Our terms ban unlicensed or unsafe medicines (clause 18(g)). Ordinary medicines aren't banned, but a unit is the wrong place for any you'll take: our units aren't heated or cooled, and NHS guidance for pharmacies and clinics says medicines storage areas are ideally kept between 15°C and 25°C. So keep the medicines you or your family need with you, take unwanted ones, including controlled drugs, back to a pharmacy, and don't plan to keep a pharmacy's stock of medicines in a unit.
Moving house: keep medicines with you
Our moving guides suggest packing an essentials kit to keep with you, with medicines on the list alongside chargers and a change of clothes. If your move stalls, the medicines stay in that bag, not the unit. An inhaler is a medicine you use, so it goes in the same bag.
If you're clearing a relative's home, storing medical equipment or a first-aid or training kit, running a pharmacy or care business (whose other equipment is ordinary storage), or you've found medicines in your unit, each has its own section below.
What our terms say
These are the lines from our storage terms that touch on medicines. Clause 18 begins: "You must not store (or allow any other person to store) any of the following in the Unit".
| Clause | Exact wording | What it means for medicines |
|---|---|---|
| 18(g) | "any illegal item or substances or goods illegally obtained such as illicit (counterfeit/smuggled) tobacco or alcohol and unlicensed or unsafe goods (including but not limited to toys, electrical goods, medicines, aerosols, cosmetics, fireworks)" | Unlicensed, unsafe, counterfeit or illegally obtained medicines can't be stored. |
| 18(e) | "chemicals, radioactive materials, biological agents, toxic waste, asbestos or other potentially hazardous substances" | Chemicals and hazardous substances can't be stored, whatever they're for. |
| 18(c) | "combustible or flammable substances including but not limited to gas, paint, petrol, oil, cleaning solvents or compressed gases" | Aerosols such as freeze sprays, oxygen cylinders and flammable gels can't be stored. |
| 18(a) | "food or perishable goods unless securely packed so they are protected from and do not attract vermin" | Anything perishable must be sealed well enough to keep mice and insects out. |
| 26 | "You must ensure the Unit is suitable for the storage of the Goods intended to be stored in it… We make no warranty or representation that any unit is suitable for any particular goods" | Whether a unit suits a medicine is your call, and we don't promise it does. |
In plain words: clause 18(g) bans unlicensed or unsafe medicines, not every medicine, and clause 26 puts the question of suitability on you.
Why a unit is the wrong place for medicines you'll use
Our units aren't heated or cooled, so the temperature inside follows the seasons. You can't change that yourself: you can't use a portable heater in a unit at any time (clause 19), and you can't connect power or other services unless we've authorised it (clause 22(e)), so a fridge isn't an option either. Our guide on whether storage units get cold in winter or hot in summer explains what that means in practice.
That matters because medicines are made to be kept in set conditions. The NHS Specialist Pharmacy Service, in guidance for pharmacies and clinics, says that, ideally, medicines storage areas are kept between 15°C and 25°C, which suits all medicines meant for room temperature. At home, follow the pack directions, including any that say refrigerate. We don't control or publish the temperature in any of our units, so we can't tell you a medicine will stay within its range.
Access to our sites is also normally 6am to 10pm (check your site's page), so a medicine needed at night would be out of reach.
Clearing a relative's home
Medicines found in a relative's drawers and bedside tables shouldn't be boxed up for storage. The NHS says that if a medicine is out of date or unwanted, you shouldn't put it in the bin or flush it down the toilet: take it to a pharmacy to be disposed of safely. Community Pharmacy England, which represents pharmacies, says "pharmacies are only obliged to accept unwanted medicines from households (including residential homes)", and it confirms pharmacies can accept controlled drugs, such as strong painkillers, from households for disposal: asked "Can I accept and denature controlled drugs from households?", its answer is "Yes." If there's a lot, ring the pharmacy first. Pharmacies don't take needles and other sharps: for those, contact your local council.
If your relative is still taking them, ask the care home whether to bring them in; don't put them in storage. Everything else from the home, the furniture, papers and keepsakes, can come into storage as normal.
Medical equipment
If equipment such as a wheelchair, hoist or bed was on loan, ask whoever supplied it whether it should go back before you store it. Equipment you own, such as a nebuliser, can be stored once it's clean and dry and the nebules (the medicine) are taken out. Oxygen and other gas cylinders can't be stored: clause 18(c) rules out "combustible or flammable substances including but not limited to gas, paint, petrol, oil, cleaning solvents or compressed gases".
First-aid kits and training equipment
In a first-aid kit, plasters and dressings are ordinary goods, but creams and tablets are medicines. Our terms don't ban in-date licensed medicines such as aspirin, but units aren't heated or cooled, so we'd take them out; check the pack's storage line. Freeze sprays are aerosols, pressurised cans, and clause 18(c) rules out "combustible or flammable substances including but not limited to gas, paint, petrol, oil, cleaning solvents or compressed gases", so keep them out of the unit. Alcohol hand gel is out if its label shows the flammable symbol. Reusable gel ice packs are ordinary goods; instant (snap) cold packs contain chemicals, so call us on 0800 2545585 before storing those.
Training kit such as AED trainers and feedback manikins can be stored, but if yours have built-in batteries, clause 20 applies. You must not store "(a) any Lithium ion batteries exceeding a watt-hour (Wh) rating of 160 Wh unless they are built-in and cannot be removed from the otherwise permitted Goods; (b) portable battery chargers, power banks or any similar portable power source" or "(d) more than ten (10) laptops, tablet computers, children's toys or other similar items containing built-in batteries". Our reading is that the ten-item cap counts all your items with built-in batteries together, so a trainer's kit of manikins and AED trainers counts towards it alongside any laptops or tablets. Clause 20.1 adds that anything with a built-in battery must be "free from visible physical defect or fault" and "not stacked and … stored allowing air circulation", and says: "We recommend all batteries are stored with the lowest practical charge." If your kit takes you over ten items, call us on 0800 2545585 before you book.
Pharmacies, care and medical businesses
Medicines stock carries rules that a storage unit isn't set up for. Two examples:
- Controlled drugs, such as morphine or oxycodone, fall under the Misuse of Drugs (Safe Custody) Regulations 1973. On the premises those regulations cover, which include a pharmacy's business premises but not households, controlled drugs must be kept, so far as circumstances permit, "in a locked safe, cabinet or room which is so constructed and maintained as to prevent unauthorised access". The Care Quality Commission's guidance for care homes says their controlled drugs cupboards must meet those regulations, and that care homes without nursing return unwanted medicines, including controlled drugs, promptly to a community pharmacy.
- A business that supplies medicines wholesale needs a licence from the medicines regulator, and GOV.UK says that means complying with good distribution practice and passing regular inspections of its site.
Our own guide to scaling stock without a warehouse lease is direct about this: it says temperature-sensitive goods, perishables or anything needing a controlled environment "are not suitable for our units", naming pharmaceutical products. (Our terms allow perishables that are securely packed, but medicines stock still has the temperature problem.) The same guide says our units are for household goods and business goods, so a care or medical business's other overflow, such as files and furniture, is ordinary business storage. Surplus medicines from a business may need a different disposal route from household returns, so ask your pharmacy or waste contractor. If you're unsure where a particular item sits, call us on 0800 2545585 before you book.
Found medicines in your unit?
If you find medicines while sorting your unit, or someone else's, take them out and take any no longer needed to a pharmacy.
Storing everything else
Medicines stay with you or go back to the pharmacy. For the rest of your belongings, get a price online, find your nearest site on our locations page, or call us on 0800 2545585.
Related questions