Frozen Food Courier

Frozen food is unforgiving in a way chilled food is not: a chilled consignment that drifts two degrees is a deviation to assess, while a frozen one that starts to thaw is often a write-off, and partial thawing followed by refreezing is worse than either. The risk is concentrated in the joins rather than the journey - every hub transfer means doors open, time on a dock and a different compartment at a different setting, none of which appears on a delivery note. A dedicated vehicle removes those transfers: one vehicle, one compartment, one setting from collection to delivery. What it does not do is take on your food safety obligations. T&C Logistics holds no HACCP certification and is not an FSA-approved establishment; HACCP responsibility remains with the food business operator, and we carry to the temperature your own plan specifies.

What temperature does frozen food travel at?

-18 °C and below, which is the standard frozen band, and we carry to the figure your own food safety plan specifies rather than to a general notion of "frozen". Chilled work runs at 2-8 °C and ambient controlled at 15-25 °C.

The band has to be stated in writing at booking. "Frozen" on its own is not a specification, and a product held at -18 °C and one held at -25 °C are different consignments with different tolerance for a delay at a gate.

Why does a hub transfer matter more for frozen than chilled?

Because the consequence is different in kind. A chilled consignment that rises a few degrees for twenty minutes is a deviation your plan can assess; a frozen one that begins to thaw at the surface and is then refrozen has ice-crystal damage, texture change and a food safety question that no assessment recovers.

So the structural point is simple. A network's economy comes from consolidating consignments through sortation, and every sort is a period where the product is off refrigeration or in a compartment set for mixed freight. A dedicated vehicle has no sort. The honest counterpoint: for a large, regular, full-vehicle frozen flow a specialist frozen network with its own cold stores may suit you better, and we will say so rather than compete for work we are not the best answer to.

Is the vehicle frozen down before collection?

Yes — pulled down to the band on its way to the collection, not after loading. A compartment taken to -18 °C with the product already inside has already allowed surface thawing, which is the exact failure the exercise exists to avoid.

The sequence is: the vehicle runs to the set band en route, doors stay shut until the goods are at the door, loading happens in one movement rather than in stages, and the compartment is not reopened until delivery. Pull-down to a frozen band takes materially longer than to a chilled one, so a frozen vehicle cannot be summoned as instantly as a general van and we build that into the window we quote.

How long will a frozen consignment hold without the vehicle running?

Less time than people assume, and it is not a figure we will invent for you. It depends on the product's mass, its packaging, the starting temperature and the ambient conditions, and the only reliable source is your own validation data for that packaging.

What we can do is reduce the number of occasions it is tested. A dedicated vehicle means the compartment is opened twice — once to load and once to deliver — rather than at each hub, and on a multi-drop we plan the order to minimise openings even where that makes the route less efficient. If you need a hold-time figure for a risk assessment, take it from your packaging validation and tell us what the limit is, because that limit is what we plan the run against.

Who is responsible for food safety?

You are, as the food business operator. HACCP is a food business operator obligation, and we hold no HACCP certification and are not an FSA-approved establishment — so what we provide is the temperature band, the dedicated vehicle and the record, not an assumption of your plan.

Where a consignment genuinely requires a carrier holding food-sector certification, we coordinate with partners who hold it rather than implying we do. That is the same discipline we apply on the pharmaceutical side, and it matters for the same reason: a carrier that lets a certification be assumed leaves the shipper's own compliance exposed. Everything we actually hold — Operator's Licence, Driver CPC, ADR driver certification, GDPR compliance, goods-in-transit and public liability insurance, ULEZ-compliant fleet, and Environment Agency upper tier waste registration CBDU654368 — is published on our licences page.

What happens if the temperature drifts?

You are told immediately and in writing, and the consignment is not delivered as though nothing happened. What we will not do is tell you whether the product is still saleable — that is a food safety decision for your plan, not a carrier's view.

What is worth agreeing before the first booking is what we do while you decide: continue to the delivery address, hold at a stated location, or return to origin. On frozen work that decision is time-critical in a way it is not on ambient freight, so having it pre-agreed rather than improvised is the difference between a product you can still assess and one you cannot.

Where does frozen food usually need delivering?

To kitchens, retail units, pubs and food service sites, which is the harder end of the job. A commercial kitchen has no loading dock, a narrow back corridor, a walk-in freezer at the end of it, and staff in the middle of service.

Three things settle it at booking: a delivery window that avoids service, who receives, and whether the goods have to go into the freezer or stop at the back door. A pallet of frozen stock that sits in a corridor while somebody finds a key is a pallet that is thawing. For scheduled supply see foodservice distribution and meat wholesale delivery.

Can you carry frozen and chilled on the same run?

Only with separate compartments or separate vehicles, and we will tell you which your consignment needs. A single compartment holds one setting, so frozen at -18 °C and chilled at 2-8 °C in the same space means one of them is wrong.

A multi-temperature vehicle handles both in one load where the volumes justify it; below that, two runs are the honest answer and are quoted as two. The same applies to mixing food with anything else: we do not co-load food with chemical or hazardous consignments, regardless of what the temperature setting is, and that is a refusal rather than a preference.

What does frozen food transport cost?

From £50 (ex VAT) at the smallest end, as one fixed price for the whole dedicated job agreed before collection. Final price depends on distance, vehicle, urgency and time - quoted in full upfront before you book.

See the pricing page and the parent frozen and chilled courier service.

What insurance applies, and how do I book?

Goods-in-transit cover of £50,000 per consignment, extending to £1,000,000 through partner carriers where the value requires it, plus public liability of £1,000,000. Limits and exclusions are in our terms, and consequential loss is excluded — so the cover responds to the stock, not to a kitchen that cannot serve a menu.

1. Call 0121 720 3841 for the office or +44 7963 400173 for dispatch. Enquiries are taken around the clock and answered between 06:00 and 22:00, seven days a week.
2. State the band in writing and the tolerance your plan allows.
3. Confirm the product is at temperature at collection and tell us the packaging's validated hold time.
4. Say whether frozen and chilled are travelling together — that decides one vehicle or two.
5. Give a delivery window that avoids service, who receives, and whether goods go into the freezer.
6. Agree what we do on an excursion: continue, hold, or return.
7. Accept the fixed price and a vetted driver-partner from our 3,000-plus network is assigned.

T&C Logistics Ltd is Companies House number 16838210. Related: temperature-controlled transport, food samples, ice cream supplies, seafood delivery and food sector logistics. Or request a quote online. Google Reviews rating 5.0★.