Hi All,
Travelling from Birmingham to London on a day that the strikes have just been announced for. Not ideal. Chiltern and Avanti West Coast both affected, Tube and London Overground unaffected.
Assuming the trains will be at best a nightmare and at worst, completely cancelled, I'm looking at options to get there.
So, can anyone suggest over ground or end of line tube stations that have reasonable parking and are relatively easily accessible from either the M1 or the M40?
Thanks!
Chesham, Amersham, Chorleywood and Rickmansworth all have decent enough parking a short walk from the tube., but it is quite a long ride in still. I always used to park around Harrow / HarrowotHill but not sure what parking is like there now. I'd consider getting closer and doing a daytime park at my house nowadays, probably not much more than a tenner TBH
Where in London are you going to?
Bottom of the M1 - Stanmore station on the Jubilee line - it has a decent sized car park next door.
If there's a Met line train waiting at Wembley Park when you get there, jump on it - faster than the Jubilee line, as it stops at far fewer stations.
M40 - as above, Amersham or one of those stations on the Met line. Amersham has a car park although I've never actually parked there so not sure how large it is.
Saying that - it might be quicker to carry on down the M40 to Hillingdon station & get the Met line in from there, rather than going to Amersham.
Stanmore was my first reaction to the OP
I have tried to make 3 journeys to London this year for work from Central Scotland. Two were on / around strikes and so the trip was cancelled - including one valuable training course with 25 attendees. The third it took 5 hours to get no further than 30 miles. I ended up driving this one to lead the training which was cancelled before.
I am due to go to Bracknell on Wednesday to speak and be on a Q&A panel at a conference, return Friday PM.
I may end up driving again..... FFS.
Above suggestions are all good.
If the Elizabeth line is running then you could try driving and parking some where along the M4 and getting the Elizabeth line into Bond St and then switch to Jubilee line.
Check on your favourite app for overall journey times and parking cost to see if that works out better than park somewhere near the M1.
If you plan to go to Amersham (£6 parking all day) it's better to go one stop further in to Chalfont & Latimer, as it's serviced by more trains (Amersham & Chesham trains both stop there) & if there are any Chiltern line trains running you can get one of those too. But Stanmore is probably your best bet.
I took 2 buses to go from marble arch to radlett on a train strike day, 20 miles, took 4 hours. Never again, I had my Brompton with me, I could deffo have cycled quicker, at 5 mph I could have jogged/fast walked faster.
I need to go again, no way on a train strike day.
St James’s and then Mayfair.
If you really HAVE to go, just drive all the way in and park at the nearest NCP or meter.
If you really HAVE to go, just drive all the way in and park at the nearest NCP or meter
Not really an option due to it being an overnighter.
Friday night and Saturday morning.
Finchley central is a great shout - used to live there during the week. As a park & ride location it's ideal.
Depends what time you'd be arriving into London. After 3PM there is some good on street parking close to West Ealing Elizabeth line. I'd expect the underground station car parks to be fairly full if there are strikes on trains.
it will probably cover all of the options above anyway, but for anything like this i use a website called rome2rio which gives aevery (i think) available option, timings etc. mebbes worth a look?
East Finchley - loads of parking - safe and not that expensive.
When we've popped to London from Brum on the weekend, we've parked at Chorleywood and hopped on the underground from there - not farvup the M25 from the M40 junction, Metropolitan line, tons of parking (at the weekend!). 🙂
If you really HAVE to go, just drive all the way in and park at the nearest NCP or meter
Not really an option due to it being an overnighter.
Friday night and Saturday morning.
That's not necessarily a problem - just park in any of the CPZ blue zones in Westminster (map here) - in the blue zones parking is charged for only Mon-Fri 8.30am-6.30pm. You could arrive mid-afternoon and pay for a few hours up to 6.30pm and then you're good until Monday morning if need be. Zone D4 would suit you well - just a short walk across St James and/or Green Park park to where you need to be.
[edit] Just remember to register for & pay congestion charge if you're driving in all the way.
We either park in Edgeware for the Northern line or Stanmore for the Jubilee line, come off the M1 at junction 4.
The Nothern line goes into St. Pancras
If going in via Stanmore, you can change at Wembley onto the Metropolitan for a quicker (less stops) into central London.
lunge
Full Member
@shermer75, St James’s and then Mayfair.
Posted 4 hours ago
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stumpy01
Full Member
Bottom of the M1 – Stanmore station on the Jubilee line – it has a decent sized car park next door.
Jubilee Line is a good shout for St James's Park and Mayfair.
Get the JustPark app, and look for parking in the area of London that you’re driving into. As I’m coming into London from the West on the M4, I always aim for somewhere close to the Great West Road, and there’s a couple of spaces off-street in Hammersmith that are usually available, and not too pricey, usually around £20-ish, for about 12 hours. The nearest Tube station is about a ten minute walk so ideal. JustPark are about the best option I’ve found for random parking spots.
If you're in mayfair there's a quirky disused church / now a food market - https://mercatometropolitano.com/mercato-mayfair/ close by if you don't want to stress about where to eat. Although if you're in Friday night, assume concert, hotel and then day out before returning then there's loads of places besides Mayfair to go.
Our usual is to drive to the westfield shopping centre. Reasonable priced, secure parking even for a couple of days. Ok access from m4 or m40. Bus or tube, or its actually quite a nice walk through Hyde Park
