Ritchie Bros has its UK base at Maltby near Rotherham in South Yorkshire, on the site of a former colliery. Sales for the UK and Ireland now run as timed auctions, and the machines can be inspected in the yard before bidding opens. For a buyer in Poland that means three jobs: prepare before the sale, fix the removal date, and have the customs route ready.
How they got to Britain
The company held its first European auction in Liverpool in 1987 and in the following years sold at several locations in the English Midlands, including Donington Park. In early 2019 it opened its UK headquarters at Maltby on Tickhill Road, on the site of Maltby Colliery, which had worked as a coal mine since 1912. The yard was rebuilt step by step: surfaces were levelled, old structures demolished or renovated, offices and equipment services added. The parent company now trades as RB Global and, alongside yard auctions, runs the IronPlanet marketplace, where equipment sells where it stands rather than being hauled to a sale site.
The unreserved sale
The company is known for auctions described as unreserved, meaning no minimum price and no buy-back by the seller. In practice every lot finds a buyer and the price is whatever the market gives on the day. UK and Ireland sales are run as timed auctions, so lots close one after another on a schedule rather than to the rhythm of a hammer in a sale ring. That difference has operational consequences, and we cover it separately in our piece on auction formats.
Viewing before you bid
Ahead of a sale, customers can come to the Maltby yard and inspect machinery in person. For a buyer in Poland that is the one moment when the things photographs hide can be checked: the true height over the cab, the state of tracks and pins, whether lashing points exist, whether the documentation is complete. If you cannot travel, ask someone on the ground for photographs of the data plate and the hour meter and for a tape measurement of height and width, because the choice of vehicle rests on those numbers and not on a manufacturer’s brochure.
What we will not quote in advance
The buyer’s premium, any additional fees, payment deadlines, the removal window and any storage charges after it are all set in the terms of the individual sale and vary from auction to auction. The same goes for the number of lots on offer and the yard’s opening hours. We do not guess these figures. Before bidding, read the conditions of sale and copy out two dates: the final payment date and the final removal date. The transport plan is built on those two dates.
After you win the lot
- Payment and a release document; without it the yard will not hand the machine to a driver.
- Export clearance in the UK and import clearance in Poland, the buyer’s EORI number, the tariff code and the customs value. The basics are in our article on how customs duty is calculated.
- Confirmation of who handles loading in the yard and whether lifting equipment of the right capacity is available.
- A separate CMR consignment note for the shipment, with the correct consignor and place of loading.
- Insurance. The carrier’s liability limit under the CMR Convention is calculated from weight, so on a light and expensive machine it can fall below the value. We cover this under additional cargo cover.
Getting to Maltby
Maltby lies east of Rotherham, close to the M18 and M1 junction, which is good news for a low loader heading either for the east coast ports or south to Dover. The route back to Poland depends on dimensions: a machine within normal limits travels as standard freight, while an abnormal load needs permits on both sides of the Channel, and that has to be costed before the sale rather than after it.
Sources
- Ritchie Bros: the Maltby yard, address, history and sale calendar
- RB Global: IronPlanet, selling equipment where it sits
Planning a purchase at Maltby? Write to us through the contact form with the lot number and the removal date and we will price transport and clearance. See also Euro Auctions and our guide to the UK auction market.
