Driving home for Christmas?

So, when you find the trains can't cope with a few centimetres of snow and you need to get home for Christmas, what do you do?

You could always get a coach but getting to the station is such a hassle and being sat in a confined space for five hours isn't how I want to start my Christmas holiday. Not being able to walk around, no food and drink served to kick off the festive spirit and what are the chances of the toilet working?

I looked into getting a cab home. Yes, someone could probably come and get me but it's a long round trip and who would want to be on the motorway when they could be at home, safe and warm eating mince pies!

So, online I went. First, I tweeted @tweetalondoncab; they came back to me straight away quoting £300. I should mention this is to pick me up from the office in central London and drive up the motorway to Nottinghamshire.

I thought I should probably get competitive quotes and have used Addison Lee a few times recently over the Christmas party period, so I used their online quote system and got a quote for £450. Too much.

A Google search revealed an online quote from Ero Carriages for £250 and an online taxi search portal gave quotes for £200 and £165!

So why the big difference? £165 - £450! Is this another case of rip-off Britain and big companies taking advantage of people desperate to get home for Christmas? Whatever the case, if the trains are down and you're looking for other ways to get away, then it pays to hunt around for the best price. It could save you, well £285, quite a nice Christmas present in itself!