London and rail strikes

[fishface343]

Planning a trip to London over the summer holidays with my dc to see a show and hopefully stay over. We would be travelling from the midlands by train. I haven't been to London before (not by train anyway) so I apologise if this sounds dense.

I'm reluctant to book show tickets, hotels etc with the ongoing rail strikes. If there end up being strikes on the dates im looking at travelling, will it be impossible or just more difficult to get in and out of London. I'm mostly worried about getting stuck there to be honest.

I know this sounds like a silly question to people who use the trains in and out of London a lot but I have no idea how badly the strikes are affecting things because I just don't use trains often! Im looking at booking at the end of august. Do I risk it?

Could you come by coach instead?

Would you come on Avanti? I don't know what they are like in strikes but when my line into London from SE has been on strike there is little to no service.

Depends on your definition of impossible, doesn't it?
I mean you could walk out of London, or escape on a Canal Narrowboat.

I’ve still managed to commute into London every day of a strike, except for one where the station was actually closed. I’ve travelled out of London up to Norfolk on a strike day too. You can check what trains they will run, altered times, whether they are finishing early etc. You can also get the dates of a proposed strike in advance. No strikes happen on a whim, you will almost certainly not get stuck anywhere if you plan accordingly.

You might have to make it a last minute day trip?

Coach is fine, but book well in advance because they get busy during strikes.

Or park near the end of a tube line and come in by tube? There's loads of parking apps where you might be able to park on someone's drive, for example. Parklet is meant to be good.

Also strikes are advertised well in advance so it's possible to dodge them. Just look on the train operator's website and see when they are likely to happen.

I'd book show tickets, attractions well in advance around those dates.

Also look on the TfL website for likely Tube closures at weekends. Again, not impossible to get around, there's taxis, hire bikes, and buses to help, plus the Elizabeth line...and walk!

1. Strikes are announced a way in advance. Normally about a month so you could wait a bit to be sure you're not traveling on a strike day. Your chances of one falling on the dates you've booked are quite low but not non existent. Seems a shame to plan on the worst case scenario.

2. If a strike is announced for the day you've booked it depends on the company involved how completely a strike stops the service. Rarely is it impossible to travel out of London to another major city but it sometimes involves a convoluted journey and busy trains. Sometimes it involves pretty much no noticeable difference and you wonder why you were worried. It always involves a lot of uncertainty so I don't think you'll get definitive responses here. It depends on your risk appetite. I wouldn't preemptively book the coach personally. Even a disrupted train journey tends to be better than crawling along the m6.

Could you drive as a back up plan?

Check on the website of the company operating your rail line between home and London. Unions have to give notice of any industrial action so there should be a notice about planned disruption. I'm not sure how much notice but they can't say: "We've just had a vote in the car park and it's 'Everybody out!'" That might give you a clue of dates to avoid.

Same with the London tube and you can look that up on the TFL website https://tfl.gov.uk/campaign/strikes - I've just looked at it because I thought my line might be closed but it's fine. It appears to give a link to strike action on national rail too.

Even if there is a tube strike in London, not all the lines will be affected. The buses will be running, just more crowded, so you can get around if you leave a bit of time.

Depending on where you stay, you can easily walk to lots of places and that can be very enjoyable.

Have a nice time.