Guides
Pallet counts,
van to artic.
A quick reference to how many pallets each vehicle takes, from a small van up to an articulated lorry, with the catch that weight and height count too.
A quick reference
One of the most common questions before booking is simply how many pallets a vehicle will hold. The answer climbs steadily as you move up the fleet, and knowing the rough figures makes it far easier to pick the right vehicle first time rather than discovering mid-job that a load will not fit.
Standard UK pallets measure 1200×1000mm and Euro pallets 1200×800mm, and the counts below assume sensible, floor-loaded pallets. As a quick guide, the approximate capacities run as follows:
- Small van: not really a pallet vehicle, but takes loose boxed goods up to around 400kg
- Sprinter or long-wheelbase van: around three to four pallets
- Luton van with tail-lift: around four pallets
- 7.5-tonne lorry: around ten pallets
- Articulated lorry: around 26 pallets
Why height and weight matter too
Pallet count alone never tells the whole story. A vehicle might have floor space for a given number of pallets but run out of weight allowance long before, especially with dense goods. A small van's roughly 400kg limit, for instance, fills up fast even when there is room to spare inside.
Height matters just as much. Tall pallets can stop you stacking or even limit how many fit under the roofline, and an overheight load may rule out a vehicle that would otherwise have the floor space. The deck size, the payload and the headroom all have to work together for the load to actually go.
Using the numbers to choose
Treat these figures as a starting point, then sense-check them against your real load. If your pallets are heavy, lean towards the larger vehicle; if they are tall or awkward, the same applies. It is always better to size up slightly than to watch a load fail to fit on the day.
When you book, sharing pallet count, rough weight and height lets the right vehicle be matched straight away. Jobs are priced per job and on the route, with a fixed quote before the driver sets off. For the heavier end, our 7.5-tonne lorry page sets out where the bigger vehicles take over.
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