Gatwick to Kings Cross with train strikes

[SpeedyMackechnie]

Looking for some help please.

Arriving in to Gatwick at 2.30 Saturday morning, and need to find the cheapest and most efficient way to get to King's Cross for our train, departing at 6.15am. 4 passengers with 3 cases.

Strikes mean that the train from Gatwick doesn't work, as they don't operate until 7am.

National express bus would get us to London Victoria for 5.50, too tight to get over on the tube.

Taxi into London approx £160!!

Taxi to eg Brixton, then onto night tube still works out at nearly £100 for the taxi.

Any bright ideas please!

Who is quoting that taxi price? I have taken pre booked cabs from London to Gatwick (and visa versa) for approx £50-£60 several times.

But surely you wouldn't be able to get the night tube from Brixton, as it's the tubes that are on strike?

Presumably the taxi is expensive as 4 passengers will mean a bigger car?

@SpeedyMackechnie Try contacting Roadrunners for a quote.

@BIWI Tubes are on strike on Sunday, National Rail is Saturday.

TBH, you were always going to struggle with an arrival at 2.30!

Personally I'd take the hit and get a taxi, so you don't have to stress about catching your train.

That doesn't sound like a strike issue. On a normal day I don't think you'd have been able to get a Gatwick train after about 2am til the next morning.

That's VERY cheap. How long ago? Maybe you can recommend that taxi company to the OP then. When I check online with reputable taxi firms, it's coming in around £145+ at that time in the morning from Gatwick to King's Cross. Taxi prices are a lot higher since Covid, and with a train strike, there'll be lots of business for taxi firms so they won't exactly be charging bargain rates, especially not in the middle of the night.

Are there even trains that run on non-strike days from Gatwick to Victoria at 2:30am?

Taxi is usually £60 from Gatwick to Zone 2/3 South London - try Barkers of Croydon (I've used them before and they are good and reliable). Between 4 of you, that isn't that much more than getting the train really.

If you want to go as cheap as possible, I'd look at getting the taxi to somewhere in South London you can then pick a direct bus to Kings Cross to get on.

Which NatExpress departure are you looking at that gets you in at 5 50am to Victoria?

Oh - it's because you go out to Heathrow before you get to Victoria! That's bananas.

The megabus leaves Gatwick at 3am and takes an hour to Victoria

If you look at the National rail website they’ve updated the times to show the strike amended timetable. There are direct rains from Gatwick to King’s Cross this Saturday morning that get into Kgx before 6am

Check if you can be booked on a later train, given the strikes. Might be possible.

OK - I take it back! I never knew the Gatwick trains ran all night!

Thanks for all these really helpful suggestions/replies.

Heading out to dinner (and already a few cocktails in...) but will take a proper look at them all in the morning.

Thank you so much.

According to this, Thameslink is running a normal service from the airport up as far as London Bridge

www.thameslinkrailway.com/travel-information/plan-your-journey/industrial-action

Fabulous. Good shout. Sorted!!!

... and thanks to everyone else for info. Will bear the other options in mind in case of any problems.

Just an update. No problems at all this morning. Thameslink Gatwick to London Bridge at 0346, then 2 tubes (only Jubilee and Victoria running night service) to take us to King's Cross. Got into King's Cross at 0515 so time for a relaxed coffee at Starbucks St Pancras before the t

*train