Business transfers from Aylesham: executive cars for meetings, airports and London

When a business transfer beats the train

The train is hard to beat for a single meeting near Victoria. It is much less useful when the day has several stops, when you need to arrive with files, samples or a display stand, or when the meeting is somewhere awkward to reach from a London terminus.

Time matters too. In the back of a car you can make calls, read and prepare without standing on a platform, and you arrive at the address rather than at a station. The journey home is booked as well, which helps, because none of the stations on the Dover line has a car park.

The executive car

The executive class carries a party of up to four, with room for two or three large cases. It suits one person working in the back, or two or three colleagues heading to the same meeting. A bigger group can travel together in an MPV, which seats six.

Every driver is licensed for private hire by a local council, a licence that depends on an enhanced DBS check, and every car is licensed and inspected by the licensing authority and insured for hire and reward. For business travellers that is the practical side of discretion: a vetted driver and a properly insured car.

Routes from Aylesham into London and to the airports

Every business trip starts on the A2 north-west towards Canterbury and the M2. For central and east London the car can stay on the A2 into the city; for London City Airport it carries on through the Blackwall Tunnel. Heathrow is the M25 west, and Gatwick the M25 and M23.

Express Travel Kent's published airport times are for Canterbury, not Aylesham: 1h 30m to 1h 50m to London City, 2h to 2h 30m to Heathrow and 1h 15m to 1h 45m to Gatwick. From the village, add the A2 stretch to Canterbury. The Blackwall and Silvertown tunnels charge in both directions from 06:00 to 22:00, with a weekday peak northbound between 06:00 and 10:00, and tolls on the route can be added to a fare when the journey involves them.

Collecting a client or colleague from the airport

If a visitor is flying in for a meeting in east Kent, book the collection in their name. We follow the flight, the driver works to its real landing time, and your visitor is met in the arrivals hall by someone holding a board with their name, who then takes their bags to the car.

The first 45 minutes after an international landing are free, or 30 minutes for a domestic flight. Put the visitor's mobile number in the booking so the driver can reach them, and the address they are heading to, whether that is a hotel, a unit on the industrial estate the village has had since the 1960s, or a house in one of the villages.

A day of appointments: hiring by the hour or by the day

For a day with several meetings, as-directed hire keeps the same car and driver at your disposal, charged by the hour or by the day. The driver takes you from one address to the next and waits in between, so there is no hunting for a rank or a train at each stop.

Plan the stops into the booking where you can. Stops added on the day and big changes of route asked for on the way can be added to the price, so the more of the day you describe at the start, the clearer the figure.

• The first pickup address and time
• Each meeting address, with an expected finishing time
• Any airport, station or hotel at the end of the day
• The number of passengers and how much luggage or equipment

Booking for someone else

Assistants and office managers often book on behalf of the traveller. Use the website, ring 01843 247247, message +44 7783 973058 on WhatsApp or write to booking@expresstravelkent.co.uk, and include the passenger's name and mobile number as well as your own.

Online, the price appears before you pay, and Revolut, Klarna, Google Pay, Apple Pay and cards are all accepted.

What can change the price on a working day

The price is set for the car when you confirm. Slow traffic, roadworks, a diversion, an early start or a late finish do not touch it. Meetings overrun, though, and a business day is where the extras matter most: time spent waiting past the free period, extra stops, a big change of route on the way, and car park fees or tolls along the road.

If the meeting moves, the cancellation terms help. Cancel more than a day ahead and nothing is charged; between 24 and 6 hours before pickup the charge can reach half the fare; later than that, or once the car has been sent, it can be the full amount.