shorthauldad

I've got two full days in central LON coming up, Docklands on day 1, Soho day 2.

I'll have a rental car

Just to make this interesting, at the end of day 2 it looks like I'll be driving up to Birmingham.

Q: Where should I leave my car? (The comedians who instantly suggest "Birmingham" can go to the back of the class)

At the moment the only idea I could come up with is to leave it at LHR and get back to it from Paddington on the HEX, then enjoy a sedate crawl round the M25 to the M40 ? Any better ideas?

VivoPerLei

If you are really stuck with the car, I'd probably suggest staying at a hotel in an outer neighborhood somewhere in West London, leave the car parked and take the public transportation back and forth to the city for two days. When you're ready to drive to Birmingham you won't have to deal with London traffic.

Cappuccino

Why do you need a car in central London? It's expensive to park and traffic is horrendous. Public transport /taxis are much cheaper and less stressful.

stut

What are the timings and days of the week? And is it M40-accessible Birmingham, or would M1/M6 work as well?

There's a variety of options - including keeping it in the centre (it's not always horrendous, depending).

shorthauldad

Thanks for the prompt responses.

I don't need the car in central LON, I'll need the car beforehand and afterwards.

OK. Any concrete suggestions of where? I tend to use public transport in LON (see above!)

I know a couple of hotels at/near LHR that would let me leave the car with them for free.

As it stands, a Thursday and a Friday. Meeting currently planned to finish at 5pm on the Friday.

It's sufficiently central that M1-M6 would be fine too.

How bad is Soho > Birmingham going to be at 5.30pm on a Friday? EDIT: or Soho-(public transport)-X, pick up car at X, then drive X-Birmingham? X being outside the congestion zone might be an advantage...

The_Bouncer

Holiday Inn Express Golders Green is very near the bottom of the M1, and has free parking and good transport links.

VivoPerLei

I can suggest one that I'm familiar with - the Premier Inn, West Ruislip. Located in a residential neighborhood near the western terminus of the Central Line (10 to 15 minutes walk), 20 minutes drive from LHR, and about 15 minutes drive to the M25. Big caveat - I have not stayed there, so cannot give a personal recommendation. They do have a big parking lot though and it's usually empty. Another caveat - traffic on the nearby Ickenham Road can be horrendous, depending on the time of day.

I am sure there are multitudes of similarly located hotels in NW London, but I just happen to be familiar with this one.

stut

Soho-Birmingham will be horrendous. Sorry

You could take the Central Line from Tottenham Court Road or Oxford Circus up to anywhere on the West Ruislip branch. This follows the A40, which isn't too bad past Hanger Lane (do not try to negotiate Hanger Lane gyratory!) Several stations do have car parks, including Perivale and South Ruislip, for £4 a day.

The Central Line will be horrible until you're outside zone 1, then it'll settle down a bit.

stut

Alternatively, Edgware is at the end of the Northern Line (so direct from Tottenham Court Road and Leicester Square) and also has £4/day parking in the long stay section of the Broadwalk Centre car park. You can easily get from there on to the M1. That's probably easier to get to from the Docklands. The Northern Line will be rammed, but you'll get a seat at Euston. Make sure you choose the right branch.

Both M1 and M40 will have really bad sections - M1 round Luton/MK and M40 round Oxford.

Is there really no way you could get the train to Birmingham and pick up a car from there?

stut

Final thought - if you're approaching London from somewhere like Birmingham in the first instance, is to leave it at a station that is well clear of London (but with a fast service) that is going to give you a good headstart heading north - like Bicester or Milton Keynes.

Ldnn1

Or somewhere a bit nearer in. As well as Edgware mentioned above there's also Stanmore (Jubilee line) or Bushey or Watford Junction both on the very quick London Midland line to Euston. All are near the M1.

Really depends where you're driving from initially?

Mizter T

If the OP wanted to park somewhere closer in, I'd suggest the Westfield London shopping centre at White City/Shepherd's Bush. Current price for up to 24 hours parking is £8. It is near the A40.

Re the Hangar Lane gyratory mentioned earlier by Stut - just to be clear, traffic staying on the A40 (as the OP would be) avoids having to negotiate this as it uses an underpass underneath the mayhem above!

bibbju

OP is this a rental car or a borrowed car or what exactly? Where are you coming from prior to London?

Without knowing the answers to these questions it's difficult to give advice other than avoid central London in a car and definitely don't try and drive out of London at 5pm on a Fri to Birmingham (unless you like sitting in a car park for 5 hours).

If you're staying in Docklands for day 1, I'd suggest leaving the car there for day 2 and driving to Birmingham on Sat morning rather than Fri evening. But it really depends on what the OP's plans are etc etc. I'd actually suggest abandoning the car altogether and getting the train to Birmingham. It will be much quicker!

(Note: I live in central London and drive 4-5 days a week....unless it's before 7am or after 10pm, it's unpleasant and slow and to be avoided unless you have no choice like me!)

shorthauldad

Thanks for the continued suggestions.

Hmm, that's not a bad idea. By the time I get out there the traffic might have calmed down a bit (just checked now, Westfield - central Birmingham is showing as 2h13 with current traffic as opposed to 1h57 with no traffic). EDIT: Tottenham Court Road - Shepherd's Bush appears to be <15 mins on the Central line. I like it!

Rental car. I'll be in Cambridge the day before. Guess I could just about drive Cambridge - Milton Keynes, park the car, get the train to Euston, get out to Docklands, then get back to MK the following evening to pick up the car.

Sadly that won't work, need to be *in* Birmingham early on the Sat, which would mean leaving London in the middle of the night. (The roads would be great, however, I've done the Birmingham-LHR drive several times setting off at 4am and the M40 is lovely at that time of day )

Take the point but I have some equipment which will be in the car, and if I ditch the car, I need to lug that round central London for 2 days, which doesn't really appeal

Maybe I'll just go and have dinner after I finish up in Soho and delay my departure by a couple of hours. Judging by current traffic (~7.30pm on a Friday) driving from LON to Birmingham would be "reasonable" right now... ?

Swanhunter

Still be 3 hours at 7:30pm on a Friday. Personally I would go with the MK option as the train service is very good and covers a good amount of distance very quickly.