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Transplanting palms

I wonder if any of the palm-growers on the list can help with a pretty
unusual query from the UK. This is not a query from me personally (I
should be so lucky) but from me on behalf of a friend. 

The friend looks after a large garden in one of the most sheltered
areas of Cornwall and has just been offered two large palms for it - a
Brahea x brandegii (12' tall) and a Brahea edulis (16'). These were
planted in the ground but under glass, in a palm house - and were
threatening to take off the roof! 

So far he's dug around the roots and, following advice he found in
some manual, has scorched the severed roots with a blow-torch, as
preliminary steps towards an attempt to lift them next year. He said
he could barely bring himself to treat them like that and is hoping
like hell he hasn't simply been cruel rather than being cruel to be
kind. 

So my query on his behalf simply is: Has he done the right thing? 

With the subsidiary query: Is there anything else he can do to improve
his chances of transplanting these monsters successfully - anything,
that is, either while they're still in their original site, while
they're being moved, or once they've reached and been planted in his
own garden? (They have to be moved around 100 miles.)

I suppose I should add, too, that if what he's done so far is an
absolute no-no, has he any chance of being able to convert it into a
yes-yes or at least a maybe-maybe?

TIA for any help anyone can give, which I'll rapidly pass on to
Terrified of Cornwall .
Tim Longville
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