Best station to park for London

ANDYS · 5 Jan 2019

Sorry if this is the wrong forum to post but here goes.

My son has just passed his 16th birthday so this limits our use of railcards etc. Therefore, the cheapest way to get to London is now a drive down the M1 (from Chesterfield) and then to park up and travel the last bit by train. All the travel will be on a Saturday so my question is, which is the best station to park up for the day and travel in? Years ago we used to park at Golders Green on street for nothing but I am sure this is not viable now. Anywhere south of Bedford means we get the Thameslink in but I assume somewhere on the WCML might also be viable.

Any ideas gratefully received. Thanks in advance, Andy S

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Kite159 · 5 Jan 2019

I've heard that Stanmore has a large carpark which isn't that hard to reach from the M1.

Very frequent service and as you are within the zones you only need to use a travelcard (or Oyster/contactless depending what you are doing).

gazthomas · 5 Jan 2019

Luton Airport Parkway would be my option. 5 mins from M1, good car park and cheap at the weekend and Thameslink weekend off peak tickets good value too, which can of course include a Z1-6 travelcard variant. About 30 mins to St Pancras. You also get to enjoy the comfortable class 700 emus (cue people challenging that!)

gazthomas · 5 Jan 2019

ANDYS said:
Sorry if this is the wrong forum to post but here goes.

My son has just passed his 16th birthday so this limits our use of railcards etc. Therefore, the cheapest way to get to London is now a drive down the M1 (from Chesterfield) and then to park up and travel the last bit by train. All the travel will be on a Saturday so my question is, which is the best station to park up for the day and travel in? Years ago we used to park at Golders Green on street for nothing but I am sure this is not viable now. Anywhere south of Bedford means we get the Thameslink in but I assume somewhere on the WCML might also be viable.

Any ideas gratefully received. Thanks in advance, Andy S

You could always get a Two Together railcard

ChrisC · 5 Jan 2019

ANDYS said:
Sorry if this is the wrong forum to post but here goes.

My son has just passed his 16th birthday so this limits our use of railcards etc. Therefore, the cheapest way to get to London is now a drive down the M1 (from Chesterfield) and then to park up and travel the last bit by train. All the travel will be on a Saturday so my question is, which is the best station to park up for the day and travel in? Years ago we used to park at Golders Green on street for nothing but I am sure this is not viable now. Anywhere south of Bedford means we get the Thameslink in but I assume somewhere on the WCML might also be viable.

Any ideas gratefully received. Thanks in advance, Andy S

You say that years ago you used to park on street at Golders Green. If you don’t mind driving that far into London with today’s traffic, I think there are still places you may be able to park, especially on a Saturday, in that part of London although not so close to a tube station. I’m sure that there is still loads of free on street parking about a mile from Golders Green near Kenwood House. It’s all along the B519 which runs between Hampstead Heath and Highgate. It’s quite a wide, but not overly busy road in a very safe upmarket area on the 210 bus route. You could park up there and get the bus to either Golders Green or Archway tube stations. Perhaps anyone who knows the area better than me will be able to confirm that it is free parking.

37078xotTE · 6 Jan 2019

Stanmore gets my vote too, 2 mins off the M1 (I use it when I travel down from Derby if I can't get cheap advances) big car park, 12tph and straight into the city, easy.

PeterC · 6 Jan 2019

In Golders Green there is still free parking on Saturdays near the Crematorium but I don't know how busy it is.

People have different views about driving in London, I would suggest finding the places where you feel comfortable driving and check out the are on Street View

ANDYS · 6 Jan 2019

Thanks all for the replies. I will try a few of them to see which works. The intention is to get to London early (7ish) as me and my son like to make a full day of the rip. As for railcards, we looked at the Two Together but the savings were no where near what we used to get with the Families & Friends. I would prefer the train but pure economics mean that the train is at least double what we would pay in petrol.

Thanks, Andy S

Hadders · 6 Jan 2019

Harlington’s a decent bet. Very near M1 junction 12, decent sized car park which is deserted at weekends.

Thameslink trains to London but you do at least have declassified 1st.

fishquinn · 6 Jan 2019

ANDYS said:
Thanks all for the replies. I will try a few of them to see which works. The intention is to get to London early (7ish) as me and my son like to make a full day of the rip. As for railcards, we looked at the Two Together but the savings were no where near what we used to get with the Families & Friends. I would prefer the train but pure economics mean that the train is at least double what we would pay in petrol.

Thanks, Andy S

Just something to note, which may or may not be of use, but a Family and Friends railcard is valid up to the child's 17th birthday as long as it's purchased before they turn 16. If your old F&F railcard still has validity then it'll be fine to use that until it expires or your child turns 17, whichever is soonest.

HOOVER29 · 6 Jan 2019

I always use Denham for Marylebone whenever I drive down for a day in London. Just off M40 & M25 junction & around 90 mins from home in Leicestershire. Total journey time of 2 hours sees me smack in the middle of London. A chap who lives in my road and works for the BBC gave me the idea. He & the family moved up from London 5 years ago.
Bought a 4 bedroom house for £300k which would’ve cost around £700k down south.

Before it was either Edgware on the Northern line or Watford junction station.
Can’t remember when I last used the train for a trip down to the capital.

PeterC · 6 Jan 2019

Coming down the M1 the best bets on price are probably to park within the Oyster zones. I used to use Hendon Central a lot but so did a lot of other people and the yellow paint came out. As I said before, depending on how comfortable you are with London driving you are probably better off with a Northern Line station near the M1 / A41. You can find free on street parking as far in as Chalk Farm on Saturdays.

trash80 · 6 Jan 2019

Stanmore seems a good bet, i was there on a Saturday afternoon recently and the car park had plenty of free spaces.

gazthomas · 6 Jan 2019

HOOVER29 said:
I always use Denham for Marylebone whenever I drive down for a day in London. Just off M40 & M25 junction & around 90 mins from home in Leicestershire. Total journey time of 2 hours sees me smack in the middle of London. A chap who lives in my road and works for the BBC gave me the idea. He & the family moved up from London 5 years ago.
Bought a 4 bedroom house for £300k which would’ve cost around £700k down south.

Before it was either Edgware on the Northern line or Watford junction station.
Can’t remember when I last used the train for a trip down to the capital.

Not such a good idea during peak times or if there is an accident on the M25. I would recommend coming off at junction 18 rather than risk queues before the M40 turn

ANDYS · 6 Jan 2019

Thanks again all. I did not realise that I could still use the F&F card until it ran out. I always assumed that as soon as my son was 16 that was it. I will have a look to see when it runs out!

Andy S

robbeech · 6 Jan 2019

Another Stanmore vote although check for engineering works on a Saturday evening on the Jubilee line. A friend parked there recently and ended up on a bus for an hour. It might have been a Sunday night thinking back but best to check anyway.

If you don’t mind popping around the m25 a bit then some of the met line station car parks aren’t busy ona Saturday. Chorleywood has a fair sized car park, is only 5 minutes off the m25 (a couple of junctions around from the m1), is reasonably price and has regular service from the met line and Chiltern.

Bishopstone · 6 Jan 2019

As it's a Saturday trip, I would avoid Thameslink as the service is only half-hourly north of St Albans: and that's before 'on the day' cancellations which can - and do - leave hour-long gaps between trains.

Luton Airport Parkway does add an additional EMT service per hour, but Stanmore sounds better to me.

Comstock · 7 Jan 2019

Stanmore gets very full during the week, but a Saturday should be OK providing there isn't anything big on at Wembley.

I've also used Hillingdon in the past, which is very near the M40, loads of room on a Saturday but again you might want to check Wembley.

Romilly · 10 Jan 2019

Also, at the beginning of this month it was announced that the new 16-17 railcard will be coming in September with a 50% discount and no minimum fares. Not as good as Two Together when the OP and offspring are travelling together, but potentially of use for the OP's son when on the trains without the OP.

Family & Friends railcard for 1 adult + 1 "child": adult pays 66%, and child pays 20%, of adult fare: total 86%

Two Together for 2 adults: each pays 66% of adult fare: total 132%

Full adult fare + 16-17 railcard fare: 100% + 50% = 150%

Full adult fare + 16-15 railcard fare: 100% + 66% = 166%

Best station to park for London

ANDYS

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Kite159

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gazthomas

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ChrisC

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37078xotTE

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PeterC

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ANDYS

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Hadders

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fishquinn

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HOOVER29

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