To be worried about going into London on Saturday?

[Reluctantcommuter]

Taking our baby to London for an important medical appointment.

I'm a bit worried about civil unrest with the march; should I be? We were going to take train but I think we'll drive (DH used to London and street parking)

It's not quite in the centre

It might be a bit busy but I don't think we do civil unrest.

As others have said, your worrying about nothing re civil unrest. You will get stuck if you drive near there though. DP and I are taking the DCs and certainly wouldn't do it if we were worried about safety.

I wouldn’t drive and I used to live and work there. Where are you headed to?

I honestly wouldn’t go.
Not sure whether there will be civil unrest (not at all a stupid question as things can turn nasty with large groups) but every train, bus, road will be absolutely packed. So no, I really wouldn’t go with babies and children. Irresponsible to take kids on marches like this, things can and do turn. There are always rogue elements.

IT depends which hospital really, and where you are coming from. HAmmersmith will be fine. GOSH will be fine (you can park in Queens Square and around the Brunswick after 1.00 on a Saturday no probs. )

ST Thomas' will be tricky, as might Evelina.

I live in London, and hadn't heard there was anything on.

I've just looked at the TfL weekend travel info email (always arrives Thurs evening) and there is more disruption from planned engineering works, Spurs trying out new stadium and on Sunday the London Landmarks Half marathon.

They expect congestion at a number of tube stations, which might become exit only if overcrowded.

My top tip for visitors is to bring a hard copy A-Z if you are concerned about how to work out a work-around if something's up with your original plan. If the problem is a security alert, or you are in a large crowd, there might not be enough signal to rely on a phone.

For an important medical appointment I'd go.

The mood is volatile and feelings are running very very high. You can’t be sure there won’t be clashes. Why would you take children into that environment?? Crazy.

Definitely don’t drive! That would be madness. Am sure it will fine 😊

@springwalk - she's going to a medical appointment, not the march. Of course she should go.

Avoid driving into London on a march day.
Traffic diversions & suspension of parking bays along the route & buffer zone will cause knock-on jams & some reconfiguration of bus routes. Many taxis will be off as traffic can be horrid.

Which train station would you come into & where (roughly to avoid being too out) is the appointment?

Agree about bringing a proper A-Z with you. Very sensible.

I think it will be fine but don't drive

the areas closed off around the march will be huge

unless you really know the bit of London you are going to won't have any issues but that seems unlikely.

You will be absolutely fine.

Take the train, don't drive, and leave yourself plenty of extra time incase of diversions.

99.99999% of people marching are perfectly normal Joes & Joannas. I've been on plenty of marches for one thing or the other and have never seen anything untowards. Quite the contrary. There's likely to be a lot of families & kids marching, people will be looking out for each other.

You won't come to any harm. It may be busy and congested and a bit noisy with chants & whistles etc but it'll just be an inconvenience. Please don't let the scaremongering about WOOO SCARY PROTESTORS CIVIL UNREST!!!! make you afraid to go about your business.

The biggest issue with the marches is all the Prets get REALLYYYYYY busy

Thanks all.

Without outing its closeish to the start point of the March but in a different direction and there's normally short term parking available if you know where to look (week and weekends)

If we get the train we'd be going into Waterloo I expect and then making our away across it all

However I agree the roads might make train a better bet

If you decide to drive, worth checking for traffic issues as there is talk of pro-Brexit lorries and other drivers planning to deliberately block major roads in protest at delays. If you get caught in that it’ll be a long day for you. Train might be less stressful.

I'm going on the march with my husband and 4 year old. We also went in October. It was totally peaceful then. I hope this one will be too.

However traffic last time was crazy. People stuck for hours not moving. Don't drive!

purple yes I know Op is going for a medical appointment, I was referring to the other posts that confirm babies and children will be going on marches.

I have been on marches where they have descended into violence, I lived in London for years and was also here when the riots were peaking.
It isn’t safe. There are bound te be counter marches, and this needs to be factored into planning.
Maybe the last March was fine but there are no guarantees this one will be the same. You can’t cobtrol huge volumes of people so anything could happen.

Control

From the Evening Standard.

Campaigners will meet at Park Lane, central London at midday. The meeting point is just north of the Hilton Hotel.

They will then march to Parliament Square where speakers will deliver addresses in support of a People’s Vote outside the Palace of Westminster from 2pm. It is expected the speeches will last around an hour.

So, traffic will be affected from roughly 09:00 to 17:00, allowing from crowds getting into Park Lane & getting out of Parliament Square.

The march will begin by travelling down Park Lane along the eastern edge of Hyde Park. Protesters will then turn left and walk along Piccadilly and onto Trafalgar Square via St James Street and Pall Mall.

Finally, the march will proceed down Whitehall, past Downing Street, and end in Parliament Square.

Without knowing where (if you are north or east of the start) it’s hard to advise! If it’s north/west of park lane then you should be ok as the ‘flow’ tends to be downwards.

So, traffic will be affected from roughly 09:00 to 17:00, allowing from crowds getting into Park Lane & getting out of Parliament Square.

My comment, not the ES.

Given how interesting the times we live in are, I would not be certain that everyone will remain (!) calm & collected. The principles behind the march may be consistent but many waters have flowed under the Brexit bridge since last October.

I would be going to the protest with my dc if I could (sadly, I spend all week commuting to London, it’s 2.5 hours by train, and I can’t bare to do it on my day off, even if our country hangs in the balance). But I think you’ll be fine. Just leave extra time and route yourself around accordingly.