Dangerous goods courier, Birmingham
ADR-exempt, hazardous materials and chemical collections in and around Birmingham
Birmingham is about two hours from our Bradford yard, so a morning booking goes the same day and runs direct with no hub stop. We carry Limited Quantity, Excepted Quantity and under-threshold loads on a dedicated vehicle with the required transport document and extinguisher. We hold no ADR vocational certificates and have no DGSA appointed, so a placarded full-ADR load is not ours to take — we say so on the first call rather than after your goods are on a van.
What moves in and around Birmingham
Birmingham spreads its chemistry thin and wide. The Jewellery Quarter runs plating and refining chemistry in small quantities, Tyseley and Aston hold engineering and coatings work, the universities and hospital trusts move reagents and diagnostic material between sites, and the automotive supply chain south of the city brings adhesives, sealants and battery samples.
What ties them together for a courier is quantity: a few litres, a few kilos, a handful of packages, needed today. Those fall inside Limited Quantity or Excepted Quantity limits and travel legally on an ordinary van, and they are exactly what a pallet network refuses without looking at the volume.
How quickly we get there
Roughly two hours from Bradford down the M1 and M42. A dedicated run goes straight there, so the transit time is simply the drive.
Towns we collect from in and around Birmingham: Birmingham city centre, Tyseley, Aston, Erdington, Digbeth, Jewellery Quarter, Small Heath, Longbridge, Solihull, Smethwick, Perry Barr, Kings Norton. If your site is not on that list it is almost certainly still covered — the list is the main ones, not the limit.
What we will carry in and around Birmingham, and what we will not
We carry dangerous goods that fall under Limited Quantity, Excepted Quantity or the ADR 1.1.3.6 threshold today. For a placarded full-ADR load we will tell you so and help you find a carrier who holds the certificate, rather than take the job and work it out later.
Most carriers will not put that in writing until you have already booked. We would rather lose the enquiry at the first phone call than collect a load we are not certificated to move, because the consequence of getting that wrong lands on your consignment note as well as our licence.
What we need from you before collection
- The UN number and proper shipping name — this settles almost everything else.
- The class and packing group.
- The quantity per inner package and the total on the consignment, because that is what decides whether it stays under the threshold.
- Whether the outer packaging is marked and in date, and whether the goods are new stock or waste.
- The collection site and whether it needs a permit or induction, so the driver arrives able to get in.
Send those five things and we will tell you in writing which route the consignment travels under before anything is picked up. If it turns out to need placards and a certificated driver, we will say so and help you place it elsewhere.
Questions we get from shippers in and around Birmingham
Do you carry lithium battery samples from Birmingham or Solihull?
Yes, where they meet the UN3480 or UN3481 Section II conditions, or are installed in equipment. Prototype, damaged or defective cells need a carrier with the full ADR certificate and we will say so.
Can you collect from the Jewellery Quarter?
Yes. Small packaged quantities of plating and refining chemistry are straightforward within Limited Quantity volumes. Tell us the UN number and the quantity per package.
Is Birmingham a same-day run?
Yes when booked in the morning — around two hours each way. We will tell you the real cut-off rather than take a booking we cannot make.
Send us the UN number and we will tell you how it travels
One call settles it. The UN number, the packing group and the quantity per package, and you will have our answer in writing before a vehicle is sent.