Although the doom merchants seem wrong, let's assume the worst.
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You are contracted to deliver 20 trailer loads of time-sensitive goods, say Easter eggs, ready to meet the usual all-important rush on 4 January.
But half your drivers have spent most of their millennium working bonuses on getting ratted on Chateauneuf-du-Pape and the other half on jetting off to a Californian do-lox clinic to dry out. You've roped in everyone with a licence that you and the local driver agency know, but still only half the loads make it.
You can bet that when the suits from MegaMarket plc come knocking on your door it won't be to share their leftover turkey with you—it will almost certainly be with a claim that will make your eyes water.
Failing to deliver, or delivering just part of a consignment, even missing an agreed delivery time slot by a few minutes—it's all the same to the consignee and it's all your problem. You have failed to carry out your end of the contract, even if you were doing it at cost plus a bag of peanuts.
But don't worry—the insurance fairy will sort it out, won't she? Matthew Kilgallen, a specialist In road haulage insurance with Leicester-based insurance Iwo ker, Whitman Gowdridge, warns not to bank on it.
If you have the good sense to have wording such as "subject to RHA conditions of carriage" on your relevant paperwork and the insurance cover to match, you can breathe again. You are officially a "private carrier" with limitations on your liability, usually £100,000.
However, if you don't operate under conditions of carriage, you are a common carrier, with unlimited liability regardless of your level of negligence. Your insurance cover will probably be provided by an "all risks" policy but, despite the reassuring name, you may well be up the proverbial creek.
Unless your policy specifically covers you for such eventualities your insurers—few of whom are known to be registered charities—are going to smile charmingly as they escort you to the door.
After that it's you, MegaMarket and messrs Sue, Grabbit and Run having a day out in court. But they won't just be looking for you to waive the haulage charges. That delightful phrase "consequential loss" will be given a starring role. Anything they can think of, from lost sales to their chairman's Chalfonts, will be laid at your feet. And you won't have a leg to stand on.