Every spring fair, scout jumble, church fete and school summer event runs on the same borrowed kit. Gazebos from one shed, 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 about gathering all of that from four different places, getting it to a field, and returning it afterwards without losing half of it. Arranging van hire in Warrington for an event day is easy. The organising around it is where the effort 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.
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.
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 nothing can slide out of the sides. Gazebo poles and frames are the pieces most likely to work loose, so bundle them rather than laying them in individually. Anything genuinely light such as bunting or signage should go in the cab rather than riding on an open deck.
Getting Onto a Field or a 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 is. If in doubt, park on the hard standing and carry, which is slower but far better than needing a tow. Groups working around Walton van hire bookings and the parks nearer town usually find there is a service road that avoids the issue entirely.
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 within three and a half tonnes gross vehicle weight and is driveable on a standard category B car licence, so most adult volunteers are eligible, but the driver named on the hire needs to be the one collecting the van, with their photocard licence and a DVLA check code generated on the DVLA website beforehand. Sort that out during the week rather than on the morning.
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. There is no deposit required on most of our vehicles and free secure parking on site for the driver’s own car. If your event date is fixed well in advance, booking early is worth it, and the team can talk options through via our contact us page.
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 one 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.
Tell us what you are moving 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.
