Clocktower Cars runs licensed taxis, minicabs and private hire cars across West Molesey and the whole of KT8. Our nearest office is in Kingston — 4.1 miles and about fifteen minutes away — with Weybridge six miles the other way, so there is a car on either side of the village whichever direction the traffic is going. Call 0203 388 9999 or book online.
Molesey is a suburban neighbourhood made up of two large villages — East Molesey and West Molesey — in the Borough of Elmbridge, Surrey, on the south bank of the River Thames and inside the Greater London Built-up Area. It divides into three wards: Molesey South, East and West. The postcode district is KT8.
Worth one line, because it catches people out constantly. This is West Molesey in Surrey. It is not Moseley in Birmingham, and it is not Mossley in Greater Manchester. If you have arrived here looking for a taxi in either of those, our apologies — we do not operate there. If you want a car in KT8, between Hampton Court and Walton-on-Thames, you are in the right place.
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 before the journey starts. Clocktower Cars is a private hire operator, so every West Molesey job is a booking — a named driver, a known car, a price agreed before you travel. There is more in our guide to minicabs versus black cabs.
This is the fact that shapes local car travel here. There is no platform in West Molesey. Hampton Court is the nearest station, in Transport for London’s Zone 6, with a journey to London Waterloo of around thirty-five minutes — and from the western end of the village it is 1.9 miles and about nine minutes by road.
Two miles is an awkward distance. Too far to walk with a case or in the rain, short enough that the drive feels like it should be nothing, and right across the grain of the morning traffic heading for the bridge. It is why the station run is the most ordinary booking we take in KT8.
The terminus of the branch, on the Molesey side of the river despite the name — the palace itself is across the water. Routes from West Molesey run via Molesey Park Road at 1.9 miles, or the A3050 at 2.6 miles; on a bad morning the longer one is sometimes the quicker one.
Which one is right depends on where you are going, not which is closest. Tell the office the destination and we will say which station makes the journey shortest.
A car to the platform at ten past six, and a car waiting when the last train gets in, can both be set up as a standing arrangement rather than booked afresh each time. Ring 0203 388 9999 and ask.
Heathrow is close and Gatwick is not, but the clock does not agree with the map — and on this village’s roads it disagrees more sharply than almost anywhere else we cover.
| From Molesey to | Route | Distance | Typical drive | Average speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heathrow | A308 | 9.0 miles | about 24 minutes | about 23 mph |
| Heathrow | Walton Road / B369 | 10.1 miles | about 26 minutes | about 23 mph |
| Heathrow | A312 | 9.0 miles | about 27 minutes | about 20 mph |
| Gatwick | M25 and M23 | 28.1 miles | about 40 minutes | about 42 mph |
| Gatwick | M25 | 25.2 miles | about 47 minutes | about 32 mph |
| Hampton Court station | Molesey Park Road | 1.9 miles | about 9 minutes | — |
| Kingston (our office) | Hampton Court Road / A308 | 4.1 miles | about 15 minutes | — |
| Weybridge (our other office) | Walton Road / B369 and A3050 | 6.0 miles | about 16 minutes | — |
Nine miles sounds like fifteen minutes and takes about twenty-four, because the whole run crosses suburban west London at traffic-light pace. Look at the first and third lines of the table: two different routes, both exactly 9.0 miles, three minutes apart. Which is quicker depends on the morning, not the map.
The practical consequence: give us the flight time, not a route, and let the office work the pick-up backwards. A departure at eight in the morning wants an earlier car than your instinct suggests.
Two ways to Gatwick from here. Round on the M25 and M23 it is 28.1 miles and about 40 minutes. Straight down the M25 it is 25.2 miles and about 47. Nearly three miles shorter, seven minutes slower — the widest gap of its kind we have measured anywhere in the coverage area.
Now put the two airports side by side. Heathrow averages about 23 mph from Molesey. Gatwick averages about 42. Gatwick is more than three times the distance and takes only about sixteen minutes longer.
That is why we quote the job and not the mileage. A per-mile rate would bill you roughly three times as much for Gatwick, for a journey that costs a driver about two-thirds more of his day — and on the Gatwick run itself it would charge you more for the route that gets you there sooner. Nobody should be paying a premium to arrive late.
Details on our Gatwick airport transfers page. On the same day, public transport from Molesey to Gatwick came out at about 1 hour 11 minutes with a change, against forty minutes by car.
Longer runs, all of them decided by the hour of departure rather than the distance. Luton and Stansted transfers from KT8 are booked the same way; our general airport transfers page covers the rest.
Coming home, you can be met inside the terminal with a name board instead of hunting a pick-up bay with a trolley — 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.
Walton Road is the spine of the village and the road most journeys start or finish on. St Peter’s Church stands on it, and is said to be the oldest building in Molesey. Between the church, the shops and the side roads either end, it is a long street with a lot of similar frontages — so a house number or a shop name gets a driver to you faster than the road name alone.
Island Barn Reservoir lies to the south of the village, and Molesey is bordered on more than one side by reservoirs and by the River Mole, with the Thames along the northern edge. It is a lot of water for a place this size, and for a driver it means the same thing every time: the obvious straight line between two points is often not a road at all.
Sailing, walking and fishing trips all produce pick-ups with no postal address. Give us a gate, a car park or a road junction and a time, and we will be on it.
East and West Molesey run into one another with no visible join, and a booking from either is the same car from the same office. If you are not sure which side of the line you are on, give the postcode and let us work it out. Our East Molesey taxis page covers the other half.
Hampton Court Palace sits across the Thames in Richmond upon Thames, reached over the bridge at the eastern end of East Molesey. On a flower show weekend, a bank holiday or any sunny Sunday, the approach roads and car parks fill and the bridge slows the whole of KT8 behind it. A car set down at the gates beats a long walk from wherever you finally parked — and it is worth booking the return before you go in.
Molesey is a residential place with its shopping, hospital and main-line trains somewhere else. Kingston upon Thames is 1.7 miles (2.7 km) east of Bridge Road in East Molesey, and central Walton-on-Thames is 2.3 miles (3.7 km) to the west-south-west. Between them they take most of the everyday journeys out of this village.
Both are short runs, both go over or around water, and both are jobs where the hour matters more than the miles. See Kingston taxis and minicabs and Walton-on-Thames taxis.
Ramp-equipped wheelchair accessible vehicles across KT8, 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; the ramp and the anchor points differ. See our certified and trained wheelchair accessible minicab service.
Reservoirs, riverside and open ground on three sides make this 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 long walk are all routine. Tell us the size of the animal and whether it travels in a carrier — see pet friendly taxis.
Most secondary journeys leave the village — towards East Molesey, Hampton, Walton or across the bridge — on roads that funnel into the same few crossings at the same hour. A regular run is set up once, with a named set of drivers, an agreed pick-up point and a monthly invoice, rather than booked every morning. Every driver on school work is licensed and DBS checked. See our school run chauffeur service.
Twenty-four minutes from Heathrow and forty from Gatwick makes this a better base for business travel than its size suggests, and an account removes the admin from it.
Hospital journeys from West Molesey run mostly to Kingston and across the river, and 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, and a course of appointments can be set up in one call. More on reliable transport for medical appointments, or ring 0203 388 9999.
The same cars carry documents and packages when they are not carrying people — a same-day run into London, a legal pack against a deadline, something breakable that should not go through a depot. See same day courier in Surrey.
0203 388 9999. 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, 4.1 miles and about fifteen minutes from the village. You can also book online at any hour.
Surrey — West Molesey, spelled with an L, in the Borough of Elmbridge, postcode KT8, between Hampton Court and Walton-on-Thames. We do not operate in Moseley, Birmingham, or in Mossley, Greater Manchester.
Hampton Court, in Transport for London’s Zone 6, about thirty-five minutes to London Waterloo. From the western end of the village it is 1.9 miles and about nine minutes by road. Walton-on-Thames, Kingston and Weybridge are the other options and are often better depending on where you are going.
About 24 minutes for 9.0 miles via the A308. Two other routes run 10.1 miles at about 26 minutes and 9.0 miles at about 27 — the same distance as the first, three minutes slower. The whole run is suburban, so it is slower per mile than the distance suggests.
28.1 miles via the M25 and M23, about 40 minutes. The shorter way, 25.2 miles straight down the M25, takes about 47 — nearly three miles less for seven minutes more. On the same day, public transport came out at about 1 hour 11 minutes.
Because the Heathrow run crosses suburban west London at about 23 mph while the Gatwick run is mostly motorway at about 42. Gatwick is more than three times the distance and takes roughly sixteen minutes longer. It is the clearest reason we quote the job rather than the mileage.
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. We are a private hire operator, so every journey is booked before the car sets off — which is what gives you a named driver and an agreed price.
Yes, all of KT8. East and West Molesey run into one another with no visible join, and both are worked by the same office. The palace is across the bridge in Richmond upon Thames, and we set down at the gates.
Yes. Those are pick-ups with no postal address, so give us a gate, a car park or a road junction and a time, and the driver will be on it.
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. Here a mileage rate would be actively misleading: the shorter road to Gatwick is seven minutes slower than the longer one. Ring 0203 388 9999 or use the booking form and you will have a price before you travel.
Licensed drivers, two offices within about fifteen minutes, real knowledge of the bridges and the reservoirs, and a price agreed before you get in. Call 0203 388 9999 or book your West Molesey taxi online.
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