Private car hire- travel conundrum

[Restaurantcritic]

My parents are not in great health but want to visit us for Xmas. We live 150 mls away. I really want them to but I can’t let them drive and I think the train might be a bit much for them. Me or DH could drive up and back to get them but it’s a lot of time and driving while trying to get ready for Xmas and we have limited leave around then apart from the main days.

We cant go to them as both our kids work over Xmas in restaurants so would mean leaving them at home.

would a private driver be hideously expensive? I suppose it’s a long distance taxi I’m thinking of. Any experience of this?

Hopeful bump.

You can pop starting destination and end destination in Uber and get a general feel of price (if Uber serves both areas) ~ or call a local taxi firm and get a quote, but it’s likely to be more expensive than Uber.

I haven’t heard of specialist long distance taxis, but I often used local firms to organise longer trips for my company. Always got a bit frustrated the Uber quote was so much cheaper but we had to use local firms!

There will be a lcoal(ish) taxi firm that specialises in airport runs I expect, which is probably you best bet. It’s not going to be cheap though, because they’ll be going back empty - so that’s a 300 mile round trip and the best part of a working day for the driver I expect. But I think I’d start there to get an idea.

Something I would look at also is if there’s a decent train route you could maybe arrange taxis around. Obviously depends on start/end points and also track repairs around the holidays, but if you can find a decent route with guaranteed seats it may be faster and easier than a taxi ride! Some stations have dedicated teams and you can book ahead for assistance to get more vulnerable passengers around the station with their luggage.

May not work for you at all but thought I’d mention as until I realised this I’d ruled out travel with my (disabled) mum but actually it’s smoother than driving sometimes!

Apart from the standard taxi to an airport, I have only ever booked a private hire taxi once before. I had offered to drive my mum and I to a funeral service in central London before realising that my driving skills would no longer be up to London traffic. I asked a couple of local taxi firms to quote, giving all details. We were picked up at about 9:30 am, dropped home at around 6 pm. £140 each way, and we gave a generous tip. Originally, we were having a London black cab, so no waiting time was included. Plans changed, but the quote was kept to.

As another poster said maybe a hybrid approach with taxis/you or your husband either end might work. The easiest journey might not involve the stations which are closest to either you or you parents but might still be a lot cheaper than/less time consuming than a taxi/driving from point to point.
Also have you though about National Express coaches? The driver will load your parents luggage in and take it out the other end. I think you can even book accessible seats on some routes.