Customer Goods in Transit Claims Procedure
Important Information
Claims Liability (RHA Carriage Conditions)
Goods travelling through the Palletforce Network have standard cover of £5,000 per tonne (£5 per
kg). This can be increased if required upon agreement and payment of an additional charge in
advance of the collection of your goods. As we are not the goods owners the insurance only covers
our legal liability to you under the RHA 2009 conditions (copy available on request).
RHA 2009
11. Limitation of Liability
(1) Except as otherwise provided in these Conditions, the liability of the Carrier in respect of claims
for physical loss, mis-delivery of or damage to goods comprising the Consignment, howsoever
arising, shall in all circumstances be limited to the lesser of
(a) the value of the goods actually lost, mis-delivered or damaged; or
(b) the cost of repairing any damage or of reconditioning the goods; or
(c) a sum calculated at the rate of £1,300 Sterling per tonne on the gross weight of the goods
actually lost, mis-delivered or damaged;
In simple terms this means that:
The basis of settlement for ALL claims for loss, damage or mis-delivery under RHA is the lesser of:
• The cost price of the lost, damaged or mis-delivered goods
• The repair cost of the damaged goods
• A sum calculated at the rate of £5000 per tonne/ £5 per kg (or at the increased rate agreed
with us prior to the collection of your goods)
The following simple examples illustrate how the limits work:
Example 1. 1 pallet consignment weighing 150kg (evidenced all damaged)
Goods cost you, the customer, £125.00
The maximum liability based on weight is 150kg x £5.00 = £750
Limit of liability for these goods would be £125.00, your cost price
Example 2. 1 pallet consignment weighing 250kg (all damaged)
Goods cost you, the customer, £3,750
The maximum liability based on weight is 250kg x £5.00 = £1,250
Liability for these goods would be limited to £1,250 which is less than your cost
price.
Example 3. 1 pallet consignment weighing 300kg, 1 box weighing 10kg damaged
Box cost you, the customer £100
The maximum liability based on weight is 10kg x £5.00 = £50
Liability for these goods would be limited to £50 which is less than your cost price
Extended/ increased insurance cover
We recommend that all customers review the level of cover that they may require and if this value is
more than £5.00 per kg, you may need to speak to us about increasing the level of liability i.e. to £10
per kg.
Please do not hesitate to contact us if you wish to know what cover options are available to you.
If this value is even more than the increased insurance cover, we recommend you consider arranging
your own specialist Goods in Transit insurance if you do not already have this in place.
Timescales
You must notify us of a claim within the required timescales of the applicable Carriage conditions.
See below for some examples
Example 1. Damage / missing product (Delivery note was claused accordingly)
• Inform us of damage, in writing (i.e. email), as soon as possible and no later than
7 working days of the delivery date requesting a Customer Claim Form.
• Return the completed Customer Claim Form back to us within 14 working days
of the delivery date (ideally including ALL of the information requested within
the Claim Form)
Example 2. Full Consignment / a pallet(s) missing
• Inform us writing of intention to claim, immediately you are aware of the issue
and no later than 7 working days from when goods were due to be delivered
requesting a Customer Claim Form.
• Return the completed Customer Claim Form back to us within 14 days of the
delivery date (ideally including ALL of the information requested within the
Claim Form)
If the written intent to claim and claim form are not received within the required timescales, the
claim may be rejected unless there are specific and reasonable reasons behind the delay.
Claiming for Damage – Clean POD / ‘Unchecked POD’ – POD (Proof of Delivery)
If the consignment was delivered and the recipient signed the delivery note/ePOD device without
noting any damage, then this is considered a Clean POD. This will be taken as “Prima Facie” (based
on first impression / accepted as correct) evidence that the goods were delivered in the same
condition as they were collected. As such, the damage/loss may have occurred prior to collection,
after the delivery was made and not whilst being moved through the Network.
Damage noted after delivery should be reported to us immediately with good quality photographs
(including the packaging) and a satisfactory explanation as to why the damage/loss was not noted at
the time of delivery.
NB: It is important that your end customers check for visible damage to the packaging before they
sign the proof of delivery and then unpack the delivery, checking for any concealed damage
Claim value or Quantum
The value of the claim (quantum) is required to be evidenced by the goods owners, so you will need
to provide documentation to support your claim as detailed in the customer claim form.
• Where you have provided replacement goods to the customer, then you can claim for the actual
cost price of the damaged goods up to the limit of liability.
• Where you haven’t provided replacement goods to the customer, for example the order has
been cancelled or the goods were unique, then you can claim for the actual sales price of the
damaged goods up to the limit of liability as you are unable to replace that sale. You will be
asked to provide evidence in support.
You can only claim for those goods that are actually damaged, lost or mis-delivered
E.g. if a pallet was sent containing a matching set of products such as a bathroom suite but only one
of the items was damaged (e.g. the sink) then you can only claim for the damaged item irrespective
of whether or not you believe that the damage has affected the value of the other parts of the
pallet.
You may be entitled to claim for some additional costs (other than physical loss / damage for
example additional transport costs. Any additional costs are however limited to a maximum of the
original transport costs paid for the consignment.
Where the goods have been accepted by the end customer and you have repaired the damage or
provided the customer with a discount to retain the goods, you can only claim for either the cost
price or the discounted amount, whichever is the lower value. You must also provide evidence of
this arrangement.
Disposal of damaged / alleged contaminated product
You should ensure that any damaged goods being claimed for are retained and not disposed of until
after the claim has been settled. Should it be required that the goods are disposed i.e. H&S reasons
then advise us immediately so that we can obtain insurers instructions. A Disposal Certificate should
also be obtained and retained as evidence.
Any damaged item(s) or individual parts must be retained and photographs taken before, during and
after its inspection and accompanied by an engineer’s / surveyor’s report, submitted stating exactly
what damage has been found and should also include itemised repair invoices
If the item(s) are uneconomical to repair or have nil salvage value then you must provide adequate
evidence to support this position.
