IMPORTANT

SCHEDULED SERVICES DO HAVE GEOGRAPHICAL LIMITATIONS AND GUARANTEED TIMED DELIVERY MAY NOT BE AVAILABLE TO CERTAIN DESTINATIONS CURRENTLY. PLEASE REFER TO THE SERVICES AVAILABLE SECTION OF A CURRENT RATE SCHEDULE OR ASK OUR REPRESENTATIVE FOR DETAILS.

UNDER THE FOLLOWING CONDITIONS THE LIABILITY OF THE CARRIER OR ITS SERVANTS OR AGENTS IS EXCLUDED IN CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES AND LIMITED IN OTHERS AND CUSTOMERS ARE THEREFORE ADVISED TO ARRANGE SUFFICIENT INSURANCE COVER TO PROTECT THEIR INTERESTS FULLY.

1- General

a These are the conditions under which we will carry your goods unless our Company Secretary agrees otherwise in writing.

b In these conditions, the words and phrases listed below will have the following meanings.

We, us, our - 1st Choice Parcels of Unit 6 Station Bridge House
Blake Hall Road
Ongar
Essex
CM5 9LN and anyone acting on our behalf.

You, your - you, the customer, whose parcel we are carrying under the contract between us and anyone acting on your behalf.

Parcel - the goods or documents of whatever nature (whether in bulk or in one or more packages) we have agreed to carry from one address to another for you.

Carriage - carrying goods by road, sea, air or rail.

Dangerous goods - this includes infected or infested material, explosives, radioactive substances or any other substance which puts the health and safety of people at risk.

Private consumer - a person using our services in a personal capacity, not during the course of their business.

c We may refuse to carry your goods. We may also examine and inspect your goods at any time while we are carrying them.

d Our liability to you under these conditions is limited. See condition 2f.

e Sundays, public holidays and bank holidays are not included when we quote delivery times.

f This contract between you and us is governed by English law. Any dispute between you and us will be dealt with in the English courts.

2- Our rights and obligations

a- If we accept your order for our services, we will collect, carry and deliver your consignment with care.

b- Our normal service is to collect and deliver door to door, unless we specifically agree otherwise.

c- We may use sub-contractors but this will not affect your rights.

d- We may keep hold of all or some of your goods until you have paid all the charges you owe us, even if the unpaid charges do not relate to those goods. We may sell all or some of your goods to recover any unpaid charges. We can only take this action after giving you 30 days written notice that we intend to do so. If we do sell any of your goods, and the proceeds from the sale are greater than the amount you owe us, we will pay you the difference after deducting the cost of selling the goods. This clause does not apply to a private consumer.

e If we cannot deliver your goods we will contact you for instructions. If you do not give us instructions, we will give you 30 days written notice that we intend to sell all or some of your goods to recover any money you owe us. If the proceeds from the sale are greater than the amount you owe us, we will pay you the difference after deducting the cost of selling the goods.

f Important - if we do not keep to these conditions, or if you suffer any loss, our liability to you is limited and excluded in certain circumstances. The limitations and exclusions are explained below. If you are a private consumer some limitations may not apply. This will not affect the remaining conditions, which will still apply.

i)- We will not be liable for any loss of use, loss of profit, loss of customers, or other direct or indirect loss you suffer. For example, if we do not deliver a tender document within the agreed time, we will not be liable for the cost of preparing the tender or the value of any potential contract. However, we will be liable for the carriage charge relating to that document.

ii)- We will not be liable for loss of or damage to the goods or for an incorrect delivery or a delay if the loss, damage, delay or incorrect delivery has been caused by any of the following:

Natural disasters (such as floods), including unfavourable weather conditions.

War, invasion, terrorism, riot or any similar event.

The goods being legally seized, confiscated, destroyed or damaged by any authority.

Any act or omission by you or anyone acting on your behalf.

Any natural wastage of, fault in or deterioration of the goods.

Insufficient or incorrect packaging of all or some of the goods.

Insufficient or incorrect addressing of all or some of the goods.

Insufficient or incorrect information in any consignment note filled in by you.

Any labour dispute or disturbance of any kind.

Your not giving us further instructions for delivery within 30 days of our giving you notice that we could not deliver the goods when originally planned.

Any events beyond our control including congestion and delay.

iii)- We will accept liability if the loss, damage, incorrect delivery or delay is our fault. However, our liability will be limited as follows:

If your consignment has been lost, damaged or incorrectly delivered our liability will be limited to one of the following (whichever is the lowest):

An amount which we calculate by multiplying each kilo of the consignment (according to the gross weight specified on our invoice or, if a weight is not specified, the actual gross weight of the goods including packaging) by £15. However, the maximum amount we will pay is £15,000 for each parcel and the minimum amount we will pay is £10.

The cost value of the parcel to you.

The cost of repairing your goods if they have been damaged.

If only some of the goods are lost, damaged or incorrectly delivered our liability to you will be limited to:

the cost of repairing any damage; or

an amount equal to the weight in kilos of the lost, damaged or incorrectly delivered goods multiplied by £15; whichever is the lower.

If you do not know the weight of the goods lost, damaged or incorrectly delivered, we will calculate our liability using the following formula:

multiply either the cost value of the lost, incorrectly delivered goods or the repair cost of the damaged goods by the weight in kilos of the total parcel.

multiply this figure by £15.

divide the total by the value of the parcel.

If we fail to deliver the parcel within the time you specified, and our failure was not caused by any events set out in clause 2f (ii), we will charge you for the actual service we provided (for example, delivery before 10.30 a.m.) rather than charging you the price we quoted for the service you asked for (for example, delivery before 9.00 a.m.).

iv)- You may increase our liability to up to £15,000 for any parcel weighing under 1000 kilos including packaging. If you want to increase our liability you must ask us before we collect your parcel. You will have to pay us an extra charge for the additional liability and this will either appear in our rate schedule or we will tell you the amount.

v)- Important - we recommend that the following goods are not sent through our next day service which includes mechanical handling and sortation of your goods. These include precious stones or jewellery, money, glass, china, objects of art, antiques or valuable documents (for example, passports, tenders, quotations or share and option certificates). We will if requested provide a dedicated service for the movement of these types of goods, but under no circumstances shall our liability to you exceed the limits contained in clause iii) or v) above.

We recommend that you insure your goods before we collect them.

For our European Road Service the carriage of goods is governed by the Convention on the Contract for the International Carriage of Goods by Road 1956 (CMR). Our liability for loss or damage to your goods is limited to 8.33 SDR's per kilo under the CMR Convention or £15.00 per kilo whichever is the greater.

3- Your rights and obligations

a- If you do not own the goods, the owner must have given you permission to make the contract with us.

b- You must make sure the goods are safe for handling and carrying. You must package, label and address the goods and correctly complete any consignment note you have filled in. You must also make sure the goods and their packaging comply with all transport regulations. You must tell us if your consignment is not suitable for carriage by air, by ticking the appropriate box on the consignment note.

c- If any goods are dangerous goods you must make this clear to us in writing before we collect them.

d- Unless we are shown to be at fault, you agree that you will be responsible to us and indemnify us against any claims, costs and damages arising from our transporting or storing your goods.

e- You must provide any special equipment we may need to load or unload the goods on to or off our vehicle. If you give us reasonable notice we will provide any special equipment but you may have to pay an extra charge for this service.

f- We may make a reasonable extra charge if when our driver and vehicle arrive they are kept waiting for more than 15 minutes. Alternatively we may re-arrange with you the collection or delivery.

g- You must pay our charges by the 15th of the month after the month in which our invoice is dated. Our invoices will include VAT, customs duty and any other taxes that apply. They will also include any extra charges such as those for increasing our liability, providing special equipment or delays under 3f above.

If you are a business customer rather than a private consumer, you may not withhold payment to us to set off against any claims you may have against us. Private consumers are not affected by this provision.

h- Our charges are set out in the current rate schedule or as quoted to you in writing. The charges are usually based on whichever of the following is greater.

The gross weight of the goods including packaging. If the actual gross weight is greater than you declared on the consignment note we will base our charge on the actual gross weight.

The volumetric weight of the goods including packaging. We calculate the volumetric weight by multiplying the length by the width by the height in centimetres and dividing the result by 4242.

i- You must arrange for the parcel to be carefully checked when it is delivered. Checking is important in order to make sure that any claims you have can be dealt with as quickly and effectively as possible.

j- Important - if you think that you have a claim against us, whether for loss, damage, incorrect delivery or delay, you must send us written details within 28 days of us collecting the goods. You must provide proof of the cost value of the goods claimed upon request. We will not be liable for any loss, damage, incorrect delivery or delay if we do not receive written details of your claim within the 28-day period and in the case of damage exceeding £200.00 if you have not given us the opportunity to examine the damage and the packaging prior to repair. We may destroy the original documentation relating to your consignment after six months and you shall not hold its absence against us.