Clocktower Cars runs licensed taxis, minicabs and private hire cars across West Horsley and the KT24 postcode. Our Guildford office is at Station Approach, London Road — 5.6 miles and about eleven minutes down the A246 and A25. Call 01483 301 000 or book online.
Start here, because it explains almost everything about how people get about in this village. Horsley railway station serves West Horsley but is located in neighbouring East Horsley — 2.3 miles and about five minutes away by road, via the A246 and Ockham Road South.
Two and a bit miles is exactly the wrong distance. Too far to walk before a working day or after a late train, near enough that it feels as though it should not need a car, and along a road with no useful pavement stretch for much of it. That is why the station run is the single most common booking we take in West Horsley, morning and evening, all year.
Both directions can be set up as a standing arrangement rather than booked afresh every day — the same driver, the same time, one invoice at the end of the month. Ring 01483 301 000 and describe the week. For the station itself and the East Horsley side of the line, see East Horsley taxis and minicabs.
West Horsley is a semi-rural village between Guildford and Leatherhead in Surrey, on the A246, south of the M25 and the A3, in the borough of Guildford. The civil parish had a population of 2,828 at the 2011 census. The postcode district is KT24.
Four words, one service. In law a taxi, or hackney carriage, can be hailed in the street or taken from a rank; a minicab or private hire car must be booked through a licensed operator first. There is no rank in West Horsley and nothing to hail on the A246, so in practice every journey here is a private hire booking — a named driver, a known car and a price agreed before you travel. More in our guide to minicabs versus black cabs.
This village sits between the M25 and the A3, which makes both airports quick — and produces the widest gap between distance and time we have measured anywhere in the coverage area.
| From West Horsley to | Route | Distance | Typical drive | Average speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heathrow | M25 | 20.7 miles | about 29 minutes | about 43 mph |
| Heathrow | Ripley Lane and M25 | 22.6 miles | about 29 minutes | about 47 mph |
| Heathrow | Ripley Lane, A3 and M25 | 20.9 miles | about 31 minutes | about 40 mph |
| Gatwick | M25 and M23 | 29.9 miles | about 39 minutes | about 46 mph |
| Gatwick | M25 | 31.9 miles | about 39 minutes | about 49 mph |
| Gatwick | Henfold Lane | 21.6 miles | about 41 minutes | about 32 mph |
| Horsley station (in East Horsley) | A246 and Ockham Road South | 2.3 miles | about 5 minutes | — |
| Guildford (our office) | Epsom Road and A25 | 5.6 miles | about 11 minutes | — |
Look at the Gatwick rows. Down the lanes via Henfold Lane it is 21.6 miles and about 41 minutes. Round on the M25 and M23 it is 29.9 miles and about 39.
Eight and a third miles shorter, and two minutes slower. That is the widest distance gap of its kind we have measured in any town we cover — a route nearly 40 per cent longer that still gets you there first, because one is motorway and the other is Surrey lanes.
It is also the clearest possible answer to anyone quoting by the mile. A per-mile rate would charge you roughly 40 per cent more for the road that arrives sooner. We quote the job instead, and the driver takes whichever way is actually moving.
About 29 minutes for 20.7 miles up the M25 — and note the second row: 22.6 miles by a different way takes the same 29 minutes. Nearly two extra miles, no extra time. Give us the flight time and let the office pick the road on the morning.
Longer runs, all decided by the hour rather than the distance. Luton and Stansted transfers from KT24 are booked the same way; our airport transfers page covers the rest, and Gatwick airport transfers has the detail on the nearer one.
Be met inside the terminal with a name board rather than hunting a pick-up bay — our meet and greet chauffeur service. Give us the flight number on the return and we move the pick-up with the inbound, so an hour on the tarmac is not an hour of waiting charges.
Tell the office where, when, how many and how much luggage. You get a price for that job, and it does not change while you are in the car.
A semi-rural village strung along and behind the A246 is a difficult shape for a driver. The lanes are narrow, unlit and unnumbered in places, and several of them look identical in the dark. A few landmarks do most of the work.
The village’s great house: a medieval building substantially reconstructed between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries, Grade I listed, and inherited by Bamber Gascoigne in 2014. Events and performances there produce the booking every rural venue produces — several people arriving at once, leaving together, in the dark, from a place with limited parking and no taxi rank.
Those are much easier to arrange in advance than on the night. If you are going to anything there, book the car home when you book the car out.
A Saxon flint building dating from 1030, Grade I listed, with the tower added in 1120 and the church extended to its present size in 1210. Weddings and funerals here bring the same job: several cars, one timing, and guests who have never driven these lanes.
103 hectares (255 acres) of beech woodland and grassland inside the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Wonderful, and a pick-up point with no postal address anywhere in it. Give us a car park, a gate or a road junction and a time and we will be on it — and if you are walking with a dog, say so and we will send a driver who takes them.
The A246 runs the length of the village between Guildford and Leatherhead and carries most of the through traffic. The useful local knowledge is about the turnings off it: which lane loops back, which one narrows to single track, and which of them is worth avoiding at half past eight. A driver who works KT24 knows; a satnav picking the first suggestion does not.
For pick-ups, a house name, a gate or the nearest junction beats a lane name on its own.
The Raleigh School is the village primary — a two-form entry co-educational academy for ages four to eleven. Secondary journeys leave the village altogether, towards Guildford, Leatherhead or Effingham, on the A246 at exactly the hour it is busiest.
A regular run is set up once — a named set of drivers, an agreed pick-up point, a monthly invoice — rather than booked every morning, and every driver on school work is licensed and DBS checked. See our school run chauffeur service.
Ramp-equipped wheelchair accessible vehicles across KT24, with drivers trained to secure a chair properly rather than improvise. There are fewer accessible cars than saloons and this is a village at the edge of the network, so give as much notice as you can — a day for a local run or a hospital appointment, longer for an airport transfer at a busy hour. Say on the phone whether the chair is manual or powered. See our certified and trained wheelchair accessible minicab service.
With the Sheepleas on the doorstep and open country on every side, this is thoroughly dog country — and not every private hire driver will take one. We keep drivers who will and match them to the booking rather than leaving it to chance at the kerb. Vet runs, kennel drop-offs and lifts home from a muddy walk are all routine. Tell us the size of the animal and whether it travels in a carrier — see pet friendly taxis.
Half an hour from Heathrow, forty minutes from Gatwick and eleven from Guildford: for a village of under three thousand people this is unusually well placed for business travel, and an account takes the admin out of it.
Hospital journeys from West Horsley run mostly into Guildford, eleven minutes away, or across to Leatherhead and Epsom. They share a shape: a fixed arrival time at the front and an unknown finish at the back. We book both halves — an outward leg to the appointment and a return that waits for your call rather than a guessed time. Drivers will help to the door where that is needed. More on reliable transport for medical appointments, or ring 01483 301 000.
The same cars carry documents and packages when they are not carrying people — a same-day run into London or Guildford, a legal pack against a deadline, something breakable that should not go through a depot. See same day courier in Surrey.
People searching for removals, IT services or used cars in West Horsley sometimes land here. We are none of those. Clocktower Cars is a licensed private hire operator: a car with a driver, booked by the journey, the hour or the day. We do not move furniture, fix computers or sell vehicles.
If what you want is a car and driver at your disposal for a day — viewings, appointments, a family occasion — that is a booking we take, and it comes with somebody to do the driving and the parking. Ring 01483 301 000 and describe the day.
01483 301 000 rings our Guildford office at Station Approach, London Road. Use the phone for anything out of the ordinary: an accessible vehicle, an early airport run, a group, a pet, a chauffeur car, an account, or a pick-up from a lane with no number.
The booking form takes the whole job at once, day or night — the easier route for a straightforward airport transfer booked a week ahead.
Every office we run is listed on find us and the branch locator.
01483 301 000, which rings our Guildford office at Station Approach, London Road — 5.6 miles and about eleven minutes away. You can also book online at any hour.
No. Horsley station serves the village but sits in neighbouring East Horsley, 2.3 miles and about five minutes away by road via the A246 and Ockham Road South. It is the reason the station run is our most frequent West Horsley booking, and it can be set up as a standing arrangement rather than booked daily.
About 29 minutes for 20.7 miles up the M25. A second route of 22.6 miles takes the same 29 minutes — nearly two extra miles for no extra time, which tells you how much the road matters more than the mileage here.
29.9 miles via the M25 and M23, about 39 minutes. There is a much shorter way — 21.6 miles via Henfold Lane — and it takes about 41. Eight miles shorter and two minutes slower, because one is motorway and the other is Surrey lanes.
Because on these roads it would be wrong more often than right. The shortest way to Gatwick from here is nearly 40 per cent shorter than the fastest and still arrives later. A per-mile rate would charge you a premium for the road that gets you there sooner. We quote the job instead.
In everyday use, yes. In law a taxi or hackney carriage can be hailed in the street, while a minicab or private hire car must be booked with a licensed operator first. There is no rank in the village and nothing to hail on the A246, so every journey here is booked — which is what gives you a named driver and an agreed price.
Yes, and this is worth a moment on the phone. Give us a car park, a gate, a house name or the nearest junction rather than the lane alone. Several of the lanes here look identical after dark, and a landmark saves the driver circling.
Yes. Book the return at the same time as the outward journey — a rural venue empties all at once, in the dark, with limited parking, and that is the hardest moment of the evening to find a car. Groups are easier in an MPV than in two saloons.
No. We are a private hire taxi and minicab operator — a car with a driver. If what you want is a car and driver for a whole day, that is a booking we take; ring 01483 301 000.
Yes, ramp-equipped vehicles with trained drivers, booked in advance. This is a village at the edge of the network, so give as much notice as you can, and say whether the chair is manual or powered.
Yes, with a pet friendly taxi booked in advance. Tell us the size of the animal and whether it travels in a carrier — and if you are coming off the Sheepleas, say so, because muddy is expected.
It depends on the journey, the hour, the size of car and whether there is waiting or meeting involved, which is why we quote the job rather than publish a mileage rate. Ring 01483 301 000 or use the booking form and you will have a price before you travel.
Licensed drivers, a Guildford office eleven minutes away, drivers who know which lane is which after dark, and a price agreed before you get in. Call 01483 301 000 or book your West Horsley taxi online.
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