Catford, SE6 and Rushey Green
One lorry, up to 16 tonnes, loaded from the road without closing off the pavement for a week.
Grab lorry hire in Catford is a loading and removal service for SE6 sites. A grab lorry with an Epsilon crane reaches up to 7.5 metres from the side of the vehicle, carries 20 cubic yards and up to 16 tonnes per job, and runs under waste carrier registration CBDU480663 and operator licence OK2066087.
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.
Most Catford jobs start with three questions: what the material is, roughly how much of it there is, and where an eight-wheeler can legally stand while the crane works. Our grab hire services run from Pear Tree Farm on Featherbed Lane in Croydon, which keeps the trip into SE6 short enough that same-day collection is often possible, but always subject to availability.
On site the driver puts the legs down, swings the crane over the wall or fence and loads from where the lorry is standing. Reach is up to 7.5 metres from the side of the vehicle, depending on the vehicle and site conditions. On a terraced street off Rushey Green that often means a rear garden strip-out is cleared without a single barrow going through the house.
One lorry takes 20 cubic yards and up to 16 tonnes per job, subject to loading and road restrictions. For soil, broken slab and rubble that is usually the difference between one visit and a fortnight of van runs. Loading takes minutes rather than the days a container sits on the kerb, which matters on streets where the pavement is already narrow.
Pricing is project based with a free quotation. Tell us the material, the access and the postcode and we price the actual job rather than a rate card that ignores the state of the road.
Catford is shaped by two classified routes crossing in the town centre. The A205 runs through as Catford Road and, on the eastern arm, Brownhill Road, carrying South Circular traffic towards Hither Green and Lee. The A21 runs north to south as Rushey Green and then Bromley Road towards Bellingham and Bromley, and TfL has identified it for north-south cycle lanes and a revised junction with Sangley Road. West of the centre the A212 climbs Catford Hill and Perry Hill towards Forest Hill and Sydenham, while the A2015 Beckenham Hill Road runs south-west down the Pool valley.
The weight limits matter more here than the traffic. Lewisham bans goods vehicles over 18 tonnes from most borough roads from 9pm to 7am Monday to Friday and from 1pm on Saturday until 7am on Monday, and only the A205 South Circular is exempt from the borough ban. A stricter 7.5 tonne restriction covers the roads bounded by the A21, which the council names as Sangley Road, Plassy Road, Brownhill Road, Verdant Lane and Whitefoot Lane. If your site sits inside that block, work out the loading point on the classified network first, because a tipper cannot simply be routed to the door.
The middle of the town is still a one-way system around Plassy Island. TfL and Lewisham Council consulted between 24 April and 5 June 2023 on moving Catford Road, part of the A205, onto the Canadian Avenue car park site south of Laurence House, removing that one-way system and adding pedestrian crossings by Catford Bridge station and at Sangley Road and Brownhill Road. The consultation drew 1,503 responses and the report was published on 30 November 2023. The Catford Town Centre Framework, published on 27 November 2024 after four years of consultation, proposes around 2,700 new homes with roughly half affordable, including nearly 1,000 social homes, alongside the re-routed South Circular. At Milford Towers above Catford Shopping Centre, 276 homes in eight blocks built in 1974, comprehensive regeneration has been deferred to the mid-2030s at the earliest while the council invests in door entry systems, electrical and water main upgrades, roof repairs and lift replacement.
Ground conditions change with the contour. Lewisham’s Strategic Flood Risk Assessment records the southern half of the borough, Catford included, as London Clay Formation clay and silt, with the Kempton Park Gravel Member of sand and gravel and small areas of undifferentiated alluvium over it along the Ravensbourne and Pool corridors. Excavate on the valley floor and you hit wet granular material that will not sit in a tidy heap; excavate on the higher ground and you get stiff clay that loads heavy for its volume. Tonnage, not appearance, decides how many loads a Catford dig takes.
We remove soil, stones, muck, concrete, rubble, hardcore, demolition waste and green waste. That covers most of what comes out of an extension dig, a driveway breakout or a garden clearance in SE6.
The same lorry can arrive loaded rather than empty. We deliver MOT Type 1, crushed concrete, ballast, sharp sand, building sand, topsoil and shingle, so a sub-base can be dropped on the visit that takes the spoil away and the lorry is not running one leg empty.
Some items are not accepted on standard bookings. If any of them are on site, flag it at quotation stage so they can be separated before the lorry arrives rather than argued about on the day.
Both have their place, but Lewisham’s overnight and weekend restrictions change the maths on a Catford street.
| Consideration | Grab lorry | Skip |
|---|---|---|
| Volume per visit | 20 cubic yards and up to 16 tonnes in one load, subject to loading and road restrictions | Filled to the level of the container, then it waits for a swap |
| Time on the street | Minutes at the kerb, then gone | Days or weeks sitting on the carriageway or pavement |
| Permits | No skip permit needed, the lorry loads and leaves | A container on the public highway normally needs a council permit, lights and markings |
| Heavy material | Built for soil, concrete, rubble and hardcore by weight | Weight limits are reached long before the container looks full |
| Best suited to | Muck away, driveway breakout, garden and site strip in SE6 | Slow-filling mixed waste where a container can safely stand for days |
Neither option gets around the borough weight limits: a vehicle over 18 tonnes still cannot use most Lewisham roads overnight or at weekends.
The depot to Catford leg is about 5.8 miles, typically 17 to 18 minutes in a car, using the A212 over Catford Hill onto the A205 South Circular. That is close enough for a morning collection and an afternoon return on the same job.
A loaded eight-wheeler is slower than a car. Add roughly 15 to 20 per cent to any car journey time, then allow for the South Circular itself, which does not clear quickly at either end of the day. Times we give are typical rather than guaranteed, and we would rather tell you an honest window than a flattering one.
Duty of care sits with the person who produced the waste, not only with the driver who takes it away. If material from your Catford site is fly-tipped, the trail comes back to you unless you can show it was handed to a registered carrier and documented.
Prime Waste Services Ltd is registered as a waste carrier under CBDU480663 and holds operator licence OK2066087, with four vehicles authorised at the Croydon operating centre. The company number is 14793814 and we have been trading since April 2023. Operatives are CPCS compliant and CSCS registered, qualified, screened and fully insured, and every load leaves with a transfer note.
“Rapid response, great service, fair prices. I would happily recommend Prime Waste Services LTD to friends and family.” David Robins
No, because nothing is left on the highway. The lorry arrives, the crane loads over the wall or fence from where the vehicle stands, and it drives away, so there is no container occupying the carriageway and no skip permit to apply for. What does apply is Lewisham’s weight restrictions, which govern which roads the lorry uses and at what times rather than whether you need paperwork.
Usually yes, provided the lorry can stand within about 7.5 metres of the material. The crane does the work, so the vehicle does not need to enter the site or the driveway. The bigger question in Catford is the 7.5 tonne restriction on roads such as Sangley Road, Verdant Lane and Whitefoot Lane, so send the postcode and we will tell you where the lorry can realistically pull up.
Up to 20 cubic yards and 16 tonnes per job, subject to loading and road restrictions. With soil or concrete the weight limit is normally reached before the body is visually full, so a heavy clay dig may need more than one load where a light green waste clearance will not. We work the number of loads out from the material and the dig dimensions at quotation stage.
Often, though it is always subject to availability. Catford is roughly 5.8 miles from the Croydon depot, typically 17 to 18 minutes by car via the A212 and the A205, so a same-day slot is realistic when one is free. Bear in mind that vehicles over 18 tonnes cannot use most Lewisham roads after 9pm on weekdays or from 1pm on Saturday, which shortens the working window.
Yes, mixed soil, stones, rubble, hardcore and concrete are all standard grab loads. Keeping material reasonably segregated helps, particularly if you want clean hardcore handled separately, but it is not a condition of booking. Asbestos, gas bottles, batteries, sleepers, mattresses, tyres, fridges, freezers, paint, chemicals and liquids are not accepted on standard bookings and need to be dealt with separately.
Sources and further reading
Call 07778 541120 with the postcode, the material and the access, and we will price the job and give you a realistic window.
