Every spring fair, scout jumble, church fete and school summer event runs on borrowed kit. Gazebos from one shed, trestle tables from a village hall, a PA system from somebody’s garage and bunting from a box in a loft. Van hire for community groups is rarely about the driving, and arranging van hire in Warrington for an event day is the easy part. Gathering all of that from four different addresses, getting it onto a field and returning it afterwards without losing half of it is where the effort actually goes.
Plan The Collection Circuit Before The Day
The mistake most committees make is treating the van as transport for the event rather than as a collection round in its own right. Work out in advance which items are coming from where, and put them in an order that means the last thing collected is the first thing needed on site. Gazebos usually go up first, so they should come off first, which means they go in last. Confirm that somebody will actually be at each address at the time you plan to arrive, because a locked shed adds half an hour and a phone call to a day that has no slack in it. One person should hold the list rather than three people each holding part of it, and that person should be in the van rather than already at the field. A circuit of four or five addresses across Warrington and the surrounding villages will take most of a morning once you allow for someone not being ready, so start earlier than feels necessary.
Why An Open Deck Suits Event Kit
Event equipment is bulky, irregular and frequently wet or muddy by the end of the day. Trestle tables, gazebo frames, staging blocks, marquee weights and stacks of chairs do not pack neatly into a box body and are far easier to load across a low side than to thread through back doors. The flatbed dropside van earns its place here, particularly for the pack down at the end when everything is coming back damp and covered in grass and nobody wants to be crawling about inside an enclosed load space in the dark. The exception is anything that must stay dry. If the load is mostly PA equipment, paperwork, raffle prizes or catering supplies, a short wheelbase medium roof van is the better choice, because a closed load area and a lockable back door matter more than easy side access. Plenty of groups end up deciding on the basis of the weather forecast, which is a perfectly sensible way to choose.
Securing An Irregular Load
A load made of many different shapes is harder to secure than a load of boxes, because there is no flat face to strap against. Build the load in layers with the heaviest and flattest items on the deck, use the tables or staging boards to create a level surface, and then put the awkward items on top of that. Strap over the top in at least two places and check that nothing can slide out of the sides. Gazebo poles and frames are the pieces most likely to work loose, so bundle them together rather than laying them in individually, and put anything genuinely light such as bunting or signage in the cab rather than letting it ride on an open deck. Remember that the load will be disturbed every time you stop to collect from the next address, so it needs re-checking at each pick-up rather than strapping once at the start and hoping it holds all the way to the field.
Getting Onto A Field Or Recreation Ground
Driving onto grass is the part that goes wrong most often, especially in a wet spring. A loaded van will sink into soft ground far more readily than a car, and the ruts left behind on a recreation ground do not endear a group to whoever maintains it. Ask the site whether vehicle access onto the grass is permitted at all, and if it is, find out where the firm route in runs and whether anyone else will be using it at the same time. If there is any doubt, park on the hard standing and carry, which is slower but a great deal better than needing a tow in front of a hundred visitors. Groups working around Walton van hire bookings and the parks nearer town usually find there is a service road that avoids the question entirely, and it is worth walking the ground the week before rather than discovering the problem on the morning.
Who Drives And What They Need
Committees frequently sort the van before they sort the driver, and then discover on the Friday that the person who volunteered has not brought the right documents. 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, so most adult volunteers are eligible without anything further. The driver named on the hire does need to be the person collecting the van, and they need to bring a photocard licence along with a DVLA check code, which is generated in advance rather than issued at our counter. Sort that out during the week rather than on the morning of the event. If the driver is nervous about the size of the vehicle, say so when you book and we will talk through which of our vans will feel most manageable for the roads involved.
Booking Around A Weekend Event
Our depot on Tilley Street at the main entrance to Cockhedge Shopping Centre beside Asda is open Monday to Saturday from 8am to 4pm and closed on Sunday, which matters a great deal for a Sunday event. Collect on the Saturday and plan the return for the Monday rather than assuming you can drop the van back after the pack down. No deposit is required on most of our vehicles and there is free secure parking on site for the driver’s own car, which is useful when the person collecting is not the person going straight to the field. Booking at least two weeks ahead brings a ten per cent advance booking discount on selected vehicles, and since most community events are in the diary months beforehand, that is easy to plan around. Our advice on self drive van hire for special events covers the same ground from the organiser’s side, and you can reach us through our contact us page if it is easier than ringing.
The Pack Down Is Harder Than The Set Up
Everybody turns up to help build a fete and considerably fewer stay to take it down. The pack down happens at the end of a long day, often in fading light and frequently in rain, with tired volunteers and equipment that needs to go back to four different addresses. Agree who is staying before the event starts rather than hoping. Keep each lender’s kit together in one area of the field as it comes down rather than mixing everything into a single pile, because sorting gazebo poles by owner in a dark car park is nobody’s idea of a good evening. If equipment has come back wet, tell whoever is storing it so it can be dried rather than put away damp, since a mouldy gazebo discovered next spring is how groups lose the goodwill that lent it in the first place. Where returns cannot all be done that night, having the van until the Monday gives you a calm hour to finish the round properly.
Tell us what you are moving, how many addresses are on the collection round and whether you need the van across a weekend, and we will work out the simplest arrangement for the group. Call the depot on 01925 396 222 once your event date is confirmed.
