A Luton with a tail lift, booked to the route.
Fleetable contracts Luton van work with a tail lift where the round needs one — kerbside delivery, pallets into London kitchens that have no loading bay. The vehicle is specified when the route is booked rather than found on the day, with a set driver and a named backup on the round. It is priced per mile with every cost shown, and proven on one route first.
The problem
No bay, no forklift, and a double yellow.
Most London kitchens take deliveries off the kerb: no bay, no forklift, a window measured in minutes and a street that will not hold a lorry. A pallet that cannot come off the back is a delivery that goes back to the depot with the food still on it. So the access is priced into the route — what comes off, how it gets from the tail lift to the door, and who is there to take it.
How it works
Proven on one route first
Tell us what comes off the vehicle, where it has to end up and what the street allows. We specify the class and the tail lift with the route, price it per mile with the door time itemised, then run one route in parallel with your current provider before anything switches.
Also
The minutes at the door are the cost.
A tail-lift drop is a door job before it is a driving job, and the rate card prices it that way. Driving is per mile. The door is per minute, with 15 minutes of loading and 15 of waiting included on a route before anything is charged, then £0.45 a minute after that, itemised on its own line rather than folded into the mileage. A site that keeps a driver standing becomes a number you can take to them, which is the point of separating it.
What a given tail lift will take differs by vehicle, so it is confirmed against the one booked for your route rather than published as a specification here. That is not evasion. Fleetable owns no vans and buys the class the round needs, so the answer that matters comes from the vehicle that is going to do the job — which is also why it is worth telling us the heaviest single item before anything is priced.
A courier will quote a Luton with a tail lift by the job, then quote it again next week at a different number. On contract the same class runs the same round at a rate agreed in advance, which is the difference between a series of jobs and food logistics in London you can put in a budget.
The difference
Own vans, a courier, or Fleetable
| What matters | Your own vans | A courier | Fleetable |
|---|---|---|---|
| Set drivers for your routes | Yes | Shared | Yes, committed |
| A backup on every route | Your problem | Rarely | Always — primary and backup |
| Live tracking you can check | Manual | A tracking number | Live, auditable per drop |
| Reports for finance | Manual | No | On time, proof and cost |
| No idle-van cost | You carry it | Yes | Pay for delivery, not idle vans |
Proof
Reliability you can check.
A backup on every route
Primary and backup, always. A sick day never leaves a site short.
Chilled, checked before each job
Food-safe vehicles, kept to temperature the whole route.
Live tracking and proof of delivery
Time and temperature at every drop, with proof your finance team can check.
One named contact
One person who knows your routes — not a call centre.
Drivers checked to your standard. Chilled, food-safe vehicles. Proof at every drop.
Accreditations added as contracts require.
Related
Where to next
FAQ
Questions, answered.
Do you deliver pallets to a restaurant?
Is a tail lift always fitted?
What weight will the tail lift take?
What does a Luton cost?
What if a driver does not show?
Can we try it without switching?
Start