One valley road in, and it is 21 slow miles

There is no motorway on our side of this job. The A646 follows the valley floor the whole way through Sowerby Bridge, Luddendenfoot, Mytholmroyd and Hebden Bridge, which at least means no Pennine summit to cross, but it is 21 single-carriageway miles and takes closer to an hour than the map suggests. In heavy rain it can shut outright: the Hebden Bridge stretch was closed for over a day during Storm Bert.

That is worth knowing when you agree a collection window with a seller who is only free after work. We would rather set off early and wait than promise a six o'clock slot we have to apologise for. The market takes the market ground and the streets around it on market days, and the side lanes up to Lydgate, Cornholme, Mankinholes and Lumbutts are steep single-track with hairpins a long van cannot take in one swing.

What Todmorden marketplace & ebay collection usually involves

Over-and-under houses mean the seller's flat may be two floors above or below the street we can stand on, so ask them which entrance is theirs
Pay the seller in advance if you like, or send the cash with us and we hand it over once the item has been checked on the doorstep
Low rail and canal bridges around Gauxholme and Walsden restrict the southern approach, so we come in along the A646 rather than up from Rochdale
Measure your own doorway and stair turn before we drive 21 miles for something that was never going to go in
Market days fill the centre and the small pay-and-display car parks off Halifax Road, so an early start beats arguing over kerb space

Where in Todmorden we work

Walsdenlong terraced rows down the canal corridor, where bridge heights decide the approach
Cornholme and Lydgatesteep single-track lanes with hairpins, the collections we always ring ahead about
Halifax Road and Water Streetflats over the shops in the centre, tight and busy whenever the market is on
Mankinholes and Lumbuttsmoor-edge cottages where the carry from the nearest stopping point is the whole job
Canteen Mill and Salford Industrial Estatebusiness sellers and surplus stock loaded off a unit door
Eastwood and Shadevalley-floor rows where the front door often sits off its own flight of steps

If your street isn't listed it's almost certainly still covered, Todmorden and the surrounding OL14 postcodes are all inside our normal working area.

Common Todmorden runs

Todmorden → Bradford21 miles of valley-floor A646 through Hebden Bridge and Halifax, allow an hour each way
Todmorden → Hebden Bridge or Sowerby Bridgeshort hops down the same road, the easiest collections we do here
Todmorden → Burnleyup Burnley Road and over into Lancashire, a common cross-border buy

What it costs

What drives a Todmorden price is the hour each way on the valley road and how far the item has to be carried from the door we can reach. There's no travel surcharge for coming to Todmorden from Bradford, and you get the price before we set off, not after. See how we quote for the full breakdown.

Frequently asked questions: marketplace & ebay collection in Todmorden

How long does a Todmorden collection actually take?

Longer than the mileage suggests. It is 21 miles from Bradford but every one of them is single-carriageway valley road, so allow about an hour each way before any loading happens. If the seller is up at Cornholme or Mankinholes, add the climb and the carry on top of that.

The seller is only free after six. Is that a problem?

No, we work until eight, seven days a week. The thing to watch is weather rather than the hour: the A646 is the only practical way in and it has closed outright in heavy rain. If that happens we ring you and move the slot rather than leave the seller standing.

Can you get a wardrobe out of a top-and-bottom terrace?

Often, but it may need taking apart at the seller's end, which we can do with their agreement if you tell us in advance so we allow the time. The stairs in that stock turn tightly and the front door is frequently a flight of stone steps up or down from the street.