Clocktower Cars runs licensed taxis, minicabs and private hire cars across Kingston upon Thames and the whole of KT1 and KT2. Our Kingston office is at 39A Walter Street, KT2 5DS, and it covers the town, the riverside, the hospital, the university and everything out to Surbiton and Tolworth. Call 0203 388 9999 or book online.
People in Kingston ask for a taxi, a minicab, a cab or a private hire car and mean the same thing: a licensed driver, a booked car, a named pick-up point and a price agreed in advance. This page uses all four words deliberately, because until now it only used one, and half the town was searching for the other three.
A taxi, or hackney carriage, is the vehicle you may flag down in the street or take from a rank. A private hire vehicle — a minicab — must be booked through a licensed operator before the journey starts. Clocktower Cars is a private hire operator, so every Kingston journey is a booking.
That works in your favour more often than not: a booked car has a named driver, a recorded pick-up, a quoted price and an office that can look the job up if anything goes wrong. There is more in our guide to minicabs versus black cabs in London.
Kingston upon Thames is a town in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames in south-west London, on the River Thames, 10 miles (16 km) south-west of Charing Cross. The post town population was 54,925 at the 2021 census and the borough’s was 168,063. It sits 3 miles (5 km) south-east of Twickenham, 5 miles (8 km) north-east of Walton-on-Thames and 6 miles (10 km) north-west of Sutton.
KT1 covers the town centre, the riverside and Hampton Wick; KT2 covers Norbiton, Coombe and the north of the town, including our office. We work both, and we work the rest of the borough with them.
Kingston railway station opened in 1863 and is served by South Western Railway. It is busy, central, and surrounded by the thing that defines driving in this town: the one-way system built in the late 1980s.
Two addresses fifty yards apart can be a five-minute drive apart, in one direction only. That is not a complaint about the town, it is the single most useful piece of local knowledge a Kingston driver has — and it is why “outside the station” is a worse instruction than “on the Wood Street side” or “by the Bentall Centre entrance”.
Tell the office a side, an entrance or a shop name. It saves more time here than in any other town we cover.
Every journey from Kingston towards Hampton Wick, Teddington and Twickenham crosses the bridge, and so does a good share of everything heading for Heathrow. When it is slow, the whole town is slow. A driver who works KT1 daily knows at what hour it is worth going round instead.
A car to the platform at ten past six and a car waiting for the last train are two of the most ordinary bookings we take in KT1 and KT2. Norbiton and Hampton Wick are both short runs when Kingston itself is congested. Either can be set up as a standing arrangement — ring 0203 388 9999 and ask.
Kingston has the most extreme airport arithmetic of any town we cover, and it is worth two minutes of your time before you book anything.
| From Kingston to | Route | Distance | Typical drive | Average speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heathrow | Bedfont Road | 9.8 miles | about 32 minutes | about 18 mph |
| Heathrow | A308 | 10.6 miles | about 36 minutes | about 18 mph |
| Gatwick | M25 | 30.7 miles | about 51 minutes | about 36 mph |
| Gatwick | M25 and M23 | 29.0 miles | about 53 minutes | about 33 mph |
Read the last column. Heathrow is 9.8 miles from Kingston and averages about 18 mph. Gatwick is 30.7 miles and averages about 36 mph. Three times the distance, twice the speed, and only about nineteen more minutes of a driver’s time.
That is because the Heathrow run crosses suburban west London at traffic-light pace while almost all of the Gatwick run is motorway. It is also the single best reason we do not charge by the mile: a mileage rate would bill you roughly three times as much for Gatwick, for a journey that costs a driver about sixty per cent more of his day.
It works the other way too. Nine point eight miles sounds like twenty minutes and is not. If you have a flight from Heathrow at eight in the morning, the pick-up time is earlier than your instinct says.
Two routes, both about the same average speed: Bedfont Road at 9.8 miles, or the A308 at 10.6. Which is quicker depends entirely on the morning, which is why you should give us the flight time rather than a route. On the same day, public transport came out at about 53 minutes against roughly half an hour by car.
Round the M25 and down, about fifty minutes. Public transport on the same day came out at about 1 hour 12 minutes with a change. See Gatwick airport transfers.
Luton and Stansted are longer runs and the hour of departure decides them. Our general airport transfers page covers the rest.
On the way home you can be met inside the terminal with a name board — our meet and greet chauffeur service. Give us the flight number when you book 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.
Kingston is an ancient market town where Saxon kings were crowned, formally incorporated as a borough in 1441, and the market in the Market Place still runs daily. The Coronation Stone stands at the Guildhall. For a car, the Market Place is pedestrianised and the working pick-up points are the streets around it — say which one and we will be on it.
The Bentall Centre opened in 1992 and is the easiest landmark in town to describe to a driver. Shopping runs — out light, back loaded, usually with more bags than anyone planned — are one of our steadiest Kingston bookings, and they are a job where an estate is worth asking for.
The Rose Theatre opened in 2008, and between it, the restaurants and the riverside bars Kingston empties in a rush at about the same time most evenings. That is the hour when a car booked at eight is easy and a car wanted at eleven is not. Book the return with the outward journey.
The towpath, the boats and the riverside walks all share one problem for a driver: no addresses. Give us a pub, a bridge, a car park or a slipway and a time, and we will be there.
Kingston Hospital is the acute hospital for this whole area, part of Kingston and Richmond NHS Foundation Trust, with A&E and maternity. It draws patients and visitors from well beyond the borough, and hospital journeys have a shape that catches people out: 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, and a course of appointments can be set up in one phone call. More on reliable transport for medical appointments, or ring 0203 388 9999.
Kingston University puts several thousand people into this town who do not have a car, and it produces three distinct kinds of booking:
All three are easier if they are booked ahead. Term-start weekends are the busiest days of our Kingston year.
A fair question, and the answer is no. Clocktower Cars is named after the Epsom Clock Tower, which is where our head office is — the address is literally Epsom Clock Tower, A24, Epsom, KT19 8BA. Kingston has its own clock tower and we have nothing to do with it.
We mention it because people searching for the landmark do sometimes find us instead. If you wanted the monument, our apologies. If you wanted a car, you are in the right place: 0203 388 9999.
Ramp-equipped wheelchair accessible vehicles across KT1 and KT2, with drivers trained to secure a chair properly rather than improvise. There are fewer accessible cars than saloons, 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.
Not every private hire driver will take a dog, which is a problem in a town with this much riverside and this many of them. 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 journeys to Richmond Park are all routine. Tell us the size of the animal and whether it travels in a carrier — see pet friendly taxis.
Kingston is ten miles from central London and half an hour from Heathrow, which makes it a sensible base for business travel and an awkward one for parking. An account turns both into something you do not have to think about.
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 it is worth doing in a town where the one-way system turns a ten-minute journey into a twenty-minute one at twenty past eight. Every driver on school work is licensed and DBS checked. See our school run chauffeur service.
The same cars carry documents and packages when they are not carrying people — a same-day run into the City, a legal pack against a deadline, something breakable that should not go through a depot. See same day courier in Surrey.
0203 388 9999 rings our Kingston office at 39A Walter Street, KT2 5DS. 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.
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.
0203 388 9999, which rings our Kingston office at 39A Walter Street, KT2 5DS. You can also book online at any hour.
Yes — they are the same service. 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. We are a private hire operator, so whichever word you use, the answer is a booked car with a named driver and an agreed price.
About 32 minutes for 9.8 miles via Bedfont Road, or about 36 for 10.6 miles via the A308. It is slower than the distance suggests, because the whole route is suburban. Give us the flight time and let the office set the pick-up.
30.7 miles via the M25, about 51 minutes. It is three times the distance of Heathrow and takes only about nineteen minutes longer, because nearly all of it is motorway.
Because the route crosses suburban west London at traffic-light pace: the average speed works out at around 18 mph, against about 36 mph on the Gatwick run. It is the clearest example in our whole coverage area of why distance is a poor guide to time — and why we quote the job rather than the mileage.
Yes — and please tell us which side. The one-way system built in the late 1980s means two points a short walk apart can be several minutes apart by car, in one direction only. A street name or an entrance saves more time in Kingston than anywhere else we work.
Yes, constantly. We book the outward leg to a fixed appointment time and leave the return open so the car comes when you ring rather than when someone guessed you would finish. A course of appointments can be set up in a single call.
No. Clocktower Cars is named after the Epsom Clock Tower, where our head office is. Kingston’s clock tower is nothing to do with us — we just keep turning up in the search results for it.
No. We are a private hire taxi and minicab operator — a car with a driver, booked by the journey, the hour or the day. We do not rent self-drive cars. If what you want is a car and driver for a whole day, ring 0203 388 9999 and describe the day.
Yes, ramp-equipped vehicles with trained drivers, booked in advance. 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.
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. In Kingston a mileage rate is especially misleading: the ten-mile run to Heathrow costs a driver nearly as much time as the thirty-mile run to Gatwick. Ring 0203 388 9999 or use the booking form and you will have a price before you travel.
Licensed drivers, an office on Walter Street, real knowledge of the one-way system and the bridge, and a price agreed before you get in. Call 0203 388 9999 or book your Kingston taxi online.
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