Purley CR8 deliveries
Sub-base, sand, ballast and shingle delivered by grab, with spoil loaded out before the lorry leaves.
Aggregates in Purley are delivered loose by grab lorry across CR8, covering MOT Type 1, crushed concrete, ballast, sharp sand, building sand, shingle and topsoil. Prime Waste Services Ltd works from a Croydon operating centre under waste carrier registration CBDU480663, carrying 20 cubic yards and up to 16 tonnes per job.
Send the site postcode, what is on the ground and when you need it moved. We will come back with a written quotation. There is no charge for a quote and no obligation to book.
Lines are answered by the people who run the lorries, not a call centre. Same-day collection is often possible but always subject to availability.
One vehicle, two loads. We supply aggregates and materials on the same grab lorry that clears your spoil, so the crane sets the stone down where the work is and then lifts the excavated material into the body for the run back. In a permit-controlled district centre where standing time is the scarce resource, that turns two lorry visits into one.
Everything comes loose rather than in bags. Twenty cubic yards in the body, up to 16 tonnes per job subject to loading and road restrictions, and reach of up to 7.5 metres from the side of the vehicle depending on the vehicle and site conditions. Purley is close enough to the depot that a second load the same day is often workable when a job runs longer than expected.
Quotations are free and priced by project. Same-day collection is often possible but always subject to availability, so the earlier in the day you call, the better the chance of fitting the run in.
Everything in Purley meets at Purley Cross. The A23 is the principal north to south route, running north to Croydon and central London and south towards Coulsdon, Redhill and Brighton. The A235 Brighton Road heads north towards South Croydon, and the A22 Godstone Road leaves the Cross south-eastwards along the Caterham Bourne valley towards Kenley, Whyteleafe and Caterham. That valley road flooded and was closed during the 2013 to 2014 groundwater event, which is a useful reminder of what the ground here can do.
The district centre is changing. On 9 July 2020 the Secretary of State granted planning permission for the redevelopment of Purley Baptist Church, 1 Russell Hill Road, 1 to 4 Russell Hill Parade, 2 to 12 Brighton Road, Purley Hall and 1 to 9 Banstead Road: a 3 to 17 storey tower with 114 homes, community, church and retail space on the island site, and a 3 to 8 storey building with 106 homes on the south site, 220 homes in total. Russell Hill Road and Banstead Road are working frontages as a result, not quiet side streets.
On-street space is controlled. The Purley Permit Zone is one of 20 controlled parking zones operated by Croydon Council, with neighbouring zones at Old Lodge Lane, Bynes Road, Sanderstead and Coulsdon, so positioning a lorry, a skip or a grab on the street needs a permit or a suspension arranged in advance. Traffic around Purley Oaks is another factor, since the council instructs visitors to the recycling centre to join the queue on Brighton Road north of the site, and that queue is on the road you may want to stand on.
The flood history is specific enough to plan around. Croydon’s Section 19 investigation into the 2014 Caterham Bourne flood records the bourne flowing from Tandridge through Caterham and Whyteleafe on to Purley along the A22 valley and then in culvert under Brighton Road, with the deepest flooding of around one metre on Dale Road and Foxley Hill Road, and further flooding on Godstone Road, Brighton Road and Lansdown Road. The council’s flood strategy also names Brighton Road as a recurring groundwater flooding hotspot.
MOT Type 1, crushed concrete, ballast, sharp sand, building sand, topsoil and shingle. Most groundworks orders in Purley are a combination: sub-base for the formation, ballast for the concrete, sharp sand for bedding and shingle for whatever has to drain.
Going the other way, the lorry takes soil, stones, muck, concrete, rubble, hardcore, demolition waste and green waste. Asbestos, gas bottles, batteries, railway sleepers, mattresses, tyres, fridges, freezers, paint, chemicals and liquids are not accepted on standard bookings, so mention them at quotation stage rather than on the day.
If you are ordering by name from a drawing, check the sands. Sharp sand is coarse and washed and belongs in concrete, screed and paving bedding. Building sand is fine and soft and belongs in mortar for brickwork and rendering. They are not substitutes for each other in either direction.
A quick reference for the seven materials we deliver by the load.
| Material | What it is | What it does on site |
|---|---|---|
| MOT Type 1 | Primary crushed stone graded to the Department for Transport specification | Compacts into a load-bearing sub-base under drives, patios, hardstandings and slabs |
| Crushed concrete | Recycled concrete, crushed and graded | Does the sub-base and fill job where a recycled granular material is permitted, including piling mats and haul roads |
| Ballast | Sharp sand and gravel already blended | Mixed with cement on site to make concrete for footings, foundations and slabs |
| Sharp sand | Coarse, gritty washed sand | Goes into concrete and screed, and beds paving slabs |
| Building sand | Fine, soft sand | Goes into mortar for bricklaying, blockwork and rendering |
| Shingle | Washed rounded gravel | Drainage: land drains, soakaways and pipe surround, and decorative surfaces where it stays exposed |
| Topsoil | Screened growing medium | The final layer over made-up levels, for turf and planting |
Shingle drains, Type 1 carries load. Using one where the other belongs is the most common ordering error on a small groundworks job.
Purley sits in a chalk valley of the North Downs rather than on London Clay, which changes the calculation on both drainage and excavation. Croydon Council’s Caterham Bourne flood investigation classifies the catchment bedrock as Chalk, a principal aquifer of high permeability, and its Local Flood Risk Management Strategy states that chalk geology increases groundwater flooding vulnerability on a larger scale through the valley routes at Kenley, Purley and Coulsdon.
The practical consequence is that free-draining ground is not the whole story. The Environment Agency maintains a standing flood alert area for groundwater flooding in the Caterham Bourne catchment covering Caterham, Whyteleafe, Kenley, Purley, South Croydon, Beddington and Carshalton, so a deep excavation in the valley can meet rising groundwater after a wet winter. Before committing to a soakaway or a deep base, it is worth checking the season and the ground you are actually in rather than assuming chalk will always take the water away.
Shingle is the material that answers most of these questions on site. Washed rounded gravel around land drains, in soakaway trenches and as pipe surround keeps water moving through a formation, while MOT Type 1 or crushed concrete carries the load above it. Order them together and you save a movement.
Our operating centre is Pear Tree Farm, Featherbed Lane, Croydon CR0 9AA, about 2.8 miles from Purley and roughly 10 minutes for a car via the A235 Brighton Road and Purley Way. A loaded eight-wheeler adds roughly 15 to 20 per cent to a car journey time, so allow a little over a quarter of an hour, and treat that as typical rather than guaranteed.
Purley is inside both the ULEZ and the Low Emission Zone. Transport for London confirms that the ULEZ, LEZ and Direct Vision Standard operate across the same area, the LEZ applies to lorries, vans and specialist heavy vehicles over 3.5 tonnes, and HGVs over 12 tonnes need a Direct Vision Standard safety permit to operate anywhere in London. Those are the operator’s obligations, but they are worth confirming when you engage anyone to bring material onto a CR8 site.
Because your options for disposing of trade arisings in this borough are effectively nil without one. Croydon’s reuse and recycling centres accept no trade waste from any vehicle type, allow no cars with trailers at any site, and admit vans only at Factory Lane on Tuesdays and Wednesdays between 11am and 1pm. Purley Oaks on Brighton Road, CR8 2BG, is a household site open daily from 8am to 3.30pm, and visitors have to join the queue on Brighton Road, the A235, north of the site.
Prime Waste Services Ltd is an upper tier registered waste carrier, CBDU480663, operating under licence OK2066087 with four vehicles authorised at the Croydon operating centre. Company number 14793814, trading since April 2023, fully insured, with CPCS compliant and CSCS registered operatives. Material leaves your site with a transfer note, which is what the duty of care requires you to be able to produce.
Yes, though the stand may need a suspension. The Purley Permit Zone is one of Croydon’s 20 controlled parking zones, so a lorry that needs to hold a position for any length of time is better arranged in advance. The crane reaches up to 7.5 metres from the side of the vehicle depending on the vehicle and site conditions, so it can often work from a legal position nearby.
MOT Type 1 or crushed concrete, laid and compacted in layers on a prepared formation. Type 1 is primary graded stone and is what most specifications name; crushed concrete is a recycled graded material that does the same job wherever the specification permits it. Tell us the area and the build-up depth and we will size the load.
Yes, and that is the point of using a grab for delivery. The crane unloads the incoming stone and then reloads soil, clay, rubble or hardcore into the body before leaving, so one visit covers both directions. The waste moves under waste carrier registration CBDU480663 with a transfer note recording where it has gone.
Washed shingle is the usual fill around land drains and in soakaway trenches, because rounded gravel holds open voids that water can move through. The local caveat is groundwater: Purley sits in the Caterham Bourne catchment, which has a standing Environment Agency flood alert area for groundwater flooding, so a soakaway design should account for levels rising after prolonged wet weather.
Not if it is trade waste. Croydon accepts no trade waste at any of its reuse and recycling centres, allows no cars with trailers at any site, and admits vans only at Factory Lane on Tuesdays and Wednesdays between 11am and 1pm. For anything produced by building or landscaping work, a registered carrier is the route that keeps your duty of care intact.
Sources and further reading
Call 07778 541120 with your Purley postcode, the material and what needs removing, and we will price the whole trip.
