The behaviour, physiology and meat quality of 24-week-old veal calves that were either slaughtered at the veal unit (control) or transported 3 h while provided with 0.7 or 0.95 m2 per calf and 1.5h of lairage were compared. The heart rate of the transported calves was higher during travel and lairage than the levels seen in the control calves. The transported calves also had higher plasma cortisol concentrations immediately after the travel had ceased, but had returned to levels seen in the control following lairage. The plasma creatine kinase activity immediately following travel and after lairage was higher in transported calves. The calves were not observed lying during travel. Space allowance during travel did not affect the calves’ heart rate, plasma cortisol concentration nor the plasma creatine kinase activity. The difference in space allowance during transport did not affect the frequency of potentially traumatic events experienced by the calves. The calves that underwent transport did not have a higher incidence of carcass bruising and the muscle pH 24 hours post-slaughter was similar between the control and experimental groups. The handling associated with transport and transit itself were quite stressful for the calves, however transport did not impact the quality of the carcass.