making it safe for or lads to carry out their loading and unloading duties. If our lads have to clear paths and prepare drives and walkways when we arrive there will be an added charge of £60.00 as this is not part of our contract. The client needs to make it safe for the removals company.
There will be a lot of wet boots and footwear coming and going in both properties due to the use of salt to melt the ice. It is the clients responsability to cover and protect the floors and carpets. We will take precautions to carry out the removal in the safest possible way. We are unable to remove footware due to health and safety which is why you must protect floors and carpets. We do ask the client to have regular hot drinks available for the lads as they will be working in the cold and wet. Working in these conditions can affect the porters due to the wind chill effect which causes injury and accidents.