By the Porta team · Updated 15 July 2026 · 7 min read
Here is the uncomfortable bit nobody in this trade says out loud: there is no licence to be a man with a van. No exam, no register, no regulator. Anyone with a van and a phone can call themselves one this afternoon. Most are decent, hard-working people. The checking is on you, so here is exactly what to check.
Why this trade is such a lottery
Plumbing has schemes. Gas has Gas Safe. Electrics have Part P. Moving your entire worldly goods across a city has, formally, nothing. That is not scaremongering, it is just the state of it: the barrier to entry is a van and an ad.
The consequence is a genuinely wide spread. At one end, career drivers with proper cover who have moved a thousand homes and will treat yours like the thousand-and-first. At the other, someone who bought a Transit in March. Both can look identical on a listing, charge similar money, and answer the phone the same way. The difference only shows up on the day, which is too late.
The five things worth checking
Not a vibe. Not a nice phone manner. These, specifically, and any decent driver will hand them over without a flicker of hesitation:
What actually separates a reliable man and van from a van with an ad
What to check
Why it matters
What good looks like
Identity
Are they who they say they are?
Photo ID matched to the name on the booking
Driving licence
Legal to drive it, and no red flags
A DVLA check, not just a glance at a card
Insurance
Your things covered, not just their van
Goods in transit cover, in date, in their name
Bank details
The money goes where it should
Verified account, so payouts are traceable
Waste licence
Only if anything is being thrown away
An Environment Agency carrier registration
The red flags
None of these prove someone is dishonest. All of them mean you are being asked to carry a risk nobody mentioned:
A price before any questions. Nobody can price a job they have not asked a single thing about. That number is a hook, and it will change.
Cash only, nothing in writing. No record, no recourse, and often no insurance either.
Pressure. "Today only", "I've got someone else interested", "I need to know now". Urgency is a sales tactic, and the answer is always that you will think about it.
A brand new profile with no history. Everyone starts somewhere, but you do not have to be the one they practise on with your grandmother's dresser.
Vagueness about insurance. A shrug, a change of subject, or "yeah yeah, all covered, mate" with no paperwork.
An address and a phone number that lead nowhere. Thirty seconds of searching tells you whether anything exists behind the name.
How to read reviews like someone who has been burned
Ignore the average. It is an average, and it flatters everyone. Go to the recent reviews first, because a business that was excellent in 2023 and has since sold up tells you nothing about who arrives on Thursday.
Then read the bad ones deliberately. Not to be put off, but because the reply is the tell. A driver who answers a complaint like an adult, fixes it and moves on is a driver who will do the same for you. One who argues with a customer in public over a scratched table has just shown you precisely how your bad day would go. And be sceptical of testimonials on a company's own site, where the selection process is "we liked this one".
What a good platform actually does for you
All of the above is doable yourself, and if you have the time and a decent recommendation from a neighbour, do it. What a platform is genuinely for is doing the checking at scale so you do not repeat it for every job.
The trick is asking what "vetted" means, because the word is doing a lot of unpaid work across this industry. Porta verifies identity, driving licence, insurance and bank details before a driver joins, and every job is priced up front, which removes the other classic failure: the number changing once your things are in the van. If you want the mechanics of that, how to book a man with a van walks through it, and how much a man with a van costs has the real numbers.
Frequently asked questions
Is a man with a van licensed or regulated in the UK?
No. There is no licence, no register and no regulator for man-and-van work, which is exactly why the quality varies so much. The nearest things to a standard are goods-in-transit insurance, a clean DVLA record and, for anything being disposed of, an Environment Agency waste carrier registration. None of those are automatic, so you either check them yourself or use a platform that checks them for you.
What insurance should a man with a van have?
Goods in transit cover is the one that matters to you, because it covers your belongings rather than their vehicle. Ask for the certificate, check it is in date and check the name on it matches the person turning up. Plenty of drivers carry only motor insurance, which protects the van and does nothing whatsoever for your sofa.
How do I check reviews properly?
Read the recent ones and the bad ones, not the five-star average. A brand new profile with no history is the single biggest warning sign there is. What you are really looking for is how they behaved when something went wrong, because everyone looks good on an easy job. Independent platforms beat testimonials chosen by the company itself.
How should I pay a man with a van?
Through the platform or by card, so there is a record and some recourse. Be wary of anyone insisting on cash or a bank transfer with nothing in writing, because a transfer to a stranger is gone the moment you send it and no bank is getting it back for you. Paying properly is not distrust, it is just how a transaction should work.
What does "vetted" actually mean?
It depends entirely on who is saying it, which is why the word is close to meaningless on its own. Ask what is verified. Porta checks identity, driving licence, insurance and bank details before a driver joins the network. Some platforms check nothing at all and simply pass your job to whoever answers first, which is not vetting, it is a phone book.
What do I do if something goes wrong on the day?
Say so immediately, before the driver leaves, and photograph it there and then. A problem raised on the doorstep is a conversation; the same problem raised three days later is a dispute. If you booked through a platform, raise it with them rather than only with the driver, because the platform is the party with a process and a reason to sort it.
