London, Ontario's government and court buildings cluster in the downtown core: City Hall at Dufferin and Wellington, the Superior Court of Justice and Ontario Court of Justice in the courthouse at Dundas and Ridout, Middlesex County's building on Ridout Street, the federal building on Queens Avenue with Service Canada, the provincial offices with ServiceOntario and the tribunals, the Canada Revenue Agency's tax services office, the immigration offices, the London Police headquarters on Dundas Street and Wolseley Barracks in the northeast. A court date, a citizenship ceremony, a tribunal hearing or a council meeting starts at a fixed time and the parking is not guaranteed; LondonLimo.net's black car service drops at the door at a planning figure of $40-60 plus HST from anywhere in the city, and waits by the hour for the lawyer, the witness, the expert and the delegation. This page is the public London as the chauffeurs drive it.
Why a car for a court date or a government appointment
A courtroom does not wait for a party who is circling for parking, and the downtown garages near the courthouse fill by 9:15 on a weekday. A witness who arrives flustered testifies badly; an applicant late for a citizenship ceremony has missed it; a lawyer with three boxes of exhibits cannot carry them from a lot on Talbot Street. The chauffeured car solves the mechanics: the door at the appointed minute, the boxes carried, the car waiting by the hour for the recess or the adjournment, and a receipt for the client's file. The corporate chauffeur service page describes the law firm's account; this page describes the buildings.
| Public building | Where | Sedan from a London address, planning figure |
|---|---|---|
| City Hall, council chambers, civic offices | Dufferin Avenue at Wellington Street | $40-55 |
| Superior Court of Justice and Ontario Court of Justice, London courthouse | Dundas Street at Ridout Street | $40-55 |
| Middlesex County building | Ridout Street North | $40-55 |
| Federal building: Service Canada, passport, immigration, CRA | Queens Avenue and the downtown federal offices | $40-55 |
| ServiceOntario and the provincial offices | Downtown and Wellington Road locations | $40-60 |
| London Police headquarters | Dundas Street East | $40-55 |
| Wolseley Barracks, 31 Canadian Brigade Group | Oxford Street East at Elizabeth Street | $45-60 |
| Family court, the tribunals, the Landlord and Tenant Board hearings | Downtown | $40-55 |
| A court day by the hour, chauffeur waiting | - | $95-115 / h |
| The courthouse to Pearson, a witness or counsel flying out | 190 km | $295-345 |
LondonLimo.net planning ranges before HST; the engine quotes the exact addresses and date.
City Hall and the civic offices
City Hall on Dufferin Avenue houses the council chambers, the mayor's and councillors' offices, the clerk's office and the planning, building and licensing counters; a council or committee meeting, a planning appeal, a licence hearing or a delegation's presentation starts at a posted time and the Dufferin Avenue frontage has a drop-off but no parking. A developer's team with the drawings, a resident's association's delegation, a visiting mayor from a twin city and a consultant from Toronto for a planning committee are the bookings; the chauffeur drops at the Dufferin door and waits at a nearby garage.
The courthouse: Superior Court and Ontario Court of Justice
The London courthouse at Dundas and Ridout holds the Superior Court of Justice - civil, family, criminal jury trials, the estates list - and the Ontario Court of Justice's criminal and family courts, with security screening at the entrance that adds ten minutes on a busy morning. A lawyer's trial day is an hourly booking from the firm's office with the exhibit boxes, a chauffeur at the door at each break, and the return with the boxes at 4:30; a witness from out of town is collected at the hotel or the airport; an expert from Toronto is met at Pearson the evening before and driven to the hotel, the courthouse and the airport again, on the firm's account and the client's file.
Middlesex County and the regional bodies
Middlesex County's building on Ridout Street houses the county council and its departments; the Middlesex-London Health Unit, the Upper Thames River Conservation Authority, the London Police Services Board, the Thames Valley District School Board and the London District Catholic School Board's offices are the regional bodies whose boards, hearings and delegations bring people downtown and to their offices across the city at fixed times.
The federal building: Service Canada, passports, immigration and the CRA
The federal offices on Queens Avenue and around the core hold the Service Canada centre and passport office, the immigration and citizenship offices where the citizenship ceremonies and interviews are held, and the Canada Revenue Agency's tax services office. A citizenship ceremony is a family's day: the grandparents collected, the new citizen at the door forty minutes early as the notice requires, the photographs outside, and lunch in Wortley Village after - an SUV by the hour, the commonest booking the desk takes for the federal building. A passport emergency before a flight is a fixed-rate run and then the airport.
ServiceOntario, the provincial offices and the tribunals
ServiceOntario's centres, the Ontario ministries' regional offices, the Landlord and Tenant Board, the Human Rights Tribunal's London sittings, the Workplace Safety and Insurance Appeals Tribunal, the Licence Appeal Tribunal and the Ontario Land Tribunal's hearings sit downtown and at Wellington Road offices; a party, a representative or a witness with a hearing at 9:30 books a fixed-rate car to the door, and a paralegal's day of three hearings is by the hour.
Members of Parliament, MPPs and the constituency offices
London's federal ridings and provincial ridings each have a constituency office in the city, and a constituent's appointment, a minister's visit, a delegation from a ministry in Toronto or Ottawa, and a member's own travel between the riding and Pearson or YXU for the Ottawa flight are bookings the desk handles discreetly on a corporate account; the Parliament of Canada and the Legislative Assembly publish the members and the sitting calendars.
Wolseley Barracks and the military
Wolseley Barracks on Oxford Street East is the home of 31 Canadian Brigade Group's headquarters, the Royal Canadian Regiment Museum and the reserve units; a visiting general staff, a delegation for a ceremony, a family for a change-of-command parade or a Remembrance Day service, and a soldier's run to YXU or Pearson are the bookings, with the gate procedures known to the chauffeur.
London Police, the OPP and the emergency services
The London Police Service headquarters on Dundas Street East, the OPP's detachments on the city's edges, the fire department's headquarters and the paramedic service's bases receive visiting delegations, families collecting a released person, and lawyers attending a client; the desk handles each with the discretion it needs, and the Middlesex-London Paramedic Service and the police publish their public counters' hours.
Hospitals as public institutions
London Health Sciences Centre and St. Joseph's are public institutions in their own right - the inquests, the coroner's office, the public health hearings and the hospital boards' meetings bring people to them as much as the medicine does; the hospitals and medical page covers the campuses and the entrances.
Consular and foreign visitors
Toronto's consulates send staff to London for mobile consular days, citizenship events and community meetings, and a consular delegation's day - Pearson or YXU, the hotel, the community hall, the university, the airport - is an hourly booking with the security and discretion a delegation expects; the Government of Canada's travel pages list the foreign representatives in Ontario.
Three government-building bookings, as they actually ran
A jury trial, three weeks in February. A Toronto litigation team's standing daily booking: the DoubleTree at 8:40, the courthouse's Dundas door, the boxes carried, the car at each recess, and the hotel at 5. On the firm's account, billed weekly to the client's file.
A citizenship ceremony, June. An executive SUV by the hour for a family of six: the home in Westmount at 8:15, the federal building at 8:50, the ceremony, the photographs on Queens Avenue, and lunch at a Wortley Village restaurant. Five hours.
A planning committee, September. A developer's architect and lawyer collected at Pearson at 2, driven up the 401 to City Hall for the 4 p.m. committee, dinner on Richmond Row, and the last flight from YXU at 9:20. One booking, three legs.
Booking it
A single journey to any public building is priced on the reservation engine in seconds; a court day, a ceremony or a delegation's itinerary is booked by the hour or on a firm's account by the desk. The rates page has the in-city figures; the chauffeur etiquette guide the questions clients ask about waiting and gratuities.
Planning figures. Rates are LondonLimo.net planning ranges before HST; the engine quotes the exact addresses, date and vehicle. Building and institution names describe where we drive and imply no affiliation, and each institution's own site publishes its hours, security rules and procedures.
Getting to the courthouse: the practicalities
The courthouse's public entrance faces Dundas Street; the security screening takes bags through an X-ray and people through a detector, and on a Monday morning with several lists sitting the queue stretches to the door for ten minutes or more. The chauffeur drops at the Dundas curb - there is a short loading zone - not in the garage, so that the passenger walks twenty metres rather than three hundred; counsel with boxes uses a trolley the chauffeur carries from the car. Court starts at 10 for most lists and 9:30 for some; the desk times the pickup from the address and the day of the week. Parking for a waiting car is at the Talbot Street and King Street garages, from which the chauffeur returns to the door in four minutes on a text.
What the desk does for a law firm, in order
The firm opens a corporate account with a matter-number field; the assistant books each journey on the engine or by email with the matter number; the chauffeur meets the lawyer, the witness or the expert; the invoice arrives monthly with each journey against its matter number and the traveller's name, so that disbursements are billed to the client without a reconciliation. For a trial, the desk assigns the same chauffeur for the run of the trial where it can, so that the boxes, the breaks and the routine need no explanation on day two.
The public buildings from the car
Dufferin Avenue's City Hall tower over Victoria Park's trees, the courthouse's stone bulk at the top of Dundas Street where it meets the forks, the county building's brick on Ridout among the law offices, the federal building's glass on Queens Avenue, the police headquarters' long frontage on Dundas East, and Wolseley Barracks' parade square behind its fence on Oxford Street: a short loop, and the chauffeur drives it several times a day, knowing which curb is a loading zone and which is a tow.
Booking checklist
The building and its entrance; the date and the time court, the ceremony or the hearing starts; how early you want to be there; whether the chauffeur waits by the hour or returns on a text; the number of passengers and the boxes or bags; the firm's matter number or the card; and a phone number for the chauffeur's texts. The desk confirms in one email.
Visitors coming to London for a hearing
A party or a witness from Windsor, Sarnia, Toronto or further comes to the London courthouse or a tribunal for a day or a week, and the destinations hub prices the drive from each town, the hotels page covers the stay, and the Pearson and YXU pages the flight in.
