Wednesday 20 April 2016

Making it happen, whatever...

One of the greatest sights you will ever behold is that of the London Marathon. Thousands of runners, from top athletes through to people dressed as chickens, pound their way past the many familiar landmarks on route to completing many months of training.

It isn't so welcome in the chauffeur world though but only for the practical, obvious reason of all the roads being closed. So it is the one day in the calendar that we at Chirton Grange don't go looking for work in the Capital. That said, we do not ignore any client request but certainly look out for other companies wanting to generously pass on to us that 09:00 Greenwich to London City airport transfer.

Some client requests are helpful in that their route doesn't cross that of the Marathons so, in fact, they are easy jobs as most motorists refuse to drive in London on Marathon Sunday....not so simple this year though.

Our mission, should we choose to accept it, comes from one of our largest clients. To get 12 of their valued Travel Agents from Heathrow airport to the Cheval Three Quays Hotel at around 1pm on Sunday.....Marathon Day. The hotel sits beautifully on the River Thames practically underneath Tower Bridge and will be hemmed in by over 30000 runners, the route crosses past Tower Bridge twice, with roads closed from 0600-2000. The last thing anyone needs after an 8 hour flight is a further 8 hours sitting in Starbucks

At Chirton Grange we always look for solutions not problems, say yes then work out how, and here is how we are going to do it. 

First we pick up the group in 2 x Mercedes People carriers we would normally use a coach for 12 people but we might need to 'weave' the back streets and this will be quicker. Then, after some investigation we know we can get to the London Eye before meeting any road closure. The cars finish here and we  now escort our guests to the London Clipper Boat service placed right under the Eye. In around 20, uninterrupted, minutes we will step off at the Tower Pier not 50 metres from the hotel door.

The added bonus is that our guests will get an amazing view of the runners as they head down the Embankment and all this for only an extra £7 per head when using their pre-purchased Oyster cards. Our escort will assist with check in before jumping back on the Clipper and return to the waiting car. Tom Cruise eat your heart out.