What happens to your delivery if our van breaks down
For customers: the exact procedure Swiftline follows when a vehicle fails with your consignment on board, how dispatch reassigns the job, and the role our recovery partner Recoverer plays.
Vans break down. Ours are serviced on schedule and inspected weekly, which makes it rare, but a same-day courier that says it never happens is not being straight with you. What matters is what happens in the hour afterwards, so here it is, written down.
1. The driver hands the job back in the app
Every driver has a "can't complete this job" button with a reason. The moment it's pressed, dispatch is emailed and the job appears at the top of the Live ops screen. There's no phone tag to find out something went wrong.
2. Dispatch calls you within minutes
You hear it from us, with a plan, before you notice the tracking page has stopped moving. The plan is one of two things: another vehicle collects the goods from the broken-down van and completes the delivery, or, if you'd rather, we return the goods to you and refund the job in full.
3. The nearest vehicle takes over
Dispatch sees every online driver on a map, so the reassignment is to whoever is closest, not whoever is next on a list. The job keeps the same reference and your tracking link simply shows the new driver. Proof of collection from the first van and proof of delivery from the second are both on the final PDF.
4. The van goes to Recoverer
Our sister platform, Recoverer, dispatches the nearest recovery driver to the van at a fixed price. Because it's the same company and the same dispatch model, that's booked in the same minute as the reassignment, not after it. The broken-down vehicle is never left on a hard shoulder with your goods inside; the goods go with the driver or with the second van.
What you're entitled to
- If the delivery is completed late because of our breakdown, the job is priced as standard, not priority, whatever you booked.
- If we can't complete it the same day, you can cancel for a full refund, and we return the goods free of charge.
- Goods in transit insurance covers the consignment throughout, including while it's in a recovery vehicle.
In short: you'll know within minutes, you'll have a choice, and the job stays on one tracking link from start to finish.
Prices quoted are our published rates at the time of writing, with no VAT added. Enter your postcodes for a fixed price today.