An independent courier company, here since 2001
Same-day, next-day and international courier services, specialist transport, pallets and freight, storage and fulfilment, from branches in Basingstoke, Farnborough, Reading and Southampton.
What we're built around
The business runs on a simple idea: transport works better when you can reach someone who understands the job and takes responsibility for it. Technology handles the tracking, routing and proof of delivery. It doesn't ask the right question, choose between two services or ring you back when the road ahead has closed.
We work with businesses of every size, from occasional customers with one urgent consignment to organisations whose weekly operation depends on our vehicles, our warehouse and our people.
Our history
We started trading in 2001 and built a branch-based courier operation across southern England.
Reading opened in 2003. Farnborough followed in 2006. Together with Basingstoke and Southampton, the four branches give customers across Hampshire, Berkshire and Surrey a local operational base, while we collect and deliver throughout the UK.
The service range grew well beyond urgent vans. Next-day gave planned consignments a cheaper route. International courier and freight connected UK collections to worldwide destinations. Storage and fulfilment in Farnborough, Reading and Southampton brought stock, e-commerce, point-of-sale campaigns, returns and distribution into the same business.
What "not just a van" means
The vehicle is one part of a delivery that works. Before it moves, someone has to understand the addresses, the goods, the deadline, the vehicle, the access and the handover. While it's running, someone should know whether the plan is still holding. At the far end, the recipient and the evidence have to match what you asked for.
We put those pieces together. Same-day work goes on a dedicated vehicle, carried directly. Next-day and international work gets a partner route chosen and monitored by us. Fulfilment ties stock, preparation and despatch into one process.
It also means you can just ask. You don't need to know whether a long item needs a Sprinter, whether a pallet needs a tail lift, or whether an urgent international item should go express air, dedicated road or on-board. Give us accurate information and tell us what outcome you need. Turning that into a plan is our job, not yours. Service decisions get made around your requirement instead of around one national product we're obliged to sell.
Our four branches
Branch
Basingstoke
8 Hassocks Wood Industrial Estate, Stroudley Road, Basingstoke, RG24 8UQ
01256 638148Near the A339 and M3, covering the town and the surrounding area including Overton, Whitchurch, Bramley, Tadley, Odiham and Kingsclere.
Basingstoke servicesBranch
Farnborough
Ferneberga House, Alexandra Road, Farnborough, GU14 6DQ
01252 640064Operating here since 2006, close to the A331 and M3. Covering Farnborough, Fleet, Farnham, Aldershot, Camberley, Yateley and Sandhurst.
Farnborough servicesBranch
Reading
Unit 7, Robert Cort Industrial Estate, Britten Road, Reading, RG2 0AU
0118 987 5979Serving local customers since 2003, near the A33 and M4 corridor. Reading also runs storage, pick and pack and fulfilment.
Reading servicesBranch
Southampton
424 Portswood Road, Southampton, SO17 3SD
023 8055 3322Access to the M27 and the routes serving Southampton, Eastleigh, Romsey, Fareham, Hedge End, Chandler's Ford and Nursling. Storage and fulfilment too.
Southampton servicesHow we approach a delivery
Booking
Proof
Briefed.
Work out what depends on it
The same cardboard box can carry two completely different risks. Routine stock is fine on next-day. A component inside that box might be the only thing between a production line and an expensive afternoon.
Matched.
Match the handling model
Same-day means a dedicated vehicle and a direct route. Planned next-day uses a selected network. International uses air, road, sea or an accompanied option. We tell you how your goods will actually move, so nobody assumes every service works the same way.
Allocated.
Match the vehicle
Small vans through Transit and Sprinter-type vehicles, Luton and tail-lift options, HGVs and articulated transport. The choice follows dimensions, weight, loading and access. The smallest vehicle that can do the job safely usually gives the best answer on cost and practicality.
Direct.
Watch the job
Tracking data goes alongside people who are responsible for your booking. We monitor movements and stay available when a collection, a route, a customs event or a recipient needs attention.
Confirmed.
Confirm the handover
Proof of delivery closes the job. A recipient name and time suits most work; some jobs need a signature, a photograph, a named-person handover or signed documents brought back. We agree which one before we collect.
What we do
Same-day courier
Dedicated vehicles carrying urgent goods directly, anywhere in the UK. Fastest response around our four branches, with nationwide collection available.
Same-day courierSAME-DAYNext-day courier
Standard and timed next-day for planned, well-packed consignments, including 10.30am, noon and weekend delivery where the route supports it.
Next-day courierNEXT-DAYInternational courier
Documents, parcels, pallets and freight by express air, road and sea, plus imports and on-board courier.
International courierINTERNATIONALSpecialist services
On-board courier, confidential documents, fragile and high-value goods, exhibitions, medical equipment and regulated contents, within our confirmed capability.
Specialist servicesSPECIALISTPallet and freight
Single pallets, multiple pallets and larger loads by dedicated same-day, planned UK freight or international routes.
Pallet and freightPALLETStorage and fulfilment
Farnborough, Reading and Southampton: storage, e-commerce, pick and pack, point-of-sale campaigns, returns, kitting, rework and distribution.
Storage and fulfilmentSTORAGE
When something goes wrong
Roads close. Flights move. Customs asks questions. Recipients go to lunch at exactly the wrong moment. A courier company that tells you none of this ever happens is telling you something else about how it operates.
What we do instead is take the booking carefully, communicate clearly and act when the plan changes. Our operational staff own the customer relationship, and issues can be escalated inside the business, up to management where that's warranted.
You'll get facts, options and someone's name, not a tracking status and a shrug.
There's a share of this at your end too. Accurate goods, address and access information is what makes the rest possible. We can't protect a deadline when a hazardous item has been described as "spares", a pallet weight is out by 200kg or the delivery contact doesn't exist. Good delivery is a two-sided process.
We work with organisations that need urgency, flexibility, or a reliable extension of their own operation: manufacturing and engineering, technology, professional services, retail, healthcare, events, field service, e-commerce and businesses distributing marketing material or parts. You won't find invented client names or a claim that we serve "every industry" on this site.
Company information
- Trading company
- Rapid Despatch Logistics Ltd
- Established
- June 2001
- Registered in England
- 4215880
- Registered address
- 424 Portswood Road, Southampton, Hampshire, SO17 3SD
- Central telephone
- 0345 8333 833
- Sales email
- [email protected]
Every branch is part of Rapid Despatch, not a separate brand with a shared logo. Ring the local number or the central number and you reach the same accountable company.
About Rapid Despatch FAQs
June 2001.
Basingstoke, Farnborough, Reading and Southampton. Four physical branches.
Yes. We're an independent courier and logistics company, not a franchise or a booking agent for someone else's network.
Yes. Same-day and planned collection can be arranged throughout the UK, with our fastest local response across Hampshire, Berkshire and Surrey.
Yes. Express air, road, sea, imports and urgent on-board courier, depending on the goods and the route.
The urgent same-day phone line runs 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Email and forms are handled during staffed periods.
Yes, from Farnborough, Reading and Southampton, for suitable stock and projects.
Send collection and delivery postcodes, contents, dimensions, weight and deadline through the contact form, or ring us. For anything urgent, ring.
Talk to us
Whether you need a vehicle this afternoon, a planned delivery tomorrow or a fulfilment partner for the next three years, start with the requirement and talk to the team.