Long-wheelbase, high-roof, full-payload — and still on a category B licence.

Large vans — the Ford Transit LWB, Mercedes-Benz Sprinter, Volkswagen Crafter, and Vauxhall Movano — sit at the 3.5-tonne ceiling of what you can drive on a standard category B (car) licence. Payload of 1,200 to 1,600 kg, load volume of 11 to 17 cubic metres, and high-roof variants tall enough to stand up in. The trade-off versus a medium van is fuel use, urban manoeuvrability, and the parking question — but for a builder carrying long boards or a removals job, nothing smaller works.

Builders running multi-trade kit between sites, fit-out crews moving stock and partitions, kitchen and bathroom installers, removals operators (commercial and residential), longer-haul B2B delivery into industrial estates, event and exhibition logistics. Anything where the load is bulky rather than dense — full 2.4-metre boards, dismantled office furniture, mid-size appliances, stand kit. If the load is heavy and dense (aggregates, tools, materials over 1.6 tonnes), a 3.5T tipper or a 7.5T truck on a separate licence is the right call.

For a builder or fit-out crew running a single van year-round, long-term hire (12 to 36 months) is usually the best economic answer. Flexi hire fits project-driven work — a six-month commercial fit-out, a busy season for a removals operator, downtime cover. Contract hire with full maintenance bundled suits a multi-van fleet running large vans on a known multi-year contract.

Every large van we introduce is at or under 3.5 tonnes gross — driveable on a standard UK car licence. The moment the load needs more than 3.5T (heavy aggregate, full kitchen units, large machinery), you are into category C1 or C territory and a different conversation. Electric variants (Ford E-Transit, Mercedes-Benz eSprinter, Maxus eDeliver 9) exist but availability through independents is thinner and payload drops 200 to 400 kg. We confirm before introducing.