parking for free in London this Saturday afternoon

super_saint

Hi guys

Coming up to London on Saturday afternoon to take my mum to see Oliver. Was looking to park somewhere close (ish) to the Strand. I usually park at Kew for free & tube it in but as I have my mum with me, I was looking to park at bit closer.

Appreciate your advise
Thanks
Andre

giraffe69

A lot of central London places have restriction on parking even on Saturday afternoon. You can park between Russell Square and Euston for free but not until after 1.30p.m.

Evilm

Look at the nearest Tube car parks. A lot of them have car parking for £1 or £2 for Saturday and Sundays.

There is a list here: http://www.tfl.gov.uk/roadusers/tubestationcarparks/default.aspx

Doozergirl

You can park for free on single yellows or in pay and display bays after 6.30pm. We've parked directly at the back of that exact theatre before.

I'd pay up until then if you're going earlier and then take advantage of the free parking afterwards.

Or, it's not very close but free parking is pretty scarce in town during the day but I know you can park in Royal Hospital Road in Chelsea in the bays there for free after 1pm on Saturday.

screddajames

Parking restrictions in London vary by council. Westminster are (in general) the most restrictive - 8.30 to 6.30 Mon to Sat and Sun too in many places. However Camden, Chelsea / Fulham, and the City generally allow free parking on single yellows / meter bays on Saturday afternoons and Sundays. For the Strand you'd be best off parking somewhere in the City.

I'd like to put a link in here for a useful site - I had a quick look just now for Fleet Street (near-ish the Strand) and found a few roads nearby that will be free after 11am on Saturday. However the site won't let me post links because I'm a new(ish) user so at this point I'll have to spell out park hypen up dot com.

The stress of looking for a free space may not be worth it if you have a deadline (e.g. the show starting). If you want a fairly easy journey to Theatreland consider driving to Acton Town station - very easy to get to from the North Circular - and parking nearby (most nearby streets are OK to park on weekends). The Piccadilly Line will get you to Leicester Square / Covent Garden in half an hour and trains are very frequent.

bigjl

Free parking is almost no existent in central London, as mentioned the parking restrictions are many and varied in Central London, and often enforced by cctv.

The best advice is to pay for parking, surely the extra few quid won't break the bank, though the easiest place to park without getting stuck in west end traffic would be Lincolns Inn Fields or maybe somehwere near Victoria Embankment.

But a lot of the councils up town have got rid of any free parking on Saturday, except after 18:30hrs, as mentioned above, but if you want to park in Central London even in the evening check the nearby signs for parking restrictions, it isn't unusual for single yellow lines to have no parking at any time aswell, when parking was put in the hands of the councils in London they changed a lot of rules, and the Civil Enforcement Officers in the city and west end have put tickets on Ambulances at UCH, Police cars in Smithfield meat market and my favourite an Ambulance parked on the Ambulance bay at Smithfield Ambulance Station, on each occasion the CEO said he didn't know they where Police/Ambulance etc.

As I mentioned already Loncolns Inn Fields is close to the Aldwych and sometimes has a couple of free spaces, however I haven't parked there personally for a couple of years so I may be selling you a wrong-un.