London Hospital appointment on rail strike day - should I go?

[Pogonogo]

I have an appointment next week in London on one of the strike days. I've been waiting a while and really don't want to cancel.
I can't stay overnight beforehand as I have other commitments.
Any other suggestions as to how would be best to get there?
Would driving to a tube station be a disaster?

I would go. Have done so a couple of times for the same reason on tube strike days and it has been fine. Where are you coming from? One time qe had the best journey we have ever had as some tubes were running and they and buses weren't busy. I qould leqve plenty of time though and it possibly does depend on qhere you are going too and from. We were liverpool street to west end so really not that bad.

Of course it's possible but you need to allow a LOT of extra time to make your appointment. It took me 3 hours to make a journey less than an hour last time I went in on a strike day. If you do arrive early you can just sit and wait in a cafe. Better than waiting months for a new appointment

Any other suggestions as to how would be best to get there?

If we knew where you were travelling from and to that would be helpful!

Do you mean the Royal London Hospital (Whitechapel) or another hospital in London?

Could you drive (there is the congestion charge) and pay parking but that way have control of knowing you can get in (allowing for extra traffic). If you google parking in London you can pre-book a spot near the hospital probably cheaper than parking there. Which hospital are you going to?

Could you drive and pay parking to somewhere outside the congestion charge zone, and get the bus from there?

The congestion charge only covers a very small area of London. The bigger issue will be the ULEZ charge if you have an older/more polluting car as it covers everything within the north/south circulars.

Where are you travelling from and to OP?

Sorry my reply disappeared.
I'm going to Guys and coming from the west. Normally I'd get the train into Paddington or via M4 direction.

Guys Hospital does have a parking lot next to it where you can park - I think your best option is to drive and park there.

Still a bit difficult to advise if all we know is that you're coming from the west, but if you don't want to drive into the centre you could perhaps take the Metropolitan line from Uxbridge or Amersham.

I second the Met line suggestion, or if you don't mind paying a lot, parking at Heathrow and using the Piccadilly line.

Can you ask if they can arrange hospital transport for you? My DH suffered seizures, and couldn't use public transport; so we had a car pick us up from Brighton and take us to University College Hospital London.

Thanks all, that's really helpful.
@LaPerduta I did say I would be coming from the M4 if that helps?
I'm not keen on driving too far so if the tube is still running OK, then this may be best.

That's interesting. They took both of you?
They refused to let me travel on transport with my husband even though I am his carer and essential for interpreting his slurred speech to the doctor's. We have spent hundreds on taxis in order to get there.

Contact the hospital and request patient transport.

patient transport doesn’t exist to pick up the slack when there’s a tube strike 🙄

Search on the TFL journey planner - it should give you options by bus, athough, I guess they'd be busy so worth taking an earlier one.

Yes. I think they figured that if he had a seizure on the way the driver wouldn't be able to help him!

Depends which day it is as the tube is also striking next week. Check out the TFL strikes page. But it the tube is running that's your best bet. Or drive and get there very early as traffic will be heavier and parking will be harder.

London has Lime and Jump e-bikes and scooters for hire now via their respective apps. These are so great for journeys within London since you don't really need to pedal.

Which day? Tubes will also be affected. Planners aren't yet showing journeys with strike factored in.

Guys hospital transport is stretched to the limit - and is reserved for people who need to avoid public transport for health reasons/have other medical needs for use.

I have personal experience of it's workings - the wait time is often HOURS. When I was supposed to use it, I used black cabs instead (was fortunate enough to be able to do so).

Is a mini cab an option for you? Expensive but a solution?

Strike dates:

tfl.gov.uk/campaign/strikes?cid=strikes

Trains and Tube striking on the same days.

It's often a bit unpredictable which services will be out, so I think you'll need to plan carefully, and remembering that lots of people will decide to drive so you may get bottle necks and find it hard to park.

In your shoes, I'd see if was possible to get an early coach in, they usually go to Victoria then bus or bike/scooter or even walk (less than 3 miles)

Here is the spider map which shows the buses that go to London Bridge (next to Guys). There isn't a through bus from Victoria - I'd go via Waterloo

content.tfl.gov.uk/bus-route-maps/london-bridge-a4-140522.pdf

Otherwise drive right in, and pray to the parking gods. Or bring someone as your driver and have them drop you then drive off and look for parking

This is all great thank you so much. I'm going on Monday, so I believe the tube is still running OK.
I'm going for the entire day and evening.
I think I'll try and book a parking space in advance and get the tube or a cab in further.

Just had a pop up saying the strikes are suspended

www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/rmt-rail-strikes-suspended-saturday-union-dispute-pay-network-rail-b1037695.html