Let my almost 17 yr old ds go to UFC at O2 arena

[Susieblue18]

My son is almost 17 and wants to go to see the UFC at the O2 arena in March with a friend. We live in the south of Scotland and he hasn’t been to London. He’s sensible but I’m worried about him being in London on his own. They would get the train down on the day, go to the show then have to stay in a hotel. Hotels close are very expensive. If I let him go he would need to get on the tube at North Grenwich which is the jubilee line. Any ideas as to best place to stay. I would want the hotel to be close to a tube stop. Not sure if I should be worried about him going to London!

I would say a hotel in King’s Cross or Euston would be sensible, whichever station serves your area of Scotland, and there’s a lot of hotel choice on the Euston Road. They can get the tube back to this area after the O2 event. There’ll be loads of people all using public transport and going places at 11pm.

As long as he knows how to navigate the tube (contactless etc) he’ll be fine.

Is an adult going down with them? I think that 16 year olds can’t stay in a hotel without an older person.

I hadn’t even thought of that, I just assumed it would be over 16. You can get married in Scotland at 16 but looks like you can’t book a hotel 🤣 That makes it more complicated.

He may have issues with a hotel, but I would let him go otherwise. My daughter travelled to south east Asia alone at 14 and coped way better than I imagined.

They can stay in yha youth hostel at 17.

Could they get the sleeper train back if they can't get a hotel? It's extortionate now to have a bunk but less bad on the seated bit. Otherwise a PP suggestion of a hostel is good - you can often get private / 2 person rooms and actually as they're under 18 I don't think the hostel shouldn't let them be in a dorm anyway.