The Transportation Industry Payment Problem
The UK road haulage and logistics sector is one of the hardest-hit industries when it comes to late and disputed payments. Owner-operators and small haulage companies in particular are vulnerable — often operating on thin margins with high fixed costs, yet routinely waiting 30, 60, or even 90 days for payment on completed loads. Larger freight brokers and logistics operators can use their market position to impose extended payment terms and make deductions that have no contractual basis.
Tempest Financial understands the pressures of the transport sector. We pursue overdue freight invoices, challenge unlawful deductions, and recover unpaid amounts on behalf of hauliers, couriers, freight forwarders, and logistics businesses across England and Wales.
Common Issues We Encounter & How We Resolve Them
Overdue Freight & Haulage Invoices
The Issue: Payment terms routinely ignored — invoices outstanding for 30, 60, or 90 days beyond the agreed date with no explanation. This is endemic across road haulage, particularly where large freight brokers or logistics operators treat small carriers as free credit facilities.
Our Solution: We issue formal pre-action demand correspondence citing the invoice, the agreed payment terms, and the statutory interest and recovery costs accruing daily under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts Act 1998 (As Amended 2013). In the majority of cases, a professional demand from a specialist debt recovery agency produces payment where the carrier’s own chasing has failed.
Unlawful or Unexplained Deductions
The Issue: Clients making deductions from freight invoices — citing alleged damage, transit delays, or administrative discrepancies — without any contractual basis, supporting evidence, or prior notification. The full contracted freight rate was agreed; unilateral deductions have no legal standing without a valid counterclaim.
Our Solution: We challenge unlawful deductions directly, citing the contractual rate agreed and demanding payment of the withheld amount together with statutory interest from the original due date. Where the debtor persists, we advise on escalation through the courts or alternative dispute resolution.
Disputed Fuel Surcharges & Accessorial Charges
The Issue: Fuel surcharges, waiting time, additional drops, and other accessorial charges agreed verbally, by email, or by conduct during the load — then denied at invoice stage when the client decides they do not want to pay. The service was provided; the charge is legitimate.
Our Solution: We help build the evidential case — driver sheets, email confirmations, booking records, and CMR notes — and issue formal demand correspondence on that basis. A debtor who denies a charge they agreed to in writing is in a weak position, and we make that clear.
Freight Broker Non-Payment
The Issue: Freight brokers allocate loads to carriers on agreed rates, then delay payment, dispute the rate, or become insolvent before settling. Carriers bear the fuel cost, driver cost, and vehicle wear — and are then left chasing a broker who is unresponsive or in financial difficulty.
Our Solution: We assess the contractual position between carrier and broker, issue formal demand correspondence, and — where the broker is insolvent — advise on the options available including claims against the principal or shipper where the contractual chain permits it.
Storage & Demurrage Charges
The Issue: Storage fees and demurrage charges that accrue legitimately through delays caused by the receiver or shipper — failed collections, late loading, port congestion, or customs holds — then disputed at invoice stage by a party who knows the charges are contractually valid but hopes the carrier will not pursue them.
Our Solution: We pursue storage and demurrage charges on the basis of your agreed terms and the documentary evidence of the delay. These charges are contractually due and fully recoverable. We include statutory interest from the date they fell due as standard.
Damage Claims Used as Set-Off
The Issue: Inflated or entirely fabricated damage claims raised by a debtor at the point an invoice becomes overdue — a transparent tactic to manufacture a counterclaim and avoid or reduce payment. The damage was either pre-existing, minor, or never occurred at all.
Our Solution: We challenge the set-off claim directly, requesting contemporaneous evidence of the alleged damage — delivery notes, photographs, inspection reports — and demanding that the freight invoice is settled in the interim. A debtor who cannot produce evidence of damage has no valid set-off. We pursue the full balance accordingly.
Owner-Operators and Small Hauliers
Owner-operators and small haulage businesses are disproportionately exposed to late payment. Operating on tight margins with high fixed costs — fuel, finance, insurance, and driver wages — a single unpaid load can destabilise an otherwise healthy operation. Many owner-operators feel they lack the time or leverage to pursue debts effectively. Tempest Financial removes that problem entirely. We act as your collections partner, pursuing overdue invoices professionally and without cost to you, so you can focus on running your operation rather than chasing money you are already owed.
The Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 (As Amended 2013)
Every freight and haulage invoice is a commercial debt and is fully subject to the Late Payment Act. Where payment has not been received within your agreed payment terms – or within 30 days where no terms have been agreed – the Act entitles you to claim statutory interest at 8% per annum above the Bank of England base rate from the date the debt fell due, accruing daily. In addition, you are entitled to fixed compensation of £40, £70, or £100 depending on the value of the debt, and the costs incurred in recovering it. We apply these to every overdue account as standard – ensuring your debtor understands from the outset that every day they delay increases the total amount they owe.
What We Can Achieve for You
- Recovery of overdue freight, haulage, and logistics invoices
- Challenge of unlawful deductions and unsubstantiated set-off claims
- Pursuit of storage, demurrage, and accessorial charges
- Recovery from freight brokers and intermediaries
- Statutory interest at 8% above base rate claimed on every overdue account
- Fixed debt recovery costs and recovery costs included in every demand
- Formal demand correspondence referencing your contractual terms
- Settlement negotiation where a swift commercial resolution is preferred
- Referral to our panel solicitors for court action where necessary
Our aim is to recover your money at the earliest possible stage, minimising cost and disruption to your operation.