New AP arrival...

[Notjustafarmerswife]

Hi all,
I have a new AP arriving in a couple of weeks. She has a boyfriend who lives about 1 hour away, and so planned on her arrival in UK to have a few nights with him before coming to us. She has just sent me a message to say she would like to arrive earlier now, as he is going back CZ when she arrives. She has now asked us to pick her up from the airport too. The problem is, it’s Stanstead, which is 180 miles from us, and her flight lands at 10pm. I think this is a ridiculous request, I have no intention of driving throughout the night for 8+ hours. Am I being unreasonable? Had she been arriving at a sociable hour, and a nearer destination I may have considered it. The trouble is there will be no trains at that time coming the whole way, so the only thing I can think is that I will have to tell her to get a hotel for the night, and then train the next day? Has anyone else had anything similar/ideas?

Tricky, as it’s her plans that have changed not her start date, so she should be responsible for transport and accommodation, and her request is unreasonable, but it’s not a great start.

Hotels will likely be expensive.

Where were you supposed to be meeting her for her to start?

No that's not reasonable. She probably doesn't realise how far away the airport is or how long it will take to drive. She needs to get a room then train it.

Might there be coaches from stanstead to anywhere near you?

She would have arrived to us either with her boyfriend driving or train (direct 45 mins). That’s a good idea Loopytiles, I will look into coaches, thank you.

She should have checked before changing her plans if she was going to rely on your help, esp if the flight arrives very late. None of the au pairs I've had would have dreamed of making a request like this. I agree with a pp- any chance of a National Express?

I have asked her to get a hotel for the evening, and I’ve booked her on a NE bus the following day. Thanks all for your help.