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!

There are plenty of hotels in Ascot. Why didn’t you book one near your destination?

There are 5 hotels on Booking.com between 1.1 and 1.4 miles of the centre for less than £100 a night.

It makes a big difference OP, that you are talking about Ascot, which is set in a more rural area than London, which has 24 hour public transport in many places. If not right in the centre, surrounding Ascot is likely to be country roads, many with no/minimal pavements and passing places, and cars belting down them at 40mph (or perhaps faster if the driver is local and knows the roads).

I wouldn't risk my life against traffic like that for the sake of £15 maximum (for a taxi), no.

This employer of yours should be paying for a taxi for you in any case, as there is no public transport, or if you are a self-employed contractor, you should be adding the taxi cost to your invoice.

Ascot is in Berkshire.

It isn't outer London.

Parts of outer London are safe to walk around at that time thanks to the amount of dog walkers, runners, cyclists and police looking for easy targets. Parts aren't due to the type of roads there are which deters people from doing all the above due to the speed of traffic and lack of pavements.

Personally having worked in and near Ascot I wouldn't walk 3.5 miles at that time due to the risk of being run over.

Most places in the Home Counties it is safe to walk, run or cycle that distance if it is well within the day but not early, late or in rush hour.

If you were my (adult) daughter, I'd pay for you to get a taxi.

If it was me, I'd probably walk it.

I'm not sure that helps much though.

I live in Ascot! It's totally fine .... I run and walk regularly at that time

Wouldn't get me walking alone these days at that time

I don't think it's safe to walk anywhere in the very early hours if there aren't a number of people about, be it London or anywhere. But it will be light at 5.30am, and here (in my part of actual London) it would be as safe as one could possibly say, and there would be other people also out - running, walking dogs or going to work. Think it's safer in a built up area than a more rural one.

5.30 in Ascot on a Wednesday is fine. 5.30 on a Thursday is when the crazed axe murder comes out, so I’d get up a bit earlier to avoid.

Ascot isn't that big and is reasonably safe. However call Ascot Cars and get them to drop you off, they're a really good cab firm based at the station (I've used them plenty of times). Depending on where you're going it's well lit but there are bits that aren't like everywhere. Most places in Ascot are walkable and it's not some backwards country village so there's plenty of pavements.

If you're happy to walk the 3 miles at that time in the morning, then I'd do it. It will be broad daylight, and there are likely to be plenty of people around, especially if you stick to main roads.

But honestly, given it's so early, why not just get a taxi?

I'd be happy to walk alone in most well-lit parts of London at any hour of the day or night. I'd be much less happy to walk in suburban or semi-rural areas outside London where there aren't many people around and the pavements often aren't very good. London is set up for walking. Many other areas aren't.

I would assume that either (a) Op is walking somewhere such as a building site that isn’t “central” ascot (she did say Ascot area) or (b) she booked a non refundable hotel already expecting to have her car and now it is in the garage, she’s a bit stuck.

She talking about Ascot not some tiny village in the arse end of nowhere. It's got a racecourse and hospital, and plenty of pavements. It even has a Tesco and Sainsbury's and an expensive car showroom or two. It's a very busy place.

At that time in the morning there will be plenty of people about, workmen, people setting up for the day, people running and walking dogs. It just depends where she is staying and where she is working to how she gets there.

Yeah I don't really understand why you didn't get a hotel in Ascot, unless you thought you'd have your car when it was booked.

Based on the distance, and the likelihood of more, cheaper hotels, I suspect you might be staying in Bracknell. If so, there's pavements all the way between there and Ascot, it's basically a straight line.

There are some areas of Bracknell that I wouldn't feel that comfortable walking around at 4.30 in the morning. Ascot cars are good, and it shouldn't cost more than a tenner I'd have thought.

I’m not from a rural area but my understanding is that taxis are not as easy to get in those areas fewer cars covering less of the night. So definitely book before hand.

I would prefer to get there the day before and stay in a hotel or Bnb.

If there’s a pavement I’d walk. It’s perfectly light at that time and you’ll see dog walkers and people stabbing at their Strava apps

Are you thinking of Acton? 3 miles is a long walk at 5.30am. I remember hearing early morning is statistically more unsafe than late night for women.

One million percent no.

No. Never.

To get there for 5.30 you'd have to set off at 4.30, I'm guessing. It'll be dark. Get a taxi. 3 miles that time of the morning won't cost much.

My first thought after reading your post was Milly Dowler and Claudia Lawrence.

For the sake of less than 10 quid have an extra hour in bed and a short taxi ride.

My first thought after reading your post was Milly Dowler and Claudia Lawrence

Both of them were last seen late afternoon. So unless you think women should never go out alone, period, what's the connection with this scenario?

Why wasn't your first thought all the billions of journeys made by women that don't end up in kidnap and murder?

You should probably look into that. It's a very troubling way to view the world!

If someone goes on a cruise is your first thought the Titanic?

She is staying the night before.

Sorry you couldn't work it out. Someone else mentioned Milly Dowler as well. The point being that even nice, leafy areas of the South East surrounding London can be unsafe even in broad daylight. We just don't know.

Claudia Lawrence was seen the day before in the afternoon. She spoke to her mother that evening and said she was home and going to have an early night as she had to walk to work I believe between the hours of 5am and 6am. She didn't arrive. One theory is something happened while walking to work.

There's the connection for both for you.

Don't be ridiculous - of course I don't think women should never go out alone. Such unnecessary exaggeration. The point is things can happen anywhere even in so called nice areas at any time of day or night. For the sake of a tenner it's not worth setting off at 4.30am in the dark in an area you don't know.