Seriously cheap car parking Gatwick

FBaby

I think this is a great option. You can drop the family and luggage at the train station and go park the car and walk the 15 minutes whilst the misses get the tickets (and snacks). As the train gets you straight into the station, it won't be much longer than parking in one of the long term car park and then having to take the bus.

Of course only good if your flights are not too early/late!

travelchick

I'm blessed with daytime flights, but will get a taxi from the car park as its only 5 miles.
After a 16 hour flight I don't want to faff around with trains lol.
I feel reassured it has a park mark award.
:-)

Westin

Do you have a contingency plan if your flight is delayed? The car park seems to be closed and locked between 10pm and 7am.

[Deleted User]

For seriously cheap parking at Gatwick simply drop your family and baggage off at the terminal and drive to Horley where you find a good array of nice residential streets with free parking.
Allow yourself a half-hour stroll back to the terminal.
Alternatively,choose a train station one or two stops further south towards Brighton such as Haywards Heath or Burgess Hill and again,drop your family and baggage at the station and find a nice,upmarket housing estate with street parking.
It's important that no-one sees you leaving the vehicle with luggage as there's a chance of vandalism but other than that you're just another Joe Soap parking his car.
I haven't paid for parking at LGW or LHR using this trick in decades.
And remember you have paid just as much for that parking space in road tax as the person whose house it's in front of.

interstellaflyer

Deleted_User wrote: »

For seriously cheap parking at Gatwick simply drop your family and baggage off at the terminal and drive to Horley where you find a good array of nice residential streets with free parking.
Allow yourself a half-hour stroll back to the terminal.
Alternatively,choose a train station one or two stops further south towards Brighton such as Haywards Heath or Burgess Hill and again,drop your family and baggage at the station and find a nice,upmarket housing estate with street parking.
It's important that no-one sees you leaving the vehicle with luggage as there's a chance of vandalism but other than that you're just another Joe Soap parking his car.
I haven't paid for parking at LGW or LHR using this trick in decades.
And remember you have paid just as much for that parking space in road tax as the person whose house it's in front of.

If ever there was a case for local councils to bring in permit holder only on street parking then here it is. Local residents having to suffer because of selfish people looking for free parking whilst they go off for 2 weeks in the sun, I'd say you are quite lucky to return and find your car still in one piece, as I'm sure one day you'll pee off the wrong person/people and return to find all your tyres slashed.

worried_jim

PompeyPete wrote: »

Let the train take the strain!.......mind you, at the moment there ain't many Southern trains running.

Tell me about it! Can't get to Gatwick via train tomorrow morning in time for flight so have had to knock a neigbour up for a ride. Didn't even cross my mind when I booked the trains would be sh it.

FBaby

If ever there was a case for local councils to bring in permit holder only on street parking then here it is. Local residents having to suffer because of selfish people looking for free parking whilst they go off for 2 weeks in the sun, I'd say you are quite lucky to return and find your car still in one piece, as I'm sure one day you'll pee off the wrong person/people and return to find all your tyres slashed.

Totally agree. If people don't think that residents know perfectly well why a car they have never seen before suddenly show up, taking 'their' space not moving for 2 weeks, then they are deluding themselves. Space in front or close to your house is premium, so even though residents have no more rights to it than the lucky person away on his holiday, they will certainly see it differently.

Although legal, I find this extremely inconsiderate. I wouldn't want a stranger's car parked in front of my house for two weeks so wouldn't do it to someone else.

I do believe some locals do advertise their drive though, so that's also worth googling.

interstellaflyer

FBaby wrote: »

Totally agree. If people don't think that residents know perfectly well why a car they have never seen before suddenly show up, taking 'their' space not moving for 2 weeks, then they are deluding themselves. Space in front or close to your house is premium, so even though residents have no more rights to it than the lucky person away on his holiday, they will certainly see it differently.

Although legal, I find this extremely inconsiderate. I wouldn't want a stranger's car parked in front of my house for two weeks so wouldn't do it to someone else.

I do believe some locals do advertise their drive though, so that's also worth googling.

Quite and it's those local residents that are paying for the upkeep of their streets out of their council tax as contrary to popular belief, road tax/VED does not pay for highway maintenance, it council tax that pays for it, so those residents are quite justified in getting upset when some inconsiderate a/hole who live 100 miles away or so, uses their street for free airport parking.

soolin

worried_jim wrote: »

Tell me about it! Can't get to Gatwick via train tomorrow morning in time for flight so have had to knock a neigbour up for a ride. Didn't even cross my mind when I booked the trains would be sh it.

That line is notorious for having issues. I use it for work occasionally (we often have meetings in an airport hotel) and am always surprised when it is running trouble free . I only risked the train once though to go on holiday and as I knew it was a risk we travelled the day before and stayed in the Bloc Hotel overnight, the 2 hour journey from home ended up taking nearly 4 1/2 hours! I felt very sorry for the other people on the station with cases who were constantly checking their watches to see how fine they were leaving it.

[Deleted User]

interstellaflyer wrote: »

Quite and it's those local residents that are paying for the upkeep of their streets out of their council tax as contrary to popular belief, road tax/VED does not pay for highway maintenance, it council tax that pays for it, so those residents are quite justified in getting upset when some inconsiderate a/hole who live 100 miles away or so, uses their street for free airport parking.

The thing is none of them ever do. I've been parking like this in towns around Gatwick and Heathrow for decades and never had any problem.
Heathrow is brilliant for this as there are one or two spots within a couple of tube stations of the airport that are great and obviously as it's London no-one knows who is parking where.
There's one road in Horley I use regularly as well which is only a 20 minute walk from the terminal although you do have to hop over a dual carriageway and walk on some rough ground.
As for the morality of it I can only repeat that the clue to the use of public roads is the word public.