I’m sure there are a few who will have some fun with this, but a friend has asked if I know of a way she can get a Victorian hen-house she’s bought from Newark-on-Trent down to her hotel near Castle Combe. She’s tried various transport companies, all to no avail, so I’m hoping someone might know of anybody with a flat trailer who’s delivered a load to Newark and is coming back empty.
The load is 6’8” wide, 7’0” long and 9’0” tall, with a single pitched corrugated roof, wood construction on a rigid chassis with small iron wheels. It can easily be put onto a 7’0” wide trailer with a forklift, or even four people could lift it.
She has an old Polo estate with a tow hitch, but it’s a petrol car and will use a huge amount of fuel, she’s happy to pay around £100 for transportation down to Wiltshire, if she can only find someone travelling down who can put it onto a trailer.
Before anyone asks why she’s bought the thing, she has a couple of Shepherd’s huts in the garden which guests can book to stay in, and she’s going to clean the thing out, get it all nicely trimmed out, and have it available for hire for the Hen in a Hen Party to stay in…
Yeah, I know, but it’s the sort of thing that does appeal to people, and she gets lots of Hen Parties booking at her hotel.
This really is grasping at straws, but STW has delivered the goods on the damnedest things, so I’m chucking it out there.
This is her place: https://www.fossefarmhouse.com
she’s getting lots of Japanese visitors now due to being featured in an animé called Kiniro Mosaic, so no stranger to the slightly off-base.

Isn’t there some sort of website where you advertise this then transport folk bid to take on.

How hot is your “friend”?

Ha

It probably weighs more than the Polo. DO NOT let her attempt to collect it herself…forget the fuel bill, even a flat bed trailer big enough would be illegal before you load it up!

Shiply is one of the ‘courier bidding’ sites, I think you can choose the vehicle type needed and then bang in the details. The quote prices will come down after a few days. Probably need someone with a car trailer which would rule out the removal companies looking to earn a little cash on the return trip.

Newark-on-Trent down to her hotel near Castle Combe

The load is 6’8” wide, 7’0” long and 9’0” tall,

she’s happy to pay around £100 for transportation

I’ll be honest I’m being an arse here, but I can’t understand why no couriers are interested.

170 miles in one direction, for £100…

I’ll be honest I’m being an arse here, but I can’t understand why no couriers are interested.

Neither she nor I can understand it either. I’d have thought it would be a piece of piss to chuck onto a biggish trailer behind a 4×4, it’s not especially heavy, four blokes can lift it, although a forklift is easier.
Spooky, we’ve already had that conversation! 😀
She’s in no real hurry, it’s bought and paid for, she just needs to get the bloody thing down to her hotel.
She’s managed to get two original shepherd’s huts there, and they’re a bloody sight bigger, and heavier.

How hot is your “friend”?

Well, she’s recently turned sixty…
This is Coo helping to promote Kin Iro Mosaic at a big Tokyo trade expo:

And she is single…
And I’ve known her since I first started exploring the local countryside on my first mountain bike, thirty years ago, and found she had a tea room there.
Spooky, that Shiply thing looks interesting, I’ll give that to her as a suggestion and she can take it from there; I did wonder if there was some sort of setup like that, but it’s way outside my experience, hence asking for suggestions; there’s always someone on here who’ll have some valid idea of where to look!
Thanks guys, really appreciate the help, I’ll check out Shiply, send her a link, and she can take it further. 😀

170 miles in one direction, for £100…

So it’s 340 miles total, and that’s if you live right where it is stored now.

So at maybe average 25mpg over the two legs, that’s £75 quids worth of fuel.

It’s going to take something like 8-9 hours, not counting travel time to collection point.

So roughly £2.75 an hour.

Not taking into account other running costs, servicing, insurance etc.

Pretty sure I know why most couriers aren’t interested 😉

Cracking set of… earrings.

I did think about the cost after my first post.

I think your friend/GILF 🙂 is expecting mates rates there. Unless said mate offers to do this I expect she’ll have to consider paying a lot more.

It’s not like it’s getting chucked in a tnt van with a few hundred other things. It’s a one off job. They cost…

Might be worth trying one of the larger hauliers. If is on a run they do regularly then you may get a part load price on a flatbed, or if it fits in a taultliner then usually cheaper. I think you need to be prepared to pay more toward the £200 mark though.