Route · Uxbridge to France
Removals to Brittany and France, from Uxbridge
Removals to Brittany are the France job we are asked about most, and they sit at the far end of a route that starts unusually well: the M25 on the doorstep and no city to cross. Paris, Normandy, the Loire and the south-west run the same way, and each is covered below.
The usual Brittany pattern out of Hillingdon: a whole house going to a stone property inland, or a second home on the coast being part-loaded both ways.
Who takes this route out of Uxbridge
- Households relocating to Paris and the Île-de-France for work, generally trading a Hillingdon house for a considerably smaller flat.
- Second-home owners in Normandy, Brittany and the Charente, moving part-loads rather than whole households.
- Retirements to the Dordogne and Occitanie with a full house behind them and a garage that needs counting first.
Getting out of the borough
Straight out to junction 16 of the M25, round the orbital to the M20, then the Eurotunnel shuttle at Folkestone or the ferry from Dover. For a loaded removals vehicle the shuttle is usually right: the crossing is short, the vehicle stays sealed and the driver stays with it.
From Calais the A16 runs west along the coast and the A26 drops south-east towards Reims. For the south-west it is the A16 then the A28 through Rouen and Le Mans; for the Mediterranean, the A26 to the A6 and the long run down the Rhône on the A7. Brittany is the exception to all of this, and has its own section below.
Removals to Brittany: the western crossing and the last lane
For Brittany the Kent crossings are often the long way round. The western Channel sailings, Portsmouth to St Malo and Plymouth to Roscoff, put the vehicle ashore in Brittany itself, and from Uxbridge Portsmouth is a straight run round the M25 and down the M3. Which crossing a load uses depends on where in Brittany it is going and what is sailing, and the written quote states the route rather than leaving it to the day.
Once ashore, the main Breton roads are toll-free dual carriageways: the N12 along the north coast through Saint-Brieuc and Morlaix, the N165 along the south through Vannes, Lorient and Quimper, and the N164, much of it now dualled, across the middle. The driving is easy. The final kilometre is where Brittany jobs are won or lost.
Inland properties are frequently addressed by lieu-dit, a named hamlet with no street number, reached down a single-track lane between high banks. Satellite navigation is unreliable on these, so we ask for a dropped pin and a description of the last turn, which the free-text address on our quote form exists to take. Granite longères and old farmhouses have low lintels, narrow winding stairs and a grenier reached by a ladder: wardrobes and box-spring beds get measured at survey, not discovered at the door.
Coastal towns bring the opposite problem. The walled town at Saint-Malo, the old centres of Dinan, Vannes and Quimper, and most harbour fronts restrict vehicles and need a pavement permit from the mairie, arranged before the vehicle leaves Uxbridge.
Where we deliver
Customs and the file
France sits outside the UK customs union, so a household move is an export and an import even where every item in it is used. Transfer of residence relief is the mechanism that keeps it duty-free for somebody genuinely moving, and it stands or falls on the inventory matching the load.
Who obtains what
| Document | Obtained by | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Detailed inventory (valued) | Us | Written at survey and checked at loading. Customs reads this one, so it names contents rather than counting boxes. |
| Proof the Uxbridge address has ended | You | Closing council tax bill, an ending tenancy, or completion paperwork. |
| Proof of the French address | You | Deeds, a lease, or an attestation from the mairie once registered. |
| Passport and residence status | You | Copies for the file — your status decides whether the relief is available at all. |
| Export declaration | Us | Raised on the UK side against the inventory before the vehicle reaches the terminal. |
| Import entry and relief claim | Us | Lodged with French customs through our agent against the same inventory. |
The rows marked You are the ones that stall loads when they are left late, so begin those first. The rows marked Us are prepared here and lodged against the inventory taken at your property.
The outward move, extended
French rural addresses often cannot take a full-size vehicle, which is precisely the question we already ask on every job going out past the M25. The answer is the same — shuttle with something smaller — and so is the condition: it must be established before the load leaves Uxbridge rather than at the end of a lane in the Manche.
The second thing is fittings. French properties are commonly sold or let without kitchens, wardrobes or light fittings, which is the reverse of what a modern Hillingdon house does. If your inventory looks thin because you assumed those would be there, say so at survey so the volume is planned honestly.
Third, the paperwork is far easier where a French address can already be evidenced. Where it cannot yet, there are ways to sequence it, but they get decided before loading rather than afterwards.
Uxbridge to France
Questions on this route
- Does starting from Uxbridge help?
- At the beginning of the journey, yes. Junction 16 is minutes away and the load never crosses London, which removes the least predictable hour of a European run out of the capital.
- Can you do a part-load?
- Yes, and for a second home it is normally the right call. A part-load shares a vehicle with other consignments on the route: lower cost, and it leaves when the route fills rather than when you choose.
- Will our furniture fit a Paris flat?
- The doorway is frequently fine and the staircase is not — the same problem as an inward London move, in French. Paris buildings often need an exterior lift and a permit, which we establish before quoting.
- Do we pay duty on our own furniture?
- Not where you qualify for transfer of residence relief and the file is correct. It is conditional on your residence status and on an accurate inventory.
- Can you collect from a second address on the way?
- Usually — anywhere along the M25 or the M4 corridor is effectively on the route. It needs knowing when we plan the load rather than on the day.
- Can you hold our things here first?
- Frequently. Goods are collected, listed and held, and the export file is built against that same inventory once the French date is real.
- Do you use the St Malo or Roscoff ferries for Brittany?
- Often, yes. For most of Brittany a western sailing lands the vehicle much closer to the door than Calais does. The choice depends on the address and on what is sailing, and it is stated on the written quote.
- Our Breton house is a lieu-dit down a farm track. Can you reach it?
- Usually, but it has to be checked first. Send a dropped pin, photographs of the last turn and the gateway, and we will say whether a full-size vehicle gets in or whether the last stretch is shuttled in something smaller.
Moving from Uxbridge to France?
Both addresses, roughly what is going, and whether the far end has a date. We will come back with the route, the documents to begin, and a written quote.