LDCity to city

Long-distance chauffeur journeys, with the driving times told straight

Name: First Class Chauffeurs
Telephone: +44 7775 554848

Eighteen routes, each with the miles, the roads, a realistic time range and a fair account of when the train would serve you better.

18 routes
Ranges, not single times
Fixed price per journey
Compared with the train

A chauffeur car on an empty motorway at dawn

Written quotation, usually within the hour

Get a quote on WhatsApp +44 7775 554848

01Overview

Two hundred miles at seventy miles an hour is a number nobody has ever driven

A long road journey is mostly a question of arithmetic, and the arithmetic is usually done badly. Two hundred miles at seventy miles an hour is under three hours on paper and nothing like that in practice, because nobody drives two hundred miles without slowing for something. The gap between the two figures is where a badly planned day goes wrong.

These pages give the numbers we would actually plan against: a range rather than a single time, the roads the run really uses, where it breaks for a stop and what the last twenty miles do to the total. Where the train is faster, that is stated rather than buried, because a passenger who finds out for themselves does not come back.

02At a glance

How a long-distance booking works

Routes: Eighteen
Shortest: About 55 miles
Longest: London to Edinburgh
Pricing: Fixed per journey

03Every route

Distances and honest time ranges, in one table

The upper figure in each range is the one to plan against when there is an appointment at the other end.

Long-distance routes with road distance and driving time
Route	Distance	Driving time	Main roads
London to Manchester	200 miles	3 hrs 45 mins to 5 hrs	M1 · M6 · M6 Toll
Manchester to London	200 miles	4 hrs to 5 hrs 30 mins	M56 · M6 · M6 Toll
London to Liverpool	220 miles	4 hrs to 5 hrs 15 mins	M1 · M6 · M6 Toll
London to Birmingham	120 miles	2 hrs to 3 hrs	M40 · M42 · A45
London to Birmingham Airport	110 miles	2 hrs to 3 hrs	M40 · M42 · A45
London to Nottingham	130 miles	2 hrs 30 mins to 3 hrs 30 mins	M1 · A453 · A52
London to Leeds	200 miles	3 hrs 45 mins to 5 hrs	M1 · M621 · A1(M)
London to Newcastle	280 miles	5 hrs to 6 hrs 30 mins	A1(M) · A1 · M1
London to Edinburgh	410 miles	7 hrs 30 mins to 9 hrs	M1 · M6 · A74(M)
London to Glasgow	410 miles	7 hrs 30 mins to 9 hrs	M1 · M6 · M6 Toll
London to Bristol	120 miles	2 hrs 15 mins to 3 hrs 15 mins	M4 · M32 · M5
London to Cardiff	150 miles	2 hrs 45 mins to 3 hrs 45 mins	M4 · M48 · A48(M)
London to Oxford	60 miles	1 hr 20 mins to 2 hrs	M40 · A40 · A34
London to Cambridge	60 miles	1 hr 20 mins to 2 hrs	M11 · A14 · A10
London to Brighton	55 miles	1 hr 15 mins to 2 hrs	A23 · M23 · A27
London to Bath	115 miles	2 hrs 15 mins to 3 hrs	M4 · A46 · A4
London to Southampton	80 miles	1 hr 45 mins to 2 hrs 30 mins	M3 · M27 · A33
London to Paris	290 miles	8 hrs to 10 hrs	M20 · Le Shuttle · A16

Distances are road distances, rounded. Times assume one or two short stops and no incident on the route.

04Under two hours

Four runs where a there-and-back day is comfortable

Close enough that the car waits during the meeting rather than driving home and coming back.

A chauffeur car on a dual carriageway approaching a city of spires

60 milesLondon to Oxford1 hr 20 mins to 2 hrsRead more

A chauffeur car on a motorway crossing flat farmland in East Anglia

60 milesLondon to Cambridge1 hr 20 mins to 2 hrsRead more

A chauffeur car on a seafront road with the sea beyond the railings

55 milesLondon to Brighton1 hr 15 mins to 2 hrsRead more

A chauffeur loading suitcases into a car at a dockside terminal building

80 milesLondon to Southampton1 hr 45 mins to 2 hrs 30 minsRead more

05Two to six hours

The intercity runs, from Birmingham to Newcastle

Long enough to need a stop, short enough that one chauffeur can do the day.

A chauffeur car on a motorway slip road in the late afternoon

200 miles · 3 hrs 45 mins to 5 hrsLondon to ManchesterTwo hundred miles of motorway that takes three and three quarter hours on a good Sunday and comfortably five on a Friday afternoon. Both are the same road.Read more

A chauffeur car heading south on a motorway at first light

200 miles · 4 hrs to 5 hrs 30 minsManchester to LondonSouthbound, the first hundred and eighty miles are the easy part. The last twenty, from the M25 into central London, regularly take as long as the previous eighty.Read more

A chauffeur car on a motorway heading north-west on an overcast afternoon

220 miles · 4 hrs to 5 hrs 15 minsLondon to LiverpoolTwenty miles further than Manchester and roughly the same journey, until the M62 takes over at Warrington and turns it into a different city entirely.Read more

A chauffeur car on a motorway through open countryside in the early morning

120 miles · 2 hrs to 3 hrsLondon to BirminghamA hundred and twenty miles, most of it on the best-behaved motorway out of London, and a train that does it in eighty-five minutes. The car has to earn its place on this one.Read more

A chauffeur waiting with a car outside an airport terminal building

110 miles · 2 hrs to 3 hrsLondon to Birmingham AirportA hundred and ten miles for a flight you could have taken from Heathrow. Occasionally that makes no sense at all, and occasionally it is the cleverest thing on the itinerary.Read more

A chauffeur car on a motorway in the East Midlands under a wide sky

130 miles · 2 hrs 30 mins to 3 hrs 30 minsLondon to NottinghamA hundred and thirty miles straight up the M1, and then a city with a tram network, a lot of bus gates and a one-way system that takes some knowing.Read more

A chauffeur car on a motorway heading north with hills appearing ahead

200 miles · 3 hrs 45 mins to 5 hrsLondon to LeedsTwo hundred miles almost entirely on one motorway, and one of the few long runs where there is a genuine second route if the first goes wrong.Read more

A chauffeur car on a long straight dual carriageway in northern England

280 miles · 5 hrs to 6 hrs 30 minsLondon to NewcastleTwo hundred and eighty miles up the eastern side of England, on a road that changes character four times and is not motorway for all of it.Read more

A chauffeur car on a motorway in the west country with rolling hills beyond

120 miles · 2 hrs 15 mins to 3 hrs 15 minsLondon to BristolA hundred and twenty miles of the M4 and then a short motorway spur straight into the middle of the city. On a good morning it is the easiest long run out of London.Read more

A chauffeur car on a motorway approaching a long estuary bridge

150 miles · 2 hrs 45 mins to 3 hrs 45 minsLondon to CardiffA hundred and fifty miles of the M4, a bridge over the Severn estuary, and a capital city with an eighty-thousand-seat stadium in the middle of its shopping streets.Read more

A chauffeur car on a Georgian street of honey-coloured stone buildings

115 miles · 2 hrs 15 mins to 3 hrsLondon to BathA hundred and fifteen miles of the M4 and then ten miles of A road down into a bowl in the hills. The last ten are prettier and slower than the first hundred and five.Read more

06Longer than a day

Three journeys that are not a same-day return for one driver

Each of these needs an overnight for the chauffeur, two drivers, or a return by train or air. The pages say which.

A chauffeur car on an empty road with Scottish hills rising in the distance

410 miles · 7 hrs 30 mins to 9 hrsLondon to EdinburghFour hundred and ten miles, seven and a half hours if everything goes right, and a train that does it in four and a quarter. This is the page where we tell you not to book a car.Read more

A chauffeur car on a motorway crossing open moorland in southern Scotland

410 miles · 7 hrs 30 mins to 9 hrsLondon to GlasgowThe same distance as Edinburgh on a slightly better road, and the same conversation about whether you should be doing it by car at all.Read more

A chauffeur car waiting in a boarding lane at a cross-Channel terminal

290 miles · 8 hrs to 10 hrsLondon to ParisSeventy-five miles to Folkestone, thirty-five minutes under the Channel, and a hundred and eighty miles of autoroute. Eight hours if the border is quick, ten if it is not.Read more

07Method

Four things we do differently on a long run

Quote a range

The same two hundred miles takes three hours forty-five or five, depending on the day. Publishing one number would make us look confident and you late.

Fix the price

The figure covers the whole movement. A bad afternoon on the M6 is our problem rather than a line added to an invoice afterwards.

Plan the break

One stop under four hours, two beyond it, placed where the driver can also read the road ahead. The rules on driving hours apply whatever the schedule would prefer.

Name the better option

On several of these routes the train is faster and we say so. A passenger who works that out for themselves afterwards does not call again.

08What it costs

Why a long run is not charged by the hour

Hourly hire is the right arrangement for a day of local movement, where the value lies in the car being available between stops. It is the wrong one for three hundred miles of motorway, where the only variable is how badly the traffic behaves and the passenger has no way to influence it.

So these journeys carry a fixed price for the whole movement. The hourly figures on the pricing page are there for comparison. Where a route needs an overnight for the chauffeur or a second driver, the quotation states it rather than leaving it to be discovered.

09Services

The services an intercity run is booked under

10Answers

Questions about long-distance journeys

Times, pricing, stops, and the question of whether you should be driving at all.

Why do you quote a range of times rather than one figure?

Because a single figure would be wrong most of the time. The same two hundred miles can take three hours forty-five or five hours depending on the day, the hour and one incident on the M6. Quoting the range lets you plan properly, and where you have a fixed appointment we work back from it with an hour of slack.

Is a long journey charged by the hour?

No. Long-distance runs are quoted as a single fixed price for the whole movement, so a slow afternoon on the motorway does not change what you pay. Hourly hire is the right arrangement for a day of local movement; it is the wrong one for three hundred miles of motorway.

Will you tell us if the train is the better option?

Yes, and we do it regularly. For one person with a small bag travelling between two city centres, the train usually wins on time and often on cost. The car earns its place with luggage, with three or four passengers, with an end point away from a station, or when the journey has stops in it.

How often does the car stop on a long run?

Once on anything up to about four hours, twice beyond that. Stops are ten to fifteen minutes and are placed where the driver can also check what the road ahead is doing. The rules on driving hours apply regardless of what the passengers would prefer, so a break happens somewhere on a long day.

Can one chauffeur drive to Scotland and back in a day?

No, and anyone who says otherwise is not planning it properly. London to Edinburgh is seven and a half hours or more in one direction. That journey is an overnight for the driver at the far end, a two-driver arrangement, or a one-way run paired with a flight or a train. We set out which of those applies when we quote.

FCReservations

Send us both addresses and the date. The price comes back fixed.

Tell us where the journey starts, where it ends, the day and what time you need to arrive. You will get a written quotation covering the whole movement — and an honest word about the train if that would serve you better.

Get a quote on WhatsApp Call +44 7775 554848

Telephone: +44 7775 554848
Email: info@firstclass-chauffeurs.co.uk
Hours: Reservations answered around the clock, every day of the year.