BELOW ARE SOME KEY POINTS WHICH MAY HELP YOU AVOID THAT POSSIBLE BREAKAGE!

Always wrap fragile items like plates, saucers, china, cups, bowls, glassware and crystal individually first and then place in the box. Place larger items, rim down, on a crumpled paper base, in the bottom of a box with a further layer of cushioning above them.

Stack plates and flat crockery items on their edge, never flat, as a middle layer. Then cups and glasses, wrapped in tissue paper, rim down, as the top layer. Put good cushioning, preferably thick card or crumpled paper, between each layer.

Never put cups, glasses, bowls, vases etc inside each other. Be careful using old newspapers as the ink can come off onto china and glass and is sometimes difficult to remove. Unprinted ‘newsprint’ is the better choice. Always fill each box almost to the top, finishing with packing material, and pad the insides to ensure there is no movement of the contents.

Large items such as lamps, hats, artificial flowers, ornaments, small electrical and entertainment items, need to be packed individually in bubble wrap and placed in the appropriate sized box.

Televisions and large electrical goods should be treated carefully.

Mirrors, glass tops and pictures should have the glass protected by thick card and then each item packed in bubble wrap.

Seal each box with packaging tape and write a general description of the contents using a bold marker pen, including whether the items are fragile.

To ensure safe handling of Books/Magazines and paperwork, we recommend using a box no bigger than 18 x 18 x 10 inches. When full, this will be an approx weight of 20 kg which is a weight safe for manual handling.