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Transport Hire for UK theatre tour


sijevans

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I'm looking to book a truck for our Set, LX & Sound equipment for a 10-week UK tour this autumn.

 

We are currently touring with just our Set jammed into a hi-top LWB Transit with a tetris-like van pack, so I'm thinking we're going to be looking at at least a 7.5-tonner (if not something like a 13-ton Rigid) with the extra hire equipment.

 

We're on tour for 10 weeks with 8 week-longs and 2 weeks off within that period. So potentially this is 9 transfers and 2 weeks of storage.

 

Have asked Paul Mathew for a quote but was wondering if anyone has any advice/suggestions/recommendations for alternative and cost-effective ways of doing this (ones that don't involve members of the touring company driving the truck!)?

 

S x

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I can think of no sensible alternative way of doing things. Remember, the crapper your truck pack the more it will cost you to pay local crew that sweet TMA as you stand around scratching your head and arguing about how it went it last time. As well as Paul Matthews, Southern Van Lines and McGuinness also do theatre trucking, I have no idea of costs but have eperienced both on tour, and McGuinness had better drivers and trucks in my opinion.
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Companies such as this will not quote, or will atleast give a shocking quote for a tour like this.

The two I recommended most definitely will. As a producing venue, we tend to send out tours of perhaps four or five weeks' duration, with one or two moves a week - both Luckings and Stagefreight have done sterling work for us in the past on tours such as this, and were happy to do so.

 

Small edit to add : That said, our tours are always a 45-ft trailer, and re-reading the first post in the topic has reminded me that the OP is looking for a smaller vehicle than that. I'd still try Luckings, though - I know they have a few smaller vehicles in their fleet. Don't think Stagefreight do, though ...

 

Another edit to add : Simon, you could do with updating the location field in your profile so that people can make appropriate recommendations for local companies in response to requests like this. There's a chap (whose name I forget, but could easily find out if required) who's an owner-driver of, if I recall correctly, a 17-tonner, who we and a couple of other Welsh theatre companies use for moves that don't need a full trailer - but he's based in, I think, Cardiff, so there's no point in suggesting you conact him if you're a long way from there.

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What you may find is that truck companies will supply an arctic as it is more cost effective to send tours out on one of these even if it fits into a 7.5 tonne truck, I've seen many small scale tours arriving on an arctic when it would clearly fit into a 7.5 tonne, even the touring crew have said that it is cheaper to hire one of these compared to a 7.5 tonner!
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