Luton courier service by dedicated van
One van and driver for your Luton consignment, collecting from an airport agent, an M1 warehouse or a town-centre office and going straight to the delivery address. From a small van for a box of spares to a Luton van with a tail lift.
- Landside deliveries at the airport
- M1 junctions 10 to 11A covered
- Tail-lift vans for heavy items
A town that gave its name to a van
Luton is one of the few towns with a vehicle named after it. The Luton van, with its box body stretching over the cab, carries the town's name and is still the largest van type in most courier fleets. It is often the right vehicle for Luton's own work, which is weighted towards warehouses, trade suppliers and bulky goods as well as the airport.
We can send anything from a small van for a box of spares to a Luton van with a tail lift. Every job is a dedicated vehicle and driver, collecting your consignment and driving directly to the delivery address. When the booking is made, we allocate the closest suitable vehicle and tell you its estimated collection time. Our van size guide sets out typical load space and payload for each type.
Where Luton's consignments come from
From four areas: the airport and Airport Way, where we deliver landside to forwarders and agents; the office parks at Capability Green and Butterfield; the warehouses and trade units around Dunstable, Houghton Regis and the A5; and the Luton and Dunstable University Hospital and the University of Bedfordshire.
The airport and Airport Way
London Luton Airport sits on the east side of the town, reached from junction 10 of the M1 along Airport Way. Around it are freight forwarders, handling agents, aircraft maintenance businesses and the suppliers who serve them. For us, airport work means delivering landside: to the agent's warehouse or reception, with the right references, before the agent's cut-off.
Capability Green, Butterfield and the business parks
Capability Green, near junction 10, is a large office park with corporate headquarters and professional firms. Butterfield, on the north-east edge of the town off the A505, has offices and light industrial units. Their urgent work is usually documents, IT equipment and samples rather than pallets, and it often heads for London, Cambridge or another office along the M1.
Dunstable, Houghton Regis and the A5
West of Luton, Dunstable's Woodside Industrial Estate has a long list of trade, engineering and manufacturing businesses. The A5 to M1 link road, which joins the motorway at junction 11A, has opened up land north of Houghton Regis for new warehousing and distribution. These are the sites that need pallet and light haulage work: a part load that missed a trailer, a delivery to a store without a dock, or a run of cages for a retailer.
Hospital and university
The Luton and Dunstable University Hospital, on the western side of the town, generates equipment, records and supplier deliveries. The University of Bedfordshire has its main campus in the town centre, sending exam papers, research equipment and documents between campuses and partner institutions.
Get a quote for this jobor call 020 4525 2039, any time
Retail and e-commerce from the M1 corridor
The warehouses around Luton serve online retailers and store networks across the South East. When a network collection is missed, or a store runs out of a line before a promotion, a dedicated van is often the only way to get stock there the same day. Our retail and e-commerce courier page explains how we work with store delivery windows, and for anything urgent and small, the urgent courier service is the quickest option.
Heavy items and tail lifts
A tail lift lets the driver lower goods to the ground where there is no loading dock. It does not replace a pallet truck at either end. If a pallet must go inside a building or up a step, tell us when you book, and make sure someone is there to help move it.
Roads and timings
Luton is served by three M1 junctions: 10 for the airport and the south of the town, 11 for Dunstable and the west, and 11A for the A5 link road and Houghton Regis. The A505 runs east to Hitchin and the A1(M), and the A6 north to Bedford. The M1 south to the M25 and the airport approach around junction 10 are the usual slow points at peak times.
Typical journeys from Luton
Road distances below are approximate and depend on the precise addresses.
| From Luton to | Approx. road distance | Main route |
|---|---|---|
| Milton Keynes | 20 miles | M1 |
| Bedford | 20 miles | A6 |
| Central London | 35 miles | M1 |
| Heathrow | 35 miles | M1, M25 |
| Cambridge | 40 miles | A505, M11 |
| Birmingham | 85 miles | M1, M6 |
For the rest of the county next door, see our Hertfordshire courier page; heading north up the M1, our Milton Keynes courier service. When you are ready, get a Luton quote or call 020 4525 2039.
FAQ
Common questions
Can you take a consignment to a freight agent at London Luton Airport?
Yes. We deliver landside to the cargo agent, handling agent or forwarder's address you give us. We do not go airside. Give us the agent's name, the booking or air waybill reference and the agent's cut-off for the flight, and make sure the export paperwork is with the agent or travels with the goods. Air freight beyond Europe can be arranged on request through partner carriers; see our international courier page.
Is a Luton van the same as a lorry?
No. A Luton van is a van up to 3.5 tonnes gross weight with a box body that extends over the cab. Ours typically have a load space of about 4.0 m long, 2.0 m wide and 2.0 m high, a payload of around 1,000 kg and a tail lift often rated to about 500 kg. Exact figures depend on the model, and we confirm them at booking. For anything heavier or larger, you need a lorry, which we do not provide.
Do you collect from the warehouses around junction 11A at Houghton Regis?
Yes. The distribution sites near junction 11A and the A5 link road are collected in the same way as anywhere in Luton or Dunstable. Have the booking reference, the dock or goods-out door and the load details ready, and tell us whether goods are palletised. If the site has a booking system for collections, give us the slot time.
Can you get stock from Luton to a London store before it opens?
Yes. Central London is about 35 miles from Luton down the M1, and we run 24 hours a day, so an evening or overnight collection can reach a store early the next morning. Tell us about access: many London high street stores receive goods at a rear service door or through a shared loading bay with a time limit. Any Congestion Charge or ULEZ cost is included in your quote.
We are a small business in Luton. Do we need an account to book?
No. You can book a single job without an account, with a fixed price agreed before collection. If you send regularly, a business account with invoicing is available for approved businesses, subject to credit checks, which saves paying for each job separately.
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