Rescue centres, sanctuaries and small charities across Cheshire and Merseyside run on donated equipment and volunteer time. Kennel panels, runs, hutches, aviary sections, feed, bedding and fencing all arrive from somewhere else and all have to be collected, usually at short notice and usually by whoever is free that weekend. Booking van hire in Warrington is the practical answer. Animal rescue van hire in this sense is about moving the equipment rather than the animals, which is a different job with its own rules.
Equipment First, Animals Separately
It is worth being clear at the outset that transporting live animals is a specialist matter. There are legal requirements around ventilation, temperature, containment and welfare, and for anything done in connection with a business or a charity’s activity there may be authorisation requirements as well. A general hire van is not the vehicle for that and we would always point a group towards a properly equipped animal transport arrangement instead. What a hire van is genuinely good for is everything else a rescue needs moving, which is a considerable amount. Kennel panels and gates, mesh runs, hutches and rabbit arks, aviary frames, feed in bulk, straw and shavings, donated bedding, veterinary consumables and the endless flow of items that arrive from house clearances and fundraising events.
Why An Open Deck Suits Kennel Sections
Kennel panels, weld mesh runs and aviary frames are large, rigid, awkwardly shaped and frequently dirty. They are also usually being dismantled in a yard and reassembled in another one. A flatbed dropside van takes them far more easily than any enclosed body, because panels can be laid flat and stacked across the deck and loaded from whichever side the gate happens to be on. Just as importantly, an open deck washes down. Equipment coming from a rescue environment is going to carry dirt, bedding and worse, and a flat deck is back to clean in a few minutes where a carpeted load area is not. Where the load is feed, bedding or donated goods that must stay dry, an enclosed body is the better call and a tarpaulin is not a substitute.
Hygiene And Biosecurity Between Sites
This is the part that matters most and gets least attention. Equipment moving between rescue sites, foster homes and veterinary premises can carry infection with it, and a van that has carried one centre’s kennel panels in the morning should not carry another’s in the afternoon without being cleaned in between. Sweep out and wash down between loads, use a disinfectant suitable for the setting rather than whatever is under the sink, and pay attention to the areas that hold dirt such as deck edges and the underside of dropped sides. Take the used bedding away in sealed bags rather than loose. None of this takes long, and a centre dealing with an outbreak will tell you exactly why it is worth doing.
Loading Panels And Mesh Safely
Mesh and weld panels are deceptively dangerous to handle. Cut wire ends catch hands and clothing, panels flex and pinch fingers when they are stacked, and a stack of panels on an open deck will slide if it is not strapped properly. Wear gloves, lay panels flat rather than standing them on edge, and put something between the stack and the deck so the bottom panel does not scrape. Strap across the stack in at least two places and check it again after the first mile. Gates, latches and hinges should be secured or removed rather than left swinging. Hutches and arks are light but catch the wind badly, so they go in the middle of the load rather than on top.
Collecting Donations And Fundraising Loads
A good deal of what a rescue moves comes from donations, which means collecting from private addresses with no loading area and no idea what is actually being donated until you arrive. Ask what the items are and roughly how large before setting off, since a description of a few bags frequently turns out to be a shed’s worth. Take more straps and a couple of blankets than you expect to need. Where donated goods are destined for a charity shop rather than the centre itself, our advice on van hire for charity shops covers the donation run side of it.
Volunteers, Documents And Booking
Rescues run on volunteers and the driving usually falls to whoever offers, so sort the paperwork before the day rather than on the morning. The person named on the hire must be the one collecting the vehicle, bringing a photocard licence and a DVLA check code rather than a credit card. Every vehicle we run sits at or under three and a half tonnes gross vehicle weight and is driveable on a standard category B car licence. We are open Monday to Saturday from 8am to 4pm and closed on Sunday, with free secure parking on site, and no deposit is required on most vehicles. Centres out towards Hatton van hire and Frodsham van hire are a straightforward run from the depot.
Feed, Bedding And Bulk Deliveries
Bulk feed and bedding are the loads that catch groups out, because they are cheap to buy in quantity and heavy once they are stacked. Sacks of feed are dense and a pallet of them will reach a three and a half tonne gross vehicle weight limit long before the load area looks full, so buy to what the vehicle can carry rather than to what the supplier will discount. Straw and shavings are the opposite problem, being light and enormous, and they must stay dry because wet bedding is useless and heavy at the same time. For those an enclosed body is the right choice regardless of how convenient side loading would be. Load sacks flat and low over the axles rather than stacked high at the back, and keep anything that has been opened separate so a split sack does not empty itself across the deck.
Tell us what equipment you are collecting and whether it needs to stay dry, and we will match you to something you can load easily and clean afterwards. Call the depot on 01925 396 222 and we will help you sort it.
