What Movers Cannot Legally Put on the Truck

Every household contains things that cannot go on a moving truck. Some are legal restrictions, some are insurance exclusions, and some are simply items that will ruin everything packed around them. Most people discover the list on moving day, which is the worst possible time.

Legally prohibited on a goods vehicle

LPG cylinders

The big one, and the one people argue about most. A filled gas cylinder is compressed flammable gas and it does not travel on a household goods vehicle — not full, not "nearly empty", not with the regulator off. The connection transfers through your distributor: you surrender the cylinder and regulator at the old end, get a termination voucher and your deposit, and use that voucher to get a connection near the new address. Allow a week either side.

Petrol, diesel, kerosene and spare fuel cans

Including the half-full can in the garage for the generator. Empty and air the container, or dispose of it.

Fireworks, crackers and ammunition

Absolute exclusion, no exceptions, and it comes up more often around Diwali than you would expect. Licensed firearms have their own transport rules that have nothing to do with a moving company.

Pesticides, weedkillers and pool chemicals

Concentrated agricultural chemicals are classified as hazardous goods. A leaked bottle of pesticide inside a carton contaminates everything it touches and the load cannot be salvaged.

Allowed, but genuinely a bad idea

Aerosols of any kind

Deodorant, room freshener, spray paint, insect spray. A closed truck in a Dehradun May can exceed 55°C inside, which is enough to burst a can. One burst aerosol in a carton of clothes is a whole carton of clothes.

Paint, thinner and varnish

Not usually classified as prohibited in small quantities but heat-sensitive and prone to leaking. Take the half-tin of touch-up paint in your own car if you must keep it.

Batteries and power banks

Lithium cells in a hot, vibrating truck are a fire risk, and loose spare batteries are worse than installed ones. Power banks travel with you, in your bag.

Anything perishable

Open food, flour, rice, pulses, oil. Even on a same-day move, an opened bag of atta in a carton is how you introduce pests to a new house. Sealed food is a judgement call; opened food is not.

Plants

Several states restrict the movement of plants and soil across borders for quarantine reasons, and in practice plants do badly in a dark truck for days. For a long move, take cuttings and give the pots away.

Allowed, but carry it yourself

These are not prohibited — they are simply uninsurable, and no sensible mover wants the responsibility.

• Cash and jewellery. Excluded from every transit policy we have seen.
• Documents. Passports, property papers, share certificates, PAN and Aadhaar cards, insurance policies, academic certificates. Losing these is far worse than losing furniture, and replacing a property document is a multi-month problem.
• Laptops and hard drives. Not because they will be damaged, but because the data on them is worth more than the machine.
• Prescription medicines. You may arrive days before your goods do.
• Keys. Both sets. It happens.

What a good mover does about it

Asks at survey. We go through this list during the walk-through rather than discovering a gas cylinder behind the kitchen door on loading day, and we tell you what to do with each item while there is still time to do it. If a mover has never mentioned any of this to you, they have not surveyed your house properly.