Northampton - London

spannerman

Want to take my 6yo daughter down to London over the Easter school holidays for a London Eye flight, Thames cruise etc.

Looking on the Silverlink Trains website, travelling from Northampton using a Family Travelcard for 2 adults and 1 child will cost £41.80. However if I drive down to Harrow and Wealdstone and catch the train from there it will cost only £8.80.

Just wondering if anyone knows what the parking at H&W station is like and how much it is.

Also if anyone can recommend any alternative North London stations with easy M1 access and cheap parking that I could use that would be most helpful.

Many Thanks

Baz_Bee_2

Harrow Civic Centre is adjacent to H&W Station. I believe that at weekends and public holidays the car park is open and free for the public. You could check by calling LB Harrow on 020 8424 1531. So you could probably park in there for free if you are coming during Easter itself. Otherwise parking is a nightmare around the station.

Wherever you end up parking if it is within the London Zones for travel then I would suggest you get a family Travelcard. One or two adults can travel in the Zones that their Travelcard is valid for with between one and four chidren on all buses, tubes, National Rail, Dockland Light Railway and Tramlink (if your Travelcard includes Zones 3, 4, 5 or 6).

Travelcard's Cost:
Zones 1 & 2 £3.10 per adult
Zones 1 - 4 £3.40 per adult
Zones 1 - 6 £4.00 per adult
Zones 2 - 6 £2.60 per adult

Children cost 80p for the same Zones that the adult Travelcard is valid for. Better news is that if you come on a Saturday, Sunday or Bank Holiday the childs Travelcard is free!

See http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/fares-tickets/2005/downloads/tfl-fares-2005.pdf#page=15 for mor info.

spannerman

Many thanks Baz_Bee, perhaps travelling down on a Saturday would be best then.

Can anyone recommend an underground (or overground station) with fairly decent cheap car parking facilities (if there is such a thing!!) preferably with easy access to the M1.

Baz_Bee_2

spannerman wrote:

Many thanks Baz_Bee, perhaps travelling down on a Saturday would be best then.

Can anyone recommend an underground (or overground station) with fairly decent cheap car parking facilities (if there is such a thing!!) preferably with easy access to the M1.

As I said spannerman, if you come on a weekend the Harrow Civic Centre car park should be free. It is immediately adjacent to Harrow and Wealdstone station and you can get your family travelcard from there with the kids being free (but even though they are free you still need the travelcard ticket for them)

spotter

spannerman wrote:

Can anyone recommend an underground (or overground station) with fairly decent cheap car parking facilities (if there is such a thing!!) preferably with easy access to the M1.

You could try Hemel Hempstead station. Come off at J8 of the M1.

Parking is free on Sundays and bank holidays, £4 on Saturdays.

Check out http://www.silverlink-trains.com/ and click the commuter link.

loobs40

spotter wrote:

You could try Hemel Hempstead station. Come off at J8 of the M1.

Parking is free on Sundays and bank holidays, £4 on Saturdays.

Check out http://www.silverlink-trains.com/ and click the commuter link.

That's cruel !

Making somebody drive around the Hemel magic roundabout for the first time

Check out Brent Cross (northern Rail) tube. Very easy to get to from the M1 and on street parking in the area. Its what I often do when I want to go into London

Nigel1

Before you jump in your car, remember the RAC quotes about 40p/mile as the real cost of driving the average car, including wear and tear, depreciation etc etc, (but not frayed nerves as you get nearer 'the smoke'!), so a 100 mile round trip from Northampton to outer London makes the Family Railcard option appear not quite so bad..........
Just a thought.

Baz-Bee

Nigel1 wrote:

Before you jump in your car, remember the RAC quotes about 40p/mile as the real cost of driving the average car, including wear and tear, depreciation etc etc, (but not frayed nerves as you get nearer 'the smoke'!), so a 100 mile round trip from Northampton to outer London makes the Family Railcard option appear not quite so bad..........
Just a thought.

Ah, the weakness in this argument is that the less miles you do in your car the more expensive the cost per mile becomes. This is because the fixed costs such as tax, insurance, MOT, servicing and the like are costed against a smaller number of miles driven.

Therefore, to drive down the cost per mile you should drive more miles not less.

For most people the cost of driving somewhere is basically the cost of the fuel, as all other costs are paid regardless of whether you use the vehicle for that journey or not.

MarkyMarkD

No, the fuel plus tyres plus servicing (if you service on a mileage rather than time basis).

We looked at getting the train and the coach from where we live to London. But as we live an HOUR by bus from the nearest decent rail station, and coach station, the time is prohibitive. The cost isn't too clever, either, for 2 people.

So we'll drive and might try Brent Cross - thanks for the suggestion.

Correction: as congestion charge doesn't apply on Friday eve - Sun eve, and according to my brother's g/f we can park near theirs for £5 for a weekend, we'll drive all the way instead.

Poppy9

Also don't forget to book the London Eye in advance. We booked for mid day but got there early. The queue for tickets was horrendous. We just went straight to machine to collect our tickets and were told we could go on straightaway. Queued just 5 mins for flight. When we came off the waiting time was 1.5 hours.