Is it safe to walk in London alone as a woman in the early hours of the morning?

[PinkCardigan93]

I may have to walk 3 miles alone next week in the Ascot area, to get to work for 5.30am for a contract. My car is at the garage and there are no trains running that early.

Is it safe? I'm not from London so thought I'd ask here!

I'd walk around London at that time no qualms. It will be busy.
I'd be reluctant to do the same in quiet suburbs.

3 miles at that time for work? Your employer should be providing a taxi, or you should get one and claim it back.

Also Ascot is not in London, it's in Berkshire, near Windsor.

I reckon she means Acton.

If it's Acton, it's not a great area.

If it's Ascot, you'll be fine as long as you have pavements.

I don’t think it’s Acton. You can bus, tube, and the Elizabeth Line at that time in the morning.

And desperate to know

I mean I *am desperate to know! 😀

3.5 miles at that time in the morning, even in Ascot, will be around £12 tops.

Ascot is not in London. As others have said it depends on the walking route. Lanes without pavements or main roads? I'd be happy on main roads. However, I'd value my time andnmy sleep and pay for a taxi. Particularly if I were so naive I thought Ascot was in London.

In london, yes i would. Out in the 'sticks'of ascot or other similar towns? No, id get a taxi

You need a cab. Ascot is not big enough for a 3,5 mile walk to be along good well lit pavements with constant traffic passing. Where are you starting from?

This post is so confusing! If your car is in the garage, how are you getting to the place near Ascot that you'd have to walk from in the first place? Where will you actually be?

I live near Ascot. Early morning, when light, I wouldn't have a worry about walking around - it's rural, country roads mostly. But I wouldn't want to walk on a lot of the roads unless they've got pavement. A taxi is a better idea.

It's definitely Ascot! I don't really want to give my start and end points as very revealing and telling a anonymous forum exactly where I'm going to be and at what time!

It's really not a odd / weird job. Just not a 9 till 5 office job. These hours are very standard practice for my industry. I'm just not normally in that area!

I don't know why my post is confusing. I'm getting a train to where I'm staying the afternoon before. No quarms. But like I've said - there's no trains that run at that time in the morning to help me get to my destination the next morning.

I don't have to sign a contract at 5.30am. I'm contracted to do the job starting at 5.30am.

I'm literally just trying to guage how safe the area is to walk....

I'm literally just trying to guage how safe the area is to walk....

That’s not possible. Nobody can say it is or it isn’t. I don’t think anyone would have said Walton on Thames was unsafe to walk through at four o clock in the afternoon on the day that Millie Dowler was on her way home from school, but you know what happened there. There have been many, many other similar cases, yes, they are rare, but when they happen they cannot be predicted or mitigated. If you’re unlucky, you don’t get to live to regret it.

Its a one off situation, just get a taxi. If you can afford to keep a car you can afford £20 to avoid this ridiculous walking scenario.

Absolutely not. I don't know Ascot well but I cant think of anywhere in England where I would feel safe walking alone at that time of the morning. Just get a taxi!

Check on Google maps if the roads have pavements.

It’s going to take you at least an hour to do that walk. Add in that you don’t know where you are going or what the route conditions will be like, and you really will need to allot much more time to guarantee an on-time arrival. So that might mean leaving at 4am or even earlier.

there are very few places in this world I would feel safe walking alone at 4 in the morning.

beyond that, you need to consider how much sleep you are going to get and what condition you will be in when you arrive for work. Again, recall that you don’t know this route. You don’t know if there are pavements, steep hills, or muddy paths.

by all means, walk back to your hotel at the end of the day when you are not constrained by time and the world is better lit and populated.

Is there pavement all the way? Have you looked on google maps? I'd only be weary of windy roads and fast drivers at that time, so pavement is a must.

In London I think you'd be fine. The city never fully sleeps. In Ascot, I don't know, but I'd be more worried about road safety than deliberate attack.

But I also agree that if you need to be at a place for 0530 for work and there isn't public transport, your work should pay for a taxi.

Agreed

The question OP put has many variables and that is a fact
It's also a question of luck of the draw

Odte, early in the morning, around 5am onwards, the criminals are often in bed - so relatively safe for women and men to walk the streets of London

The bigger risk these days IMO is the 'care in the community' going wrong a

Everywhere is safe until it isn’t. I wouldn’t risk it for sake of 20 quid.

I wouldn’t be worried about crime around most of the surrounding area at that time, especially at this time of year when it’s light.

I would avoid some specific areas which are secluded and likely to be quiet at that time - I am thinking of the footpath / cut through from the station up the hill to High Street in particular.

I would check that I am going to be on roads with a pavement.

But I would also consider a minicab OP - I can recommend Ascot Cars.

Have a look at the route on streetview. If it's all pavements and main roads it'll prob be light at that time and you can judge for yourself (borrow a folding bike?) but tbh I wouldn't want to be trying to find my way around somewhere rural I didn't know so early. Could be worth asking the employer about staff taxis? They might at least know a reliable firm or have an account/get the best price even if they won't pay.

If you get a taxi. Book it in advance

Not sure about there
But in my area we dont have Uber and no taxi firms are open at that tike either

I’m sure Lyn Russell thought it was safe to walk down a beautiful country lane to collect her children from school. It doesn’t matter what the area is, you just have to be in the wrong place at the wrong time for something bad (of varying degrees) to happen. Personally I wouldn’t do it. It’s not worth the risk in my opinion.

I am far FAR more comfortable walking alone later night/early morning in London, then I am walking home from the station in my quiet small commuter town when I get back from London.

The former is always well lit with other people around, the latter is dark, deadly quiet, and if I see one other person on my walk, it's unusual enough to freak me out