- Definitions
The following definitions apply to the terms and conditions set out below that govern this contract of carriage between you and us.
“We”, “us” and “our” means subsidiaries, affiliates of Wessex Transport Services Ltd and their respective employees, agents, freelancers and independent contractors;
“You” and “your” means the sender, consignor or consignee of the shipment, receiver and owner of the contents of the shipment or any other party having a legal interest in those contents;
“Booking” means a booking for the carriage of a shipment placed by a customer with the Wessex Transport Services ltd by telephone or Email;
“Carriage” means and includes the whole of the operations and services undertaken by us in connection with the shipment;
“Shipment” means any envelope, document, package, parcel or piece of freight given to and accepted by us for carriage and transported under our consignment note.
“Receiver” means the person to whom we deliver the shipment to.
“Prohibited items” means any goods or materials the carriage of which is prohibited by any law, rule or regulation of the United Kingdom or is listed as prohibited by Wessex transport.
“Dangerous Goods” means dangerous goods as defined in the Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road Regulations 1996
- The party with whom you are contracting
2.1 Your contract of carriage is with Wessex Transport Services Ltd or the subsidiary or affiliate of Wessex Transport Services Ltd that accepts the shipment for carriage from you. You agree that we may subcontract the whole or any part of the carriage on any terms and conditions we decide.
2.2 When ordering with us, you are agreeing, on your behalf and on behalf of anyone else with an interest in the shipment, the Terms and Conditions shall apply from the time that we accept the shipment unless otherwise agreed in writing by an authorised member of Wessex Transport Services Ltd. Your statutory rights and entitlements under any defined service feature (for which additional payment has been made) are not affected.
- Your obligations
You warrant, represent and guarantee to us that:
3.1 You have notified us of the value of your shipment, if over one hundred pounds sterling (£100) and if you require additional insurance.
3.2 The contents of the shipment (including but not limited to weight and number of items) have been properly described, have been correctly labelled if required and the label or labels have been securely fixed by you in a prominent position on the outer surface of the shipment that can be clearly seen by us.
3.3 You shall ensure that the shipment is secure, properly packed and labelled in accordance with good practice and any applicable statutory requirements and is fit and safe to be carried, stored and transported by road, air, rail or sea as may be appropriate.
3.4 The collection and delivery address including postcode and contact details have been fully, accurately and legibly provided to us.
3.5 The contents of the shipments have been prepared and packed safely and carefully by you to protect against the ordinary risks of being carried, stored or transported.
3.6 You have declared the correct weight of the shipment and you will provide any special equipment we may need/ if needed to load or unload the shipment on or off our vehicles.
3.7 You have securely fixed a heavy weight label in a prominent position on the outer surface of the shipment that can clearly be seen by us for any item weighing 30 kilos or more.
3.8 You will warrant that you will provide or procure any special equipment required for loading or unloading the shipment and shall indemnify ourselves for any damage to the shipment, however caused, if we are instructed to load or unload any shipment requiring special equipment where such equipment has not been provided or procured by you or your customer.
3.9 The contents of the shipments are not restricted by (depending on destination) IATA, ICAO, IMDG or ADR and are not prohibited items, and neither you nor the consignee is a person or organisation with whom we or you may not legally trade under any applicable laws or regulations.
3.10 All applicable laws and regulations have been complied with.
3.11 That you have taken all reasonable precautions to comply with all conventions, directives and legislation relating to the protection of personal data including if practicable encryption of the personal data to ensure the safety of the personal data in the event of loss or misdelivery of a shipment.
3.12 You agree to indemnify us and hold us harmless from any liabilities we may suffer or any costs, damages or expenses, including legal costs, we incur either to you or to anyone else arising out of you being in breach of any of these warranties, representations and guarantees, even if we inadvertently accept a shipment that contravenes any of your obligations.
- Waiting Time
4.1 The first 15 minutes will be courtesy time on the collection and delivery. After 15 minutes we will charge £35 per hour, which will become payable immediately or added to your account invoice.
- Cancellation
5.1 In the event of cancellation of any booking for a shipment by you, then you shall be liable to us for the charges in full for the carriage of the shipment. This clause shall apply only to cancelled bookings where the driver has departed to collect (or deliver) or where we have allocated a driver to the shipment in question.
5.2 In the event of cancellation of any booking for a shipment by the customer before a driver is allocated, the customer shall be liable to us for 25% of our charges for the carriage of the shipment.
- Exclusions
6.1 We will not be liable for any loss of income, loss of profits, loss of markets, loss of reputation, loss of customers, loss of use, loss of an opportunity or for any indirect, incidental, special or consequential damages or loss how so ever arising including but not limited to the loss, damage, electrical or magnetic damage to, or erasure of, electronic or photographic images, data or recordings, delay, miss delivery or non-delivery of your shipment even if we had knowledge that such damages or loss might arise.
6.2 We are not liable if your shipment or any part of it is lost, damaged, delayed or mis-delivered or not delivered or if we do not fulfil any obligations towards you at all as a result of circumstances beyond our control such as (but not limited to) acts of god including earthquakes, cyclones, storms, flooding, fire, disease, fog, snow or frost. Force Majeure including (but not limited to) war, accidents, strikes, embargoes, local disputes or disruptions in transportation networks and mechanical problems to modes of transport or machinery, latent defects or inherent vice in the contents of the shipment. Any act or omission by a person not employed or contracted by us. Your acts or omissions under these terms and conditions including third parties. The contents of the shipment consisting of any article that is a prohibited item even though we may have accepted the shipment by mistake.
- Shipments
7.1 Each booking by you shall be submitted to us by telephone or email.
7.2 We shall provide you with a quotation for the carriage of the shipment in question and such quotation shall be valid for a period of 7 days or such other period as we may specify. We shall provide a written quotation to you upon request. All bookings are subject to acceptance by us and we reserve the right to refuse to accept any bookings. All bookings are subject to our terms and conditions and shall be deemed to be a separate and independent contract and we reserve the right to amend any booking at any time upon notice to the customer.
7.3 Additional charges may be imposed by us (and you shall pay such charges) if we are prevented from performing our obligations under these conditions except to the extent that our failure to perform is caused solely by a force majeure event.
7.4 Unless agreed otherwise by you, the shipment shall only be delivered to the address specified by you at the time of booking and we reserve our rights to vary our charges in respect of any variation to the delivery address by you.
7.5 We shall be entitled to recover our charges in full for any shipment, which is unsuccessful due to incorrect or inadequate information provided by you and in addition recover any expenses or losses we have suffered or incurred in attempting to effect carriage.
7.6 We will use all reasonable efforts for carriage of the shipments within the time specified, but unless otherwise agreed these are estimates only and time is not of the essence.
7.7 We shall not be required to provide any labour or special equipment for loading or unloading of the shipment, other than that carried by the vehicle used by us.
7.8 We shall deliver shipments according to such route as in our absolute discretion.
7.9 If required, we shall sign a document prepared by you or your customer acknowledging receipt of the shipment, but such document shall not be evidence of the condition, declared nature, quantity or weight of the shipment at the time it is received by us.
7.10 We will require acknowledgement at the point of delivery of the shipment and will collect an electronic signature and full name of recipient, which will be forwarded to you by email, this receipt shall be conclusive evidence of a proper delivery.
7.11 Shipments are delivered to the receiver’s address given by you but not necessarily to the named receiver personally (unless specified at the time of booking). Shipments to addresses with a central receiving area or goods in will be delivered to that area. If the receiver refuses delivery, or the receiver cannot be reasonably identified or located, we shall contact you for instructions and use reasonable efforts to return the shipment to you at your cost, failing which the shipment may be released, disposed of or sold by us without incurring any liability whatsoever to us or anyone else, with the proceeds applied against service charges and related administrative costs and the balance of the proceeds of a sale to be returned to you.
7.12 If we are unable to deliver a shipment because of an incorrect address we will make all reasonable efforts to find the correct address. We will notify you of the correction and deliver or attempt to deliver the shipment to the correct address although additional charges may apply. (Shipments cannot be delivered to PO Box Numbers)
7.13 If the proposed shipment contains cash or cash equivalent including, but not limited to, travellers cheques, bearer bonds, bank cards or credit cards, and mobile phones or equivalent, then you shall notify us at the time of booking as to the content and value of such shipment. We shall not be liable to you for any loss, however caused, unless we have agreed in writing to you to accept such liability. We reserve the right to charge you an additional sum for the carriage of such shipment and will inform you of such sum prior to accepting the booking.
- Shipment Charges & Billing
8.1 Our charges are calculated according to best estimate of distance – or – the higher of actual or volumetric weight and any shipment may be re-weighed and re-measured by us to confirm this calculation, or the price may be adjusted to reflect the actual mileage travelled to complete the shipment. You shall pay or reimburse us for all shipment charges, storage charges owed for services provided by us or incurred by us on your, the receiver’s or any third party’s behalf and all claims, damages, fines and expenses incurred if the shipment is deemed unacceptable for transport. You agree that payment is due before delivery. Account holders are billed weekly with payment due no later than 15 days from the invoice date. Late payments may be subject to additional charges.
8.2 Credit facilities granted to an account customer may be withdrawn at our absolute discretion at any time and the balance outstanding shall become due immediately on demand.
8.3 You shall pay our charges in accordance with these conditions. The charges payable in respect of the carriage of any shipment shall be specified by us to you at the time of booking.
8.4 We shall be entitled to charge you for any parking fines received during the delivery process where no alternative loading or unloading area has been advised at the time of booking.
8.5 Payment terms are 15 days from date of invoice and any variation to these terms are to be agreed in writing by an authorised employee of ours.
8.6 Our charges shall be based on our tariff in effect at the time of carriage of the shipment and unless payment is made by credit card, invoice(s) shall be rendered by us to you at least once a week. Credit facilities granted to you may be withdrawn at our absolute discretion, and at any time and the balance outstanding shall become due immediately on demand.
8.7 We shall be entitled to charge interest (both before and after judgment) on the amount unpaid at the rate of 4% above the base rate of the Bank of England from time to time until payment is made in full. When payment is not made by the due date, the customer shall indemnify us for any costs and/or expenses we may suffer or incur in recovering the sum due, including reasonable legal fees and costs of collection.
8.8 Any queries in respect of an invoice must be made in writing within 7 days of the date of the invoice otherwise it will be deemed to have been accepted and will be payable in full by you.
8.9 All charges quoted are exclusive of value added tax and all other duties or taxes which may become due or payable from time to time and shall be added to invoices at the rate applicable at the date of invoice.
- Inspection
9.1 You understand and accept that we shall be entitled to open and examine any shipment that we considers to be a security or health and safety risk to us and to take, at its sole discretion, such appropriate action thereafter.
- Shipment Insurance
10.1 For a same day/next day delivery within Great Britain, our total liability for that shipment shall be one hundred pounds sterling (£100) unless you have declared a higher amount in writing.
10.2 Where the declared value of the shipment for same day/next day delivery exceeds one hundred pounds sterling (£100), we shall specify the fee payable by you for the carriage of that shipment and any subsequent limitation on our liability at the time we accept the booking for that shipment.
10.3 For any shipments stored by us at our premises, the total liability to us for any loss or damage to such shipment shall not exceed the sum of one hundred pounds sterling (£100), unless the declared value of the shipment exceeds such sum and we have subsequently agreed in writing to a higher limitation on our liability.
10.4 Claims are limited to one claim per shipment settlement of which will be full and final settlement for all loss or damage in connection therewith. If you regard these limits as insufficient you must make a special declaration of value and request additional insurance or make your own insurance arrangements, failing which you assume all risks of loss or damage.
10.5 We are not obliged to act on any claim until our shipment charges have been paid nor are you entitled to deduct the amount of your claim from our shipment charges.
- Time Limits for Claims
11.1 All claims must be submitted in writing to us within 7 days from the date that we accepted the shipment, failing which we, Wessex Transport Services Ltd shall have no liability whatsoever.
- Claims brought by a third party
12.1 You undertake to us that you shall not permit any other person who has an interest in the shipment to bring a claim or action against us arising from the carriage even though we may have been negligent or in default and if a claim or action is made you will indemnify us against the consequences of the claim or action and the costs and expenses we incur in defending it.
- Your acceptance of our terms and conditions
13.1 You accept at your sole discretion the carriage of shipments subject only to these conditions. These conditions shall apply to the exclusion of any other terms and conditions (including those of the customer) unless agreed in writing by a Director of Wessex Transport Services Ltd, no employee, agent or subcontractor from us is authorised to alter or vary these conditions.
13.2 By giving us your goods you accept our terms and conditions and or the contract of carriage on behalf of yourself and/or anyone else that has an interest in the shipment. Our terms and conditions also cover and can be invoked by anyone we use or sub-contract to collect, transport or deliver your shipment as well as our employees, directors and agents. When you give us the shipment with oral or written instructions that conflict with our terms and conditions we shall not be bound by such instructions.
13.3 You agree not to engage any of our drivers in any working capacity without the express permission from us.
- Destination Exclusions
14.1 Unfortunately we do not offer shipment to the Isle of Man, the Isles of Sicily and the Channel Islands. There are also a small number of postcodes that are subject to availability, these are: ZE, IV, KW, HS, IM, TR, JE, GY and AB, PO30-41, PA and PH.