Parking in West Lodon Tube Stations

[JamieLei]

Me and a few friends are going to the Proms to see a spectacular concert (booked tickets and all ) - but the only train we could really catch back to Birmingham takes almost 3 hours, enters Birmingham from the north, stops at Wolverhampton and arrives past 2am! So therefore I'm driving us all to London, which I haven't done before.

I'm thinking that Hillingdon or West Acton might be a good place to park for the day, but I'm wondering what chance there is of getting a space (rumour has it that Epping station has hundreds of spaces yet is fully by 6:30am). I'm pretty determined not to drive into Central London, and Ealing Broadway shopping centre seems the last resort if I can't find a tube station car park (it's a tenner for the day I think).

Thus, anyone know about parking conditions at West London tube stations off the M40 or M1?

[teccuk]

Damn residents parking zones have ruined a lot of the 'park and ride' options. Brents Cross was always the best.

There's plenty left if you don't mind a bit of a walk though, M1, Zone 2, West Hampstead if your lucky, Hendon is still handy, further out Edgware is fine but zone 4.

Time wise, Luton Airport Parkway is only 35 mins in on Thameslink and 5 minutes from the M1. Off peak with TravelCard is about 12 a pop I think.

Dunno about from the west, but same applies the further out, the easier but more expensive. Click around on google maps, you'll always find somewhere to park.

Tell us how it goes!

[welshdragon]

Hmm, What about driving to Northampton?
Before you shout at me, wait: there is a train (00:34 off Euston) which can take you that far, there is no other services from Northampton, but you have probably got more chance of parking there than anywhere else in London

[Kevo00]

I've looked into this myself - think Edgware is probably the best option on the tube. http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowTopic- ... gland.html You can try it and let us know!

Welsh may also not be that daft, but instead of Northampton park near Milton Keynes Central. There is plenty of free parking in Milton Keynes and on a Saturday it will be deserted.

[JamieLei]

The main problem is that it'll be Thursday, so all the station car parks will be full of commuters who won't budge until at least past 5-6. Also since I'm driving in, it would be nice to park in at least Zone 6 inwards to save on public transport costs.

Edgware does seem a good idea actually... - although it would mean driving to London on the M1 rather than the M40 which would be rather more busier.

[Ploes]

What time are you going to be parking at?

Uxbridge has loads of pay and display parking, most of which used to be free after 6pm, but you'd need to double check as its been a few years since I did that.

Otherwise Hillingdon is the one I always used to use, never had an issue finding a parking spot.

Coming from a bit more north, Chalfont and Lattimer always has spaces also, but thats zone 8 now isn't it?

[JamieLei]

Arriving about 11:30

Hillingdon sounds good then

[Kevo00]

Sounds like a possible good tip Ploes, been looking for somewhere good with parking myself.

[Dave]

Is that with a reverse at Stafford these days?

Few quirks in the Virgin system now, the 1520 Brum-Scotland service actually starts at Euston and provides a great fit for the EBW turn, and then the Scotland run. Oh yeah, and the Pendolino that heads south and terminates at Crewe late on.

EDIT: So it is, it doesn't even call at Stafford. So depressing.

[JamieLei]

I'm amazed that they even sell Advance tickets for it... - it's slower than the London Midland all-stations-to-New Street service...

[Kevo00]

It is pretty ludicrous, anyone would think they are trying to get rid of passengers. Any Virgin train to Milton Keynes after about 2200 seems to take 1 hour to do a 30 minute run.

[Dave]

They occasionally pull the reverse at Stafford stunt on weekends when the bottom half of the RBS is up, but trains that were meant to start at Brum wouldn't call at Wolves. The other option is the Nunny drag. They used to do that weekly anyway to maintain route knowledge, but now the West Coast is "finished", they don't need to.

[JamieLei]

As far as I know, about 2 trains a day late at night are run by Voyagers via Nuneaton. Is it necessary that they do it with Bendydildos though to maintain route knowledge?

[Dave]

As far as I know, about 2 trains a day late at night are run by Voyagers via Nuneaton. Is it necessary that they do it with Bendydildos though to maintain route knowledge?

Well, they won't need to will they, all Euston drivers will have knowledge up the Trent Valley, and then it'll be the 57 pool that have the knowledge between Nunny and Brum.

[Kevo00]

What about the Northampton loop? Could chuck that in for fun too. I was on a train the other week that got diverted round there due to a fatality.

[Dave]

What about the Northampton loop? Could chuck that in for fun too. I was on a train the other week that got diverted round there due to a fatality.

One of them does go via Northampton and overnight engineering works generally push later services that way. Only adds about 10 min to the journey and they're so slackly timed at that time it makes no odds.

[JamieLei]

I was once on a train that did Birmingham - Nuneaton - rugby - Northampton then onto London. But it was an early morning run