Terms and Conditions

Stealth Transport South West Ltd Terms and Conditions

1. All bookings are taken on the understanding that the following conditions will apply in full in all circumstances. A confirmed booking, verbal or written, is an agreement that the customer will abide by the companies terms & conditions at all times. It is the customer’s responsibility to read these terms and conditions thoroughly contacting a member of staff with any queries they may have before transport is booked. All charges mentioned are non-negotiable.
   
   
2. All horses and equipment travel at owner’s risk, and all horses are assumed to be fully insured by the owner. Please note that you are personally liable for your horse during transport. Horses moving with ‘Stealth Transport South West Ltd.’ are covered under our “Care, Custody and Control Insurance”. This is NOT equine insurance and DOES NOT cover your horse for any sickness, disease, injury, loss or death and all relatable costs UNLESS ‘Stealth Transport South West Ltd.’ is proven guilty of a direct negligent act, negligent error or negligent omission.
   
   We reserve the right to travel your horse in whichever way we feel is best for your horse if they become stressed whilst travelling, to prevent injury or stress and to get your horse from collection to delivery points calmly. If travelling them in a different way does not calm them and we believe they are likely to cause injury to themselves a veterinarian will be called, call out fees and sedation costs will be the responsibility of the person we are in contract to.
   
   We would recommend contacting your own insurance company in advance to check if your horse is covered during transit. If you would like a quote for short term transit insurance we would recommend contacting Lycetts 0044 (0) 1638 676 700.
   
3. When choosing a reduced rate option on a ‘shared load’ basis, this is done so at your own risk. Whilst every care is taken to reduce the risk of the spread of contagious diseases by separation of livestock in the horsebox (stallion partitions etc.) We are not liable for contagious diseases, i.e. Strangles and such like.
   
   
4. All collection times and delivery times are only estimates. Whilst we will do everything we can to ensure that these estimated times are kept to there are many things that may alter these times; traffic, road conditions, weather conditions, or shared loads incurring extra time. We will always keep you updated of this where possible. It may be a necessity to stable your horse overnight and charges for this are incurred by the customer.
   
   
5. All veterinary costs or additional stabling, in excess of that included during the original quoted journey, must be covered by the owner. Should your horse require urgent veterinary attention in our opinion and the owner is not contactable; we reserve the right to contact the vet on your behalf. The owner however will still remain under all circumstances entirely responsible for all veterinary or emergency charges incurred.
   
   
6. ‘Stealth Transport South West Ltd’ and its employees will take all reasonable precautions; however, in the event of an accident please note that you are personally liable for your horse in the event of injury or damage sustained to or by your horse. Any damage to the vehicle must be paid for and the owner will be liable to cover the cost of any repairs.
   
   
7. 30 minutes loading time is included, after which it is £25 per 30 minutes thereafter. Depending on the circumstances it may not be possible to wait longer than 30 minutes on a shared load. Should it not be possible to load your horse after the 30 minutes, and the transport cannot take place, you will be charged a cancellation fee of between 50 – 100%.
   
   
8. All horses must be fit, healthy and sound to travel. For horses travelling to the vets a veterinary certificate must be available with the passport on collection. We reserve the right to refuse transport if we think the horse is not fit for transport. Our decision is final and the owner will still be responsible for 100% of the transport costs.
   
   
9. We reserve the right to refuse to load or continue to transport the horse once loaded or during the journey, if we believe that it cannot be transported safely without risk to the horse, the vehicle, or our staff, and a cancellation fee will still be chargeable. Should it be necessary to unload the horse at an alternative location, the owner will be fully responsible to pay all stabling and veterinary fees, and all costs must be settled in full before the horse will be released to the owner.  It will then be the owner’s responsibility to organise the further movement of the horse unless otherwise agreed in advance.
   
   
10. In order to confirm a booking we will require a non refundable deposit, which will be deducted off the invoice total. The balance must be settled in full by delivery at the latest. The deposit amount will be confirmed at the point booking.
    
    
11. Accepted payment methods are bank transfer in full before delivery, and cash on collection or delivery. Please note that we do not accept cheques under any circumstances.
    
    
12. Shared load cancellation within 24 hours incurs a 50% fee or within 12 hours a 100% fee. Private load cancellation within 48 hours incurs a 50% fee or within 24 hours a 100% fee – depending on the circumstances this may be waived if the transport is rebooked for a later date. The owner will remain under all circumstances entirely responsible for all relatable charges incurred.
    
    
13. Prices quoted are based on the information given by the customer at the time of booking, if that information is incorrect or changed and results in any additional journey time, this may result in an extra charge. Waiting time is charged at £25 per 30 minutes.
    
    
14. Horses must travel with a valid passport at all times this must be available to the driver at the point of collection. We cannot by law transport a horse without being in possession of the horse’s passport. We can accept duplicate passports but cannot accept photocopies.
    
    
15. All horses must be microchipped or have an up to date set of markings easily identifying the horse in the passport. We reserve the right to scan for a microchip to check against the passport.
    
    
16. All horses must be microchipped. New laws surrounding equine identification came into force in England on 01/10/2018. Defra’s new equine identification regulations legally requirement every horse, pony and donkey to be microchipped and possess a valid UK passport, with details stored in the Central Equine Database (CED). All horses born after 30/06/2009 are already required to be microchipped. Owners of the horses born before this date will have until 02/10/2020 to get their equines microchipped. Any changes in a horse’s ownership or status – for example, if they are put down, lost, stolen or signed out of the food chain – will need to be notified to the passport issuing organisation.
    
    
17. It is the responsibility of the sender to prepare the horse for travel, and it is entirely the owner’s decision to dress the horse as they wish.  We will transport the horse as he/she is given to us, and use any boots, tail guard etc appropriately. Please ensure the horse is provided with a halter and lead rope.
    
    
18. On shared loads we can only accept a small amount of luggage per horse due to the lack of locker space on the truck (this is used for supplies). ANY LUGGAGE MUST BE BOOKED WITH THE OFFICE BEFOREHAND. If not booked in advance we reserve the right to refuse depending on the circumstances. Any additional may need to go on the back of the truck in a partition therefore additional charges may apply. All luggage including any travelling equipment, rugs etc is carried entirely at the owners risk, this is not insured by ‘Stealth Transport South West Ltd.’ and ‘Stealth Transport South West Ltd.’ accepts no liability for loss or damage.
    
    
19. Please note that road quotes are valid for 14 days.
    
    
20. IMPORTANT NOTICE Whilst we would love to be able to deliver and collection during daylight (or sociable) hours it is not always possible especially during UK Daylight Saving Time. Our trucks are fully equipped to deal with night time loading fitted with far reaching spot lights. If you are especially concerned about this please contact us in advance.