01 — Meeting your chauffeur
Meeting at Reading Station
- The chauffeur checks the booked train where live running times are published.
- Leave the platform and follow signs to the agreed station exit.
- Go to Station Hill concourse doors.
- Read the approach message and identify the confirmed vehicle.
- Meet the chauffeur, confirm the destination and continue to the car.
- 42min
- to Heathrow
- 71min
- to Gatwick
- 71min
- to central London
Road times are live-traffic estimates for a weekday morning; your quoted price uses your exact addresses.
02 — The station handover
Where the chauffeur meets you at Reading
Your meeting point is inside the main Station Hill entrance, beside the public concourse doors. The relevant route from the train is the Station Hill exit on the town-centre side. The approach message names Station Hill and asks the passenger to text after leaving the gateline. The chauffeur does not wait in a taxi-only rank or an active loading lane; if the kerb is controlled, the passenger and chauffeur meet first and walk to the car together. Reading is on the Great Western Main Line, with Elizabeth line and regional connections.
For a departure, the car uses the signed station set-down reached from Station Hill. The final approach is via Station Hill for the south entrance, keeping the north-side interchange separate. The chauffeur unloads the booked luggage at a permitted place and leaves the stopping area promptly. The main concourse leads to the gateline and footbridges serving the platforms. Station signs, road restrictions and staff directions govern the exact point available on the day, so a temporary closure may move the handover to a nearby lawful bay.
03 — Four details to save
Reading meeting and set-down points
- Exit
- Station Hill concourse doors
- Follow station signs from the platform to this agreed side.
- Set-down
- Station Hill set-down
- Used for unloading, subject to current signs.
- Waiting
- Nearby short-stay space
- a lawful short-stay space away from the taxi-only rank
- Return
- Station Hill concourse doors
- The vehicle point is confirmed after passenger and chauffeur meet.
04 — Continue the journey
Journeys and nearby stations from Reading
05 — Passenger and luggage
The station meeting continues at the car
The chauffeur confirms the passenger and onward address, assists with the recorded luggage and uses the permitted vehicle point stated in the approach message.
06 — Delayed trains and onward roads
Keeping a Reading collection connected
Where the rail operator publishes live running times for the booked service, FCET follows them and adjusts the collection plan for a reported delay. Live rail data does not identify when a particular passenger has reached the concourse, so the passenger still texts after leaving the platform. If no usable running information is published, that message becomes the timing update. The agreed meeting point remains Station Hill concourse doors unless both sides confirm a change.
Road guides from the station are 27.5 miles and about 40 minutes to Heathrow, 57 miles and about 1 hour 10 minutes to Gatwick, and 40.7 miles and about 1 hour 10 minutes to central London. Luton, Stansted and London City are included in the journey links below. These figures are planning guides; traffic, the terminal and the complete destination can change the booked schedule.
FCET service assurances
Booked train services are followed where the operator publishes live running times; otherwise the passenger updates the chauffeur by text · DBS-checked chauffeurs · Chauffeur-driven travel since 2004
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