It Could Only Happen To A Removal Man At Advanced Removals Gloucestershire

Over the years, at Advanced Removals we’ve had some odd moves, but none would end like this one, as we would end the day giving a police statement.

We were asked to do a house removal in Cheltenham a few years ago, which required 3 of our removal team to attend the house move due to larger furniture that needed to be moved. The customer was an 81-year-old woman who was moving to a smaller estate in the countryside in the Cotswolds, to move, we assumed was closer to her family. As we are the largest independent Cheltenham removal company, this was a task we had completed many times before.

We arrived at the house and met with her, she seemed nice and came across to us as a friendly woman. We went on our way and started to load the removal lorries with her belongings. We began working away, slowly making progress on the bottom floor. We chatted with the lady on and off, between breaks, whilst she offered refreshments, somewhat the protocol with removal men, but a pleasant gesture nonetheless.

We had just finished the first half of the house and as we began on the next half, one of the other removals we were doing in Cheltenham, a few miles down the road, gave us a call and told us they needed an extra set of hands for a piano removal. We had finished 3 rooms full of furniture in a few hours (which wasn’t a surprise as there were 3 of us) so I thought nothing of it and told the other group they could have one out of our team.

My co-worker and I, began on the next few rooms, which went smoothly. We were pretty much on the last room when the lady asks us if we want some tea, which we invitingly accept, and as we were on the other side of the house she had offered to bring it to us. As she left we thought nothing of it, and we continued with the rest of the room.

We struggled with a stubborn set of cupboards that wouldn’t fit through the doorway, so we carefully dismantled the pair. It wasn’t until we noticed the time, that we realised we haven’t seen the lady for almost an hour. We again thought nothing of it and carried on with the subsequent reconstruction of the cupboards we had taken apart. We finally finished on the last room, so we decide to try and find the lady, which we still hadn’t seen since she had offered us tea.

We found it somewhat peculiar that she had disappeared for so long, and were quietly hoping it meant there was a slice of cake partnering the tea, but we realistically expected to see her in the kitchen on the telephone or busy doing other things that had distracted her from the ‘brewing up’.

To our horror we found the lady keeled over on the floor, with smashed china across the kitchen tiles. My colleague rushed to call an ambulance as I tried, to find a pulse. The paramedics arrived in good time and we assisted them in moving the lady into the ambulance on a stretcher. As they rushed back to the hospital I looked at my co-worker, he like me was both stunned and shocked.

We decided it was best to store her belongings in our purpose built storage facility in Gloucester, as we didn’t have a recipient at the next house. We eagerly tried to find contact details for any of her next of kin but we failed to do so. A few months had passed and we were still storing her belongings. We had feared the worse, as we had no contact from her to claim the items back.

Later, we were booked for a removal in the now empty house. When we arrived we were greeted by a suited man with a notepad evaluating the house, entering the house with a set of keys. We were eager to speak to the man and ask for any information on the customer.

He sadly disclosed that she had passed away and as she had no next of kin, she had stated in her will all of her assets should be sold and donated to a local hospice. We decided to liaise the hospice and donate her belongings to them, as it is what the customer would of wanted. We finally handed over her possessions, which the hospice willingly accepted, and we left the situation feeling dazed but somewhat satisfied.

Author: Advanced Removals – Based in Gloucester, but carry out office and house removals in Gloucester, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire and The Cotswold on a daily basis. For more information on removals or furniture storage please telephone Head Office on 01452 617600