What Removal Companies Won't Move: The Prohibited Items List

The question of what removal companies won't move has four different answers, and lumping them together is why people get caught out on the day. Some things are refused because they are dangerous, some because they are alive or perishable, some because the insurance will not cover them, and some only need preparing.

Why any of this is refused

Two reasons sit behind almost every entry: the law and the insurance. Anything classed as a dangerous good is subject to carriage rules that a domestic removals firm is not licensed for, and a loaded van sitting in the sun on the A27 is a genuinely bad environment for a pressurised cylinder or an open tin of solvent. Beyond that, a remover's liability under standard trading conditions is capped rather than being full replacement value, which is why items of special value are handled differently even when the crew is willing to carry them.

There is a third, quieter reason: contamination. In a shared load or a storage container, one leaking tin of paint or one bag of damp compost does not just ruin itself. It ruins everything packed near it, including other households' goods, and the cost of that lands on whoever packed it.

Refused outright: the dangerous goods list

• Gas bottles and cylinders. Patio gas, BBQ bottles, camping canisters, helium, oxygen and fire extinguishers. All hold gas under pressure. Return refillable bottles to a stockist and claim the cylinder deposit; small canisters go to a household waste recycling centre.
• Petrol, diesel, paraffin and lighter fuel. Including the jerry can in the shed and the fuel in a mower. Drain machinery and use up or dispose of loose fuel before the move.
• Paint, solvents, thinners and white spirit. The classic loft-clearance find. Part-used tins are the worst offender because the lids have already been off. Take them to a recycling centre that accepts hazardous household waste.
• Aerosols in quantity. A can of deodorant in a toiletries box is one thing; a crate of spray paint is another. Firms differ on the line, so ask.
• Fireworks and ammunition. No exceptions, and firearms have their own transfer rules regardless of the removals question.
• Corrosives and pool chemicals. Drain cleaner, bleach in bulk, chlorine granules, hot tub chemicals.
• Asbestos. If a garage roof sheet or an old flue is coming with you, it is not. It needs a licensed disposal route.

Refused because it is alive, or will not survive

• Pets. No licensed remover carries live animals. A loaded van has no ventilation control, no temperature control and nobody watching. Cats and dogs go in the car or with a pet courier; fish need their own plan, and a short Sussex move is far easier on them than a long one.
• Plants. Most firms will not container them and none will guarantee them. Houseplants travel fine in the back of a car for an hour or two. Moving abroad is a different question, because plants and soil are subject to plant health controls.
• Fresh and frozen food. Run the freezer down over the fortnight before. Frozen food is not insured, and a Sussex-to-Sussex move still means several hours out of the freezer.
• Opened bottles and jars. Cooking oil, vinegar and sauces leak. Unopened store cupboard goods are usually fine.

Items of special value: carry them yourself

This is the category people misunderstand, because the crew will often physically take these things if you ask. The problem is not the carrying, it is the cover. Under standard trading conditions a remover's liability is limited, and items of special value are expected to be declared in advance so they can be insured properly, or excluded. Simpler, for a normal house move, is to keep them out of the van entirely.

• Cash, jewellery, watches, coin and stamp collections
• Passports, driving licences, birth and marriage certificates, deeds, wills
• Prescriptions and medication, including anything refrigerated
• Laptops, phones, hard drives, cameras, and the backup drive holding the photographs
• House keys, car keys, chargers and the completion paperwork

One labelled box or holdall, in the car, with you. It is the same box that should hold the kettle and the toilet roll, which is covered in our guide to the moving essentials box.

Conditional: fine once prepared

• Fridges and freezers. Empty, defrost and dry at least 24 hours ahead, and leave the door ajar. A fridge that goes in the van wet comes out of storage smelling.
• Mowers, strimmers, chainsaws and generators. Fuel drained, and ideally the tank run dry rather than tipped out.
• Lithium batteries, e-bikes and e-scooters. Increasingly restricted in storage, and a growing number of firms want them declared. Ask specifically rather than assuming a bike is a bike.
• Safes, pianos, pool tables and gun cabinets. Not prohibited, but they need a survey, the right kit and sometimes extra crew. Turning up with an unmentioned upright piano is the fastest way to lose a morning. Our page on what a piano move costs sets out what is involved.
• Fuel in a car being transported. If a vehicle is going on a transporter as part of the move, ask about the fuel level, because there is often a limit.

Storage tightens every one of these rules

If any part of your move involves storage, and in a broken Sussex chain it often does, the prohibited list gets stricter rather than looser. Nothing perishable, nothing damp, nothing alive and nothing flammable goes into a container or a unit, and operators publish their own lists. Food is out even if it is sealed, because of what it attracts. A fridge that was merely damp on the van becomes a mould problem after three weeks in a warehouse. Our guide to storage when moving house covers the difference between containerised storage and a self storage unit, and both apply the same restrictions.

What to do about it, in order

1. At the survey, walk the surveyor through the shed, the garage and the loft. These are where the prohibited items live, and they are the rooms people skip.
2. Ask for the firm's own list in writing. Every remover publishes one, and the boundaries on aerosols, batteries and part-used chemicals genuinely vary.
3. Book the tip run for the weekend before, not the day before. Household waste recycling centres in East and West Sussex take hazardous household waste, but not all sites take all of it, and several need a booking.
4. Empty the freezer over two weeks, then defrost 24 hours out.
5. Pack the essentials box last and keep it with you.
6. Declare anything borderline. A remover who knows about the pool chemicals will tell you how to deal with them. One who finds them at 8am has to make a decision on the spot, and it will not be the one you want.

More on planning the day is on the Move Sussex homepage, and our guide to what removals cost in Sussex covers where the money goes.

Sources

• British Association of Removers, for the trade's standard terms on prohibited items and items of special value
• HSE: Carriage of dangerous goods, for why cylinders, fuels and solvents sit outside a domestic removal

Checked on 10 September 2026. Lists vary between firms and are stricter again for storage; always confirm with your remover in writing before you pack.