If you are heading to university in Glasgow, Stirling, Falkirk or Edinburgh from London, Oxford, Swindon or Cambridge, Scotland Shuttle delivers to all G, FK and EH postcodes on Thursday mornings, fortnightly, with collections in London on Wednesdays, Cambridge on Tuesdays, and Oxford and Swindon on Saturdays. Send the heavy stuff ahead, travel light, and arrive to boxes rather than a packed car.
The timeline at a glance
- early August: SQA results arrive
- mid August: A level results arrive and places are confirmed
- late August: accommodation is confirmed and you book your shuttle slot
- early September: pack, weigh and label
- your fixed collection day: Tuesday for Cambridge, Wednesday for London, Saturday for Oxford and Swindon
- Thursday morning: delivery in Scotland
- freshers week: already unpacked
Results day and confirmation
SQA results land in early August and A level results in mid August. Once your place is confirmed through UCAS, two dates matter for the move: the day you can actually get into your accommodation, and the start of teaching. Most Scottish universities begin in September, and your accommodation contract start date is usually a few days to a week before teaching starts.
Do not book any transport until the accommodation is confirmed in writing with an address. Halls allocations can change late, and a consignment labelled with the wrong building helps nobody.
Book the shuttle slot early
The shuttle runs fortnightly on fixed days, which cuts both ways. The good news is the dates are known well in advance, so you can plan around them. The catch is that missing a run costs you two weeks, not a day, and September runs are the busiest of the year with every student in the country moving at once.
Pick the Thursday delivery that falls after your accommodation start date, so you are in Scotland and able to receive the boxes. Someone has to be there for the delivery window, whether that is you, a flatmate or a parent who travelled up with you. Then work backwards to your collection day in the south and book both ends as soon as your address is confirmed.
What to send ahead
Send everything you will not need in your first few days. Good candidates:
- the second set of bedding, towels and a mattress protector
- a kitchen box: pan, baking tray, plates, bowls, mugs, cutlery, a decent knife
- books, folders and stationery
- winter coat and boots, because it is Scotland and you will want them weeks before your friends down south want theirs
- sports kit, instruments in hard cases, and your bike with the pedals off
- posters, photos and the things that make a room yours
- a printer if you are bringing one, back in its original box
Everything travels as pieces, priced at £15 per piece for 5 to 10 pieces and £12 per piece for 11 or more, so a typical student consignment of 8 to 12 boxes and bags is well within the shuttle's sweet spot. Keep every box under 30 kg and label each one with your booking reference, surname and the hall or flat postcode. The packing guide covers the detail.
What to carry with you
Some things should never go on the van, because you will need them before the boxes arrive or they are too important to be anywhere but on you:
- passport or ID, exam certificates and your accommodation contract
- laptop, phone and chargers
- any medication, plus a basic first aid kit
- bank card and a small amount of cash
- clothes for the first week
- one set of bedding for night one, if you arrive before your delivery Thursday
That last point matters. If your contract starts on a Saturday and your boxes arrive the following Thursday, you are camping for five nights. Plan the overlap deliberately: either carry a survival kit or time your own arrival close to the delivery day.
Packing week
Set aside a weekend, not an evening. Weigh boxes on bathroom scales and keep each under 30 kg, tape bottoms and tops in an H pattern, and number boxes 1 of 9, 2 of 9 and so on. Write your mobile number on the boxes as well as the reference; in a building with two hundred students moving in, it solves problems fast.
Delivery day in Scotland
On the Thursday you get a four hour delivery window by text. Kerbside service means one driver hands everything over at the building entrance, and most students in halls choose this, because halls usually want students to carry things to their own rooms anyway. Assisted service means a two person crew carries everything inside, to any floor, which earns its keep for upper floor private flats or if furniture is involved. Kerbside starts at £149 and Assisted at £299.
Count the pieces in against your numbered list, and you are done. Unpack the kettle first.
Freshers week and the year after
Arriving already unpacked is a quiet advantage in freshers week: while other people are queueing for flat pack trolleys, you are out meeting your flatmates. And file the shuttle away for later, because it runs both directions on the same fixed days. At the end of the year the whole lot can go south again the same way, and the summer runs are far calmer than September.