Coach Transfers

TRANSFER ARRANGEMENTS – PLEASE NOTE:

Arrivals Days: Students will be met by our staff at Heathrow in the Terminal 3 arrivals lounge between 0600 & 0900 on the dates given (see link to PDF below) for coaches from Heathrow to Concord. Additional afternoon and evening coaches are often arranged if demand is sufficiently high.

Leaving Days: Departure times for coaches going to Heathrow are only finalised when students’flight details are known. Students are asked to complete holiday forms and when these are collected in (approximately three weeks before each holiday), we organise coaches accordingly. Please be aware that we allow 7 hours for transfers (for travelling and check-in). It is most often the case that students take evening flights (i.e. departing 6pm or later) and coaches depart from Concord around 11am to enable students to catch such evening flights. Occasionally, if there is sufficient demand, we can also have coaches departing Concord from 5am to enable students to catch midday and afternoon flights. There will be a member of staff at Heathrow to help students if necessary.

Charges – If students or parents reserve a seat on a bus to/ from Heathrow, there will be no charge for this service under normal circumstances. However, if a place on a bus is reserved and is not then used, a charge of £50 will be added to that student’s bill.

Important: if there are 6 or more students travelling together with the same or similar flights, Concord will cover the cost of the transfer. If there are less than 6, parents will be asked to contribute towards the costs of taxis.

Reservations for seats on coaches can be made via e-mail to the Vice-Principal (Pastoral)’s office at the following address:holidays@concordcollege.org.uk.  Please book early and expect confirmation by return, since places on coaches are limited and numbers of coaches have to be booked well in advance of student arrival and departure days. In order to correctly book transfers we will need the following information: Flight Number; Date of flight; Flight departure / arrival time to/ from Heathrow and Terminal Number.

‘Unaccompanied Minors’: We do not offer an ‘unaccompanied minor’ service. If this is required, parents will need to pay for a private taxi. We can advise which taxi companies offer this service

Students travelling to and from London can make use of our coaches only if there is space for them. Students can then make their own way into central London from Heathrow. Those students with flights will always take priority. The transport links between central London and Heathrow (for example the Heathrow Express Train) are very good and are often faster than driving. Occasionally, if there are a lot of students travelling to London, we will divert the coach to Euston or King’s Cross after dropping students with flights at Heathrow. Alternatively, there are many trains and public buses that students can use to travel between Shrewsbury and London.

Half-Term Holidays & Weekend Exeats: From September 2018 we will be providing transport to and from Heathrow or London for the Autumn and Spring half-term holidays (all students are welcome to remain in Concord for half-term holidays if they wish to). Those students planning to go away must have written (e-mail) permission from parents, detailing which nights they plan to leave Concord and where they intend to stay. This rule applies to all exeats throughout the year. We would be grateful for as much notice as possible for these planned exeats and holidays, to allow us to update our registers, inform our resident boarding parents and ensure that our students are safe.