On Mar 26, 2:12*am, Christopher Barker wrote:
On a Sunday afternoon in late July my wife and I will be departing from
St. Pancras station in London via Eurostar. *Prior to this we will be
using a rental car for a few days, based in Cookham, Berks. *We have
not yet booked the car, but before we do so I'd like to ask the group's
advice on the best place to drop it off so that we can then easily get
to St. Pancras with as few rail/taxi/bus transfers as possible.

In the past I've used National Car Rental, who have an office about
half a mile away on Pentonville Road [1]. If you're not travelling
with too much luggage, it's about 10-15 minutes' walk from St Pancras
International; there are a few quiet side streets to cross, as well as
some busier ones with pedestrian crossings.

As it's a Sunday, the congestion charge will not be in operation.
However, I have an inkling that it also means the office (and most
other central London car rental places) will be closed - you can
return cars on the forecourt and leave keys in the drop box, but you
may have to pay for the rental through to Monday morning.

The rental offices at Heathrow tend to be open 24 hours, and the first
tube into town on a Sunday leaves around 6am. St Pancras has a left
luggage office [2], so you could return the car, see off your father,
head into town by tube, leave your lugage, and go for a wander around
town before your Eurostar departs. This option avoids the vagaries of
London traffic, which I've found can be frustrating at any time of
day.

- martin

[1] map: http://tinyurl.com/35lm93
[2] according to http://www.stpancras.com/content.aspx?id=303