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FCFirst ClassCHAUFFEURS

ARSouth East England · Kent

Chauffeur hire in Folkestone, CT18 to CT20, and the tunnel terminal

Folkestone has the Channel Tunnel terminal on its doorstep, and shuttle check-in closes long before the train leaves, which is the fact that governs every booking here.

Biggin Hill, 50 miles outCar in position before you leave FolkestoneA20 and everything off itA Folkestone figure in writing before the day
London hotel chauffeur

Written quotation, usually within the hour

Chauffeur service in Folkestone — summary

Collections from Quarterhouse and Folkestone Sports Centre make up a good share of the Folkestone diary, alongside private addresses and the odd early start from Folkestone West. The pattern is consistent: out of Folkestone to Biggin Hill on an indicative 65-95 minutes covering about 50 miles, back from it met at the barrier, and hourly hire that keeps your coat and your papers in the cabin while you are inside. Chauffeurs know A20, A259 Sandgate Road and Cheriton Road well enough to choose between them on the morning rather than on the map. The fleet runs from the Mercedes-Benz E-Class to the Rolls-Royce Phantom, and all of it is driven in Folkestone. Nothing is published as a price list; the figure is confirmed in writing for your Folkestone journey.

Where

Folkestone, South East England

Wider coverage

Kent, England

Closest airport to Folkestone

Biggin Hill

Drive to Biggin Hill

65-95 minutes

Postcode districts in Folkestone

CT18, CT19 and CT20

Local Folkestone roads

A20, A259 Sandgate Road and Cheriton Road

Station pick-ups in Folkestone

Ashford International and Folkestone Central

Just along from Folkestone

Dover and Ashford

01The Folkestone basics

Chauffeur service in Folkestone

The terminal at Cheriton sits at Junction 11a of the M20 with its own approach and check-in booths, and the cut-off is earlier than most people assume. In the town the ground falls steeply from the downs to the harbour, and the Old High Street is stepped. The Leas run along the cliff with the roads below reached by a zigzag.

Cross-Channel work is the local speciality: passengers for the shuttle, business travellers heading for Calais and Lille, and people arriving on the tunnel who need a car onward. Alongside it there is the Harbour Arm and the creative quarter, a hospital at Ashford rather than here, and long airport runs where nothing is close.

02The essentials

Where
Folkestone, South East England
Wider coverage
Kent, England
Closest airport to Folkestone
Biggin Hill
Drive to Biggin Hill
65-95 minutes
Postcode districts in Folkestone
CT18, CT19 and CT20
Local Folkestone roads
A20, A259 Sandgate Road and Cheriton Road
Station pick-ups in Folkestone
Ashford International and Folkestone Central
Just along from Folkestone
Dover and Ashford

03The area

What A20 does to a timetable

How A20 behaves, and what the streets off it will take.

Built on a slope with the sea at the bottom, which means the roads run in terraces and the connections between them are steep. Sandgate Road and the Leas are the level routes; the Old High Street is stepped and takes no vehicles. Around the harbour the streets are narrow and busy in summer. The M20 ends here, and the A20 continues to Dover along the cliffs.

04Demand

What gets asked for around the Old High Street

The three or four bookings that make up most of a Folkestone month.

Tunnel traffic first. Shuttle passengers, freight company visitors and business travellers who use the tunnel as a commute. Then coastal work: hotels along the Leas, the Harbour Arm in summer, and residential airport transfers that involve a long drive whichever airport is chosen. Rail connections to Ashford and London add their own thread.

05Road time

Getting the departure time right in Folkestone

Departure times we would actually recommend from Folkestone.

The terminal approach at Junction 11a is straightforward except when cross-Channel disruption backs up the M20, at which point everything changes. Summer weekends fill the harbour area. For a shuttle we work backwards from the check-in cut-off rather than the departure. For a Gatwick flight we allow two and a quarter hours from CT20.

06The kerb

Meeting outside the Old High Street

The pick-up point in Folkestone, and the notes that come with it.

The tunnel terminal has a proper drop-off before the check-in booths, and a car cannot go beyond it. The Leas hotels have their own frontages. In the old part of town the streets are narrow with residents' bays, so we set down and hold in a car park. Harbour addresses in summer need a collection point agreed in advance, since the area fills up early.

Collection notes for Folkestone

  • 01Shuttle departures are timed from the check-in cut-off, and the car stops before the booths.
  • 02The Old High Street is stepped, so collections happen on the roads above or below it.
  • 03Leas hotels have their own frontages and are the easiest handover point in the town.
  • 04In summer we agree a harbour collection point in advance, because the area fills early.

07Included as standard

Inside the price of a Folkestone booking

  • 01

    Met at the Biggin Hill barrier

    Landing at Biggin Hill ends with a person, not a text message from a Folkestone number. The chauffeur is inside the hall before the belt starts, takes the cases, and walks you out to the car for the run back into Folkestone.

  • 02

    Biggin Hill delays, handled quietly

    Inbound flights are monitored to Biggin Hill and, where the first leg is rail, to Folkestone West. You do not have to message us from the aisle to say the flight into Biggin Hill is running late on us in Folkestone.

  • 03

    A suit, a held door and a Folkestone address

    Someone who has driven A20, A259 Sandgate Road and Cheriton Road in the rain at rush hour, rather than an app deciding a stranger is four minutes away. The chauffeur is briefed on your journey before the car leaves for Folkestone.

  • 04

    A Folkestone price fixed in writing

    One price, in writing, before the car is allocated to your Folkestone collection. If the journey from Folkestone to Biggin Hill changes we requote in writing rather than adjusting an invoice afterwards.

  • 05

    The car sized to the cases, not to Folkestone

    Roof boxes and trailers are not part of a Folkestone booking. What we can do is send a larger vehicle to Folkestone, or two cars, and quote both so the choice is yours rather than ours.

  • 06

    School gates and pharmacies in Folkestone

    Roadshow days are the extreme version: five or six stops between the Old High Street and Ashford, a car that never leaves you, and a chauffeur who has the next address before you have left the last one.

08Terminals

The run to Biggin Hill, and the others

The first row is the one most Folkestone bookings use. Biggin Hill at an indicative 65-95 minutes from Folkestone covers about 50 miles. The rows under it are the alternatives worth considering when the schedule or the terminal suits them better, and all of them are timed from a Folkestone address at an ordinary hour.
Biggin Hill
Indicative drive
65-95 minutes
Distance
50 miles

Late landings still end with the bags carried to the door in Folkestone.

London City
Indicative drive
80-120 minutes
Distance
65 miles

London City arrivals watched from wheels-up, so a late landing moves our clock and not your Folkestone booking.

Gatwick
Indicative drive
80-120 minutes
Distance
68 miles

Met at the Gatwick barrier, with the car already pointed at Folkestone.

Heathrow
Indicative drive
105-150 minutes
Distance
88 miles

Name board inside Heathrow arrivals, the parking paid, and Folkestone an indicative 105-150 minutes away.

The same runs are quoted from Dover and Ashford, adjusted for the extra distance rather than reused unchanged.

09In detail

From a Folkestone door to a departure gate

The right car for Folkestone to Biggin Hill

LF-01The right car for Folkestone to Biggin Hill

The right car for Folkestone to Biggin Hill

Every class on the card is a private hire vehicle driven by a licensed chauffeur into Folkestone. Nothing here claims how many there are or how old they are, because availability for your Folkestone date is confirmed on the quotation instead.

Accessibility needs change the vehicle and sometimes the Folkestone collection point as well. Mention them when you enquire and the car that arrives in Folkestone is one that actually works for you.

What time to leave Folkestone

LF-02What time to leave Folkestone

What time to leave Folkestone

Groups leaving Folkestone together are usually calmer in two cars than in one large vehicle collecting from three addresses. We will say which of those we think is right when the Folkestone journey is quoted.

Terminal choice at Biggin Hill matters more than people leaving Folkestone expect. Tell us the airline when you book and the chauffeur takes the right spur off A20, which at Biggin Hill can be the difference between a two-minute walk and a fifteen-minute one with a trolley.

The inbound half of a Folkestone trip

LF-03The inbound half of a Folkestone trip

The inbound half of a Folkestone trip

In the forty minutes before you land, the chauffeur has already left Folkestone and is at Biggin Hill. The car goes into the Biggin Hill car park, the parking is paid, and the walk to the arrivals barrier is timed so the board is up before the first passengers bound for Folkestone come through. None of that is your problem, but it is the reason the Biggin Hill meet works and Folkestone is reached on time.

The cabin is warm before you reach it at Biggin Hill and quiet for the whole run into Folkestone. If you want to sleep for the 65-95 minutes back to Folkestone, that is the expected use of the back seat rather than an imposition on anybody.

  • Biggin Hill car park found and paid for before the Folkestone chauffeur walks in
  • Indicative 65-95 minutes back into Folkestone
  • Waiting from touchdown at Biggin Hill built into the Folkestone transfer
  • Bags taken from the Biggin Hill trolley to the boot and on to Folkestone

10The cars

Vehicles for a Folkestone booking

Four classes, quoted per journey out of the CT18 district. A run from Folkestone to Biggin Hill is priced against the car, not the head count.

Cabin

Mercedes-Benz E-Class

Passengers
Up to 3
Large cases
2, plus cabin bags
Cabin class
Cabin

First SUV

Range Rover Autobiography

Passengers
Up to 4
Large cases
4, plus cabin bags
Cabin class
First SUV

Suite

Mercedes-Maybach S-Class

Passengers
Up to 3
Large cases
3, plus cabin bags
Cabin class
Suite

Signature

Rolls-Royce Phantom

Passengers
Up to 3
Large cases
3, plus cabin bags
Cabin class
Signature

The card keeps the London airport fares because they are the only figures directly comparable across every class we would send to Folkestone. A Folkestone journey is priced separately and confirmed in writing.

11Longer bookings

Which car, and for how long, in Folkestone

The pick-up in Folkestone, step by step

LF-04The pick-up in Folkestone, step by step

The pick-up in Folkestone, step by step

The car does not circle Folkestone. If the kerb outside is not available it holds somewhere legal nearby, often on A259 Sandgate Road, and comes forward when you say you are ready. None of that costs you a minute in Folkestone.

Holding the door on A20 is not theatre. It matters when it is raining on A20 and you have a laptop bag over one shoulder, and it matters rather less on a dry Tuesday, which is why it happens either way without comment.

  • Chauffeur briefed on the Folkestone address before the car sets off
  • Water, a charger and a cabin set for whatever Folkestone is doing that morning
  • A written price agreed before the car is allocated to Folkestone
  • Chauffeur, vehicle and registration on the Folkestone confirmation before the day
Folkestone West and the drive that follows

LF-05Folkestone West and the drive that follows

Folkestone West and the drive that follows

A station collection in Folkestone is a small piece of choreography: the right entrance, the right side of the barrier, and a chauffeur who is standing on the concourse rather than sending a location pin.

Where a car into Folkestone and a train are on the same itinerary, one written quotation covers both from our side. You are not assembling a Folkestone journey out of separate arrangements that each assume the others went well.

12Local reference

the Old High Street, Folkestone West and the rest

Landmarks, stations and roads that come up in almost every Folkestone booking, listed so a pick-up can be described in one sentence.

Landmarks

  • the Channel Tunnel terminal at Cheriton
  • the Leas
  • Folkestone Harbour Arm
  • the Old High Street
  • Sandgate
  • the Warren

Venues and hotels

  • Leas Cliff Hall
  • The Grand Folkestone
  • Quarterhouse
  • Folkestone Sports Centre

Stations

  • Folkestone Central
  • Folkestone West
  • Sandling
  • Ashford International

Roads

  • M20 Junction 11a
  • A20
  • A259 Sandgate Road
  • Cheriton Road

CT18 · CT19 · CT20

13Practicalities

How a Folkestone booking is arranged

Half days and full days in Folkestone

LF-06Half days and full days in Folkestone

Half days and full days in Folkestone

The point of holding the car in Folkestone is that nothing has to be decided in advance. You can leave Quarterhouse half an hour early or an hour late, and the only consequence is where the clock stops.

Hourly rates for Folkestone are published by vehicle class on this page, with the minimum block stated. What the written quotation adds is the specifics: the start address in Folkestone, the expected finish, and what happens if the day runs long.

Confirming a car for Folkestone

LF-07Confirming a car for Folkestone

Confirming a car for Folkestone

Send the date, the pick-up address in Folkestone, where you are going and how many people and cases are travelling. That is enough for a written Folkestone quotation. A flight number or a tail number helps, and so does the airline, because it decides which Biggin Hill terminal the car leaves Folkestone for.

If the plan changes while the car is moving through Folkestone, the chauffeur drives where you ask and the price is revisited in writing afterwards. Nothing is added at the roadside in Folkestone.

14Services

Chauffeur services available in Folkestone

Booked from Folkestone and driven anywhere in England. Each page sets out what the journey from the CT18 district involves.

15What it costs

How a Folkestone booking is priced

Indicative throughout, and worked against the CT18 district. The written quotation for a Folkestone journey is the figure that counts.

Hourly, as directed

By the block

The car held for you between stops, with a minimum block named on the quotation.

Airport transfers

Quoted per journey

Priced against the drive from Folkestone, not against a zone map. Searching for a chauffeur service near me in Folkestone? This is that local service, quoted in writing before you travel.

Long distance

By the route

One car and one chauffeur from Folkestone to the far end of the run.

No standing price list. Send the journey on WhatsApp and the written quotation confirms the price, what it includes and any applicable tax. The pricing page sets out what moves a figure, and one message on WhatsApp fixes it for your journey.

17Answers

Folkestone chauffeur questions

Four questions that come up on almost every Folkestone enquiry.

How early do I need to be at the Channel Tunnel terminal?

Earlier than the departure time suggests. Check-in closes a set period before the shuttle leaves and the booths themselves take time, so we work backwards from the cut-off on your booking rather than the train time. There is a proper drop-off before the booths.

Can you collect people arriving on the shuttle at Folkestone?

Yes. The arrivals side has its own exit and we meet you past the controls rather than in a lane. Give us the shuttle you are booked on and the chauffeur is in position as you come through, with the car close enough that nobody is dragging cases across a car park.

Is the Old High Street reachable by car?

No, it is stepped and pedestrian. Collections in that part of town happen on the streets above or below it, with the chauffeur walking down for the bags. For a summer weekend we agree the point in advance, because the harbour area fills up early.

How far is Folkestone from Gatwick?

About sixty-eight miles and eighty minutes to two hours, on the M20 and the M25 to Junction 7. It is a long run whichever airport you choose from here, so the collection time is set generously and the chauffeur waits rather than arriving in a rush.

FCReservations

Tell us the Folkestone journey. We will send the price in writing.

Message us the date, the pick-up and where you are going. You will get a fixed written quotation with the vehicle, the chauffeur’s arrival time and what the figure includes — no form to fill in, and no estimate that moves later.

Hours
Reservations answered around the clock, every day of the year.
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