When I was 16 I went abroad to study, it was a daunting experience but I took so much away from it. I’ve been aware of how tough it can be coming to a new country. You depend on the person picking you up at the airport. In 2003 I decided to leave the mini-cab firm I was at and started British Airport Cars. I was tired of seeing people left in the lurch and I knew we could do better, if only we take the time to care about the folks we are picking up.
You can see the proof in our Google reviews and the reviews on our site.
It's our commitment to the people we pick up that sets us apart. We operate with empathy and care.
For example, the elderly couple we picked up in 2006, they missed their flight and were unable to let us know. So, concerned for their wellbeing we went to the desk found out they’d be in on the next flight, contacted their son who was relieved to know they’d be ok and picked them up to their surprise the next day!
Or the flight that came in 3 hours late at 2am. Our customer didn’t expect us to be there, but we were proactive and arrived on time.
Of course in logistics things go wrong but to paraphrase Epictetus: “it’s not what happens to you but how you react that matters.” When we make a mistake we do everything we can to get you where you need to go.
Some of the highlights of our our service are;
- The flight was 3&1/2 hours late now arriving at Heathrow at 2 AM. Normally there are no flights to and from Heathrow after 10 PM, but this being a delayed flight it was allowed to land. The customer did not expect us to be there even though we had delivered a reliable service till then. Our driver was there much to the amazement of the client.
- An elderly couple booked us to take them to the airport and back. We had a driver there to meet them almost 2 hours had lapsed since the flight landed and there was no sign of the passengers. The driver on the day Roshan was really concerned for them as they were elderly people, so he went over to airline desk and explained the situation. Normally they would not provide any information of this nature. However, on this occasion they informed the driver that they had missed today’s flight on account of a delay to the connecting flight and that they could be on the same flight the next day. In the meantime we had left a message on the couple's land line and one of their child who came around that evening to check if they were back picked up that message and contacted us. He too was unaware they had missed the flight. The driver decided to go the next day to meet that flight the elderly couple were a bit confused to see the driver. Only when they met the son did they realise that we had been to meet the flight so they contacted us kindly offered to pay for the second journey.
- I must say that in this trade things don't always go to plan. There are several factors that can work against us i.e. traffic, flight arrivals that can be early or late, vehicle failures, driver/admin errors(we humans can always make mistakes) and many other reasons. Here is one for you and how we resolved the problem. The driver had misread the instructions which meant that he was at the drop off address for his pick up. The pick up address was 80 miles away. When we found out it was past the pick up time. We found a local company that was happy to undertake the journey but at a much higher cost, but we booked it with them the customer was picked up about 15 minutes later than planned. This customer still uses our service. If we do get it wrong we will do everything we can to get is resolved all we ask is to be a little patient.
- I could go on but the above examples gives you a perspective of what we offer. We will never leave you stranded.
Over the years in operation in British Airport Transfers we have been through ups and downs. One of them is related to name we chose in the last minutes because the licensing agency would not allow us to use the original name. We chose British Airport Cars several other have used the same name coupled with seriously bad service which has resulted in confusion amongst the customers. We are still in operation our site is www.britishairportcars.co.uk there are no hyphens.
