Business transfers for University of Kent staff, visiting academics and conference guests

Business transfers for the University of Kent: who books them

Most bookings come from three places: department offices arranging a visitor's arrival and departure, conference organisers who need several cars on the same day, and individual staff travelling to meetings or flights. Each journey is pre-booked with a fixed fare for the car, shown before anyone pays.

Book online, by phone on 01843 247247, by WhatsApp or by email. For a list of visitors, email is easiest: send names, flight numbers, terminals, where on campus each person is heading and a contact number, and each car can be set up from it.

Meeting a visiting academic at the airport

Give the flight number and the visitor's name exactly as it should appear on the board. The flight is tracked, the driver waits in the arrivals hall with the name board and helps with the bags, and free waiting runs for 45 minutes after an international landing, counted from the actual landing time.

Tell us where they are going first. Visitors staying on campus often use the university's B&B rooms at Tyler Court C, where check-in starts at 15:00; someone landing at 7am may need dropping at the department first, with the luggage. Departures work the other way round: guest check-out is by 11:00, so an afternoon flight leaves a gap to plan for.

Conferences on campus: moving delegates

The university advertises more than 150 conference and event spaces on its Canterbury campus, with B&B and self-catered rooms for delegates. Conference traffic tends to bunch: many delegates arrive on the same morning and leave after the closing session.

Group the arrivals by airport and landing time, then match cars to luggage. An MPV takes up to 6 passengers with 4 or more large cases; an executive car or a saloon up to 4. Each vehicle has its own fixed fare, and a flight delay on one booking does not hold up the others because every collection follows its own tracked flight.

• Give the venue and the host's name so the driver heads to the right part of the campus.
• Send changes as early as possible: cancelling more than 24 hours ahead costs nothing.
• For the return, check the closing time of the last session before choosing pickup times.

Executive cars for staff heading to London

A meeting in Westminster or the City is an early start from Canterbury. An executive car seats up to 4 with 2 to 3 large cases, and the back seat is a reasonable place to read papers on the A2 and the M2.

If the day has several stops, a meeting, lunch and an evening event, the car and driver can be kept by the hour or by the day rather than booked as separate journeys. For a flight from London City after the meeting, the airport is reached from the A2 through the Blackwall Tunnel.

Visitors coming by Eurostar

Colleagues from Paris, Brussels or Lille may prefer the train. Eurostar arrives at London St Pancras, and a car can meet them there and bring them straight down the A2 and the M2 to the campus, which avoids a change of station and a second train with conference luggage.

The same works in reverse at the end of the visit: a car from the campus to St Pancras, timed to the Eurostar check-in. Give the train time, the passenger's name and a mobile number, and the fixed fare is shown before you confirm.

Working around the university calendar

Some days are harder to host on than others. On Arrivals Weekend, 26 and 27 September in 2026 and 9 and 10 January in 2027, Traffic Marshalls direct cars around the campus, unloading is limited to 20 minutes and deliveries are turned away. Graduation weeks fill Canterbury with families: the November 2026 ceremonies in the Cathedral are on 19 and 20 November.

If a visitor's dates are flexible, avoiding those days makes the arrival calmer. If they are not, tell us, and leave more time in the plan.

Fares, changes and cancellations

Every fare is fixed for the car when you confirm and does not change for traffic, roadworks, a diversion or the time of day. Waiting beyond the free time, unbooked stops, big route changes asked for on the way, and parking fees or tolls on the journey can be added where they apply.

Cancelling more than 24 hours before pickup is free; between 6 and 24 hours it can cost up to half the fare; under 6 hours, or once the car has left, the full fare may be charged. Online payment takes cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Klarna and Revolut.