Where Rapid Despatch delivers

Rapid Despatch is an independent same-day courier company, established 2001, with four branches in Hampshire and Berkshire covering Berkshire, Hampshire and Surrey: Basingstoke, Reading, Farnborough and Southampton. Twelve operations staff and around 50 drivers. It runs dedicated vehicles, not a parcel network.

We aim to collect within the hour, sometimes in as little as 30 minutes, and never more than 90. That applies across most of the UK, not just around our branches. It is a window rather than a guarantee, and the Highlands and Islands, other islands and some remote areas are quoted separately.

Get a courier quoteCall 0345 8333 833
Vans and lorries on a busy UK motorway seen from above

Courier coverage at a glance

Rapid Despatch is an independent same-day courier, not a parcel network: we dedicate a vehicle to your job rather than sorting it through a depot with other people's parcels.

Is a dedicated vehicle what you need?

If your item is small, not urgent, or you’re chasing the lowest possible price, a parcel network such as Royal Mail, Evri, DPD or Parcel2Go will usually be cheaper. Rapid Despatch is built for the opposite job: urgent, oversized, high-value or awkward loads where the vehicle needs to be yours alone, with nothing else on board and no sort in between.

See how a dedicated same-day vehicle works
An open delivery van loaded with boxes

Local collection range

A vehicle is usually already nearby, so we can talk about a realistic collection window rather than a national call-centre estimate. Newbury, Slough, High Wycombe and Guildford work this way, along with the coverage towns listed on each branch page.

Dedicated vehicle, no depot sort

Any courier site claiming a depot in every city is describing a network, not its own vehicles. On a dedicated job there is no depot sort in between: the vehicle that collects is the vehicle that delivers, under one docket, with one controller accountable for it from collection to signature.

Boxes loaded in the side of a Rapid Despatch van

The four branches

Branch

Basingstoke

8 Hassocks Wood Industrial Estate, Stroudley Road, Basingstoke, RG24 8UQ

01256 638148

Staffed branch, open since 2015, at Hassocks Wood beside the Daneshill and Kingsland commercial areas.

Basingstoke Branch

Branch

Farnborough

Ferneberga House, Alexandra Road, Farnborough, GU14 6DQ

01252 640064

Serves the Blackwater Valley and the Surrey border; vehicles are allocated from the nearest available driver.

Farnborough Branch

Branch

Reading

Unit 7, Robert Cort Industrial Estate, Britten Road, Reading, RG2 0AU

0118 987 5979

Around 7,000 sq ft of storage on site.

Reading Branch

Branch

Southampton

Unit 2, 424 Portswood Road, Southampton, SO17 3SD

023 8055 3322

Storage and fulfilment on site.

Southampton Branch

Every area we cover

Thirty towns, each with the places it covers. The controller allocates the nearest available vehicle, and confirms it when you book. If your address sits inside one of these lists, that is the page to read. If it does not appear, ring us anyway.

Can't see your town? Ring anyway. Most gaps are a page we haven't written yet, not a place we don't reach.

Call 0345 8333 833

Cover, wherever we deliver

Cover does not change with the postcode. On a dedicated vehicle up to 3.5 tonnes anywhere in the UK, account holders are covered to a maximum of £25,000. On other services, liability is limited to the value of the goods, the cost of repair, or £1,000 per tonne on gross weight, whichever is lowest.

Higher cover can usually be arranged before collection at an additional charge. Tell us the declared value when you book rather than afterwards.

Read the full conditions of carriage

Coverage questions

Yes. Rapid Despatch delivers anywhere in mainland Great Britain by dedicated vehicle, and the list above is the set of places we have written a page about rather than the limit of where we go. Give the controller both postcodes and you will get a straight answer.

No. Rapid Despatch has four branches: Basingstoke, Farnborough, Reading and Southampton. Everywhere else in this list is a service area reached by a vehicle from one of those four. Any courier site claiming a depot in every city is describing a network, not its own vehicles.

Local collection covers the towns, including Newbury, Slough, High Wycombe and Guildford, plus the coverage towns named on each branch page. In those areas a vehicle is usually already close, which is why we can discuss a realistic collection window there and not elsewhere.

Yes. A dedicated Rapid Despatch vehicle can collect anywhere in mainland Great Britain, including Scotland and Wales, and deliver the same day where the drive allows it. Further out, the collection time depends on where the nearest available vehicle is when you ring, so we quote it before you commit. Islands and ferry routes depend on the timetable and the carrier's rules, so they need separate confirmation before you commit to a deadline.

A courier network collects your parcel and sorts it through one or more depots alongside other people's parcels, usually overnight. Rapid Despatch dedicates one vehicle to your consignment from collection to delivery, the same day, with no sort and no depot on the route.

Not on the list? Ring anyway.

For an urgent job, call 0345 8333 833 and give the controller both postcodes. For planned work, use the quote form with the dimensions, weight, ready time and deadline.

Get a courier quoteCall 0345 8333 833