Olympia London sits in Kensington, inside dense west London streets, so delivery to a stand is always a compromise between vehicle size and what the road allows. We plan the build-up window, choose the vehicle around access and emission zones, handle customs with a GMR and manage the return of exhibits on an ATA carnet.
Kensington is not a logistics park
Olympia London is an exhibition venue embedded in city fabric, not a shed by a motorway junction. Access runs along streets with weight restrictions, tight corners and traffic that makes no room for a lorry. The practical consequence: for many stands an articulated unit is more of a problem than a solution, because manoeuvring on site takes longer than the unloading itself. So for Olympia we often split the job into two legs: carriage from Poland on a large vehicle to a buffer, then delivery to the venue on a smaller vehicle in the allocated window.
Emission zones and cameras: what applies in west London
London runs several overlapping schemes affecting vans and lorries: the ULEZ with its emission requirements, the low emission zone for heavy vehicles, and a separate direct vision requirement for goods vehicles over twelve tonnes, known as DVS. Our fleet is set up for these, so an exhibitor does not need to analyse them, but it is worth knowing they exist, because they catch out companies trying to arrange delivery with their own vehicle. Details are in our texts on UK clean air zones and on the DVS requirement in London.
Scheduling: backwards from the opening hour
We start planning from the moment the stand has to be ready and work back: build, exhibit delivery, stand construction delivery, departure from Poland, loading. At Olympia that calculation is tighter than at out-of-town venues, because windows are shorter and delay is harder to recover. Stand construction travels earlier, exhibits and delicate material later. When timing is tight, part of the plan is a buffer at our warehouse in Milton Keynes: the goods wait under cover an hour from London and move exactly on the allocated window, instead of sitting on a Kensington street.
The ATA carnet and splitting the load in two
Almost every exhibition load carries two things at once. First, exhibits and equipment that return complete, which suit an ATA carnet, that is temporary admission without duty or VAT. Second, catalogues, giveaways, samples and goods meant to be handed out or sold, which stay in the United Kingdom and need a normal import declaration. Throwing it all into one pile ends badly on exit, because a carnet is discharged item by item. More in our texts on the ATA carnet and temporary admission and on selling at the fair.
The border: what must be ready before the vehicle moves
Boarding a crossing requires the full set of declarations and a GMR tying them together. Gaps tend to surface at the worst moment, in the port, two days before the show opens. So we close the paperwork before loading, not en route. Goods descriptions must be specific, because vague wording is rejected in safety data. The mechanics are covered in our articles on the GMR and the ENS declaration. The whole scheme for a British show is drawn together in our text on London trade shows.
Breakdown, empty packaging and the return
Once the event closes, speed matters, because a city centre venue has to be cleared fast. We position the vehicle in the breakdown window, pack exhibits back into what they arrived in and check completeness for the carnet discharge. Crates and transport packaging with nowhere to sit during the show are handled separately, covered in our text on empty packaging during UK fairs. The return of exhibits and the paperwork are described in the article on post-show logistics.
What to include in your enquiry
Event dates and stand number, the allocated build-up window, an item list with dimensions and weights, the loading address in Poland, whether you need an ATA carnet and whether unloading assistance is booked on site. Add whether any item is heavy or fragile, because that changes the vehicle and the packing. If you are exhibiting at several events in a season, say so straight away: exhibits can move between venues instead of shuttling back to Poland.
Access, booking-in and the handover point at this venue are covered separately: Olympia London: vehicle booking and the goods entrance.
Sources
- Olympia London: venue information
- Transport for London: Ultra Low Emission Zone
- Transport for London: Direct Vision Standard
Exhibiting at Olympia London? Send your exhibit list and allocated window through the quote form and we will match the vehicle to Kensington access and prepare the documents. Our exhibition work is on the exhibition logistics page, and the route on transport to the United Kingdom.
