London appointment on 3rd Jan - no trains. No way round it?

[MulledWineAndMingePies]

We have been waiting for this appointment for about 6 years.
It's a huge huge, life changing, potentially life saving appointment and I've just seen there is train strikes on that day.

Im trying to figure out coaches or buses but and I'm searching and Googling but getting no answers.

Can anyone help? It's Brighton to London waterloo, or specifically St Thomas hospital.

Are there coach replacements or is that not ok because that's usually provided by the rail isn't it?
I can't believe our bloody luck

If it’s a life changing/saving appointment you are risking a lot by travelling up on the day.
just go the day before

Hope it goes well

i get really stressed about things like this, and some web forms are just really counter intuitive and infuriating

Hertz and enterprise have cars to hire from the 3rd-4th in Brighton for less than the cost of two coach tickets - plus the coach seems to take 4 hours which is an astonishingly long time for what is usually a 1.5hr journey.

For something this important there is no way I'd rely on coaches on the day. Hire a car or travel up the day before.

There are a tiny number of frustrated posts. The vast majority are people trying to help the OP, and getting knocked back or ignored.

Hire a car, don’t trust the coach

For a life changing appointment you've waited 6 years for I would definitely travel up the night before. Coaches can obviously be late if traffic or delays due to accidents. I wouldn't want to be sitting in traffic worrying about missing my appointment. I was once on a national express coach that was an hour late picking us up (no reason given).

I'd book a hotel an easy journey from the hospital, just take a small bag you can carry so you can get around London easily. Arrive at your appointment calmly, dont spend the morning stressing.

Book a national express coach back to Brighton later that day, leave time for the appointment to significantly overrun. From the hospital you can get to Victoria coach station by public transport, walking or taxi. The coach station is near but not inside Victoria rail station - check the map.

Get a train the day before, then book into the nearest Premier Inn to St. Thomas's hospital. Stay a couple of nights, then get a train home.

I need to get to the Royal free hospital from Wiltshire. Im driving and booking a parking space near the tube then getting tube to belsize park. Cheaper than parking at hospital and I'll avoid the ULEZ.

Don't think theres any trains till the 8th!

Does dyslexia (or any disability) give someone a free pass for being an arsehole and ungrateful to all the people that have tried to help - where has that idea come from that if you suffer from a disorder you can be as horrible as you like to people and just defend it by saying you're dyslexic?

And have you actually called someone a nonce, for what reason?

What about hiring a car for the day? It's often not too expensive.

I know this has now been sorted, but some websites don't workwith some browsers. I use Firefox, but I can't check trains on The Trainline with Firefox because is returns "no trains", but it works on Microsoft Edge.

@MulledWineAndMingePies I hope you manage to get to and from your appointment.

Then it needs to be a coach. Plenty of people have provided links on how to do it.

Yes, I've seen that now.

You could then get the next available coach out of London.

It's walking distance from St Thomas to Victoria coach station, so you should easily be able to get a return coach. By planing on spending the night before in London you eliminate the stress of "what if the coach runs late" and you'll have the choice of return coaches after the appointment

Sorry OP but get some manners.

In your original post you could have stated that you have dyslexia and struggle with these things.

You would have received more helpful posts and posters would have been more inclined to explain and assist you.

Just travel down the night before so you know you've made it and then coach it back. I don't understand the drama? You seem to be making it harder than it is.

So what if the OP goes though all this and then the NHS cancels last minute Not exactly unknown.

What possible relevance is that?

So no one should plan to go to a hospital appointment in case its cancelled?

Is there a thank you from the OP yet?

I hope you can go the night before and stay in a hotel so you are rested before the appointment. Good luck OP.

We have a similar (though admitedly not so life changing) issue as we're travelling to London next week for a pre-booked theatre trip. We're staying in a hotel on the peripheries the night before and getting a tube. If it was a must reach appointment and I lived that close I think I'd just get a taxi in plenty of time and suck it up. I'm not sure what your problem is OP. There's lots of obvious solutions and it's not MN's job to be your PA...

Goes through all what?

Difficulties using a travel website, confusion on a help thread, then booking some alternative transport?

It's hardly trekking through Nepal.