The works wrap on Friday. The gang go home. The site goes quiet.
The hired plant and equipment may not.
The quiet gap
In UK plant hire, the hire period is what the contract says, not what the site feels like. Major hire terms include Saturdays, Sundays and bank holidays in the hire period, and treat that time as chargeable. Finishing the job is not the same as finishing the hire.
Take Speedy’s customer terms. The hire period includes weekends and bank holidays, and charges may still apply on those days. Charging stops on a proper off-hire path: an off-hire or collection number, then return or collection within a reasonable window (they cite not more than three working days after that number), in acceptable condition with a receipt. All time during the hire period is chargeable. If collection fails after an off-hire number for reasons that aren’t theirs, charges can continue.
That is one national supplier’s wording. Local yards often work on similar logic under CPA-style conditions. The detail varies. The shape is the same: the paperwork ends the hire, not the last load of the day.
A court has already had this argument
In Ruttle Plant Hire Ltd v Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs [2006] EWHC 3426 (TCC), plant left on site over a Christmas and New Year close-down was treated as chargeable where the hirer had not given off-hire notice. The court rejected an implied custom that everyone knows idle plant over a holiday is free.
So the awkward weekend invoice is not a new trick. It is often just what the contract already says.
Illustrative arithmetic (not an industry average)
Suppose a machine is £180 per day on your rate card and sits unused Saturday, Sunday and Monday after a Friday finish, with no clean off-hire. On many agreements that is three chargeable calendar days: £540 on that illustrative rate, before half-days, minimums or failed collections.
Use your rates and your suppliers’ terms. The point is the structure, not a pretend national average.
What “done” has to mean in the office
For the person who owns the hire bill (QS, contracts manager, plant controller, office lead), “job finished” has to become:
- A clear list of what is still out on that site
- A decision per item: keep or off-hire
- A recorded stop-charge / off-hire path, not only a phone call or a hope
Without that, the first shared truth is often next month’s statement.
Keep the proof with the hire
One shared list of what’s still on hire, across suppliers, with the off-hire proof beside the item, beats hunting weekend invoices later.
The gang went home. The hire did not.
Sources
- Speedy Customer Terms & Conditions (UK): hire period, weekends/bank holidays, off-hire/collection number
- Ruttle Plant Hire Ltd v DEFRA [2006] EWHC 3426 (TCC)
- CPA Model Conditions 2021 (example republication)
- True Group plant hire FAQs: charges until official off-hire / reference