Art Courier Near Me, UK-Wide
Typed “art courier near me” with a canvas leaning against the hallway wall? We’ll send one van and one driver, who wraps it, carries it upright and hands it over at the other end. Nobody else touches it. In London a driver is usually with you within the hour, and condition is photographed when the work leaves and when it arrives.
- Goods in transit cover to £10,000
- DBS-checked drivers
- A real person, 24/7
Get a Price for Your Artwork
Both postcodes, the size including the frame, whether it’s glazed, and its rough value.
How do you move artwork safely?
Put it on a dedicated van rather than through a parcel network. With us, framed and glazed work is blanket-wrapped with corner protection, carried upright and strapped, never laid flat under anything else. The same driver loads and unloads it, condition is photographed at both ends, and the declared value is agreed in writing before the van moves. In London a driver is usually with you within 30 to 60 minutes.
Our Art Courier UK Services
Our art courier UK service moves single paintings, whole hangs and awkward sculpture from galleries, studios, salerooms and homes. Every run is fast, reliable, direct and fairly priced, and the work stays in one van with one driver from collection to the wall it’s going on.
Same Day Art Delivery
A sold painting at the buyer’s door this afternoon, collected within the hour in London.
Get a QuoteGallery Hangs and De-installs
Work in before the private view and out again the morning after it closes.
Get a QuoteAuction House Collections
Lots cleared from the saleroom before the storage charges start on the buyer.
Get a QuoteArt Fair Deliveries
On the stand inside the build-day slot, with passes and loading bay times sorted first.
Get a QuoteStudio to Exhibition
Large canvases that won’t fit a car, driven straight from the studio to the venue.
Get a QuoteFramer and Restorer Runs
Out for reframing and back again, both legs photographed so nobody argues later.
Get a QuoteSculpture and 3D Work
Blocked and strapped so it can’t tip, with a tail lift for pieces too heavy to carry.
Get a QuoteMoving a Collection
Pictures off the walls at the old house and in the new one before the removal lorry arrives.
Get a QuoteWho Sends Art With Us
Anyone holding something that can’t be swapped for another off a shelf. Time-critical hangs, fragile frames and high-value pieces, all with secure single handling from collection to signature.
Retail and eCommerce
Online galleries and print sellers sending a framed order to a buyer who has already paid.
Events and Exhibitions
Art fairs, open studios and pop-up shows with a build window that won’t wait for a late van.
Print and Media
Photographers and printmakers moving editions, mounted prints and large-format work to a client.
Legal and Financial
Executors and valuers moving pieces from a house clearance to a saleroom or a valuation.
Manufacturing
Foundries and fabricators sending finished sculpture to a gallery, a garden or a public site.
Construction
Office and hotel fit-outs where commissioned art has to arrive the day the walls are finished.
Art Courier Near Me: Why Direct Is Safer
A dented frame corner sounds small. On a gilt moulding it means a restorer, a delay and an awkward phone call to the buyer. A pressure mark across a canvas can’t be polished out at all, and the loss usually runs far past the cost of the transport. For a gallery, a late van can also mean a bare wall at a private view with fifty guests already through the door. Nobody wants to explain that one.
A network parcel is handled four to six times and sorted through at least two depots, stacked among boxes that look nothing like a painting. Ofcom found 68% of people had a delivery issue in six months. Your piece is loaded once and unloaded once, upright and strapped. For glass, instruments or prototypes that aren’t art, our high-value handling service works the same way, and art fair and exhibition runs are timed to the build slot.
Book by phone or online and the nearest van is dispatched. In London and the South East a driver is usually with you within 30 to 60 minutes, and elsewhere you get an honest ETA first. Museums record condition before and after every move, as the Spectrum condition checking standard sets out. We do a simpler version: timestamped photos at both ends, plus a signature, a name and a call if traffic moves the ETA.
Size, not weight, picks the van. A framed print fits a small van, while a canvas too long for an SWB goes in an LWB, which takes loads up to 4m. Goods in transit cover runs to £10,000 per consignment, and higher declared values are agreed in writing first. Public venues borrowing loans may use the Government Indemnity Scheme instead. Our guide to what courier insurance covers explains the detail, and galleries sending work every week can set up regular scheduled gallery runs.
How a Piece Is Actually Handled
There’s no mystery to it. The value is in doing the ordinary things the same way every time.
Framed and Glazed Work
Blanket-wrapped with corner protectors and carried upright. Two pieces travel face to face or back to back, never stacked flat.
Unframed Canvases
Moved on their stretchers with nothing touching the paint. They lean against a padded side wall, strapped at the top bar.
Sculpture and Ceramics
Blocked with soft padding so it can’t shift, tip or rub the van side. Heavy pieces go on a Luton tail lift.
If a piece comes to us already crated or in a travel frame, it stays that way. We won’t unpack professionally packed work to squeeze it into a van. We send a bigger van. One honest limit, though: we’re a specialist courier, not a fine art shipper. We don’t build crates, we don’t run climate-controlled vehicles, and we don’t handle customs or carnets for work going abroad. If a museum loan needs any of that, a fine art logistics firm is the right call, and we’ll tell you so rather than take the booking.
How to Prepare Artwork for the Driver
Ten minutes before the van arrives saves most of the problems we see at the door. The driver wraps and straps the work, but only you know these things about it.
Measure With the Frame
Height, width and depth including the frame. With big canvases the diagonal often decides whether it clears a doorway.
Say What the Glazing Is
Glass cracks under point pressure. Acrylic scratches if anything rubs it, so never put tape on acrylic glazing.
Warn Us About Wet Paint
Touch-dry oil can still mark for weeks. A fresh canvas needs spacers or a travel frame so nothing meets the surface.
Photograph It First
Take your own pictures in good light, front and back. Our photos at handover then sit alongside yours.
Check Both Doorways
Stairs, lifts and tight turns matter more than distance. Tell us about anything narrower than 80cm.
Tell Us the Value
Anything over £10,000 in one consignment needs higher cover agreed in writing before we collect.
Art Courier Prices and Vans
You pay for a van that fits the work and the miles it drives. These are our published guide prices, and your figure is fixed in writing before we collect.
| Vehicle | Guide price | Typical art load |
|---|---|---|
| Small van (around 400kg) | from £39 | Framed prints, photographs or one painting to a buyer |
| SWB van (around 800kg) | from £49 | Several framed works, or a gallery run between two sites |
| LWB van (around 1,200kg, 4m loads) | from £69 | Large canvases and anything where the long side is the problem |
| Luton with tail lift (around 1,000kg) | from £89 | Crated work and sculpture too heavy to lift by hand |
Longer journeys work out at roughly £1.10 to £1.80 per mile depending on vehicle size, distance and urgency. London to Birmingham takes roughly 2.5 to 3 hours by road. Nights, weekends and bank holidays cost a little more, and that’s already inside the fixed quote. There’s no postcode or rural surcharge, ferry fares are included, and the invoice matches the figure you agreed.
Honest advice: a small unframed print rolled in a rigid tube will usually post safely for less than any van. Book us when the piece is framed, glazed, big, valuable or late, which is when a sorting depot stops being a sensible risk.
How It Works
Four steps from your first call to a signed handover, with the price and the cover agreed before anything is lifted.
Get a Fixed Quote
Send both postcodes, the sizes including frames, the glazing and the value. One all-inclusive figure comes back within minutes, so you know the cost before you commit.
Book Your Delivery
Confirm who releases the work, who receives it and any loading bay or access window. The booking, ETA, price and cover arrive in writing.
We Collect
A DBS-checked driver arrives, usually within 30 to 60 minutes in London, photographs each piece, then wraps, loads and straps it upright in the van.
We Deliver Direct
No depot and no other drops. The work is unwrapped where you want it, photographed again, and the recipient’s name and the time reach your inbox.
Worried a Painting Will Arrive Damaged?
It travels alone, strapped upright, with the same driver from your wall to theirs. Photos at both ends show exactly how it left and how it arrived.
Fixed All-Inclusive Quote
Driver, fuel, tolls, ULEZ and ferry fares in one written figure, with nothing added after delivery.
Dedicated Vehicle
Your artwork is the only job on board, so nothing heavier is ever loaded against it.
Photo and Signature POD
Condition photos, the recipient’s name or signature and the exact handover time, emailed straight away.
24/7 Human Support
A real person answers at any hour, knows where your driver is and can call them for you.
Something Irreplaceable Needs Moving?
Tell us the size, the medium and the value. We’ll confirm the handling and the cover in writing before anything is lifted.
Frequently Asked Questions
The questions people actually type in before they move a painting, answered straight.
How much does it cost to ship a painting in the UK?
It depends on size more than weight. With us, a framed painting that fits a small van starts from £39, and a large canvas needing an LWB starts from £69. Longer journeys work out at roughly £1.10 to £1.80 per mile depending on vehicle size, distance and urgency. Your quote is fixed before collection and includes fuel, tolls and ULEZ.
Is there an art courier near me?
Yes, if you’re anywhere on the UK mainland. We’re based in Croydon and cover every London borough, the South East and the rest of mainland Britain. In London and the South East a driver is usually with you within 30 to 60 minutes. Further afield we send the nearest van and confirm an honest ETA before you book.
How do you ship artwork with glass?
Upright, wrapped and never stacked flat. Glazed work is blanket-wrapped with corner protectors and strapped against a padded van wall, so no weight sits on the glass. Tell us whether it’s glass or acrylic when you book. Acrylic scratches easily, so nothing should be taped to it, and very large glazed pieces may need a travel frame first.
Can you transport a wet oil painting?
Yes, if you warn us at booking. Oil paint can feel dry on the surface and still mark for weeks. A fresh canvas needs spacers or a travel frame so nothing touches the paint, and it travels upright on its own in the van. If the surface is still tacky, ask the artist whether it should wait a few more days.
Can I send a painting by post in the UK?
You can, and for small unframed prints it’s often the cheapest sensible choice. Rolled in a rigid tube, a print usually posts fine. Framed, glazed, large or valuable work is a different matter, because a parcel is handled four to six times through depots. A dedicated van loads it once and unloads it once.
Is my artwork insured in transit?
Yes. Goods in transit cover runs on every job up to £10,000 per consignment, alongside £1,000,000 public liability. If a piece or a batch is worth more, declare the value when you book and we’ll arrange higher cover in writing before the van moves. That two-minute conversation is the most important part of booking.
Moving Something That Can’t Be Replaced?
One call, one fixed price, one driver the whole way, with the cover confirmed in writing before we lift anything.