Gutted and hoping it can be salvaged

ellie101

I know you say it's an extra 30 mins each way, but what is your original journey time.. is it under half an hour each way?

Only asking as I've done a lot of commuting, if that extra journey time pushes you over a few hours a day it may not be good. And it depends on how crowded your train journey is.. and have you got tube at other end?

Also, the extra 16k a year sounds great.... but think it's worth weighing up everything else. Extra costs in London (would you stay over sometimes?), and what it's like where you are working in London e.g is is stressful as it's busy.. what's the working culture like. Some London companies expect you to work longer hours, depends where/what you are doing. I work weekends at times (I get paid for it) and it's tiring. I'd consider all that first... if you think it's fine and a dream job go for it.

And congrats if you do go for it

Rockporkchop

You could knock a few thousand a year off your travel costs if you can commute from Hungerford. Or I know it's a bit of a drive but a season ticket from Slough to London is only about £2k.

There was an article in the paper a few months ago about Swindon being one of the most expensive stations to commute to London from, unfortunately for you.

Best of luck with your new job.

Oldernotwiser

NoKidsAllowed wrote: »

If anyone knows how you can get from Swindon to London for considerably less than £900 per month inc car park please shout now as I could cry having finally nailed the big one and yet hours later its all taken away.

Great Western list an annual season ticket from Swindon to London at between £6 and 7,000; surely that's a fair bit less than £900 per month?

PasturesNew

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

Great Western list an annual season ticket from Swindon to London at between £6 and 7,000; surely that's a fair bit less than £900 per month?

I think the OP was counting in fuel and station car park fees too, maybe.

Mollycat13

Hi,

Sounds like you have found an job that's too good to pass up.
I'm assuming you'd be working mon-fri so I've based my calculations on this.

Annual rail season ticket Swindon - London zones 1-6

£7,176.00

Long stay Swindon car park annual pass (includes car park closest to station) Mon-Fri.

£1,275.00

Grand total

£8,451.00

So it looks like you'll reap the benefits of the extra salary after all.
Obviously, this assumes you are in a position to buy annual season tickets outright... 0% credit card might help.

AnxiousMum

Is there any scope for negotiating with the company who has offered you the job? Is your salary inclusive of any London weighting allowance (can't remember how much it is exactly, but a few thousand for Inner London - or is that not common in the private maketplace?) Have you checked into any carpooling facilities - you could travel in with others in a mini bus or something at a reduced cost? Any chance of altering hours so that you are not commuting during peak travel times? As you say it's a great experience, so try and find a way to make it work for you! Congratulations

NoKidsAllowed

Thanks for the advice all.

Had a chance to sleep on it and look at your advice.

The commute time would roughly work out at 1.5 hours taking into consideration train and tube.

The job is with a travel firm working in their IT department so I am going to approach them about whether they already have a negotiated rate with the train companies. If you don't ask you don't know.

Mollycat, you are correct with your calculations. Train plus Car park season ticket.

16k looks like a great rise. But when you work out that my take home after 40% tax due to being over the lower income tax band only works out at a take home of 9k.

My current commute is 1 hour and £150 a month. So all that coupled together from a purly financial aspect is approx £600 a year more. (Sums off the top of my head as boss is sat next to me).

Going to have to ask a few questions and I will look into the Hungerfood option as well.

Thanks again for the advice and the congrats.

getmore4less

40% tax starts at £43,875 pension contributions will probably use up the surpluss.

If a travel firm don't forget the cheap travel perks for holidays etc.

SandC

My ex had a commute into central London and his firm would loan the money for rail season tickets and then deduc on a monthly basis interest free straight from salary. Worth asking if that is an option too.

MoneySavingUser

NoKidsAllowed wrote: »

Just worked out my take home after tax would be an extra 9k. Great.

But travel costs will be an extra 9,200k per year by train.

So £200 a year less.

Will future pay increases help to offset this?

Can you save £200 from somewhere else? buy cheaper brands? cancel sky etc? get a cheaper car?

what about taking the bus to the station or cycling rather than fuel and parking?