If you travel by road you will also hit the morning rush hour and you
will probably be stuck in traffic for part of the time (although if
you take up Mr Hughes's offer he may be able to keep delays to a
minimum)

Especially as I can use bus lanes to avoid many of the queues

I was just thinking about the journey into London that time of the morning
for a taxi - would you go M4 to Junction 2, then down to the Chiswick
roundabout, and along the A315 through Chiswick High Road, Hammersmith and
Kensington? Would the queues towards the Chiswick roundabout make it worth
going that way as opposed to staying on the M4/A4 and cutting up Sutton Lane
North up to the High Road? Suppose for a cab it really wouldn't be a bad
journey at all.

Peter