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Travel to London
Friends want to go to an Embassy in Queensgate from East Sussex but want to
take the car to a railway station just outside London and then catch overland train into London then tube to Gloucester Road. Can anyone suggest somewhere suitable to leave the car, either (cheap!) car park or quiet road not far from a station? They're thinking perhaps Croydon or near? TIA |
Travel to London
"Will" wrote in message net... Friends want to go to an Embassy in Queensgate from East Sussex but want to take the car to a railway station just outside London and then catch overland train into London then tube to Gloucester Road. Can anyone suggest somewhere suitable to leave the car, either (cheap!) car park or quiet road not far from a station? They're thinking perhaps Croydon or near? TIA You're not going to find reasonable "all day" parking in Croydon, and the roads are pretty clogged up in the morning. You're going to have to look further out, Purely perhaps, or Caterham (I'm outside my area of knowledge now!) tim |
Travel to London
In message , at 16:46:03 on Thu, 15
Jan 2009, tim..... remarked: somewhere suitable to leave the car, either (cheap!) car park or quiet road not far from a station? They're thinking perhaps Croydon or near? TIA You're not going to find reasonable "all day" parking in Croydon, and the roads are pretty clogged up in the morning. Yes, I was going to say that I don't ever recall anyone mentioning "Croydon" and "Quiet" in the same sentence. -- Roland Perry |
Travel to London
In message , Will
writes Friends want to go to an Embassy in Queensgate from East Sussex but want to take the car to a railway station just outside London and then catch overland train into London then tube to Gloucester Road. Can anyone suggest somewhere suitable to leave the car, either (cheap!) car park or quiet road not far from a station? They're thinking perhaps Croydon or near? TIA It all depends where in East Sussex you're coming from. One of the best ways would be to go to Haywards Heath where there is a large car park and then take a train from there direct to Victoria - and then take a taxi to Queensgate! -- Mike Hughes A Taxi driver licensed for London and Brighton at home in Tarring, West Sussex, England Interested in American trains real and model? Look here http://mikehughes627.fotopic.net/ |
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On 15 Jan, 16:46, "tim....." wrote: "Will" wrote in message Friends want to go to an Embassy in Queensgate from East Sussex but want want to take the car to a railway station just outside London and then catch overland train into London then tube to Gloucester Road. Can anyone suggest somewhere suitable to leave the car, either (cheap!) car park or quiet road not far from a station? *They're thinking perhaps Croydon or near? *TIA You're not going to find reasonable "all day" parking in Croydon, and the roads are pretty clogged up in the morning. You're going to have to look further out, Purely perhaps, or Caterham (I'm outside my area of knowledge now!) Much the same as my thoughts, I'm quite sure there is somewhere that fits the bill in terms of on-street parking, but I'm not sure where that somewhere will be! There are of course more and more roads that are now subject to parking restrictions, and obviously this is more likely nearer stations. The other thing is define "not far from a station"... my value of 'not too far' might well stretch to a ten minute walk. Sorry, that's not really very much help to you! |
Travel to London
On 15 Jan, 19:08, Mike Hughes wrote: In message , Will writes: Friends want to go to an Embassy in Queensgate from East Sussex but want to take the car to a railway station just outside London and then catch overland train into London then tube to Gloucester Road. Can anyone suggest somewhere suitable to leave the car, either (cheap!) car park or quiet road not far from a station? *They're thinking perhaps Croydon or near? *TIA It all depends where in East Sussex you're coming from. Quite. One of the best ways would be to go to Haywards Heath where there is a large car park and then take a train from there direct to Victoria - and then take a taxi to Queensgate. Making sure you leave the cabbie a nice tip ;-) But as to your substantive point then yeah, if you can do something like go to Haywards Heath as opposed to messing around with getting into London then that would strike me as the preferable option. |
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Thanks for the replies so far. The friends are leaving from Polegate ('twixt
Hasting and Eastbourne) area. Looking at the map, there's a station at Sanderstead (which would take them to Victoria) that looks a possibility -- anyone know that area? Any idea too of the taxi fare from Victoria station to Queen's Gate (2.5 miles, apparently)? TIA |
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"Will" wrote in message ... Thanks for the replies so far. The friends are leaving from Polegate ('twixt Hasting and Eastbourne) area. Looking at the map, there's a station at Sanderstead (which would take them to Victoria) that looks a possibility -- anyone know that area? Any idea too of the taxi fare from Victoria station to Queen's Gate (2.5 miles, apparently)? TIA So why don't they just catch the train from Polegate to Victoria (every 30 mins). I don't see the point of driving to some random station on the outskirts of London and then getting the train from there. Peter Smyth |
Travel to London
Thanks for further replies. Perhaps I should have pointed out that
there's four of them and that they're travelling at peak time (to arrive at Queen's Gate at 9-9.30am for a visa application) so part-drive seemed to them to be the cheaper option. Perhaps, though, I should look up rail advance booking for them instead. In article , says... "Will" wrote in message ... Thanks for the replies so far. The friends are leaving from Polegate ('twixt Hasting and Eastbourne) area. Looking at the map, there's a station at Sanderstead (which would take them to Victoria) that looks a possibility -- anyone know that area? Any idea too of the taxi fare from Victoria station to Queen's Gate (2.5 miles, apparently)? TIA So why don't they just catch the train from Polegate to Victoria (every 30 mins). I don't see the point of driving to some random station on the outskirts of London and then getting the train from there. Peter Smyth |
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"Will" wrote in message ... Thanks for further replies. Perhaps I should have pointed out that there's four of them and that they're travelling at peak time (to arrive at Queen's Gate at 9-9.30am for a visa application) so part-drive seemed to them to be the cheaper option. Perhaps, though, I should look up rail advance booking for them instead. There are no Advanced discounts for ex-Southern region stations to London in the morning peak. I suppose that you might be able to find one to somewhere beyond that is cheaper than the London fare. tim |
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On 15 Jan, 23:22, Will wrote: In article , says... "Will" wrote: Thanks for the replies so far. The friends are leaving from Polegate ('twixt Hasting and Eastbourne) area. Looking at the map, there's a station at Sanderstead (which would take them to Victoria) that looks a possibility -- anyone know that area? Any idea too of the taxi fare from Victoria station to Queen's Gate (2.5 miles, apparently)? TIA So why don't they just catch the train from Polegate to Victoria (every 30 mins). I don't see the point of driving to some random station on the outskirts of London and then getting the train from there. Peter Smyth Thanks for further replies. Perhaps I should have pointed out that there's four of them and that they're travelling at peak time (to arrive at Queen's Gate at 9-9.30am for a visa application) so part-drive seemed to them to be the cheaper option. Perhaps, though, I should look up rail advance booking for them instead. OK, so travelling during peak time, ouch! A somewhat less than ideal situation but there you go, the real world is all about less than ideal situations! We'll get one thing out of the way to begin with - there aren't any Advance fares available on the line from Polegate ("Advance fares/ tickets" are what all advance purchase tickets are now called regardless of train company). Firstly, generally in the south east the railways don't go in for cheapo Advance fares for specific trains, though Southern have just made them available on a few routes - see: http://www.southernrailway.com/main.php?page_id=499 Secondly cheapo Advance fares elsewhere on the railways (e.g. on intercity routes) are generally available for off-peak journeys as opposed to those during peak times, i.e. at times when the train company wants to get bums on seats and has spare capacity. That said there are sometimes Advance fares for peak time(-ish) journeys so it's worth checking anyway. So looking at normal fares - the 'Anytime' (valid morning peak hours) adult return fare from Polegate to London is £42.60, child fare is £21.30. If one gets an inclusive Anytime Day Travelcard then it is £46.30 for an adult, £23.15 for a child. If they were to be travelling on the Tube *or* on the bus and none of them was in possession of an Oyster card then the Anytime Day Travelcard *from* Polegate is the ticket they'd want (it is combined return ticket to Polegate plus unlimited travel in London that day on buses, Tubes and trains - and as it is the 'Anytime' version then, you'll never guess, it is valid any time including the morning peak). If one were to get closer to London then the price of the fare will come down. If they were to get on a train within the London zones then again they'd still want an Anytime Day Travelcard as opposed to buying separate rail and Tube or bus. The price of a zones 1-6 Anytime Day Travelcard would be £14.30 for an adult, £7.40 for a child - though if the child was under 11 then they can travel free on the Tube or the bus, in which case they'd just need an Anytime return rail ticket for £4.90. You can see what stations fall within the London zones on this map - all the stations that are within the coloured shaded bands are within zones 1-6 (PDF): http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/system...onnections.pdf Of course there's the issue of where to park, and furthermore the issue of actually getting into London, even the outskirts, during the morning rush hour when a whole lot of other people are attempting to do the same. It's not impossible of course, and obviously the earlier one travels on the roads the better, but it's not something I'd be over joyous about! I suppose that looking to park at a station car park would be one option, though these will generally cost (especially the closer one gets to London) and can fill up pretty early with commuters too. Information on car parking can be found on Southern's website he http://www.southernrailway.com/car_parking.php If they were travelling off-peak (basically after 0930 though sometimes earlier on some routes) then things would be rather cheaper as one could buy Off-Peak fares (both from Polegate and within London), and also benefit from Railcard discounts (if anyone in the party held a Railcard) and possibly benefit from GroupSave discounts as well. Hope that is of some help. P.S. I forgot to mention earlier about the free bus travel for those 60+, anyone who holds a concessionary National Bus Pass for England can get free bus travel in London as they can anywhere else in England so this might change the calculations a little on whether to buy Travelcards or not if there were enough members of the party who had such a pass and were willing to travel by bus. |
Travel to London
On 16 Jan, 01:00, "tim....." wrote: "Will" wrote: Thanks for further replies. *Perhaps I should have pointed out that there's four of them and that they're travelling at peak time (to arrive at Queen's Gate at 9-9.30am for a visa application) so part-drive seemed to them to be the cheaper option. Perhaps, though, I should look up rail advance booking for them instead. There are no Advanced discounts for ex-Southern region stations to London in the morning peak. Not true. SWT has long offered Apex fares to and from London (not sure if they were ever offered between other SWT stations though) - in line with the fares simplification these have now been renamed Advance fares. For more info see: http://www.southwesttrains.co.uk/SWT...ancedFares.htm Also Megatrain started offering advance purchase tickets on SWT between London and Southampton/ Portsmouth back in November '05 - though these are only available from their website or premium rate phone line, so they're not conventional Advance tickets which one can buy from any rail ticket outlet (e.g. booking office or online booking website). Southern (the current train company) also started offering Advance fares for a limited of journeys since at least May last year - see: http://www.southernrailway.com/main.php?page_id=499 These routes do include Brighton to London. I did try and check whether there were any such tickets available on early trains into London but all TheTrainline websites are currently down for "scheduled maintenance" and the NXEC site didn't find any such fares even in the middle of the day. I've had trouble with NXEC finding these fares beforehand but others have managed ok in this regard [1]... that said I've just tried the raileasy website and it is offline for "planned maintenance" too - as this is a completely separate booking engine then I dare say it may be the railways' central reservation system that is down too... but the plot thickens, as the NXEC site can find Advance tickets available for both London to Leeds and London to Manchester. Curious. OK the raileasy site is back up, the maintenance was only until 0130 whilst TheTrainline remains down until 0700. And raileasy does indeed find these cheap Southern fares, but the earliest train they're available for on a weekday morning in February is the 09:19 from Brighton, arrives in at Victoria at 10:11. I suppose that you might be able to find one to somewhere beyond that is cheaper than the London fare. Apart from Brighton which has the above Advance fares (and which isn't really any further from London than Polegate) there isn't really anywhere else. The other option is to forget the train altogether and look at taking a coach - a National Express coach Day Return fare from Brighton is £11.90, and there are cheaper 'funfares' available (from £3 one-way) if you book far enough in advance. The 06:00 departure from Brighton arrives in to Victoria coach station at 08:20, which would be the one to get to be in Queen's Gate for 9- 9:30 am. London bus fares cost £2 for a single (this is to encourage take up of Oyster cards with which they cost £1), whilst a one-day Bus Pass costs £3.80. In central London one needs to have a ticket before boarding a bus so the correct and exact change is needed in order to get a ticket from the ticket machine at the bus stop, which also sells one day Bus Passes (as do Tube station ticket offices and ticket machines). ----- [1] Two past uk.r threads on the topic of Southern's Advance fares and their availability (or otherwise) online: http://groups.google.com/group/uk.ra...9a38fa21287ac9 and http://groups.google.co.uk/group/uk....ea8083063bb49c |
Travel to London
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Travel to London
Mizter T wrote One of the best ways would be to go to Haywards Heath where there is a large car park and then take a train from there direct to Victoria - and then take a taxi to Queensgate. Making sure you leave the cabbie a nice tip ;-) But as to your substantive point then yeah, if you can do something like go to Haywards Heath as opposed to messing around with getting into London then that would strike me as the preferable option. But here again a good, fast service means both a not-all-that-cheap car park and anti-commuter street parking restrictions So how about Chessington South, Tattenham Corner, Epsom Downs, Chipstead, Upper Warlingham (all zone 6) or Ashstead ? Chessington World of Adventure has lots of parking. -- Mike D |
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On Thu, Jan 15, 2009 at 04:46:03PM -0000, tim..... wrote:
"Will" wrote in message net... Friends want to go to an Embassy in Queensgate from East Sussex but want to take the car to a railway station just outside London and then catch overland train into London You're not going to find reasonable "all day" parking in Croydon, and the roads are pretty clogged up in the morning. You're going to have to look further out, Purely perhaps, or Caterham (I'm outside my area of knowledge now!) Or further in. It's usually possible to park a couple of streets away from stations like Streatham or Streatham Common, or just abuse a supermarket car park. -- David Cantrell | Official London Perl Mongers Bad Influence I hate baby seals. They get asked to all the best clubs. |
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On 16 Jan, 12:21, David Cantrell wrote: On Thu, Jan 15, 2009 at 04:46:03PM -0000, tim..... wrote: "Will" wrote in message: Friends want to go to an Embassy in Queensgate from East Sussex but want to take the car to a railway station just outside London and then catch overland train into London. You're not going to find reasonable "all day" parking in Croydon, and the roads are pretty clogged up in the morning. You're going to have to look further out, Purely perhaps, or Caterham (I'm outside my area of knowledge now!) Or further in. *It's usually possible to park a couple of streets away from stations like Streatham or Streatham Common, or just abuse a supermarket car park. Absolutely true. There is a sometimes a belief that all streets in London are subject to some kind of parking restrictions, which is simply not true. However the number of controlled parking zones has grown a great deal in recent years and indeed is still growing in number, and if there aren't CPZs there are sometimes other restrictions such as a yellow line only being in force for an hour or two in the middle of the day that does the job at stopping all-day commuter parking. All that said, there are often side streets a little further away from stations (and high streets) that are totally unrestricted. The other thing that's quite often the case is that parking restrictions only apply Monday to Friday, so parking at weekends are not a problem. Regarding supermarket car parks - most now threaten you with a 'civil penalty charge' (or some such) if you overstay the maximum stay, and the companies that enforce these restrictions on behalf of supermarkets can get your details from the DVLA. I don't really know the legalities behind this all and to what extent this can be enforced, but I presume there's something in it. That said, this does somewhat rely on the enforcement taking place - more often than not it just seems to be a threat. The one thing that many people appear to have issues with when it comes to parking their car on side streets is some fear that it will get broken into, stolen or vandalised. I think that, with regards to much of London at least, this is a rather overblown concern. Firstly, theft of cars is not that common - most modern cars have immobilisers which are pretty challenging to defeat after all, though it's true that very high-end cars are stolen to order. Secondly, cars are generally only broken into if there's a promise that there's something worth stealing from them - putting bags in the boot so they cannot be seen (even if there's nothing of value in them) and ensuring one takes one's wallet or purse and mobile with them plus taking the fascia off of an in-car stereo system wards this off. Thirdly, vandalism to cars parked on street doesn't happen that often (and the chances of it happening can be reduced by not parking in el dodgy street). I and others have parked reasonable cars (not very high-end but not rustbuckets either) all over London to no ill effect at all. Last point - one real issue with parking in somewhere like Streatham is actually getting in and then back out again on the A23, which is basically gets pretty clogged up at peak times. It is of course possible to take a number of alternative routes to avoid the A23 but these can be a bit involved and I'm not sure I'd recommend these to people unfamiliar to the side street ways of sarf London. |
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David Cantrell wrote:
Or further in. It's usually possible to park a couple of streets away from stations like Streatham or Streatham Common And if you're really lucky it will still be there when you return! -- Paul |
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On 16 Jan, 14:36, Paul wrote: David Cantrell wrote: Or further in. *It's usually possible to park a couple of streets away from stations like Streatham or Streatham Common And if you're really lucky it will still be there when you return! Absolute ********! Read my post above - people are so paranoid about parking their cars in London it's silly. |
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"Mizter T" wrote ...
There is a sometimes a belief that all streets in London are subject to some kind of parking restrictions, which is simply not true. Not totally, but in the more central boroughs, there are so many restrictions that you'd be a fool - or have plenty of time on your hands - to expect to park legally. A stranger coming to Islington, for example, would drive around most of the borough before finding a legal parking space. And probably find that it was already taken. Where there are no yellow lines, there are resident parking schemes over much of the borough. Coming to Inner London, hoping to park for free, without getting 'local knowledge' first, is poor advice. |
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Mizter T wrote:
On 16 Jan, 14:36, Paul wrote: David Cantrell wrote: Or further in. It's usually possible to park a couple of streets away from stations like Streatham or Streatham Common And if you're really lucky it will still be there when you return! Absolute ********! Read my post above - people are so paranoid about parking their cars in London it's silly. If it was me, I'd drive to Wimbledon Park station and get a direct train to GloRo. I believe lots of free parking can be found once you get out of the immediate vicinity of the station. As for crime, there hasn't been a single unpleasant act in the area since Cliff Richard sang. |
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Mizter T wrote:
On 16 Jan, 14:36, Paul wrote: David Cantrell wrote: Or further in. It's usually possible to park a couple of streets away from stations like Streatham or Streatham Common And if you're really lucky it will still be there when you return! Absolute ********! Read my post above - people are so paranoid about parking their cars in London it's silly. Generally I agree, but you mentioned Streatham (though parts of Streatham Common aren't too bad). |
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Thanks again for all the advice, which I've now discussed with my friends.
There's one bit of info that I was not aware of which makes Peter's suggestion regarding parking near Purley and Mizter's regarding Anytime Day Travelcards the most relevant (and which explains further my friends' wish to drive part-way). Apparently, they want to shop at Wing Yip supermarket after their visa trip to the Embassy! So all settled now, thanks all. Will. |
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Travel to London
On 16 Jan, 09:28, Peter Campbell Smith wrote: (Will) wrote ronet: Friends want to go to an Embassy in Queensgate from East Sussex but want to take the car to a railway station just outside London and then catch overland train into London then tube to Gloucester Road. Can anyone suggest somewhere suitable to leave the car, either (cheap!) car park or quiet road not far from a station? *They're thinking perhaps Croydon or near? *TIA * When approaching via the M23/A23 I've sometimes parked in the residential roads to the west of Brighton Road in Purley - eg Grovelands Road and Downlands Road. *They are only 5-10 mins walk to Purley station. Sounds like the kind of local knowledge the OP was after - going by his reply that's one of the options he's communicated his friends. One thing that crosses my mind about this is whether there would be any trouble parking there in the morning, for example before the residents leave for work and vacate their parking spaces? Looking at the roads from a bird's eye image (via Live Search Maps [1]) it looks as though the houses are quite spaced out and there's a lot of road space - though just because there aren't many parked cars in these images doesn't prove much as they may have been taken on a sunny Sunday morning! ----- [1] http://maps.live.com/ Search for Grovelands Road, Purley, UK or some such. |
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Yes, I was going to say that I don't ever recall anyone mentioning
"Croydon" and "Quiet" in the same sentence. We don't often see postings by Roland with sense in the same mail, this is a worthy exception. Roland Perry wrote: In message , at 16:46:03 on Thu, 15 Jan 2009, tim..... remarked: somewhere suitable to leave the car, either (cheap!) car park or quiet road not far from a station? They're thinking perhaps Croydon or near? TIA You're not going to find reasonable "all day" parking in Croydon, and the roads are pretty clogged up in the morning. Yes, I was going to say that I don't ever recall anyone mentioning "Croydon" and "Quiet" in the same sentence. |
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On 16 Jan, 15:58, Paul wrote:
Mizter T wrote: On 16 Jan, 14:36, Paul wrote: David Cantrell wrote: Or further in. *It's usually possible to park a couple of streets away from stations like Streatham or Streatham Common And if you're really lucky it will still be there when you return! Absolute ********! Read my post above - people are so paranoid about parking their cars in London it's silly. Generally I agree, but you mentioned Streatham (though parts of Streatham Common aren't too bad). I simply disagree your notion that Streatham is a some kind of really dodgy place. |
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Mizter T wrote:
I simply disagree your notion that Streatham is a some kind of really dodgy place. It's a Jekyll and Hyde place... The back streets of Streatham are nearly all very pleasant... the High Road is full of people who look badly nourished. |
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On 17 Jan, 15:32, "John Rowland" wrote: Mizter T wrote: I simply disagree your notion that Streatham is a some kind of really dodgy place. It's a Jekyll and Hyde place... The back streets of Streatham are nearly all very pleasant... the High Road is full of people who look badly nourished. That's more of an apt description. I've never found Streatham railway station particularly inviting I must admit - I think that's basically because much of the length of the platforms is stuck in the gloom underneath the wide road bridge. I do still like the fact that Streatham has an original high street cinema, the Odeon. I went there not so long ago and it was perfectly pleasant. |
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On 17 Jan, 16:57, Mizter T wrote: On 17 Jan, 15:32, "John Rowland" It's a Jekyll and Hyde place... [...] That's more of an apt description. Thinking about it, your Jekyll and Hyde line is a rather apt shorthand way to describe a good number of places in London. I shall be making use of it in the future! |
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On Fri, Jan 16, 2009 at 05:32:23AM -0800, Mizter T wrote:
On 16 Jan, 12:21, David Cantrell wrote: Regarding supermarket car parks - most now threaten you with a 'civil penalty charge' (or some such) if you overstay the maximum stay, and the companies that enforce these restrictions on behalf of supermarkets can get your details from the DVLA. I don't really know the legalities behind this all and to what extent this can be enforced, but I presume there's something in it. That said, this does somewhat rely on the enforcement taking place - more often than not it just seems to be a threat. I would assume that for that to work, they'd need to actually post information about it. The cheap-**** (I forget whether it was Aldi or Lidl) supermarket in Streatham didn't last time I abused their hospitality, although that was some time ago. The one thing that many people appear to have issues with when it comes to parking their car on side streets is some fear that it will get broken into, stolen or vandalised. I think that, with regards to much of London at least, this is a rather overblown concern. Indeed. If it's a residential street, you're generally OK - after all, the vast majority of the people who live there don't have their cars broken into. I'd be more concerned by leaving the car overnight in a car park where there aren't other people around, or parked on the street in a small town - where, again, there aren't lots of people around. Last point - one real issue with parking in somewhere like Streatham is actually getting in and then back out again on the A23, which is basically gets pretty clogged up at peak times. It is of course possible to take a number of alternative routes to avoid the A23 but these can be a bit involved and I'm not sure I'd recommend these to people unfamiliar to the side street ways of sarf London. The OP said they need to be in central London by 09something, so aim to park in Streatham by 08something - shouldn't be *too* bad. Coming from Polegate, I'd leave at 0630, and once in Streatham itself, take the first left after the Aldi/Lidl and park somewhere around there. From there it's a short walk to Streatham Hill station. -- David Cantrell | Enforcer, South London Linguistic Massive Fashion label: n: a liferaft for personalities which lack intrinsic buoyancy |
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