Terms of Membership
1. Who we are
Backload Exchange is a members-only online load board for UK road haulage firms, run at backloadexchange.com by Alexander Birse, 47 Main Street, Bowmore, PA43 7JJ ("we", "us").
These terms apply between us and the business that joins ("you", "the member"). By starting a free month or paying for a plan, you agree to them. Contact us at hello@backloadexchange.com.
2. The service and who can join
The board lets members post and book four kinds of listing: loads needing a vehicle, vehicles with space, trailers needing traction, and units for hire.
- Membership is for UK road haulage businesses only. You must hold any operator licence your work requires and keep it valid.
- We check every firm before giving access. We can refuse an application without giving a reason, and refund anything you have paid if we do.
- Each plan includes a set number of logins. Logins are for your own staff and drivers and must not be shared with other firms.
- Listings, rates and contact details on the board are confidential to members. You must not copy them, pass them on or publish them outside the board.
3. Plans, payment and cancelling
Every plan starts with free months, then renews automatically until you cancel. Prices exclude VAT.
| Plan | Vehicles | Logins | Monthly | Yearly |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Owner-driver | 1 to 2 | 1 | £19 | £190 |
| Fleet | Any number | 3 | £29 | £290 |
| Extra login | Add-on | 1 each | £5 | £50 |
- Free months: new members get one free month. The first 100 firms to join get six free months instead. Free months start the day you sign up and no card is needed to start. If no payment card is added by the end of them, your membership ends and access stops.
- Loyalty discount: your price drops by 5% in your second paid year, 10% in your third, and 15% from your fourth year onwards, for as long as you stay a member. Years count from the end of your free months.
- Payment: taken by our payment provider, Stripe, at the start of each monthly or yearly period. We never see or store your full card details.
- VAT: we will add VAT at the current rate once we are VAT-registered, and show it on your invoice.
- Cancelling a monthly plan: cancel any time. You keep access until the end of the month you've paid for, and you won't be charged again.
- Cancelling a yearly plan: it won't renew, and you keep access to the end of the year you've paid for. We don't refund unused months.
- Failed payments: if a payment fails, we'll tell you and may pause your access until it is paid.
- Price changes: we'll give you at least 30 days' notice by email. The new price applies from your next renewal, and you can cancel before then.
4. Using the board
You are responsible for what you post and for the jobs you take on. When you post or book a listing, you agree to:
- give accurate details: route, dates, vehicle, load, weight and rate;
- keep listings up to date, and remove or edit them once they are filled or no longer available;
- only book work you intend to do, with a suitable vehicle and driver;
- hold the licences and insurance the work needs, including operator licence, hire and reward vehicle insurance, and goods in transit cover where agreed;
- follow the law on drivers' hours, vehicle weights, ADR and anything else that applies;
- agree the full terms of each job, including price, payment terms and conditions of carriage, directly with the other member.
You must not:
- post false or misleading listings, or post on behalf of a firm that isn't a member;
- harass other members or use their details for anything other than the job in question;
- copy, scrape or sell board data, or try to get around the members-only access;
- use the board for anything unlawful.
5. Our role and responsibility
We run the board. We are not a party to any job agreed between members, and we don't take commission on it.
- We are not a carrier, freight forwarder or broker. Each contract for carriage is between the members involved, and any claim about a job is between them.
- Checking a firm when it joins doesn't guarantee its work, its payments or its insurance. Do your own checks before booking or handing over a load.
- We aim to keep the board running, but it may sometimes be unavailable for maintenance or reasons outside our control.
- Our total liability to you in any 12 months is limited to the fees you paid us in that period. We are not liable for lost profit, lost loads or indirect losses. Nothing here limits liability that the law doesn't allow us to limit, such as for fraud or for death or personal injury caused by negligence.
6. Suspension, changes and the law
- We can suspend or end your membership if you break these terms, misuse the board or no longer meet the joining criteria. If we end it without good reason, we'll refund any fees paid for time you can no longer use.
- We may update these terms. We'll email you at least 30 days before a change that affects you, and you can cancel before it applies.
- These terms are governed by Scots law, and the Scottish courts have jurisdiction.